…I’ve always said, you know, that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and hell, and people could be going to hell, or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think that, well, it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward…HOW MUCH DO YOU HAVE TO HATE SOMEBODY to not proselytize? HOW MUCH DO YOU HAVE TO HATE SOMEBODY to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I mean, if I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe it, and that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that…

I’ve been a Christian for quite a while now and I can literally count on one hand the amount of time I’ve had a stranger try to capture my attention with the purpose of talking about Jesus.  If you’re a Christian, your experience has probably been the same.  Why is that?  It’s not rocket science.  You’ve probably never had that happen to you, because people actually doing that type of stuff (cold-call evangelism) is awkward.

Evangelism:Christian::Boogeyman:kids

To be honest, as we cast this vision as a church staff to spend a few hours each work day this week trying to create opportunities with strangers to talk about Jesus, I got nervous.  (If not for the peer pressure—or the people coming to the church expecting me to lead out because I’m a pastor—I probably would have come up with tons of excuses not to participate.) Tons of thoughts began running through my head.  The idea of actually talking to a stranger is something that is very unnatural.  People don’t want to be bothered.  They have more important things to do. And frankly, we don’t want to be seen as Jehovah’s Witnesses—they’re the only ones that talk to strangers about religion, we’re more savvy than that.  That’s a private matter that is better addressed when…

And that’s when I realized that I couldn’t complete that thought.  When is the right time to talk about Jesus?  How much relational capital needs to be built before we make a segue into what is the most important decision anyone will ever make.  That’s when it hit me: my fear of being awkward in striking up a conversation about Jesus with strangers occupied the same space in my heart where, years ago, I had a fear of monsters under my bed.  The thought of looking under my bed was terrifying; however, when I actually looked under my bed and saw there were no monsters, it was liberating and I saw just how unwarranted my fears were.  This past week, I had the same epiphany with the fear of striking up conversation and quickly shifting to Jesus.

Evangelism to strangers is only awkward….in theory

G.K. Chesterson says, “Christianity hasn’t been tried and found difficult, it has been found difficult and left untried.”  This week, I re-learned that evangelism to strangers is more awkward in theory than it actually is in practice.  I was amazed how easy and naturally conversation started when I just asked people to tell me their story and then camped out on a point where they highlighted something spiritual.

Here’s the truth: we live in a world where people look more busy than they actually are.  You’ve seen it in meetings (or you’ve been guilty of it in meetings).  Someone looking so intensely at their phone or their computer screens with beads of sweat dripping down their face.  As you navigate around them to see what they’re doing, you see that they’re not agonizing over spreadsheets or balance statements, they’re agonizing over where they are going to play their “V” in Words with Friends.  We live in a world where people are filling up their time with things to keep them distracted from the loneliness they’ll undoubtedbly feel if they don’t do anything else.  They are longing for meaningful interactions.  This past week, I had the opportunity to have conversations about people’s hopes, dreams, aspirations, hang-ups, backstories, frustrations, etc.  And every last one of the conversations was a welcomed breath of fresh air.

Clarity and comfort for the obedient

There are two types of people. Those who make excuses and those who actually have experiences.  What I’ve come to realize is that both of these groups become a self-fulfilling prophecy to themselves.  In evangelism, there are plenty of excuses that you can use to justify your disobedience to 2 Timothy 4:5 (…do the work of an evangelist).  Quite frankly, this past week, I heard just about all of them (many of them I said to myself and many of them I heard from other people). What’s funny is that people who make excuses and never get over their initial fear of awkwardness soon start to believe that their fears are realities.  Those that never look under their bed will forever be afraid of the boogey man.  Those that never proactively share their faith or direct conversations towards the hope of Jesus will forever be afraid of awkwardness.

Here’s the blessing though: those that actually have the experience of talking to someone else about Jesus finally understand that there was nothing to be afraid of.  The only way that you’ll ever really know if fear is warranted is to embrace that fear head on.  The only way to get over your fear of monsters under your bed is to look under your bed.  The only way to get over your fear of evangelism is to evangelize.  No sermon is going to do it for you.  Clarity and comfort to God’s will comes through obedience.  Nothing less than obedience will reaffirm the things God has called you to do.

The funny thing is, you can agree or disagree with my philosophy as you sit here and read this blog.  You may or may not be right.  However, there is one way to know for certain if I’m right or wrong, and that’s to actually have this experience for yourself.

So, go ahead.  Prove me wrong.

John O. | Blueprint Church

I know this all too well because in Christianity, especially in the US, people are driven by fame and being recognized, and they feel pressure from all sides to do something great for God.   This pressure has a way of making people discontent with the life that God has given them, and motivates them to pursue some greater opportunity to really authenticate their faith.  Time and time again, this great pressure has probably been one of the greatest deterrents from people actually doing anything.

One of my guiding philosophies of life is to be driven by need rather than opportunity.  To clarify, there is nothing necessarily wrong with making certain decisions based on the best opportunity.  I don’t want to place a false dichotomy here as if need and opportunity are in some kind of battle. What I mean is that when faced with a decision to take a great opportunity that may be more beneficial or comfortable for me or to meet a need that God has placed right in front of me, I’ve learned that I tend to navigate through life trying to meet the needs.  I may be reacting, but in our culture of fame-chasing, I’ve seen way too many guys (including myself) chasing opportunities to advance their name and platform at the expense of meeting real needs right in front of them.  I’m disgusted with myself when I fall into this trap, and looking over my life I’ve realized that I am more confident in God’s leading when I’m meeting needs.

Simply put, the only way that I know how to be led by God (granted there may be other ways, I just haven’t experienced them thus far) is to meet the needs that are right of front of me.  I’m a fixer; I’m a helper.  I rarely have great vision for the future or the horizon, because I’m constantly focused on compassion for what is right in front of me.  I know vision for the horizon is needed; that’s why I surround myself with men of great vision for the horizon.  (I’ve learned it’s better to surround myself with someone that is authentically something than to try myself to be something that I am not).  Anyways, I find myself being led by God by meeting the needs that are right in front of me.  I’ve known Him to be faithful in that way and to lead me right where He would have me.  The Bible and my past experience have only reinforced and cemented this philosophy in my life:

I mean:

1. That’s how David ended up fighting Goliath (1 Samuel 17) – he stumbled on this fight, and met the need that was right in front of him.

2. That’s how Paul ended up gaining a platform to lecture at the educational and philosophical center of the day (Acts 17) – he stumbled into this conversation and met the needs that were right in front of him.

3. That’s how the Good Samaritan etched his way into our vocabulary and became a term that even people who hate the Bible use freely. – he stumbled onto a half dead guy and met the needs that were right in front of him.

4. And…that’s the way that Charles Ramsey became who he was – he stumbled onto the needs of 3 girls that needed his help.

Our society takes guys that do these things (which are extraordinary) and then praise them (and rightly so).  And here’s the problem—not that society praises them, but that we covet that praise and attention so bad that we now begin to attempt to try and gain it.  We hope to be the next David, so we go out and feel like the right thing to do is to look for a Goliath. We want to be the next Paul, we want to be the the next Charles Ramsey, we want to be the next [insert your hero here].  And we think the way to get there is to change our activity.

And here is where the pressure starts to build.  We can’t help it.  We look at all of our neighbors, especially those we used to eat ribs and listen to salsa music with, through new lenses.  We daydream of being the guy that was the hero.  We feel the there’s a need to run and break down the door of your next door neighbors’ house if you think you hear a faint scream.  There’s this pressure to try to become the Good Samaritan by your activity–scouring the road, looking for damsels in distress, etc.  We want that affirmation so bad that we end up believing the only way that we get it is just to emulate the activity of our heroes.  In doing so; however, we completely miss the point.

Do you know what all of the “heroes” on this list (and probably on your list) have in common?  (1) At one point they were just “regular” people.  (2) They experienced a “real” burden that they just couldn’t shake or ignore. (3) They responded to that burden with initiative (to actually solve a problem and not to get recognition), and (4) when onlookers saw them, they received praise.

Do you know what’s worthy to be copied?  I’ll give you a hint; it’s not their activity.  It’s their identity.  It’s becoming the type of person that would respond to burdens that are placed right in front of them.  The world is messed up as it is, you don’t have to go looking.  You don’t have to finagle a plan or a pathway to fame; no need to feel the pressure to start a non-profit (not now at least); no need to feel like you have to earn a title by what you do.  All you have to do is to be faithful and respond to the needs that are right there.  Trust God to guide you in such a way where you find yourself on the same path with an issue that needs to be addressed, and become the type of person that would address it.

Relax.  But not too much.  Live life in such a way that you are expecting God to interrupt your “regular” life and take advantage of those opportunities.  Trust Him to lead and guide you into the activity.  You worry about your identity; you worry about becoming the type of individual that’s gripped with compassion when you walk by the same homeless people every day.  Don’t spend time trying to fabricate a burden to prove your loyalty.  Be faithful to the needs that are right in front of you.

I guarantee you, the people that you admire would have done it whether or not they knew the cameras would be coming.  To be quite frank, some of the things that God brings our way won’t get the recognition that other people get.  Some of us will spend our entire lives outside of the limelight and we’ll never do anything “great” (in the eyes of the world) for God.  But that’s okay, stay the course. Spend your time learning what would make God say, “Well done.” Aim for that.  How the world defines their heroes changes, so if that’s your target, you’ll spend your life aiming for a moving target.  While God’s standards stay consistent.  That standard is something worth giving your life to.

Besides, someone making an autotuned version of your YouTube interview is overrated.  I haven’t used my Antoine Dodson app in at least a few weeks.

]]> http://therebuildinitiative.org/uncategorized/the-next-charles-ramsey/feed/ 0 http://therebuildinitiative.org/ministering-to-the-city/a-beacon-of-light-in-a-broken-education-system/ http://therebuildinitiative.org/ministering-to-the-city/a-beacon-of-light-in-a-broken-education-system/#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 15:56:44 +0000 http://therebuildinitiative.org/?p=2188 “Only 1 out of every 14 children from a low-income community will ever graduate from college.”  When I first heard of this statistic, the ridiculously high rate immediately birthed in me a grave concern for the educational development of children in the urban context. The more I began to research the issue, the more it was clear to me that educational inequity was not only a minor political issue for the government to handle but a social injustice that we as Christians should be concerned about. As I started to look around the evangelical landscape to see who was championing this cause, I noticed that education reform wasn’t a major concern for many Christian leaders and churches. Then, I discovered Nicole Baker Fulgham. Nicole is the President and Founder of The Expectations Project, which is an organization that partners with faith-motivated individuals, leaders, congregations and organizations to develop local and national campaigns that help enact transformational change for low-income public schools. Nicole is an amazing woman and she recently was gracious enough to answer some questions about her organization and her new book “Educating All God’s Children: What Christians Can—and Should— Do to Improve Public Education for Low-Income Kids.” I hope that you enjoy the interview and please grab a copy of her life-changing book on Amazon when you get the chance.

INTERVIEW

What made you decide to become a teacher and how old where you?

I decided to become a teacher when I was in college. The main reason I decided to do it was because I’d grown up in Detroit and seen the different types of public education that Detroit public schools were offering. Some schools were preparing kids for college at a high level, and the rest weren’t doing that well. Immediately, the unequal opportunities that these schools presented for these children became a big concern to me. Beyond that, I just love working with kids.

So you worked for the national staff of Teach for America where you held several key leadership roles such as: Vice President of New Site Development, Vice President of Teacher Training and Support, and Vice President of Faith Community Relation. How was your overall experience with Teach for America?

My Teach for America experience was wonderful. As you know, Teach for America is a national non-profit that focuses on closing the achievement gap by finding people who will commit to teaching and becoming life-long advocates for kids in the urban context. My time there was such a great experience, because I got to work for a very well-run organization that was focused on goals and clear objectives, which makes work more meaningful.  I was surrounded by people who were compelled by the same mission of seeing children succeed, and I was able to learn a lot every day.

What are some of the difficulties that you and other teachers have faced while working in the urban context?

The biggest challenge that teachers face occurs when they assess their kids in the beginning of the school year, in order to figure out their strengths and weaknesses, and they discover that most kids in the urban context are much more behind academically than kids in the suburbs. While there are always exceptions to the statement, on average, it is true. For teachers in the urban context, you have to develop a real plan on how to get your kids caught up at a faster rate. You also have to find out how to build relationships with the families of these children and how to bring outside resources so that kids will be able to achieve at a high level.

You recently wrote a book called “Educating All God’s Children: What Christians Can—and Should— Do to Improve Public Education for Low-Income Kids.” One of the things that I love the most is that you talk about how your faith motivates your heart for urban education reform. When did you notice that your faith was not only something that you experienced during a Sunday service but something that permeated through all of your life and the way you care for education?

I think it always has been there for me personally. My faith became especially important to me when I went to college, and I was growing deeply in my faith. While I was a teacher, that was something that helped sustain me through the year. I used my private devotional time to pray for my students, and for myself, so I could look beyond the immediate problems in the classroom, and also so that I could have the wisdom and strength to make it through my daily challenges. But I believe it was during the last 10 years of my life when I started to encourage other people of the faith to see education inequity as a way to putting their faith in action and a way to serve those who are disenfranchised. I saw many Christians focusing on many different social issues—but not education—and I felt like there was a disconnect for most people in regards to this particular issue.

You are the President and Founder of The Expectations Project. What did God stir in you that caused you to birth this education project?

When I started doing some of my work with Teach for America four years ago, I was fortunate enough to work with a group of people to start outreaches to people in faith communities where we mainly focused on recruitment. We saw faith communities come alongside us eager to serve Teach for America, and many of them were hungry for more. They wanted to know what their churches could do, what policies they should be advocating for, and how they could change their communities. I saw a lot of great things going on, but I didn’t see a coordinated unified voice that could mobilize people of faith to create a moral framework on the issue. My work at Teach for America made it so obvious that there was a need and no one had taken a particular focus on the issue within the community of faith, and that was what led me to start this organization.  I believe that God has prepared me to do this for a while.

Can you explain to us the mission and the vision behind The Expectations Project?

The mission is to develop a network of faith-motivated advocates who will work to eliminate educational inequity in our nation’s public schools. That is the big picture vision. The way in which we do that is to focus on awareness building, action, and advocacy. We build awareness about the scope of educational inequity in the United States and why it is a moral issue. Also, we spend a fair amount of time focusing on what is possible and what we know is necessary to bring the transformational change needed—early childhood education, high quality teachers in the classroom, etc. As it pertains to action, we have seen that many congregations want to do something tomorrow so we don’t limit them to only long-term advocacy because it may take years for certain policies and changes to happen. So, we have a few different high quality options that people can get involved with, such as starting a tutoring program or thinking how to more effectively develop partnerships with the public schools to focus more on academic success. Last, advocacy is the final piece for us. We look to have our clergy to serve as the grass-top advocacy, so as we build relationships with them we encourage them to write about the issue in local papers and other media platforms. Then, at the grass-roots we encourage people to send petition letters to other people in the community in order to join the campaign for education reform.

So, what is one of the most practical ways that you believe that Christians can influence educationional reforms?

One of the ways that we can influence it is by educating ourselves to what is going on. I think that it is very easy for us to listen to sound bites about the issue and not be able to understand the why’s and the how’s and the what’s.  We don’t have to be policy experts, but we should talk to people who are working on advocacy in the community. Beyond that, there are decisions that are being made every day as it pertains to educational issues, and we should make sure that our voices are at the table. We can share our thoughts to the school boards, send e-mails to the superintendents, or send phone calls to state representatives, which are all easy ways to make our voices heard.

Last question, what is some advice that you have to offer to young inspiring teachers who want to make holistic change in the educational community?

If you are a new teacher, you can be caught up with trying to change the entire school and something broader than the classroom, but I advise new teachers to focus on creating change in the students in your class. You can make a huge impact by setting high expectations, finding ways to support your children towards reaching their goals, building authentic relationships with their parents and families, and constantly monitoring you and your students’ progress. That is the most powerful witness that you can bring to this conversation on what it’s going to take for kids to achieve. Doing so not only improves the trajectory of your classroom and the lives of your students, but it also changes you as a teacher and helps your long-term commitment to this movement. So, as for now, your biggest impact is going to occur in the classroom, and the longer you are in the school you will be able to have more leadership opportunities at your school—such as working with the principal and setting the vision for your school. But those things take time, so I would advise that you spend a lot of time in your classroom working on your practice and learning from all the valuable mentors that are around you.

You can learn more about the Expectations project here.

Now, I’m not saying that the missional movement is useless, nor am I saying that disciples have not been birth from it.  Neither am I saying that we are not called to be missional.  I’m just saying that in being missional, we need to make sure that we are making disciples and not creating missional churches full of dead “converts”.

2. A lack of Discipleship Intentionality: It seems everybody is on mission, and there is progressive movement in planting churches and launching church planting networks. Even in that, it seems that there is no progress being made in making disciples. The problem is that when it comes to discipleship, many forget that it is a task that is extremely difficult and time-consuming.  I believe we forget that Jesus, who was 100% God and 100% man only had the 12 disciples in His three years of ministry.  And of that, only 11 who were actually steadfast considering the failure of Judas.  Yes, there were many more that were birth from the 12, but that was not overnight nor was it easy. It’s not that I doubt the power of God by any means, but a mass production of disciples in a short time span is highly unlikely through the missional movement if its focus is not shifted.

In Introducing The Missional Church, the author mentions three practices of the missional church. He listed the practice of presence, the practice of love, and lastly the practice of engaging the community.  Now these practices are very evangelistic in their efforts and could possibly lead to some great evangelistic conversations and some possible converts, but not disciples. Making disciples is messy and tiresome; requires long-suffering; and it can be much effort with very little return. That’s not attractive or easy.

“Discipleship is not limited to what you comprehend, it must transcend all comprehension. Plunge into the deep waters beyond your own comprehension, and I will help you comprehend as I do. Bewilderment is the true comprehension.” Martin Luther

3.  It’s a fad.  Like all fads and popular movements, the missional movement will fall also. It’s exciting, it has momentum and energy, and it has plenty of financial support fostering its every move.  So, what happens when the excitement leaves or the energy is sapped up and the movement becomes cumbersome and dry?  This  sort of coincides with the way our culture operates when it comes to desiring what’s new.  To some who move with the way of what’s popular, the missional movement will be irrelevant like the Blackberry was when the iPhone hit the market.  Something more exciting and more promising will come along by the efforts of men. In all reality, we just need to keep it simple, stick to what works and make disciples. It’s a fad, not a trend. Google it!

4.  A Diminished view of Theology:  A teaspoon of Jesus will not work. Because of the heavy emphasis of doing and engaging, my fear is that many will forsake the value and importance of solid biblical teaching. It’s a difficult task to be a disciple, one who has been taught and one who continues to intimately know the risen Christ. It’s even more challenging to manage that relationship and be effective in teaching the richness of Christ to others. The challenge of discipleship is to know Christ, and I believe that theology, and a heavy proper dose of it, is essential for healthy discipleship. Discipleship is to follow Christ but also to know Christ and to make him known.  We must continue to labor in the doctrine of Christ as well as in engage the culture to make disciples through the power of the Spirit.

“Discipleship means adherence to Christ, and because Christ is the object of adherence, it must take the form of discipleship.  An abstract Chistology, a doctrinal system, a general religious knowledge on the subject of grace or on the forgiveness of sins, render discipleship superfluous, and in fact they positively exclude any idea of discipleship whatsoever, and are essentially inimical to the whole conception of following Christ.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

- Aaron Anderson | Imprint Director at Blueprint Church

]]> http://therebuildinitiative.org/uncategorized/4-red-flags-in-the-missional-movement/feed/ 0 http://therebuildinitiative.org/uncategorized/homosexuality-and-other-loaded-words/ http://therebuildinitiative.org/uncategorized/homosexuality-and-other-loaded-words/#comments Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:33:46 +0000 http://therebuildinitiative.org/?p=2153 It’s hard to have a fruitful conversation about faith & homosexuality these days unless you’re having them with people that already think like you on the topic.  Hopefully, what follows will lead all of us (whatever side you’re on) to having conversations about these topics that actually lead somewhere.

PRIVILEGE

As you may assume, I am neither British nor a Neo-Nazi. I am strongly opposed, as are most, to any form of modern-day slavery. But I must confess an unsettling truth: I discriminate on the basis of race. I wish this was not the case, but it is a hideous truth. It is not overt, it’s in the form of microagression. For example, I don’t say to a black congregant, “Please excuse me. I’d prefer to talk with this white man.” But I naturally gravitate towards those who look and dress like me. If I see ten Latinos in a car, I think to myself, “Well, that makes sense.” And I find a confirmation bias operative when an Asian American has a camera around her neck, or if she solves a math problem faster than me. And so, while I am not crusading for the mass extermination of a people group or believe that someone is three-fifths of a person, I relegate minorities to their respective stereotypes and thereby minimize their personhood. In so doing, I stifle the intended diversity of God’s creative genius through my subconscious sense of superiority. I am certain this will be a lifelong struggle for me. Unfortunately, my socialization runs deep.

Sadly, I am not the only one for whom this is true. It may seem obvious, but stereotypes exist because people stereotype. It’s easier to draw a caricature than to explore the complexities of someone who is different from us. By consequence, churches are largely segregated because people like hanging out with those who look, talk, and act like themselves. But is that what the church is meant to be? I don’t believe so, and neither does my church, Renovation. The last phrase in Renovation’s tagline is “Transculturalism” because we believe the family of God extends beyond friendship to community. Biblical community, which flows out of the gospel, calls us to the cruciform life, a life of sacrifice and discomfort for the good of the other. Yet, the most difficult part of having this discussion is convincing whites that they receive privileges as the majority culture and that minority cultures are still often the target of racist acts.

UNDERLYING ISSUES

A few months ago I tweeted the following: “If you think racism doesn’t exist, you’re probably white and only have white friends.” My intention was to express the shift in thinking I recently had made as a result of my experience. A few days prior to the tweet, I witnessed two obvious acts of racism. In both cases, my black friends were treated disrespectfully for no apparent reason, while I was treated with disinterest or favor. I wanted to communicate to my followers that some whites do not realize the preferential treatment they receive until they spend meaningful time with people of color. I wasn’t prepared for the anger that tweet elicited from my white friends and Twitter followers. What was more interesting was the overwhelming agreement and number of retweets I received from my black friends and Twitter followers. Did my white friends and followers feel accused? It was a conditional statement and had the caveat “probably.” Were all my black friends and followers just overly sensitive? Or had they recognized the same blindness in their white friends as I had noticed in myself?  I think it’s hard for us to admit that racism exists—even more, that it exists in us!—when we aren’t on the receiving end of it.

GOSPEL OF RECONCILIATION

As a minister in a minority context and as a white man, I must admit that racism still exists and that I am in some way complicit. I regularly fight the urge to justify myself and instead be introspective and assess my motives in the choices I make and the emotions I feel in regard to claims of discrimination. We must take hold of feelings of superiority when they arise, stare our sin in its face, confess it to God and those we have offended, and repent of it. It is only through the gospel of Jesus Christ, where our depravity comes face to face with the grace of Christ, that our false sense of superiority is exposed and we can faithfully minister within a minority context.

As those words exited my mouth this past Sunday, they cut me to the core. Earlier in the sermon, I’d shared how God has been showing me my own covetousness. My wife and I have two kids already, Serenity & Joelle, and she was ready to hang up childbearing. It wasn’t that I wasn’t with her on that, but selfishly I would contend that decision was contingent on what we were having this time. I wanted a boy. Badly. When things would get tense, I would joke with her saying, “Look, God is the one who’s in control so if you got beef, pray and eat more chicken!”

She never thought that was funny.

With two girls already, I also joked around by saying that if the Lord gives me another girl, that’s Him telling me to either move to Tibet or some other foreign land full of monks and eunuchs, He wants me to get a cross bow like Darryl from The Walking dead, or He wants me to plant churches in prison because that’s probably where I would end up in their teens! The funny thing is, no amount of joking could cover the fact that in my heart the desire for a son was so strong that I would view God as less than and even punishing me if He withheld one from me. Even though we have two beautiful and amazing girls, and I know some of my very best friends are still waiting for one child. In spite of that, I wanted Noah. I wanted to give him my deceased little brother’s first name as his middle. I wanted him to rewrite the narrative of our family name so that it becomes synonymous with a relentless pursuit for Christ. I wanted to look him in the eyes and tell him to stand firm as a man of God in an age where biblical manhood is like “Where’s Waldo?”. And that’s a very good desire, but it’s a terrible god. So, as I described what covetousness does, I realized in that illustration what my own heart was saying, “I would sacrifice God for a son.”

Needless to say, I was ready to get off the stage.

After I finsihed preaching, I sat down and shed a couple of tears while other people sung. After service, I went to my office, repented and prayed for forgiveness. That moment pushed me over the line and in my heart I said, “God you’re more gracious than I deserve. If I never see a son, Your beauty and glory isn’t diminished. And I’m not going to selfishly dig my feet in the ground if we don’t get a boy, if my wife really feels she’s done having children.” Just so happens, later on in the day, we were having a gender reveal for our new child, and I was going to find out what we were having along with our community.

5:15 pm we’re about to open up the box full of balloons that will reveal what we are having. It was either full of pink or blue ones. Before we proceed, John pulls me aside and says, “Make sure you react with joy no matter what.” I thought to myself—seeing as he and his wife were two of only four people who knew the gender—that he was obviously trying to prepare me for “disappointment”. Good thing God did that for me earlier!  But, we open the box and blue balloons ascend into the air, as I start the victory lap around the house!

Victory! Right?

Well, covetousness isn’t dealt with by us getting or not getting what we want. Covetousness is dealt with as God gets a hold of our heart. My covetousness didn’t go away when I saw those blue balloons; it was dealt a deadly blow when God exposed the weight of my sin and how I shelved Him for it. And how I didn’t have my hope, energy, and worship anchored where it should’ve  been the whole time—in the hands of a holy, beautiful, and gracious God. I don’t think me getting a son was a lesson in perseverance (because God heard my prayer and responded favorably) as much as it was me, through prayer, having my heart exposed and God wrestling my heart into submission and faith.

Before these thoughts continue and become a novel, let me close with a few things I’ve thought about since:

1. Covetousness is rooted in the heart, so while it manifested itself as a desire for a son recently, in a few days it could be something else.

2. The prayer games we play with God reflect the condition of our heart, not His capacity to hear or answer our prayers.

3. The question we need to ask ourselves regularly is, “Does God get your sacrifice or do you lay your life and His on the altar of covetousness?”

By the grace of God, these are thoughts I hope to share with Serenity, Joelle, and Noah one day.

- Muche Ukegbu, Blueprint Church

DISTINCT DIFFICULTIES

Still, ministering in the hood provides a unique plethora of challenges. One of my mentors refers to it as “distress.” My neighborhood is consumed with distress. As a matter of fact, research has shown that those who live and minister in the inner-cities of America will make it 5-7 years before quitting or being disqualified.

Let me give you a sense of how certain elements—(1) Sins of church members (2) sins of the pastor and (3) distress of the neighborhood—combine to create some real hurdles. Over the past few months, we have been experiencing great difficulties in the life of our church. Satan has devised a scheme using sin in the lives of some of our members to create some serious problems. But Christ has already promised to protect His church, and we are rallying together to continue the mission He has called us to. We also hold no bitterness towards anyone involved. They are a part of our family. Yet, these things are heartbreaking and heavy.

In addition to the church related problems that we face, I have had to walk through the following distresses from my beloved neighborhood in a three-week span:

(1) While checking on a member of my congregation who was wounded in a violent situation, I received a text from my wife saying that she was huddled up in the bedroom with the children because she heard gunshots nearby! (2) A few days later, I was sitting in the den of my home counseling a member through some tough issues, while texting a young man in my neighborhood who was in the middle of a shootout!! Though he was too angry to talk with me, he would text me about this shooting that could have ended up in multiple deaths. (3) About a week later, my family and I pulled into a McDonald’s parking lot to try the new Berry Slushy (don’t quote me on the name). As we approached the drive-thru window, a Suburban full of cops slammed on their brakes face-to-face with our vehicle. They jumped out with guns along with a few dozen other cops in other vehicles around the parking lot. They all swarmed on a nearby car! As things unfolded, I realized that we were in the middle of an undercover drug bust! We could do nothing but watch—hoping that they didn’t have to fire their weapons. We saw so much that when the drug dealer was taken out of the car, my three-year-old daughter asked, “What did the man do to be taken away like that?” (4) Less than a week later, I was driving down the street when, suddenly, two unmarked cop cars full of police did a U-turn in the middle of the intersection and rushed to a house in front of me. (5) This round of neighborhood distress was topped off by a cop chasing a man on foot through the projects as I drove down the street…on a Sunday after church.

DOUBLE TROUBLE

Sin in the church is one thing, but the distress of my neighborhood is an entirely different ball game. If that wasn’t enough, I have sin in my own life. I am not always the husband, father, pastor, or child of God that I should be.

To quote my mentor again he says, “Distress (issues of an inner-city neighborhood) + Dysfunction (sin in my own life) = Kablooeey!”

If I could add a variable to this equation for pastors I would say “Distress + Dysfunction + Disillusionment (sins of church members) = Disaster!”

The only variable that I have control over is my own dysfunction. Pray that I would see my own sin clearly. Pray that I would deal with it fiercely. If not, it is only a matter of time before I’m another statistic.

GRACE OF GOD

So, are you sure you want to be a pastor in the hood? I don’t want to deter anyone unnecessarily, but if you are sure, take heed to the words of Paul, “Guard your life and your doctrine.” By the grace of God, being on guard is the only hope we have in the inner-city; yet, far too many take it for granted.

My respect and admiration for the Apostle Paul grows leaps and bounds by the minute. As I ponder my own context, which pales in comparison to the circumstances he ministered in (2 Cor. 11:24-28), I’m in awe of his life and ministry. No wonder he was constantly speaking of an understanding of his own sin, the grace of God, and the power of the Gospel. Anything less would have caused disaster.

-Terrence Jones, Strong Tower Church

This article was original posted on The Urban Gospel Mission. 

Unfortunately, this is the state of many of the “up and comers” in our community.  A late professor used to make a statement that couldn’t be more indicative of where we are today. He said, “many Christians are like bad photos overexposed and undeveloped.” Living in the era of the retweet, I believe that we’ve lost the concept of original thinkers and thought development.  Individuals are on social media and the Internet all day, gather information and a few good quotables from people (that have actually read books and thought through things) and they retweet, email, share, repeat, and pass it along.  So many of us are carrying conversations forward, but never advancing them, and there’s a world of difference between the two.

The same professor would tell us, “I want to produce preachers, not parrots; originals, not carbon copies; communicators, not embalmers.”  As of late, there have been quite a few conversations revolving around a few things from: church planting in the urban context, celebrating the image of God (even in the most godless cultures and individuals), and doing away with the sacred-secular divide.  I praise God that at least we are spending our time talking about things that are productive and have the potential to impact the culture we live in in a huge way.  However, unless we move from spreading the conversation to advancing the conversation, we’ll only produce parrots and not people that can actually turn the potential for something great into something that’s actually great.

“You will either ride on your background, or you will build on your background.”  Let’s build on the backgrounds that we have.  Let’s go deeper and begin to unpack what actually needs to take place for churches to be planted in the urban context.  Where are the individuals that are laying the groundwork and really addressing the issues of seeing minorities trained theologically at the highest level?  Why are we creating a farm system to raise up PhDs and EdDs that are indigineous to the urban context?  Where are all the great thoughts and ideas about providing solid theological training in the context by indigineous leaders?  Surely there are roadblocks that need to be thought through and addressed in such a way that will provide real tangible results in the way of producing leaders who will lead churches.

Let’s go deeper and unpack what actually needs to take place for God to truly be glorified in our art.  Let’s think deeper about the image of God.  Let’s consider that as much as image is a noun that refers to our identity and capability to display God, it’s also a verb meant to refer to our function.  We are to image God properly.  Because of sin, this image has been deformed and as sure as we can celebrate the fact that it’s present (even in the most godless of cultures and individuals) we must recognize that it needs to be corrected (even in the most godly of cultures and individuals).

Let’s go deeper with the sacred-secular divide.  How many people that comprehend this truth are miserable when they go to work every morning at their seemingly “dead-end” job?  How many stay-at-home moms that comprehend and can recite these truths in our churches and neighborhoods are struggling with a sense of dignity?  How are we refining this conversation, advancing it, and moving it forward?

In a results oriented society, we often equate productivity with expansion.  The broader the reach of what is being said, the more productive we are.  If we load up enough parrots with nuggets of truth and unleash them, they can take “words” as far as they can fly.  However, that doesn’t mean that communication, understanding, or change will occur.  Understand, productivity isn’t always in expansion; productivity can take place through excavation—taking what’s already been exposed and digging deeper.

God has used instrumental individuals to get us to start thinking about right thinking.  My prayer is that in an era where fame, recognition, and success can be gained through parroting truth into a context that has been devoid of it in many areas, God would raise up men who aren’t content with being a mile wide and an inch deep.  If anything, this is a plea for us to start digging deeper and shifting our energy to advancing conversations that are already on the table.  That just might mean that instead of highlighting and tweeting your favorite quotes from books that you might actually have to spend some time writing down your thoughts on paper.  There’s something powerful about looking at your immediate context and filtering everything that you read through two words…”So what?”

You may just surprise yourself with an original thought.

-John Onwuchekwa, Blueprint Church