New Blog...

For those of you wondering where I've been, we moved. Not just in physical location, but also as a blog. You can follow along now here:

www.common-cup.com

Over the Sahara (Africa Post 1)

We have been traveling now for about 22 hours. In 3 ½ hours we will touch down in Nairobi for a few days of exploration regarding work to be done there. I am a bit overwhelmed, wondering how tired my body can get and what we might really be able to accomplish. My prayer is that this connection to Nairobi would be long-term. I am hopeful that we can forge a partnership with lasting relationships and impact, where children are rescued and lives restored. We’ll see.

Right now, I miss my family. There is a little girl about Malia’s age across from me, though she is black. She is beautiful and makes me miss my girls like crazy. In the midst of this crazy week of finishing school, moving houses, and heading to Africa I find myself wondering at times how much of this life I have forced and how much is given as direction by God. I think the past month is too ridiculous to be directed by me, but I’m having a hard time accepting God’s grace and provision. I finished another quarter of school, bought and moved into a house, and headed off to Africa. It's been crazy.

I am hopeful that in the next few days I will come to a moment of recognition and acceptance—a place where I know that I know I am in the center of his will.

commissioning

Last night I shared this with our college leadership group. I was wrestling with the idea of being missional and yesterday afternoon sat down and started writing about my dreams for these students. Here's what came out.




I want to make it impossible for you to simply go to church.

I want you to be consumed with the mission and message of Jesus reaching those who stand on the margins—the ones who refuse, refute, and care not for the Gospel. I want those of you on campuses to see the larger community around you—the poverty, the darkness, the systemic oppression and ignoring of the have’s toward the have-not’s.

I want you to model the Christ-community. I want you to embrace the “other”. I want you to challenge the status quo Christianity with revolutionary lives. The gospel was politically infuriating to the larger empire of Caesar. In a land where “Caesar is Lord,” Paul says, “Jesus is Lord.” What is our empire today but greed and selfishness based on false fulfillments? Jesus is still Lord.

I want you to love like crazy, give up your rights and possessions, let your pursuits be driven by mission.

I want you to become storytellers of the Greatest Story ever known. I want you to tell the story with full emotion, passion, and conviction. Let your lives be the body language—the gestures behind the story that give it life.
Give yourself away. Find someone desperate for belonging and help them belong. Then go find another someone. And then another. And maybe even more.

Blow off classes every once in a while for the sake of the mission. Spend an extra hour listening to someone. Go have a drink with someone. Watch a great film and laugh as hard as you can. Or cry.
Play a game of Frisbee with people that you normally wouldn’t. Study hard and fall in love with what you’re learning.

Hurt for someone else.
Rejoice for someone else.
Become a Barnabas.
All for the sake of the mission.

Study the world. See the world. Travel not as a tourist but as a wide-eyed anthropologist longing to see the people and not the sites. Be political. Not Democrat. Not Republican. But Kingdom. Subvert the injustice that is all around and rejoice in the fact that no politician is the Answer.

Love someone who is gay. Love someone who has had an abortion. Love someone who drinks too much. Love someone who is filled with hatred. Love someone who doesn’t deserve it.
(Because you don’t deserve it either.)

Play. Laugh. Cry. Study. Work. Dance. Dream. Plan. Sit. Stand. Walk. Run. Skip. Go. Do. Be.

All for the sake of the mission.

Leadership...

Distant Missionality

It's interesting. I'm back in Minnesota for a week of class. As I'm listening to the lecture being given, I'm surfing the web and seeing the headline of Henry Gates, an African-American professor at Harvard being arrested for breaking into his own house. Our lecture this morning turned to a theology of salvation and how it relates to all ethnic groups.

The question raised was why the American Evangelical church is so Caucasian. I think this is a great issue to wrestle with. I'm sure I have a very limited understanding, but I think to some extent our limited diversity in the American Evangelical church rests in what I would call a "Distant Missionality".

What I mean is this. When we talk about missions in our churches, predominantly we mean international outreach. It revolves around different continents and at a global level. At that level, we are often good (at least somewhat good) at contextualizing the gospel in multiple and diverse ways. We are open to becoming more "African" to reach Africans... more "Asian" to reach Asians. (I'm grossly generalizing here.)

But what about locally? When we consider missions, I think we need to be pushed toward a local missionality as well. How are our churches, our outreach efforts, contextualizing the gospel culturally in our own local settings? I know that our church is 98% white and suburban, and I'm growing more and more convicted that this isn't God's true desire for our congregation. In fact, in light of the Kingdom, I think our heart should beat for diversity as much as the disciples in Acts began to reach out to the Gentiles.

So the Gates issue today is relevant, and matters. Racism matters today. It is still prevalent and a pressing issue for us as leaders. How should we respond and engage these issues?

Wow. CNN. Wow.

CNN.com. Cover story and the first six "Latest news" headlines all pertain to Michael Jackson. Then there's one about how 7 in 10 Republicans would vote for Sarah Palin.

This is our "news".

ALIQUIPPA IMPACT

I've been spending my Tuesday mornings this summer in Aliquippa, PA. If you've never been there before Aliquippa is about 30 minutes from Pittsburgh and was hit very hard by the fall of a steel factory in the 80's. The town declared bankruptcy and has not recovered. Poverty here is systemic.

Within this area are beacons of light. I have been leading worship and doing some teaching on Tuesday mornings with about 25 summer staff of Aliquippa Impact, a ministry here in the 'Quip, as locals call it. This is an awesome staff of college students who are leading day camps and building relationships with people in the community. It is truly a privilege to be a part of this.

Also, I'm sitting right now in the Uncommon Grounds Cafe. This is a coffee shop run by an Australian missionary who came to Aliquippa with a burden to share the gospel. This is an oasis in this city, run by volunteers and committed to raising the creativity and hope in Aliquippa.

I'm really excited to be connected to these guys here, and can't wait to pour into this area more.

HIATUS.

Okay. So this has been rumbling in my mind for a while, but I think it's time. I'm going to be stepping away from blogging for a while.

This has proved to be a great outlet for me, and I may at some point return to this space, but at least for the summer I'm going to step away. There are a few reasons this is happening. One, I'm starting my final year of seminary. With Carrie being due in November it has forced me to take a third class this summer which will barely leave room for breathing. I really need to be wise with my time, and this blogging thing isn't going to fit.

Also, I need a break to rejuvenate. I will probably return to blogging in the future, either here or at another site, and I'm going to pray about what that looks like. I have some ideas, mostly tying in with the realm of college ministry, but I'm not positive yet. We'll see.

Finally, and I don't think this plays much into my non-blogging, but I want to connect at a deeper level with my family. Carrie and I are trying to sell our house, get through school, work through this college ministry and multi-site job transition, and just keep things in line. The girls are growing like crazy and time goes too fast! Even now, Carrie's away in Ohio at a baby shower weekend for her sister. In this last year of school, I want to be very cautious with my time and not lose sight of my family. We leave for the beach this Thursday for vacation, and I have a feeling it's going to be a great time of reconnecting.

Anyway, that's it. I'll be back, and I'll let you know when. It's been good to share on here.

Blessing to all of you!