That thought gripped me. After putting the book down, I couldn’t forget what I had read. Just prior to this, I had dreamed a strange dream in the night about opening a storefront. What did it all mean? So I asked God to show me what He meant, and then it came to me:

A café. An organic third-place* coffeehouse and ministry center where Christians could engage with the community and offer real-world, practical, hands-on workshops, concerts, and creative events. A gathering place that would bring people together and “dispense” Jesus to the spiritually hungry. An environment that would sponsor arts, innovation, and game-changing social causes. A hot destination for young people to catch the fire of God’s amazing purpose for their lives.

The concept of the “third place” refers to the natural cycle of where people spend their time. The first place is the home. The second place is work, or school. The third place is where people go to hang out, to chat, sometimes to study, or to engage with others in the community. In our culture, the coffeehouse/café has become a very popular third place. Starbucks is everywhere. Espresso bars are all the rage. The problem we have as Christians is that we generally take church very seriously and consider it a primary social circle. But for so many people, church just isn’t on the radar. They don’t go to church on Sunday or any other day, and they just aren’t interested.

The idea of starting a cutting-edge third-place ministry is gaining ground. I didn’t realize this at first, but after the café concept popped into my head, I began to do some research and discovered that Christian coffeehouses or youth-themed community centers are springing up all over the U.S. In fact, “spiritually” inspired centers of all shapes and sizes are becoming more popular as leaders realize that the typical church model just isn’t reaching a vast swath of the population. The buzzword of the hour is “missional”. Missional thinking in church circles is exploding, and there’s a lot of reexamining how to make disciples of Jesus outside the bubble of church life.

OK, back to my story. Four years ago, this center popped into my head. But at first, I thought I was going crazy! I’m the last person who’d open a coffeehouse. I’m a Web designer and musician. I don’t know anything about running a retail or food operation. But God works in mysterious ways. Fast forward to today.

I am now married to a wonderful woman who does have experience in the retail and food industry. I am a business owner with greater executive know-how and connections in both the business and church communities. I have talked to Christians I know well who already have a passion to reach the community for Christ in new and innovative ways. They’re tired of the status quo and want to see Santa Rosa and Sonoma County rocked for Jesus.

Dance classes. Financial planning. Dating and marriage seminars. Art sessions. Music concerts. Worldview debates. Goal setting and vision planning for youth. Entrepreneur summits. All from a Biblical, Christ-centered perspective. The list is endless. It’s time we Christians stop hiding out in our own little cocoon and start acting like who we’re called to be: a city shining on the hill that cannot be hidden.

This vision is now becoming a reality. Rosemary and I are in the process of looking at rental space and talking to potential team members. We are hoping to host a fundraiser and vision casting event sometime in the next month or so. We will be building a Web site with our official name, logo, and information soon.

This is so exciting to me. I’ve been burdened by this vision for four years, and now the momentum is finally building. God be praised! There’s so much to do still, but, as they say, just take it one step at a time. We’ll see what happens next. It’s gonna be good!

It’s going to take a while for me to come up with a really meaty post (or a few!) on the “game changers” in my life. But I think one stands out above all the rest, and that was the realization of who I am. Now some things are a product of our upbringing, our talents, or our life events. Yes, I am a husband. Yes, I am a musician. Yes, I am a Web designer. Yes, I am a photographer. Someday, Lord willing, I will be a father. These are the things that change and morph and grow over time. But, ultimately, I am something more, something that has eternal significance.

I am a minister of Christ.

The understanding that God has called me to full-time ministry that I gained towards the end of 2006 completely altered the course of my life. Now “full-time ministry” doesn’t mean that I’ll be preaching on Sunday every week and calling myself Pastor. No, it means that, in how I choose to live my life and how I conduct myself in the lives of others, everything I do needs to bring glory to Jesus. Now this is not easy. It’s very difficult at times! I think that’s why it’s tempting to put “ministry” in the “church box” and then do stuff on our own terms the rest of the time. But that’s not what it means to be called as a Christian. A Christian is a little Christ, a disciple of Christ who so desires to become like Christ that he/she begins to resemble Christ and reveal Christ to others. That is our goal as Christians. That is our full-time ministry.

Discovering and unpacking this was a big game changer for me. I am a full-time minister called by God to impact the world and bring glory to Jesus. And, if you are a Christian, I have some good news for you: you are too!

In the previous couple of posts in this series, I wrote a bit about the journey I’ve been on over the past few years. I was intending on continuing in short order with a further exposé of what was going on in my life right now and I what I felt God was calling me to do. That is still my intention, but there’s just one problem:

Everything has changed!

Now what I was planning to tell you about has not changed, not one bit, but the context in which I expected to share it is completely different. Both my personal and professional life is going through a massive restructuring right now, and it is obviously and graciously being done by God in ways I couldn’t even begin to describe to you. If this year has been the most instense year of my entire life, these past few months have been the most intense days I can remember.

I wish I could spill the beans, but it’s not quite the right time yet. As soon as I am at liberty to do so, I will. I’m not under any delusion that I’m such a popular guy that you are just waiting with baited breath to hear my story, and generally I don’t really like to share my “blow-by-blow” personal life on this blog, but I know there are a few friends of mine who do enjoy reading this blog regularly.

It may take a little while, but Part 2 is coming. Until then, I pray that God blesses you with immesurable peace and holy well-being. He is so Good!

Hey, welcome back. The saga continues.

In my previous post, I went back in time to 2006 and began to describe some of the events that occurred that year, things that would make a huge impact on my spiritual life. However, I failed to mention one very important event which profoundly affected every area of my life. On August 4, 2006, my mom died after a lengthy bout with cancer. She left this world in peace, surrounded by family and friends, and most importantly, Jesus. I could write long and hard about everything I learned and experienced through that ordeal, but the main point that’s germane to this conversation is what I learned about servitude.

When a person you deeply care about becomes utterly dependent on you for their needs, physically and emotionally, and you have the responsibility to take care of them and serve them unselfishly, sacrificing your own desires for their well-being, your outlook on life shifts. Your perspective changes. Your heart softens. You realize that the most important thing in the world isn’t to make yourself feel good, but to do good. The universe no longer revolves around you. Instead, you have an obligation to give of yourself — your time, money, resources, and capacity to love — because there are people counting on you. It’s no longer about what you can get out of a relationship. It’s not a transaction. It’s a sacrifice. And you do it willingly because unconditional love is the only thing that really, truly matters.

Putting this all into context, that fateful year of 2006 was the school of hard knocks for me. I learned about mission and divine purpose from those crazy photographers. I learned about servant leadership from helping my mom in her last days. I learned about being on fire for God and seeking the atmosphere of heaven from Infusion. I learned about laying my life down to follow Jesus when I was baptized, when I was filled with the Holy Spirit.

All this was leading up to a decision I knew I had to make, and on December 20, 2006, I wrote this in my diary:

It’s time. I can’t continue to deny what I know the Spirit is telling me. I’m being called to full-time ministry.

Wow. Now full-time ministry is a loaded term, and I was the first to admit I didn’t have a clue what it would look like. You need to understand that it had only been a few short years since I had been living in the state of mind that the Church in the West was dying, that evangelism was something only a few die-hard Christian fanatics were into (certainly not me), and that my main obligation to God was to fulfill my ambitions to become a famous musician/artist and computer entrepreneur. Even though I believed all the “right stuff” about God, Jesus, and Christianity, I felt my calling was 100% in the secular arena. Church was for dorks. A bunch of boring people sitting around in ugly buildings singing mediocre pop-ripoff songs and talking about going to heaven someday. I found life right here on earth far too interesting to fixate on all that rubbish. I’d fellowship with a few Christian friends here and there, and hang out with my family, but basically, I was all about working on the projects I wanted to accomplish so I could make my way in the world.

Thus, if someone had approached me back in, say, 2003, and prophesied that I would be dedicating myself completely to God’s service and contemplating entering into a life of ministry, I would have thought they were certifiably insane. I was about as cut out to be a missionary or a pastor as a cat is cut out to lay eggs. It seemed ludicrous. Dammit Jim, I’m a creative geek, not a church minister!

But none of that matters. When God tells you to do a thing, you do it, lest you ignore Him at your peril. I had come too far down the road to spiritual awakening and blessing to turn my back on Him now. So I accepted the call. I began to align my life in such a way that, when the time was right, I could enter in the full expression of the destiny that God had placed on my life.

That was almost two years ago. What has happened since then? What about right now? I’m still working in the computer industry. I’m still an artist working on music. Why didn’t everything just go “poof” and all of a sudden I’m wearing a clergyman’s collar and preaching on the hidden meanings of Leviticus? Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, God doesn’t work that way. Yet, while He works in mysterious ways, He does work in tangible ways if you have the eyes to see and ears to hear. So I’ve been on a journey of discovery throughout 2007 and so far this year, a journey that has led me to some very exciting discoveries and some very interesting conclusions. And they are…? Well, you’ll just have to tune in next time for Behind the Curtain: Present Unveiled. Until then, be blessed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

I’ve been holding out on you. I’ve been keeping secrets. Isn’t that awful? In this postmodern era of cultural transparency, authenticity, the death of privacy, etc., and being a blogger to boot, I haven’t been disclosing all the things going on in my life. To a certain extent, it’s been because of two reasons, nay, three — first of all, I’m wary of coming off as a narcissist. I’d rather let my actions speak louder than my words. Second, this is a public blog, potentially read by family, friends, co-workers, church goers, and enemies alike (not that I have any, of course). I write a little something here, I literally shout it out to the whole world, so I need to tread carefully. Last but not least, I’m always mindful of valuing and protecting the revelation that God has given me, and I’d rather err on the side of quiet stillness before God than flippant boasting.

That being said, I finally feel like I’ve got the green light to begin to unveil and unpack the general thrust of the spiritual journey I’ve been on. This will take a few posts to get through, but once it is complete, I’ll be prepared to make some substantial announcements about the direction of this blog as well as the upcoming launch of an exciting Web site project. Piqued your interest yet? Read on…

The best place to start is a couple of years ago. (For more personal backhistory, read this post featuring my testimony.) In the summer of 2006, I attended a local photography workshop taught by a couple of itinerant photojournalists. These guys traveled all over the world at the behest of various organizations and missionary groups interested in arts education. In our case, some friends of mine got a bunch of people together who knew each other mainly through a Bible study/fellowship. At any rate, I knew these guys were Christians, but I figured I was attending to learn how to take better photos.

I definitely got my money’s worth on that score, and my photography skills were noticeably improved, but the most important thing I got out of the sessions had nothing to do with art. They explained to us that they saw their work as photographers as more than just a livelihood or an opportunity to express themselves (the typical artist shtick). They felt that God had called them supernaturally to fulfill a higher destiny, and their art was simply a bridge to reach out to people, to enrich lives, to share the love of Christ, to make a difference in the world. These men weren’t just floating through life trying to stay above water — they were living intentional lives of divine adventure, of radical obedience, of crazy devotion to God as His beloved children. To illustrate just how crazy these dudes were, when we were out on a field trip taking pics, one guy got a phone call from an orphanage down in South America somewhere. It wanted them to teach several hundred kids how to take photos. Since their calendar for the next couple of weeks was clear, they said “sure, you’re on!” And that was that. Crazy.

During these sessions, we learned the art of taking photographs, but we also learned the art of living. We were challenged to give ourselves fully over to God’s will for our lives. We were exhorted to live lives of purpose. We were entreated to pray and ask God to show us what He desired for us, and then go after that destiny with zeal and passion and holy surrender — no matter dangers might lie ahead, no matter what the odds.

That was the beginning of a sea change in my life, a change of heart and enlightenment that sparked a fire within me. I began to feel like all during my life prior, I had only been sleepwalking. My eyes were beginning to open. I was filled with a holy discontent, a longing for something greater than I was experiencing. I wanted to feel like I was “on safari” like those nutty photographers, leaving the safety of the ordinary for the thrill of the unknown. I didn’t want to live for my own pleasure anymore. I wanted to live for God, to live under the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit — wherever He might take me.

The next phase in my spiritual journey was October 2006. Banning Liebscher of JesusCulture graciously came down to our church and put on a mini-conference which we called Infusion. To say we were infused with the fire and Spirit of God during this time is a gross understatement. It utterly transformed my life. Ever since I have attended both the winter and summer JesusCulture conferences in Redding, CA, and every single time I have encountered God and left a new man. No matter what happens in my life, good or bad, this I know: I’ll never be the same again.

The main thing I got out of Infusion was this: being a Christian isn’t saying I believe in some doctrines written in a book and that I believe that this man called Jesus really was God and saved me from sin and death through the crucifixion and resurrection recorded in said book. Being a Christian means being radically in love with God, crazy in love with my Father in Heaven, totally on fire for Jesus, ready to lay down my life for a Savior who lay down His for mine, pressing into the supernatural dimension of Heaven to bring God’s glory down to earth. His kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That idea of a Spirit-filled, supernatural walk with God filled with hope, power, love, daring, adventure, romance, and ultimate fulfillment was breathtaking. Could this really be true? Was this really what the Bible was talking about? How could I have read it wrong all those years growing up? Was Banning nuts, or was I ignorant?

I was already fed up with my Christianity-in-a-Box and my dry, powerless approach to relationship with God, so Infusion lived up to its name. I walked away infused with a new sense of spiritual empowerment. God really cares about me, and He really has a plan for my life. A wonderful plan. All I need to do is seek Him out and embrace all that He has for me.

I was baptized for the first time in November 2006, even though I had accepted Jesus when I was, like 5 years old (probably in 1987 or so). I believe I had already been baptized in the Holy Spirit for a while prior to my water baptism, but when I came up out of the water, I spoke in tongues! That was a huge step forward for me, because it gave me a new spiritual tool I could use in my pursuit of God. To this day, I can’t imagine spending any length of time in prayer without speaking in my private prayer language. I value this gift more highly than gold.

By the time December of 2006 rolled around, I was feeling more and more the weight of God’s calling on my life, and something in me just couldn’t shake the feeling that everything I perceived concerning myself and my destiny was going to change. I had always seen myself as an artist and a computer entrepreneur. But those are gifts. They’re not assignments. God was getting ready to give me an assignment.

In the waning hours of 2006, on December 20 to be precise, I made a decision and wrote about it in my diary. I had been reading Mark Batterson’s book “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day” when, all of a sudden, something just clicked. I knew, I knew that God was ready to set me on a new path, a new trajectory in my life, and I had to make a choice to accept or reject that call.

I’ll tell you what happened in my next post: Behind the Curtain: Future Unveiled. Thanks for reading…see you then!

Anyway, for the two people out there who know about my super-secret Web project, you may be wondering what the latest news is. Well, the latest news is sad: the project died due to a lack of time, resources, and motivating vision. Here’s what the project was all about in a nutshell: an innovative Christian social news + networking site that would provide really cool ways to aggregate content from exciting news sites, blogs, podcasts, ministries, and so forth with an emphasis on media and the arts — all the while fostering meaningful relationships that would encourage discipleship and Biblical training. Lots of neat ideas…WAY too ambitious. I honestly would need to assemble a comprehensive team and expend a lot of effort in order to get this off the ground.

The strange thing is that the genesis of this project actually looked a little different and somehow it got lost in the shuffle: a site that would be forward-looking and would encourage and challenge the Church in the West to envision a future age where the Church isn’t a dying institution divorced from the language, culture, and concerns of the day but is wholesomely engaged in restoration and healing and progress within the culture around it.

Here’s what I think: there are many innovative streams within the Body of Christ today: missional, emergent, charismatic, apostolic-prophetic, reformed, and so forth. There are probably more streams that I’m not even aware of. The problem is that, by and large, these streams are not talking to each other — or if they are, it’s largely on a footing of either distrust or sheer ignorance. And so we come to an inescapable conclusion: if we’re expecting to reach non-Christians or former Christians with the Gospel and convince them that the Church is the place to be, then we need to be doing a much better job of understanding and articulating what the Church actually is (and is not) and what its primary purpose is in relation to people’s everyday milieu.

I am a strong advocate of unity within the Church (see my three-part essay on Thoughts of Resurrection for more on this topic), and one of the ways I would like to see unity in action is within the process of taking a hard look at how we “do church” and which ways we can embrace change, uncertainty, innovation, and Spirit-led renewal in order to effect a positive and greater impact on the world around us.

In other words, I wonder what it would look like if Brian McLaren, Bill Johnson, Rick Warren, Frank Viola, and N.T. Wright all got in a room together and talked about the state of the Church. Just a thought. (And if you don’t know who some or all of those people are, that proves my point exactly. We need more cross-pollination!)

So there’s a brief peak into my brain today. What is the solution to this conundrum? That’s something I’m still working on. If it ends up becoming a new project, that’s awesome, but if not, I’m confident someone else will pick up the baton. At any rate, I will continue to post my thoughts here on this blog over the next few months as I wrestle with these intriguing questions.

What do you think?

Only four months later…the Florida “outpouring” has dwindled to a few hundred people at the original starting church, and the leader of the revival, Todd Bentley, is now in the midst of a marital crisis and fierce doctrinal controversy that has left the broader charismatic movement reeling. Charisma Magazine wrote up in good detail the latest news as we know it.

I want to be very clear: I have been personally blessed by Todd Bentley’s ministry in the past, and some of his closest friends in ministry are people I know and trust (not personally, but in terms of spiritual fruit and teaching). So I don’t want to make light of this tragedy in any way, and I am praying for him and his family’s recovery and healing.

But something is going on in the Body of Christ right now, and we need to discern what is happening and not give way to doubt and hardness of heart. The first question we need to ask is: is the Lakeland revival over? I believe it is. But that’s the wrong question. The real question is: is revival over? And the answer to that is an emphatic NO!

I spent the last several days very distressed about this sequence of events, and as I’ve been seeking the Lord for answers, I’ve begun to sense some things that I think are important to remember and understand. I’ll just walk through some of my thoughts in bullet-point form:

• True revival is not about a person, a place, or a thing. It is about the sovereign move of Almighty God in response to Jesus followers crying out to Him from the depths of their souls.
• True revival is not about angles, visions, prophecies, miracles, visitations, glory clouds, gemstones, gold dust, oil, and other signs and wonders. It is about Jesus Christ. It is about His power to restore all the that enemy has stolen. It is about transformation. “I once was lost, but now I’m found. I once was blind, but now I see.” That’s revival.
• True revival cannot be beamed across a TV screen or performed on the platform. It cannot be told, it cannot be explained, and it cannot be contained. Because, you see, revival is the violent move of God in glory and power, and God — last time I looked — is not a video feed or a worship band or a talking head with a microphone up on stage.
• True revival is not a church, or a conference, or a tent, or a style, or a method, or a format, or a culture, or a tradition. True revival is timeless and transcendent, because God is outside of time and beyond this universe.
• When true revival comes, it will convict people to go out. All eyes will not be on any person, place, or thing. It will be on Jesus Christ. People will not wait for the “fire” to come to their city in pomp and circumstance before they go out and minister to people in the name of Jesus. They will go out and minister to people in the name of Jesus in order to bring the fire of God down to their city.
• When true revival comes, it will be messy, but it will not be flabby. It will not be frayed around the edges. It will not focus on the biggest and brightest and best and ignore the details. The devil is NOT in the details. God is in the details. The first shall be last, and the last first. When true revival comes, it will not be about flash, it will be about substance. It will be about meeting people’s needs where they are. It will be about speaking to people in a language they can understand. It will be about being all things to all men in order to preach the good news of Jesus Christ.
• Oh how arrogant to think that only the superficial gloss of “charismania” heralds the arrival of revival. Lord, forgive us of our pride, our presumption. Forgive us of our need for hype and attention instead of conviction and consecration. Forgive us for looking to men to bring us into your Holy Presence when all we need is a spirit willing to yield itself to you.

There is a shift going on…a shift in the Body of Christ right now where people are beginning to realize that the hallmark of every true revival is a gripping fear of the Lord and a powerful, irresistible yearning for holiness and purification. I felt this already when I was up at the JesusCulture conference a couple of weeks ago. More on that another time. Suffice it to say, it was an incredible, life-changing time, but not because of signs and wonders but because of God’s holy presence and the palpable feeling of intense spiritual hunger in the room that demanded a transformational response from heaven. We got down on our knees and we gave our all to Jesus, everything, without reservation, without hesitation. The conviction of the Holy Spirit was so strong that I was ready to repent of sins I haven’t even committed yet. That was a joke, in case you missed it.

So is the revival over? No! It’s just now truly beginning! Some people are saying the Lakeland “revival” was false and of the devil. I believe it was of God when it initially started. Other people are saying that the revival was real all along and the devil is now trying his best to shut it down. No, I believe that too is of God, although the devil is certainly on the offensive.

I believe God used Lakeland as a catalyst for radical spiritual hunger and has now shut down what was quickly turning into a quagmire in order for real revival to break out spontaneously, earnestly, sincerely, and sustainably across this dry land we call America. This time revival won’t be about Todd Bentley, or Lakeland, or God TV, or apostles, or miracles, or media, or glory clouds, or angelic hosts, or worship music, or prophecies, or anything else. It will be about one thing and one thing only: Jesus Christ. We will encounter Jesus, be saved by Jesus, be delivered by Jesus, be changed by Jesus, be loved by Jesus, be equipped by Jesus, and be sent out by Jesus to go do the compassionate works of Jesus in order for the world to hear about Jesus and see Jesus and be set free by Jesus.

If revival isn’t about Jesus, and Him alone, then somehow, somewhere, we’ve lost the plot.

“On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” — Matthew 7:22-23

Honestly, I had no idea who Ben was or practically how this event event got started before I came. I don’t even remember where I found the link to the initial information, but literally my impression a number of months back was like “Hey, some dude thinks he’s gonna put on a conference and Mark Batterson’s gonna show up. Sick.” I figured what the hey and signed up. Of course, the official Web site looked pretty slick once it went online and some of the other speakers were pretty notable as well, so both Shayne and I were jazzed to come.

I got to hear more about Ben and RCC at the conference today and actually was able to meet with him and chat in person which was fun. Seems like a super guy. He said the original idea was that maybe if they were really lucky, they could fill up a partition of the ballroom at the Hyatt with, say, 200 people, and that would rock. Well, it turned out God had other plans. I’d say there were at least 1,000 people there. The whole ballroom was packed. No partition necessary.

Mark Batterson, lead pastor at National Community Church, was brilliant as I expected, but the thing I appreciated more than anything else about him wasn’t what he said but the reasons behind what he said. Here is a man who really cares deeply about chasing after God and doesn’t consider his present condition or that of his team, his church, or his congregation as any kind of role model to emulate like it’s a finished product. He said point-blank that he was a work-in-progress and they’re still trying to figure out what they’re doing, and I believed his sincerity. God is indeed doing a mighty work in their midst, and I have no doubt that as long as Mark and the rest of NCC chase hard after God no matter the cost, without fear, and with conviction of heart and a complete abandonment to the Holy Spirit, they will go places they haven’t even dreamed of yet.

I’ll post some notes on what he talked about along with the other speakers in a (near) future post. Before I close this one though, I’d like to give a shoutout to the other presenters who particularly spoke to me and then finish off with some general impressions of the conference.

Vince Antonucci was a blast. Kind of daft in the head perhaps, but very powerful and God-centered in his exhortation. His personal background was that of an extremely “un-churched” variety, so he had a great and important perspective to share on the sometimes bizarre world of Christendom here in America and how vital it is that we focus on going out and saving people who are truly in need of a savior instead of catering to the weaknesses and comfort levels of seasoned churchgoers.

Darrin Patrick presented a challenging message about idolatry and how we often fall back on the desires of our human nature instead of relying on the One who is greater than anything we might treasure, worship, or give our allegiance to here on the earth. Until we seek out the root sin of idolatry in our lives, we will not be able to accomplish the mission God has for us.

Finally, but certainly not exclusively, I really enjoyed seeing Perry Noble in the flesh. I’d heard of him and heard him in a podcast interview recently, but his preaching in person was off the charts. God is really using him in an awesome way to speak to the state of the Church today. I can’t even go into all that he talked about, but basically his message was that if we’re not walking close to Jesus everyday and intensely seeking revelation from the Holy Spirit so that we can accomplish the work of the Father just like Jesus did, we might as well just give up now and throw in the towel. If we KNOW we are called by God to be in serious church ministry and leadership (and the calling has to be real and genuine), then we have to walk in that calling and claim the authority that God has for us to do what He has called us to do. Powerful, powerful stuff, and it absolutely convicted me to reaffirm what God has called me to do in my own life and not be afraid to chase after it wholeheartedly!

Overall, the conference was very, very good and honoring to God, and I truly hope it happens again next year. A few additional thoughts: these leaders are considered to be on the cutting edge of mainstream evangelicalism today, and being a fervent believer in the charismatic movement and the even narrower world of the apostolic-prophetic movement, I went in with a degree of curiosity mixed with trepidation to see if I would leave excited or frustrated. I’m happy to say that I perceive that the state of the church at large is strong if this is where it’s going. However, I am still somewhat sorrowful that the incredible supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit are not given the limelight they deserve and that people generally aren’t focusing on His outpourings in these circles. I see glimmers of hope though, and I know that Mark and possibly a few of the other folks there are “closet charismatics” who really are trying to walk out what the Holy Spirit is showing them, so I’m trusting God to work everything out in his good timing and that revival will not pass by the evangelical church as a whole.

And with that sentiment, I say Goodnight and God Bless. See you next week!

I want to believe that a man can work a sixty-hour week, spend quality time with his wife and kids, be involved in his community, find time for leisure, and still be an effective disciple of Jesus Christ. The kind of man who prays big prayers and knows God intimately for those prayers. The kind of man who readily leads many others to his Savior and disciples those same people to maturity. I want to believe, but I don’t know any men like that.

Well, it’s sad that Dan doesn’t know any men like that. I’m not sure I know too many myself, but one thing I do know. Separating out all those pursuits, and tacking on “and still be an effective disciple of Jesus Christ”, is the very thing that has caused the problem in the first place.

Why can’t I be an effective disciple of Jesus Christ when I work a sixty-hour work week? Why can’t I be an effective disciple of Jesus Christ when I spend quality time with my wife and kids? (Frankly, all the full-time ministry people out there need to spend a lot more quality time with their wife/husband and kids. A LOT more.) Why can’t I be an effective disciple of Jesus Christ when I get involved with my community, or when I take time off for leisure?

There is a man by the name of Chuck Ripka. Here’s a page about him on his ministry site. He’s a banker. He co-founded a “Christian” bank several years back, and when I say Christian, I mean people call up the BANK for prayer. They go to the bank and get healed. People have been saved by coming to the bank. In fact, that bank is more church for some people than church.

Chuck wrote an awesome book called God Out of the Box which explains his life and his ministry within the context of business, politics, and local community. His work, his family, and his friends are his mission field. It’s a great read.

So, my conclusion is this: you can indeed do it all. But first you need to get out of the horrible mindset that says that ministry is something you do within the confines of “church” that you aren’t doing when you’re working, playing, and generally doing life. That’s wrong, and that mindset must be crushed if we are at all going to have a major impact on future generations.

In this series, I have been attempting to bring to your attention some of my thoughts regarding the most common approaches to “doing church” in America that have been detrimental to the healthy growth and strength of God’s Kingdom on earth. Today, I would like to talk about the rise of the “let’s attract people in the world by looking just like them” church movement that, while admirable and in some ways even successful, has made some major blunders in its quest to “reach the lost”.

You may have been in one of these churches. They got their traffic cops out in the parking lot directing people. They got their Starbucks-derived café in the lobby. They got their marketing materials prominently placed in obvious locations. You can drop your children off at the “KidzTown” entrance (wow, it looks just like a mini-theme park!), and then enter into the sanctuary for a one hour “worship experience”. The band is made up of pasty-white teenagers with emo hair and lots of rips. Hope your ears can take the heat, because, baby, this worship music is LOUD. After enduring a few of the latest Top 10 hits in the Christian radio scene — sounding almost, but not quite, as good as the original CD — you settle down for a few dozen minutes of watching the 30 year old celebrity pastor strut his hip-casual-but-not-too-casual-just-so-you-know-he’s-more-than-a-regular-guy stuff up on the well-lit stage. It’s a bitchin’ message, man — full of plenty of anecdotes, funny one-liners, a handful of Bible verses just to make sure you know which religion you’re looking at, and a few Hollywood-quality video clips for good measure. There’s a call to action at the end, where you can fill out some of the marketing materials they gave you in order to “plug into” the life of the church (i.e., programs), and you’re done. No, wait, not quite, because remember, you do need to give away part of your life savings to the church (somebody’s gotta pay for all this equipment, brother!) so God can bless you. After being fully blessed by your sacrificial giving to well-paid staff members…excuse me, I mean the Kingdom of God…you can go out and pick up your kids who had such an awesome time in KidzTown, and enjoy another cup of latté from the Starbucks-like café before heading off into the world and living just like all the other suburban middle-class Americans do.

Whew. Well, I either just heard an AMEN! or a flurry of agitated protestation. Let me back up a bit and make something quite clear: I have NOTHING whatsoever against contemporary worship music per se. In fact, I listen to a lot of it and love it. I have nothing against church cafés — in fact, I think it’s a great idea. I have nothing against making sure kids have a good time in a fun and enjoyable atmosphere, I have nothing against young pastors who dress like the year 2007 and not the year 1849, and I have nothing against sermons that are relevant to people’s daily lives. Actually I like all of those things, very much. I even believe, strongly, that God does bless you when you give sacrificially to ministries that are pouring their hearts and souls into furthering the Kingdom of Heaven.

The problem is when the milieu trumps the mission. If you have to have all of those hip, relevant things in place before you can transform lives with the mind of Christ, the love of the Father, and the power of the Holy Spirit, then you aren’t doing it right. Yes, there are megachurches with 10,000 strong congregations that are making a huge impact in preaching the Gospel and setting people free from sin, sickness, and selfishness. There are also 10-person churches meeting in parking lots at 3:00 AM in the morning that are making a huge impact in preaching the Gospel and setting people free from sin, sickness, and selfishness. No one church model is alone in its ability to reach people. We need all models, and in fact we need models that haven’t even been invented yet.

I get really concerned, even frustrated, when I see people confuse their pet church model with the Bride of Christ. I don’t care if you have lots of people going to your church and being entertained with all of your really groovy ministry efforts. I don’t care if you have people filling out cards with the “I’ve accepted Jesus into my heart” box checked. And, please, don’t point to your number of public baptisms as evidence that your plans are working. I know people who have been heavily involved in churches their whole lives, baptized long ago, talking all the Christian lingo and saying all the “right stuff”, and their lives are a total mess and mirror that of the most screwed-up heathens. All the church programs in the world can’t give people the one thing they need the most: a supernatural encounter with the Lord Almighty.

If your church looks just like the rest of the world, and smells the same as all the other stuff out there, something is seriously off-balance. I remember hearing a story about a “Christian” music store that had a large poster matching up secular pop stars with “Christian” pop stars. If you like Britney Spears, check out this artist. If you like Justin Timberlake, check out that artist. If you like Beyonce, check out this artist. We sell a sanitized and sanctified alternative for all of your favorite worldly stuff. Amazing, isn’t it? It’s almost like we use this magical cleansing product called Christianizer™ that you can spray on any secular cultural phenomenon and poof! It’s now Christian, replete with plenty of Jesus sprinkled on the top for good measure.

We need to get back to the basics. We need to get back to focusing on the things that really matter, living with radical love and with the fruit of our lives reflecting our supernatural faith in a supernatural God. We have to stop looking to the world in order to copy what they’re doing. God is so much bigger than that. If we really want to reach people, we should be inventing a Kingdom culture that is more beautiful, more excellent, more innovative, and more meaningful than anything the world has to offer. We need to possess such deep wisdom, such serene peace, such problem-solving potential, and such creative power that we attract those who are burned out with the mediocre sinkhole that is modern American consumer culture.

40 years ago the hippies realized that something was wrong with the mainstream modern world they lived in. They rebelled against an artificial, plastic culture and looked to communes and harmony with nature and ancient pagan practices to bring them into a better place. Then an amazing thing happened: many of those hippies became disillusioned when their quest brought them to a dead end, peace and love proving to be strangely illusive, and they went on to find something that would finally quench their thirst and nourish their souls: Jesus. The Jesus People movement of the 70′s was one of the largest periods of revival in American history. Entire church networks and denominations sprung up out of nowhere as the former hippies who weren’t welcome in established churches started their own, and the face of Christianity forever changed as these people found a more authentic, more real, and more community-minded faith. But somehow, in the intervening years between then and now, we’ve lost that revelation. We’ve forgotten that it’s not about buildings and programs and products and checkboxes and marketing materials and movies. It’s about people. It’s about God’s creation and His will to restore it. And it really is all about peace, love, and understanding!

I am happy to have a church that is “seeker-friendly”, but I am even happier to have a church that is “Jesus-friendly”. May we never lose sight of the fact that it’s not all about the latest Christian clone of Kayne West, or of Harry Potter, and it’s not about having a better video projector or theatrical lighting system than Bubba.

It’s all about Jesus!