Tag Archive for 'Missional'

Driscoll Burns Sydney’s Plastic Jesus

Published
by
LayGuy
on August 29, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

My highly anticipated event at the Sydney Entertainment Centre has come and gone.  Mark Driscoll’s “Burn Your Plastic Jesus” event was a sellout with 10,000 people treated to typical “Driscollonian” brilliance.

To say that he was funny is the understatement of the year.  He had the crowd in tears on several occasions with his take on Australian, and particularly Sydney, culture.  Curiously I did see some people walk out early in the piece - most probably thinking that Driscoll was all comedy and no substance.  Their loss!

And as you can see from the photo, I did get to shake the man’s hand after the event as he stayed back and had a chat and prayer with anyone keen to meet up with him.  I’m the tall guy on the left and my mate and Pastor is on the right.  When we told him we drove up from Melbourne, he was blown away by how far we’d driven - he has done his homework on Australia!

Not since Billy Graham back in 1975 have 10,000 people packed the arena to talk about Jesus!  Driscoll has been likened by some to be the modern day Spurgeon and now he seems to be on par on what Billy G was able to achieve!

But instead of elevating him to superstar status and worship him as an idol (and heaven knows how hard some can fall - check out this story on Mike Guglielmuci), I simply take my hat off to a guy sold out on the message of Jesus and the advancement of His Kingdom.

I’ve been listening to Driscoll for 2 years to the day of the event and have seen him grow in maturity,  influence and impact as he follows his calling as founding Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle.  Additionally his work in the church planting movement Acts29 and ministry in The Resurgence and various high profile connections with some of the leading theologians of our time, has elevated Driscoll to monumental “influential” status in Christianity and indeed the world - being recently included in Seattle’s Top 25 most influential people (and this in the city of Microsoft, Starbucks and Kurt Cobain!)

But push all that stuff aside and you have a guy sold out to his hero - Jesus Christ.  The “Burn Your Plastic Jesus” event was designed to destroy the false views of Jesus held by Sydneysiders (a bunch of Australians inferior to Melbournians) and to replace it with a biblically accurate rendition of what Jesus said and did.

Thanks to Dave Miers, here are the 7 plastic Jesus perceptions Driscoll addressed:

  1. Religious Jesus
  2. Bling Jesus
  3. Moral Jesus
  4. Aussie Jesus
  5. Country Jesus
  6. Spiritual Jesus
  7. Pensioner Card Jesus

It’s my personal opinion that Driscoll held back on his assessment on many of these areas - in particular the Bling Jesus - which stands for “prosperity gospel.” He did mention that Sydney has a likening to “Bling Jesus” in particular referring to a 11% increase in “Bling Jesus” denominations.  Anyone who knows Driscoll knows that he can’t stand the “prosperity gospel” and undoubtedly he was referring to Hillsong and like minded denominations.  But as a guest to our shores - he held back.  Which was kind of strange for him.

But his pictures of the various “jesus” stereotypes and his explanations had everyone laughing - except for those who held onto these views.  I was blown away at how much he understood our culture as he went through these stereotypes.

He then took a few mobile phone Q & A’s before nailing what Jesus said and did.  In particular, he addressed the following areas:

  1. Jesus said he came down from heaven (John 6)
  2. Jesus performed miracles
  3. Jesus said he was God (Mark 14:61-64 + John 10:30-35)
  4. Jesus said he was without sin (John 8:46)
  5. Jesus forgave sin (Mark 2)
  6. Jesus is the way, truth and life and no-one comes to the Father but through him (John 14:6)

These are taken out of his book Vintage Jesus and in his explanations, he trashed the plastic views.  Personally I felt as if he rushed this area a little and would have loved to see him rip into the Revelation 19 rendition on the reality of our Glorified King - as was printed on our booklets. His teaching in this area is some of the best bible teaching I have ever heard!

But by this stage, he had been talking for a good 1.5 hours and to an unaccustomed crowd to long teaching, this may have been a little tiring.  Additionally like a good guest, I think Driscoll didn’t want to come across too strong in his views as this was his first visit here.

Having a chat with him after the event, he mentioned that he plans to hold an Acts29 bootcamp in 16-18 months time and is meeting up with John Piper and Matt Chandler next month to convince them to come down for the event.  Now that would be cool indeed!

Overall an awesome night!  Jesus was glorified, Driscoll was funny and the venue was packed!  Check out the five minute clip below of some of his teaching including a dig on the Bryon Bay dopers!  Like I said, in his 3 weeks here, he nailed our culture to the bone!  Truly a missional mindset!

Drive In Church

Published
by
LayGuy
on August 24, 2008
in Rant
. 2 Comments

I’m all for missional churches where the timeless message of Jesus is shared in a way relevant to modern culture.  But, and it’s a huge BUT, a line needs to be drawn when church is done in a missional way to cater for the downright fallen nature of mankind.

A good example of this is found in the following video where a church is held in, of all places, an abandoned drive in theater.  Check out the video below: (just get passed the 30 second ad at the beginning)

“Since I’ve been retired, I’ve decided to take the easy way and sit in the car.”

This was one of the comments of an attendee at this so called church.  Really?  The easy way?  What ever happened to counting the cost and “taking up your cross” and all that?  As Jesus sweated drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, did He do this so people can “take the easy way?”

I know the “emergent type” people would embrace this kind of church as it embraces modern culture. But even the reporter asked the question:

“What about community and fellowship?”

To which a glib reply was that people get together before and after church for coffee and catch up session. Nope sorry.  this type of “church” sucks in a major way.  This church is catering for a mindset of:

“Let’s go to church this week to make us feel good.  We get our message and feel all holy and sanctified - and we can do it in our cars while we pat our dog.  We then can go home and feel justified that we got our fill of the word and we can do it all the easy way.”

Check out the article here to see some of the comments.  An unbelieving world hates this kind of crap and the witness they leave behind is almost as putrid as as their so called church.  I guess it’s all summarised with the comments from the “pastor” when the reporter asked:

“Isn’t there a risk, when all is said and done, that it’s so convenient - God won’t count it?”

Where the pastor replies:

“I know she does”

Give me something to punch right now!  Why is the “Church” in such a spastic condition?  I guess my King knew of this when His Spirit uttered to Paul to write down the following words:

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.” 1 Tim 4:3

These old farts put their own comfort above the Body of Christ.  In doing so they make the Head look like an idiot.

3 Responses

Published
by
LayGuy
on May 4, 2008
in Bible Study, Christianity, Church and Digging Deeper
. 3 Comments

With all the talk these days about Emergent/Missional and Seeker Sensitive Churches plus the discussion around liberal or fundamental Churches and whatever else, I ground myself in Scripture as to what to expect as a reaction to the Gospel being taught.

As Christians, lets not kid ourselves about the message we deliver. We preach Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and the reasons for it. This is the Gospel and this is the message we are asked to spread across the whole earth.

All the different streams of Christianity mentioned above attempt to get this message across in a meaningful way in the hope that people respond to it. But what gets in the way is when we deliver it in a way to maximize acceptance rather then focus on the substance of what we teach.

More and more I am shifting my opinion to focusing on the message instead of focusing on the acceptance of it. And in doing so, scripture says that we will always encounter 3 responses to what we believe:

  1. Disbelief and mockery
  2. Interest and further discussion
  3. Belief and commitment

As anyone following this blog would know, I am a fan of Mark Driscoll and the Church he pastors - Mars Hill Church. Mars Hill gets its name from an interesting passage of scriptures found in Acts 17 when Paul visits Athens. The entire story can be read here.

In a nutshell, Paul visits Athens and is moved by the idolatry found there. Being the center of civilised society, Athens is alive with culture, education and arts. But because of the idols found in the town, Paul is moved to reason with the Jews, devout people, anyone in the market place and philosophers about the Gospel.

Read the passage this way: Paul speaks to everybody and anybody about the Gospel. And in doing so, he comes across Epicurean & Stoic philosophers. The “epics” taught that the pursuit of pleasure, not knowledge, is the meaning of life. The “stoics” taught that wisdom is found in being free from intense emotion, unmoved by joy or grief and a belief that everything in nature is God - aka pantheism.

In many ways, what the “epics” and “stoics” stood for is what we in modern society also hold dear to our hearts.  So perceived as a “babbler,” Paul is asked to address Mars Hill - where all these goonies get together and try to “out-philosophise” each other. There, Paul tells the Gospel in a relevant and missional way - a way their mindset is able to digest.

The result of this?

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst.  But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. Acts 17:32-34

Here are our 3 responses:

  1. Some mocked
  2. Some wanted to know more
  3. Some believed

What Paul did was address Mars Hill in a relevant, and yet confrontational way - not shying away from controversial issues and then he hit the topic of resurrection. And this is when “the *@!# hit the fan” at Mars Hill.  Anything in regards to resurrection was a major issue at Mars Hill given their philosophical beliefs - and this is probably why Paul didn’t get to finish his spiel and get to his favorite topic - the resurrection of his Messiah.  And Paul simply left Athens leaving a few members of Mars Hill as believers, some wanted to know more and probably most chasing him out of Athens in mockery.

Fast forward 2000 years and we find ourselves in the ridiculous cycle of which “conversation” or approach is better in getting people to accept the Gospel of Jesus.  I hear and get every perspective:

  • To the fundamentals, I get your desire to hold onto truth and prevent the twisting of scripture in order to make the Gospel more “palatable” to the masses.
  • To the emergents, I get your desire to present the Gospel in a relevant, new and fresh way - to keep up with the times.
But what I don’t get is when “fundies” hold onto traditions while forsaking modern culture.  And what I don’t get is when “emergies” in their pursuit of relevance, question the doctrines of scripture.  It’s OK to question traditions - but don’t question doctrine.
To both camps, I say:  Remember that the truth of the Gospel will always encounter 3 responses:
  1. Disbelief and mockery
  2. Interest and further discussion
  3. Belief and commitment
That’s why I so like the “missional” mindset of Christianity - to present the never changing truths of Scripture in a modern cultural context. Forget about the two extremes of the church - fundamentalism and liberalism - they focus on irrelevant issues.  
Paul presented the Gospel in a cultural context.  At Mars Hill, he didn’t bother getting into historic Judaism as he did elsewhere - he met his listeners where they were at.  But he didn’t shy away from tough topics which made him look like a goofball to some and downright offensive to others.  He stuck to the truth, he experienced the “3 responses” and he moved on.
Some mocked.  Some wanted more.  Some believed.  Paul left Athens.
When the modern Church teaches, it has to understand that the same principles apply:
  1. Teach truth in cultural context.
  2. Don’t shy away from tough topics.  
  3. Experience the 3 responses.
  4. Move on.
I hope I’ve opened that can of worms inside. Please tell.

It’s Official! Facebook Is For Pastors!

Published
by
LayGuy
on April 27, 2008
in Christianity and Internet
. 3 Comments

Chances are if you spend time online, you have a Facebook account. If you don’t know what Facebook is, then get your head around these stats:

  1. More than 70 million users use Facebook
  2. Facebook is the 6th most trafficked website in the world
  3. Number one photo sharing application online
  4. 14 million photo’s uploaded each day
  5. More than 2 million people are on Facebook at any given time

Facebook is a social networking site where users have the opportunity to connect to people they know and share whatever they like. Sounds like the online world loves Facebook. So the question beckons, where do we need to be as a Church to reach this world?

Apart from manning our pews on the weekends, we need to be where the people are. And Facebook is one of those places. Chris Forbes, founder of Ministry Marketing Coach, has released a 31 page free eBook on the subject called, “Facebook For Pastors - How to build relationships and connect with people using the most popular social network on the internet.” This eBook covers the following topics:

  • How to make the most of your profile information
  • Tips for Networking with People in Facebook
  • All about groups, messages, poking, etc
  • Brand Your Ministry
  • Meet prospects for your church
  • Learn more about the members in your church
  • Fine tune your communication skills
  • Testimonies from Pastors who use Facebook
  • and much more!

Download it for free here! I wanted to post it here to get the word out.  I will read it in due course and pass it onto my Pastor for his consideration.  Would you pass it onto yours?

Being All Things For All People

Published
by
LayGuy
on February 28, 2008
in Christianity and Digging Deeper
. 1 Comment

multimedia2.jpgBeing human in the western world these days makes you a prime target for visual and audio assault.  It seems as if every moment of our day we are exposed to media.  Be it advertising, TV, music, computers, books or radio.

Try a little test for me and see how long you survive in a day without succumbing to some form of media.  You won’t last very long.  Media assaults our brain with information almost all of our waking hours.  We are saturated by it and some of us, myself being a prime candidate, can’t live without it.  Even as I sit here typing, I am away on a business trip and have my iPod blaring away while I sit typing away on my laptop. We live our lives as a by product of being totally assaulted and being “made alive” by our senses constantly being bombarded by noise.

And then we have the audacity to ask someone to sit still and listen to a stranger to preach to them for an hour or so on a Sunday morning talking to them about a concept so foreign to them that they simply can’t understand nor wish to engage in.

No wonder it’s getting harder to engage people these days. Modern western society has a mass form of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and going to church to listen to someone preach to them is simply “so yesterday” that the whole concept of Church is dead before it even begins.

We need a paradigm shift on how we deliver the timeless message of the Gospel.  In a society where all visual and auditory senses are bombarded with such high frequency, our timeless message is being triaged to the “irrelevant noise” section of society’s mindset.

It’s ironic in a way that the most important message to get out to people is the one that most people can’t even register.  The reason for this is that the delivery of the message is still stuck in ancient times - a preacher talking.

What I propose is that we deliver the message of the Gospel using increasingly multimedia methods.  The world screams images, video and sound?  Fine.  We need to do the same.  The world is becoming increasingly online?  Fine, we need to do the same.  The world is delivered information in bite-sized snippets (albeit cleverly crafted)?  Fine, we need to do the same.

Paul, even in his day, had insight into all this:

“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.” 1 Cor 9:19-23

The gist of the above is, “I need to connect to people where they are in order to get the message of the Gospel out in a way they can understand.” This may well mean, getting rid of all denomination talk, getting rid of ‘Christianese talk”, shelving your KJV bible and popping open The Message and sharing it with someone, replacing the organ in your church with a drum kit.  And the list can go on.

There is nothing wrong with any of the above.  But when we act like this in front of people who don’t believe in Jesus, we look like whackos.  And whacko’s we are not. We have been entrusted with the Gospel of Jesus - the most wonderful news mankind could here.

But one area I think the Church needs to excel in is in the area of relevant and engaging multimedia which assaults the senses just as well, if not better, then the typical stuff we are exposed to every day.

How many times do you watch “Current Event” shows talking about how TV commercials tend to be louder then the programs?  Truth is that they are not louder.  They just pack more information in their allotted timeframe and bandwidth and our brain registers them as being louder.

As the multimedia guy at my church, I’m going to pursue a more vigorous multimedia approach to what we do.  Then our message will be on a level playing field to what our people hear and see everyday.  And maybe, just maybe, our voice is heard a little more.

Of course, all this cannot compete with the power of God as He decides to reach out to people.  But this has been tugging on my heart for a while now and I believe I have a roll to play in reaching the masses by becoming “all things to all people.” After all, Paul did the same thing.  I often wonder what his missionary style would be in our culture today.

By going to the core of society in Athens and addressing the philosophical leaders in Acts 17, he went to the core of society’s influence. These days, media influences people more then they care to admit.  So that’s where I aim to go. 

A practical example of how this plays out is having media presentations at church, hyped up with music/sound and lyrical content delivered fast paced and with loud volume. We compete for the attention of souls bombarded by the same things from people who only want their money. 

We want these people to want Jesus.  We owe it to our King to “be all things to all people” and if that means stepping out of our comfort zones to contextualise the Gospel to modern society, so be it.

LayGuy Eye | August 4, 2007

Published
by
LayGuy
on August 5, 2007
in Christianity and Internet
. 2 Comments

paradigm_blue.jpg

A bunch of things have captured my attention in the last week.

As everyone knows, the US suffered another heart wrenching reality when the bridge of the Interstate 35W over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed. The suddenness of this collapse can be viewed here. I don’t want to downplay this event in any way, but what tugs on my heart is that when something happens in the US, the whole world knows about it. It’s like the worlds media is so US centric.

I remember watching a video clip of a girl in Iraq being stoned to death on rumors she was seeing a boy - which turned out to be false. But this video showed her in a panic on the floor as a crazy mob surrounded here throwing boulders onto her head. After one of the boulders hit it’s target, she stopped moving. It was reported that it was her uncle who threw this boulder. After another boulder crashed into her skull, the blood poured out. And the boulders just kept on coming. I watched this months ago and I am shaking now as I recall what I saw. But the world’s media didn’t report this.

Like I said, I don’t want to down play what happened in Minneapolis. A tragedy is a tragedy - no matter where it occurs. Dr. John Piper is a Pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church and their offices are less than a mile from where this occurred. Their website has an excellent video filmed by their crews of the aftermath. Super imposed onto this is a sermon of Piper’s regarding suffering. Great viewing if you crave learning. To tug at your heart, Piper also wrote a poem here.

In a completely different world, the guys at LifeChurch.tv are an innovative bunch indeed. Bobby Gruenewald, (Innovation Leader) is already notorious for opening up a Campus on virtual reality world Second Life. Don’t know what it’s all about? Check out the Wikipadia entry here and follow through his reasoning here and here. His next venture is on flavor of the month social networking mega tool, Facebook.

Facebook has about 30 million users - half of which have subscribed over the last 6 months! When you think “viral” Facebook makes the flu look like a snail! You want to be culturally “with it” in terms of connecting with people and knowing what’s hot online right now, you just got to do Faebook. Fortunately, Gruenewald has done an excellent 4 part series on Facebook to turn you from ignorance to geek in no time. Check out the links here. <Part 1> <Part 2> <Part 3> <Part 4>

Talking about being culturally relevant, missional guru Tim Keller has just released a four part series called “Ministry in the New Global Culture of Major City-Centers”. What a timely series of articles given the fact that many regional towns are becoming anorexic in their populations as droves move to the city. The Apostle Paul understood this and planted Churches in the busiest and strategically important cities in Asia minor - thus allowing the gospel to spread.

Mark Driscoll talks a lot about how cities are culture definers and suburbs being culture followers. You wanna make change in an area? Hit the city! And Keller has an excellent 4 part series here: <part 1> <part 2> <part 3> <part 4>

MommyZabs is a mommy blogger who I have got to know over time. She has been following what’s going on in China for awhile now in terms of human rights and abuse. Lately she has focused a fair bit of attention on the toy industry and talked about lead levels in toys way before it hit the media. If you’re a parent, head over to MommyZabs and get the low down from a Mommy with purpose!

Finally, tomorrow, my church starts on expository preaching. My Pastor has decided to launch into Ephesians for a number of reasons. But one that sticks out is the issue of unity in the church. I can’t wait to see what he has come up with. He asked me to do a little media presentation for the series opener. And so here is what I came up with. Keep in mind, I am just a lay guy - and that includes media!

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