the green room:

i heart phyllis tickle.

So a few weeks ago, Phyllis Tickle came and spoke to the larger community at mars (you can hear the message here at www.marshill.org ) and then stayed an extra day to unpack for our staff her upcoming book entitled the great emergence which comes out this fall.  It was simply incredible!  an overview of the the upcoming book is below...

from the church's birth, to the reign of St. Gregory the great, to the Great Schism and through the Reformation, she notes that every 500 years the church has been rocked by massive transitions. Remarkably enough, Tickle suggests to us that we live in such a time right now. The Great Emergence examines history, social upheaval, and current events, showing how a new form of Christianity is rising within postmodern culture. Anyone interested in the future of the church in America, no matter what their personal affiliation, will find this book a fascinating exploration.

one thing that she dropped that fascinated me was how biblically illiterate the church was during the days of Martin Luther.  she said that Luther believed music could infilitrate the illiterate.  he began singing the theology and offering followers new language, ideas and ways to live as Jesus did.  i think we need more of this, (people like Aaron Niequist have created powerful anthems that remind me of what it actually entails to live out the new humanity) but we need more...

we need more melodies that can infiltrate the hearts.

more hooks that can not be ignored. 

more voices rising up as one. 

what other people or bands have helped you sing a new theology? 

what is a leaders job?

Napolean once said, "the role of a leader is to define reality and give hope."  I think this is crucial to being a great leader.  you must be able to look with brutal honesty at where your organization currently is.  Not where it wants to be, not where it should or could be; but where it is.  Max Dupree, the former ceo of herman miller calls this the "is-model."  

Napoleon's statement is a great way to frame leadership.  this simple definition gives you two mandates to hold in balance: reality (the way things are) and hope (the way things can be).  Bill Hybels talks from time to time about the different hats one must wear as a leader.  what hat is easier for you to where?  Are you the reality king/queen or are you always chasing the next big idea?

remember when all you focus on is the big idea; you will have an overflow of idealism and no results.  also, when there is no hope, there is a pretty good chance that your employees will feel change fatigue, burn out and possibly even revolt.  great leaders can live between the two worlds and know when it is appropriate to define reality and give hope.

medieval times.

every year since i've been working with mhs we have had a staff retreat.  traditionally this starts by our team gathering at the door at 9am, loading up the rental van and then heading to barnes and noble to pick out a book.  from barnes and noble we then head to some place where we can rest, relax and reflect on the past year.  this year we found a castle on lake michigan, seriously a castle that reminded us all of the joys of medieval times to stay at.

we spent thursday afternoon working through a little team exercise called praise and prayer.  every team member had a journal with their name on it and we each spent 20 minutes with each person's journal looking back at the past year and praising them for something specific that they bring to this team.  each person also spent some time praying for each person and writing one way they thought they could grow in the next year as a leader.  it was pretty powerful and very helpful to read the following week some of the things my team wrote. 

then we took a break for a few hours and came back for another team excercise.  we spent the next few hours evaluating the past school year through an excercise where we asked 4 specific questions regarding five topics.  now before i give you the 4 questions, let me tell you the groundrules that were enforced for this excercise.  this excercise is a tool that is meant to be a poloroid, meaning, this is not about the past or future.  it is only a snapshot of the past school year.  so if we were to take a picture of mhs this year what would it look like?  secondly, this exercise is not about coming up with solutions but about becoming aware of what is happening presently.  lastly, people can not be afraid of saying anything dumb or hurting someone else's feelings.  they need for the sake of the ministry express what they see in the snapshot.

so we all agreed and then proceeded to ask these four questions on issues regarding volunteer leaders, events, mission, integration between 3 ministries, and staff care. 

what is right?

what is wrong?

what is missing?

what is confusing?

the results were pretty powerful and i've spent the past couple of days walking through the results and shortening the list to discover what are some real practical things that we can do to better serve students, leaders, staff and parents. 

baptism sunday part 3...

yesterday the scriptures came alive.  i love when i get the space to discover the connections that are rampant throughout the text.  i spent a good part of the morning just sitting with Matthew 4 where Jesus is tempted in the wilderness.  the connections between the three temptations and israel's journey to the promised land is quite stunning.  i'll share a couple of insights i came across...

with each of the temptations, Jesus responds with a quote from Deuteronomy, all of them commandments that Israel chose not to obey but that Jesus is determined to obey.  also, these temptations were limited to the wilderness; but rather these three were a constant in Christ's 3 years of public ministry.

after forty days and forty nights of fasting, the tempter found Jesus and said to him, "if you are the Son of God (some believe the greek translation is better translated, since you are the Son of God) tell these stones to become bread.  if the above parenthesis is a better translation, the devil begins the invitation for Jesus to deny his sonship and act more in unison with the worldly expectations of the Son of God.  to use influence for his own good rather than have integrity to his calling.

now, one of the central issues that Jesus opponents had with him dealt with his power.  they could not deny it; but chose to attribute it to satan rather than God.  they saw jesus' power more of an act of sorcery where he could manipulate the spiritual realm.  but Jesus knew how God was teaching the israelites while they were unemployed that he would provide their bread if they would just look to him (deut 8:1-5).

the second temptation is, "if you are the son of God, then throw yourself down..." Jesus responds with quoting Deuteronomy 6:16, where he stirs up memories of Israel's frustration in the wilderness.  during this time, God supplied their needs; but they demanded more forgetting how God had liberated them from their oppressors.  the Israelites perspective of their relationship with God had become distorted where they saw God as the one who serves them.  when the devil tempts Christ here, he invites Jesus to define the relationship with God.  will he be like Israel and have God serve him or will in be different?  Religious leaders follow the devils temptation later on in Jesus' life when they say, if Jesus is God's son, let God rescue him from the cross (Matthew 27:40-43). 

the last temptation, Jesus is taken to a very high mountain and is shown all the kingdoms of the world and all its splendor.  the devil offers all these kingdoms to him minus the cross, a temptation that many of us wrestle with even to this day.  even one of Jesus' closest disciples Peter echoes this same kind of thinking at Caesarea Philippi (Matthew 16:23) and Jesus responds to him like he does the devil by saying, "Away from me satan!"  Jesus' mission involves cross and so does ours...

baptism sunday part 2...

as i continue looking at the first few chapters of Matthew, i'm beginning to uncover so many possible connections.  the  connection between herod and pharoah is pretty obvious.  the infantcide that both pharoah and herod decree is similar...but have you ever noticed hosea 11:1 - it is the verse that Matthew quotes in which he says, "Out of Egypt I called my son."  now there was a teaching technique that rabbi's used from time to time called a remez.  essentially they would start a verse and then let there audience finish it in their minds.  but the first part of Hosea 11:1, before what Matthew quotes says, "when israel was a child, i loved him."  that is so fascinating to me...

also, after the escape to egypt, Joseph has a dream where an angel of the Lord says, "get up, take the child and his mother to the land of israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."  look at Exodus 4:19, do you see the parallel there?

not sure what or how any of this will be weaved into this sunday's message; but i just love seeing so many connections within the text.  i'll post tomorrow about the plethora of connections i'm finding within the 40 days Jesus spends in the wilderness.

baptism sunday...

in the coming weeks, i will be filling in for rob and teaching on baptism for our community.  this is always a special day in our communities eyes.  we bring in the spa, cut away half the stage, have a 25 minute message and then listen to a number of stories from people who are wanting to get baptized.  it's a pretty beautiful day...

but i need your help. 

i'd love to share a few thoughts i have and get your feedback on it.  a couple things to know, i will have this computer tablet on stage where i can draw and write out some of the below notes and they will magically appear on the screens. 

i will start by simply writing out four specific points in the israelites journey from slavery to promise land.  after each one, i will spend a few moments talking about it.  below are the the four and in parenthesis is a hint about which direction i'm headed:

egypt (slavery) --  red sea (baptism)  -- 40 years (wandering) -- promised land (arrival)

now, i often think this is has become a model for many people's faith journey.  you admit your enslavement or sin, get baptized, wander for 40 years until you die and then arrive in heaven.  for many this is the hope...

but what happens if you're already in the promised land?

grab a bible and look through the first few chapters of Matthew with me.  remember, this gospel was written primarily for a hebrew audience and i'm coming to believe Matthew knew what he was doing. 

Matthew 2 (egypt) -- Matthew 3 (baptism)  -- Matthew 4 (40 days) -- Matthew 5 -7 (sermon on the mount)

isn't this bizzarre?  have you ever noticed this?  read about it anywhere?  why does Matthew tell a Hebrew audience that Jesus and his family go back to egypt.  what does this symbolize?  then follows it up with baptism and then the 40 days (which everything Jesus is tempted by are things Israel chose not to follow or remember) and then the sermon on the mount which teaches his disciples how to bring heaven here. 

it's almost like Jesus is saying it's not about a piece of land it's about a way of life.  my followers, even in the midst of roman oppression will choose to live a certain kind of life that embodies the new humanity.  i want to focus on the 40 days, the sermon on the mount and then wrap it up by asking what does this all mean in regards to baptism and break that down.

but i'd love to hear your honest thoughts...

hoops of hope

tomorrow from 9am - 3pm a number of junior high students will be gathering in a middle school gym shooting free throws.  they will be participating in an event for hoops of hope which was started by Austin Gutwein, an eighth grader who lives in Phoeniz, AZ.  He started this event a few years ago when he took his love for basketball and his desire to help aids orphans in africa.  you can learn more info about Austin and his dream at www.hoopsofhope.org or you can youtube "Austin Gutwein" and watch some videos that were shown during this years final four.

headspace...

i haven't had much headspace as of late.  with a new child and the word sleep being completely removed from my vocabulary; i have had little motivation to blog.  i'm coming out of it, catching my breath and looking forward to getting back into the swing of blogging regularly.  look for some new posts to start coming tomorrow...

college interns

mars hill is pretty fortunate to have 10 colleges within a 25 mile radius of the church.  many of our leaders and interns attend or attended at one time one of these schools.  the unfortunate part for me is that i spend little to no time on any of the college campuses (except for calvin which continually brings in some of the best indie bands on a regular basis).  as we continue to try and look toward the future, we want to begin creating more consistent opportunities for some of these college students to intern with us.

as we plan for this and begin dreaming it up i've had a couple bizzare ideas cross my mind that i'd love to get your take on.  is it ridiculous to put in an intern's job description that they will help you find their eventual replacement?  the reason i thought of this is that most young emerging leaders who are fresh out of a college come with a list of names of underclassman who would be great volunteers or interns.  for those of us who are removed from many of the college campuses, these interns are some of our only real connection to that university.  i'd love to have a video intern from the local state university help us find another talented person in their program.  does this make sense?  what are your thoughts? 

ciy believe - holland

this weekend i had the opportunity to join the ciy believe tour in holland.  i had a great time getting to see the believe tour up close for the second time and share the stage with so many talented people.  Johnny Scott and his team puts so much time and effort into finding creative ways to help students connect with the story which always makes the job of the teacher so much easier.  it was great getting to connect with  a ton of junior high pastors and leaders who are longing to help their students live the best kind of life. 

if you want to learn more about believe you can check out www.ciy.com/believe

i got to sit in on some creative meetings for next years believe and i was blown away with what kind of ideas they were throwing out.  if they can pull off a quarter of what they were mapping out, i think it will really connect well with junior high students.  if you're looking for an event to take your students to next fall or spring, check out believe...