Entries from August 2008 ↓

Well I’m on the road with my friend Tim Watson heading to Springfield, MO for a buddy’s wedding. We are discussing life politics and such while listening to the Democratic National Convention on NPR.

He is talking to his momma right now so I’m not ignoring him, by geeking out on my iPhone…

Barack Obama is about to go on stage and I am anxiously awaiting the tone and content of his speech. Al Gore spoke earlier and was good (though a little corny), he seems to always be pluging his Noble Peace Prize and his “almost presidency”. Blah.

The scene, as described, seems to be electric as many are packed into the stadium which is set up like a rock concert.

In other news I am employed! I accepted a job with LifeChurch.tv as a project manager on Team Digerati. It is a dream job and am excited about hitting the ground running on Tuesday!

Cool.

It is Monday morning, and all is well… I am about to head off to paint a house with my friend Greg, should be a good day.

In blog news, my friend Joe (O’)Quinlin and I are going to start a blog conversation on politics. The format will be as such: each of us will discuss our candidates platform and then where we personally stand on the issue. I am anticipating many places that I do not support Obama fully and He is anticipating the like with McCain. So we’ll see where it takes us. As always, it will be in a “friendly-conversational” format, with love and respect for one another as the foundation upon which we disagree. Our hopes is that in our opposition we will learn to disagree well.

I have recently been in transition (ie: job hunting… btw are you hiring?), and through this time, I have been soliciting advice from some of my friends/mentors/acquaintances/and strangers. This is always fun as many people have many opinions on what I should do with my life… and by fun I mean, shoot me in the foot, kick me in the woooo-hooo, and dip me in tartar sauce, fun.

To be honest, even some of the harsh criticism has been good, constantly bringing me to my knees and directing me to the throne of God, in whom I can unabashedly ask, “Lord, What the Crap!?”

As I wade through the lurid pools of advice and filter out the gems from the turds… I am reminded of a few verses that are especially relevant:

Proverbs 12:15 - “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.”

Proverbs 13:10 - “By insolence comes nothing but strife, but with those who take advice is wisdom.”

Proverbs 19:20 - “Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.”

Ecclesiastes 4:13 - “Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.”

And so I am. Wading through the filter looking for pearls of wisdom from the mouths of fools.

POV part one - oral culture/liturgical church

“The development of the printing press signaled the world’s first step into mass communication, arguably the most profound cultural dividing point in history.”¹ - Rex Miller, The Millennium Matrix

The Gutenberg press set the Bible in movable type around 1454, giving the (illiterate) masses the chance to read the sacred text that only the social elite had access to. Thereby elevating the peasants potential knowledge base to that of popes and kings. Some have said that the invention of the printing press was the start of the downfall of the Church, as now the uneducated would begin to read and decipher this ancient and complicated texts… And while I am grateful to have a Bible of my own, I see the point, as this invention produced a torrent of activity within the Church for the next 500 years (and beyond). Because everyone has access to the Bible, we have become a nation of armchair theologians, Now, any 35 year-old with any sort of personality, can start a church (in a school cafeteria), and base his opinions on his own doctrine… picking and choosing what to glean from his denominational audits throughout his youth.

I’m not saying that mass-printing of the Bible was bad(ie; there was a ton of good), it just has had some long-lasting effects that weren’t foreseen. But back to the topic at hand… Mass-printing and the Reformation.

From Messenger to the Message: The basis of understanding moved from person to person, master to apprentice, to books, lines of type, to print. The world became linear rather than a relational. Wisdom was found in knowledge of the message rather than first hand experience.

From Context to Content: A shift from receiving with the eye instead of the ear, created a vast change in perspective, no longer caring about the context of the messenger, rather the content of the message. The Modern Man. A rational, autonomous, self-made being.

• Understanding through analysis replaces understanding through dialogue
• Individual autonomy replaces community allegiance
• Conceptual understanding of God replaces a relational orientation toward God.
• Reading about the gospel in a book replaces experiencing the gospel through ceremony and ritual
• Ethical principles replace moral choices
• Pedagogy replaces mentoring
• Logical reasoning replaces dialectic exploration

Cultural Impact: Perspective.  Through this shift in communication came with it a shift in artistic interpretation, from the flat, round faces in earlier paintings to the depth and realism of the Renaissance.

Spiritual Impact: The Centerpiece for Reformation Theology was that the written word became the ultimate standard of authority.  Luther may have said it best in the Diet of the Worms in 1521, “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason–I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other–my conscience is captive to the Word of God.”² Hence the proliferation of denominations which is ongoing still today.

Educational Impact: Before print - master taught apprentice, apprentice became master, and so on… With printed books came the educational system we know of today, the teacher disseminates information to multiple pupils, guiding them to books that contain more information for their use. One-to-Many teaching replaced One-to-One teaching.

Roots of the Church: From Intimate connection to a place of rational detachment (beginnings of the Reformation). Print makes the message more important than the messanger. Truth, in print cultures, shifts from its relational foundation to principle or propositional truth. The Bible replaces the Church as the source of authority and truth. Sola Scriptura - The Bible usurps the oral message (the good news) of God and Jesus the Christ.

Faith is Belief: Faith shifts from trust in the Word of God (Jesus) to belief in the printed word of God (the Bible).  This approach bred systematic theology, reason, analysis, and rational explanation of doctrine. The print revolution also brought with it a linear progression to Faith (think the Romans Road approach to evangelism):

• We are sinners, and sin is apart of our nature
• We can’t overcome sin on our own to reach God
• God came to earth in the form of a man, born to a virgin
• Jesus lived a sinless life and is able to make a bridge for us to God
• Jesus offered his life as an act of obedience and sacrificial payment for our sin
• He rose as Christ, validating his sinless life and his power over death
• We can experience rebirth and resurrection life by accepting our condition and Christ’s payment.

The Reformed (or Protestant mind) favors an individualistic, analytical, linear approach to relationship with God, which relies strictly on the Biblical text (Bibliology - a certain form of idolatry which is puts the Bible above Jesus and the message of the Gospel).

Worship Service: Orderly, the service is in a consistent and logical order building up into the preaching of the word.  Church service are to inform and reinforce God’s truth.

Worship Style: Hymns

Church Architecture: Functional:  outside and inside.

Next, we will look at how broadcast communication changed culture even further.

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1. Miller, Rex; “The Millennium Matrix“  (2004) Josey-Bass,  San Fransisco; p. 35

2. Ibid, p. 44

Question 1 - What makes church healthy?

Question 2 - Describe any experiences you’ve had at a healthy church?

Question 3 - Is Western Christianity doing its job? If yes, why? If no, what could be done?



I don’t think Western Christianity is doing its job…. I could cite book after book, survey after survey of why the Church is failing. Even in the failure, God continues to use a flawed system to do miraculous things for His Kingdom, but we mustn’t use this excuse to ignore the problem.



Right now we have 3 different era’s alive and contributing to society, the Boomers, Busters and Mosaics… In the next twenty years we are going to see a big drop in Church tithing, as the Boomer are the biggest givers (who have financed most Church growth in the last 50 years). The Buster’s and the Mosaics choose to give their tithes to other sources, namely social and environmental causes. If nothing changes, the Church will lose its funding and therefore lose its ability to present the programs it has built into the “Church Experience” we are witnessing today. Sorry, there is no citations here… but most of this is readily available in George Barna’s book “Revolution;” “The Millennium Matrix” by Rex Miller; “Irresistible Revolution” by Shane Claiborne; and “Everything Must Change” by Brian McLaren; just to name a few of the authors talking this lingo…

So, what can be done?! It seems that the biggest obstacle of the Church is to transition from program based Church to missional based church. A big challenge when faced with the gap in communication styles between the Boomers and the Mosaics. Only a few pastors I have talked to are in tune with this cultural transition, and there is major dissonance in their opinions on how Church should respond. Some chose to ditch the boomers entirely and focus on missional style church, while others can’t quit the money stream and remain focused on maintaining the status quo, even as the status quo dies off. It is a fascinating time to be in vocational ministry, that is for sure!



My prayer is that the church, in whatever form, chooses to be committed to community and finds a mission to take part in (not only to give money to, but to also get their hands dirty in). The Kingdom of God is here and now and I want to be apart of refocusing minds not on a building of stone and clay, but on proclaiming the foundation of Christ.

Just like community, the church is best when there is a missional focus. This missional attitude is the sticky part of community, it is the glue that holds relationships in place. Everyone needs two things in life to be fulfilled: Affirmation (love) and a sense that they are contributing to something meaningful (being an integral part of the whole). Therefore, it would make sense that a community of believers who have decided to join the work of God in this world, would choose to attach themselves to a mission of sorts whether it is the poor, the homeless, the addicted, or international students, Africa, orphans, special needs, wells for africa, the mocha club, et cetera… The healthiest, churches are ones in which their lives are centered not around themselves but around a greater need.

That is what Jesus has called us to be: Missionaries to the world, no matter where we live, sleep and eat.

Question 1 - What makes church healthy?

Question 2 - Describe any experiences you’ve had at a healthy church?

Okay, this is going to be answered from the perspective of the body of Christ, a community of believers, not the Church as an organization.  The healthiest church has always been one that holds community in high regard, and strives to bring the Kingdom of God to this world (has a mission).  In my life, Church has always been ugly.  In that light, you can see why much of what I say is anti-Church and pro-church…  The following are some specific instances where I have experienced a healthy church:

FCA summer camps (2001-2004) - This was my first taste in community of believers, centered around athletics and Jesus.  It was a with a group of 10-15 counselors that I trained for 3 summers in a row.  Truly an awesome time in my life.  Prayer was daily, Worship was passionate, and Competition was fierce!  We were friends from different Universities, different upbringings and different denominations, but all united around one mission, that was to proclaim the adventure of receiving Christ as Lord through the avenue of athletics.

Kanakuk Colorado (2005-2007) - A truly beautiful experience where a community becomes so close it transforms friendships into family.  I give credit to this place for awakening my desire for Christ and a community to worship Him in.  It was a chapter of my life that is a mix of joy and sorrow - within a close-knit community you share in the joys and sorrows of each member…  We experienced both the celebration of marriage(s) and the grief of premature death within the three years I worked at this place.

Norman Community Church (2004-2006) - During Grad school at OU, I was apart of a Church that did church like I’d never seen before… With the housechurch as the core place of worship, Church was decentralized and the community was empowered to be missional in their approach.  Housechurches were characterized by their unique missional focus, ie: Greek, International, College, Married, Special Needs, Homeless, et cetera… Each housechurch was directed in ministry by the pastor and leadership team. Sunday celebration was held twice a month at a school cafeteria and the other Sunday meetings were held at peoples homes.  Accountability was directed from a paid pastor who met directly with housechurch leaders and had additional accountability through a sister church in OKC.  It was not perfect but it was a joy to be apart of, a very genuine place… as well as a place where people got the opportunity to be church as opposed to just doing Church.

Recently I have been more aware of my carbon footprint, energy consumption and the all-around sustainability of my actions. Many books, articles, documentaries have stimulated thought and offered solutions, and through this gathering of information I have become acutely aware that “saving the planet” must start with me and my sphere of influence.  One interesting thing I have found is an article on the Pacific Garbage Patch, a amalgamation of floating plastic (polymer based material that is non-biodegradable).  This floating patch of waste is no small matter as it is currently the size of the continent of Africa. What!

Finding out about these ecological disaster areas motivates me to reduce my plastic intake. In lue of this, I have taken two steps towards reducing my plastic consumption… they are relatively easy, albeit sometimes hard to implement, and are in-line with a pledge I took to Rise Above Plastic, through the Surfrider Foundation (of which I’ve been a member of since 2006).

Using reusable bottles for water and other drinks, you will keep 167 single-use plastic bottles from entering the environment.

Using cloth bags for groceries and other purchases you will save approximately 400 plastics from being used and discarded.

I challenge you to take the pledge and help lessen your carbon footprint on the earth. It is a small, but important step in changing your behavior towards the 3 R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle).  Hardest part about it is remembering the clothe bags before you go in the grocery store (I keep them in my truck and then when I’m done unloading I put them by the door to take back out to my truck.  Also I keep my Sigg water bottle in the side pocket of my messenger bag, so I always have it handy.

Just a little preface. The following is mostly my opinion, (answers to a friend questions about the health of church) though it is based in scriptures, theological/social/biblical) commentary and experience; it is not absolute. God is moving in many different forms of Church and we can not say that there is one form of church that is perfect, (even though I may say one is better than the rest… it is far from perfection). Also, it depends on who we are ministering to, boomers (1940-1965) and early buster’s (1965-1975) prefer presentation (program based church), while late busters (1975-1985) and mosaics (1985+), prefer more of a convergent, missional church.

Also, many people are fearful of confronting the institution of Church, because they fear being called a heretic for their questioning… but as many wise people have said, it is in questioning and seeking that we find truth! Besides a heretic is only someone who questions Orthodox belief… there was a time when Galileo was a heretic for believing the earth was round (sidenote: flat-earthers still exist)

So with that preface I’ll begin answering a few questions on church health.

What makes church healthy?

A couple of definitions:

Church (capital C) - the institution of religious practice; the local congregation; the denominations; the buildings; mainline and evangelical; basically Western Churchdom.

church (small c) - the bride of Christ; the body of Christ; a community of believers; not relating to a building, sect, or denomination.

I suppose you are asking what makes the Church healthy, being the local congregation or the institution of religion we call Church. If we are looking at the Church in this way, we must first identify the hierarchy of the current system of Church, mainline or evangelical (it is mostly the same). They are formed in the likeness of a corporation, with a CEO (pastor), Board of Directors (staff, deacons and elders) and shareholders (the congregation). This hierarchical system can be a expansive and powerful machine, or a small-time, mom and pop shop. Either way the goal is the same to preach a message that is related to truth, but not too truthful as to upset the shareholders (which provide the operating budget).

This is a tricky proposition, as the CEO has two masters to appease, one of preaching Christ Crucified and the other of paying off the note on the new million dollar sanctuary.

Now I am being a little facetious… as many churches across this great nation are doing great things in the name of the Lord, with flat screen TV’s in the sanctuary, multi-million dollar facilities and smoke machines for the praise band.

It is not necessarily the form of church I prefer, but again God is using it in a mighty way.

Now, the health of these organizations is reflective of the leadership’s capacity. The leader is the lid - and no organization/ministry can grow past the capacities of it’s leader. If a leader empowers his/her people, as a true servant-leader, much can be done in the name of the Lord. But if the leader is unwilling to give up control and leads as a tyrant (yes, even some pastors lead in this way), the church can not do much good.

Now it is true that God used an Ass, but that doesn’t mean we have to be Asses.

So health of a Church is a direct reflection of the leadership. Healthy-humble leadership = healthy-usable Church.

Our first culture was oral, based in the spoken word. The air was filled not by radio waves or the instant connections of cyberspace but by human voices: person to person. Oral communication is not only about speaking but also about hearing: not reading the printed word, watching television or movies, or visiting a Web site. In fact, the ancient Hebrews considered understanding to be a type of hearing. - Rex Miller, “The Millenium Matrix” pg 19.

Imagine a world without the constant buzz of airplanes above; without the sputtering of automobiles across the highways; without books and newspapers to read; without the Internet to surf. This is the world in which Jesus of Nazareth lived, a world that birthed Christianity, a world that is hard for many of us to imagine.

This world was fundamentally different than the one in which we live today, where spoken word was the main form of communication. Yes, yes… there were alphabets, written language and scrolls documenting things, but these luxury’s could only be afforded to the wealthy and educated, a unique minority. Reading and writing was not for the common people, the poor and the ignorant. In this era news was communicated through proclamations in the town square, history was told by chief storytellers using symbolic images, metaphors and allegories, and entertainment was given through plays and theatrical performances.

Knowing this, we must re-frame our perspective of church, faith, and truth, because our T.R.E.E. of understanding is much different then that of our religious patriarchs. In his book, “The Millennium Matrix,” Rex Miller has put together a timeline of communication evolution, offering the differences in each era and how these differences direct how we define our immediate reality. The following is my regurgitation of his thoughts on the characteristics of Oral Culture/Liturgical Church:

Truth is Relational: The truth and the truth giver are intimately connected, the credibility of the message was based entirely on the credibility of the messenger. Hence why killing the bearer of bad news was not abnormal.

Faith is Trust: Faith is not based on conscience or an “internal voice or compass” but rather on the voice of God or one of his prophets. The New Testament buffets this claim, see Romans 10:17, “faith comes through hearing… hearing through word of Christ.”

The Community of Faith: In community, right belief (orthodoxy) is secondary to the action of loyalty and faithfulness.

Worship Service: Liturgy, a ceremony centered on ritual and using symbols, sacraments and signs to create a mystical event. Escatological reference - this is the foundation for the Pharisee’s belief (as well as some Christians today) that right living will usher in end times… or put another way - they are always looking for “end” cause and effect signs. (in my opinion, this option leaves us looking at the stars and waiting on God to move, rather than living our lives in response to God’s movements).

Worship Styles: Chant and Psalm.

Church Architecture: Sacred places are physical expressions of heavenly reality. Examples include Gothic architecture, where cathedrals were intricate constructs designed to bring heaven’s story, order, awe, and mystery to earth. As a illiterate peasent, you could see how these massive and beautiful creations would bring about an emotional response, the stained glass windows, the sculptures, the mosaics, the cross in the layout all told a story, proclaimed a narrative, and led many to the saving grace found in Jesus.

Shifts in Morality: Teachings were rooted in wisdom, knowledge found in experience and history. Wisdom is rooted in relationship, thereby, circumventing the logical process found in A+B=C… (wisdom gets to the solution rather than being bogged down in the process).

There is much more to digest in this re-framing, but the preceding characteristics are a great beginning place to re-think our perspective on truth, faith, church and community. Next, I will be looking at the print revolution, which started around 1500 A.D. with the invention of the Gutenberg Printing Press. Cool.