Adventures in Churchland - a good read on Church and organized religion

Dan Kimball is a crazy guy.  He drives a classic Ford Mustang.  He sports a pompadour hair cut.  He plays drums- preferably in a rockabilly band.  He is a pastor and seminary professor.  About a decade ago, he broke into the Christian leadership world with a book on how to reach young people while still teaching the reality of hell.  Dan is funny, but serious; simple, but profound.


The subtitle of this book says it all:  "Finding Jesus in the mess of organized religion."  This book is different from his previous books, in that it was not written for pastors to understand young people, the art/music crowd, etc.  Rather, it was written for young people, artists, or really just anyone who has been hurt by by the church to love and appreciate the church.  It is a very easy, quick read, but it is not "fluff."  Much of the book portrays Dan's story of coming to Christ and learning to thrive in and in spite of the church.  He shares his experiences, from scary, heretical and hypocritical to hilarious and heart-warming.  He shares his experiences of hope and hurt found in the church.  Dan relates to those who like Jesus but dislike the church, and then he challenges them with a strong theology of the church.  (In the world of formal theology, we call it "ecclesiology" because we like big words.  Dan, however, skips the big words and faithfully teaches the concepts of a solid, Biblical, practical, and convicting belief in the Church of Jesus Christ.)

Some of the best material is found in the final chapters of the book, where Dan lands with his final challenges, the logical conclusion of what is written earlier.  In one place he writes, "Every time Christians point at the church and say it is messed up, we point at ourselves.  We are part of the problem because we are the church."  Twice, he approvingly quotes Henri Nouwen- here is one sentence- "When we say, "I love Jesus, but I hate the Church," we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too."

This is a resource I will keep on my shelf, waiting for the day someone, probably younger, but willing to engage in reasoned discussion, says, "I love Jesus, but I don't like the Church...." at which point I will say, "read this book and let's talk about it."

In the meantime, I will continue to lead the Church, as God has called me to do, faithfully but with greater sensitivity to those who might have had bad experiences in the Church.  And I will be careful to clearly explain how we worship, helping every member and visitor know what we think happens with "the cup of wonder."  (If you don't know what I am referring to- read the book- it is a pretty hilarious story- and convicting as well.)

If you find yourself disconnected, disgruntled, or just curious about the Church, pick up this book and check it out!

A Spiritual Growth iPlan

This morning I taught on the importance of continued spiritual growth.  Spiritual growth is a lot like weight-training.  You start somewhere, with whatever you can do, and go from there, increasing the weight as you can.  But after two years, if you are still doing the same exercises with the same amount weight, something is wrong!

Like exercise, spiritual growth is natural, but it is not automatic, easy or quick.  In other words, if you are a follower of Jesus you should be growing- if you are not, something is wrong!  However, spiritual growth requires attention, effort, hard work and patience.  This is the school with no graduation!
 
I also talked about the various spiritual disciplines, or habits, that help us grow.  Someone later asked me for a copy of the full grid.  Here it is:

	Beginner	Novice	Intermediate	Advanced
Bible	Read	Meditate	Study	Teach
Prayer	Needs	Thanks & Praise	Intercession	Conversation
LIFE Group	Attend & Talk	Prepare & Contribute	Lead	Coach
Quiet Time	5 Minutes	15 Minutes	30 Minutes	1 Hour or Multiple
Ministry	As-needed	Regular	Leading	Overseeing
Giving	Donation	Regular	Tithing	Tithe Plus
Other	Journaling	Silence	Fasting	Direction
Sins	Outer sin	Omission	Inner Sins	Consistency
	Practices	Habits	Character	Destiny

 
  All of this is great and helpful, but doesn't bring change unless it is put into practice.  And you most likely will not put it into practice until you devise a plan.  How and when will you do which of these practices?

Here is a sample five-day plan that you can begin this week!  And for you iPhone folks, you can do most of it with your phone. 

Meditating  Mondays - No, we are not referring to the empty-your-mind kind of meditation, but rather, the fill-and-focus-your-mind kind, specifically with Scripture.  If you have not done so, download the free YouVersion Bible app (available at the iTunes app store, or at www.youversion.com) and read the Bible on your phone.  This handy app also features several Bible reading plans to help you get started!  How about filling your drive-time with the Word of God?  YouVersion will even read the Bible to you, just like if you were listening to a song!  So on Mondays, how about popping in your earbuds and filling your time with God's Word?

Teaching Tuesdays - The beauty of the internet is the availability of so much great material!  If you attend New Vision Church, you can listen to previous messages by visiting our iTunes Podcast page or just search for "Jason Matters New Vision Church" in iTunes.  I recently talked with one of our members who downloaded a previous teaching series on parenting and really appreciated it!  Also, check out other great teachers.  I subscribe to the podcasts of Andy Stanley at NorthPoint Church and Craig Groeschel of Life Church.  How about listening to some Bible teaching while commuting to and from work on Tuesdays?

Worship Wednesdays  - More drive-time help here.  Rather than listening to some random radio station with the same-old morning show, how about your favorite worship music? I typed "worship" in the search bar of the iTunes store, and the top 50 songs listed many of my favorites.  How about making your own worship playlist?  You could even find songs that you like but don't get to hear at church.

Thankful Thursdays - Sorry, no app here, but you still won't need to make an actual phone call on your, um, phone.  Think about 2 or 3 people for whom you are thankful.  Take some time and tell God why you are thankful for these people in your life.  Now grab your phone and send them a brief text message, telling them, in 140 characters, why you are thankful for them and what they mean to you.

Fasting & Feasting Fridays - Fasting is not weird.  It is merely taking something out of your life for a short time in order to replace it with something more important.  Like noise.  How about riding to work in absolute silence?  No music, radio or phone calls.  Just silence.  Maybe skip lunch to just sit quietly, and read more of the Bible and pray a while.  Then go home and feast!  Spend your Friday evening surrounded by family and friends, celebrating life with them!

There it is.  A sample plan, with enough alliteration to make even Rick Warren proud.  It is not the only plan, and it certainly is not the best plan.  But it is a place to start.  Try it and you will grow.

I Believe In Public Schools - Part 3 - Why 'C' Students Rule the World

I am a nerd and always have been.  I am pretty sure one of my school pictures features my brown, plastic-rimmed glasses, my hair slicked-back with the help of too much gel, and the only thing missing from the picture is a pocket protector.  By the end of high school, my transcript displayed only A's, a class ranking of 1, and an ACT composite that was well within the 99th percentile.  College was similar, with a solitary B that I earned while in high school taking a college class. (I still regret transferring that class.  I should have just taken the CLEP test and saved my transcript the embarrassment of an inferior grade.)

All of that is only important because of what comes next:  it turns out that good grades are not the greatest factor influencing success.

In my previous posts, I addressed the concerns that are raised, mostly by Christians, regarding the morality of the atmosphere in public schools.  In this post, however, I want to address the other concern: the quality of education.  I often hear parents claim that they can do a better job of teaching in their children in three hours per day the material than the school teaches in six.  Some parents insist on a private school education because of its superior curriculum and results.  After all, what good parent would not want their child to get the best education possible?  The assumption is that if their children are surrounded by higher-performing students, taught by better teachers, and led by better administrators, then they will get better test scores and have greater chances of success.  But is this assumption true?

In 1995, psychologist Daniel Goleman published a book entitled Emotional Intelligence.  A person's emotional intelligence quotient (their EQ) is based on 5 factors: self-awareness, self-regulation, social skill, empathy, and motivation.  He argued that a person's (their EQ) is a better predictor of success than is their intelligence quotient (their IQ).    Psychologists and researchers have hotly debated his claims over the predictive value of a person's EQ, but they do not question the significance of these factors.  Note that 2 of the 5 are social skills, and 2 more highly influence a person's social skills.

Related to education, we have assumed for years that the best and brightest go on to achieve the highest measure of success.  But it is just not true.  Why do so many scientists, inventors, business owners, and even world leaders have embarrassing transcripts?  Because it ends up that C students really do rule the world.  Why?  Because while the A students were sitting alone reading books and writing papers, the C students were hanging out with their friends, partying, playing sports and learning teamwork, conversation skills, leadership, conflict resolution, and a whole host of other social skills.  And now, in the real world, they are able to flourish because they work well with people.  Whether we like it or not, the work-a-day world is collaborating and working in teams.  Office walls are torn down and even managers are expected to work in open floor plans.  Students in Harvard business school are never alone even from the first day of entering the program.  Why?  Because success is really determined by how well we work with others.

This is not to say that academics are not important.  A diploma is not just a piece of paper.  It suggests that a person has been exposed to a class of ideas and has demonstrated a set of core competencies and understanding.  But that is about it.  After graduate school I was called to serve a church. (That is preacher-speak for, "I got a real job.")  And they never even looked at one transcript! 

I believe in public schools because they provide the greatest opportunities for social interaction and for building social skills.  Compared to private schools, public schools offer an unmatched range of diversity, pushing students to learn how to work and get along with others who are richer, poorer, faster, slower, popular, overlooked, of all different religions, native backgrounds and moral influence.  The public school, like no other institution, provides a place where our kids can best develop academically and socially.

I am not looking forward to the day one of my children comes home with tears inflicted by a bully.  But bullying is not reserved for minors.  Bullies grow up and learn sophisticated adult bullying techniques. Learning to handle a bully is not a social skill reserved for children.  But I am guessing that adults who learned to handle bullies in a healthy way while they were young  do a better job of it as adults.  Which brings us back to the idea of the secure base.  If we, as parents, will provide a secure base at home for our children, from which we launch them daily and then wait for them to return, they will be well-equipped to grow academically and socially while attending public schools.

I Believe In Public Schools (Part 2)

So here is the summary of Part 1: Jesus purposefully and strategically did not and does not extract his followers from a sinful world, but leaves us here to influence the world for good, for God and to invite sinners to accept and follow Jesus.  I proposed that this applies to our children, and that their "world" in which they can influence for good is their public school.

The popular objection to this argument often sounds something like this:  Our kids are too young and impressionable to be subjected to such huge responsibilities.  They need to be protected and nurtured in a safer environment.  Later, when they are strong and mature, they will be able to influece the world.

That objection sounds reasonable until we re-read the Bible chapters I referenced earlier (John 14-17).  Jesus speaks to his followers in a peculiar tone: he speaks constant re-assurance, acknowledging their fear of living without him by their side.  In chapter 17 he prays three times for their protection!  He does not treat his followers like strong, capable men.  On the contraary, he acknowledges that in their faith they are young, weak, immature and in need of protection!  By way of analogy, Jesus does not ask his children to hide away in safety, waiting to interact and influence the world until they are mature. Plus, he simply trusts that his Father will protect them as they mature.  I wonder if our fear of public schools is really an indicator of our lack of trust in God's protective power?

There is also a practical response to this objection.  At what point in my child's life will he/she really be ready to face to realities of the mean, cruel world?  Let's face it; we can't shelter our kids forever.  Eventually they will grow up, move away from the safety of the commune we call home and be faced with the darkness of our world.  And last I checked, neither a high school diploma nor the arrival of an 18th birthday include a magic potion labeled, maturity, wisdom and perseverance. It seems to me that the structured environment of a six-hour school day followed by eighteen hours at home is a great combination of environments in which our kids can graually learn how to resist evil and influence the world for good.

Psychiatrist John Bowlby proposed a great theory to help parents.  In his theory, healthy parents create a secure base at home, in which their kids are loved, nurtured, fed, disciplined, etc.  When those children know they have a secure base waiting for them at home, they can have the confidence to face difficulties, try new activities, take risks, etc.  Applied to school, children can endure temptation and even thrive in a difficult place because the safety of home is coming soon. 

So here is my proposal:  Send your kids to public schools.  Create a warm, safe, loving home for them to return to.  Stay in constant communication regarding their experiences at school, both good and bad.  Talk through their difficulties.  Help them process their conflict and coach them on how to respond. Encourage them to take risks and try new things!  Be there to cheer them on and be the first to pick them up when they fall!  

Or, I suppose you could also just sit on the couch every night and complain about how the schools aren't doing a good job raising your children for you.

Next, in Part 3:  ACT's, IQ, and why C students rule the world.

I Believe in Public Schools (Part 1)

I remember the question very clearly.  Olivia was only a year old, and we were enjoying dinner with some friends whose daughter was the same age.  "So are you going to send Olivia to public schools?" Thankfully, Erica and I had talked often about this issue before having children, and we were in firm agreement: "Yes."  And the reason is not just because we are cheap for a private school or too lazy to homeschool.

It turns out that this strong, affirmative answer surprises some folks.  Many just assume that a conservative pastor would automatically send his kids to a Christian school, or maybe even homeschool his kids.  No.  And in this short series of posts, written on this first week of Olivia's first-grade experience, I will attempt to explain why I believe in public schools.  (Disclaimer: this is not an attempt to condemn those who choose private schools or homeschooling- it is just the reasoning behind our decision.)

My first reason comes from my core belief that as followers of Jesus, we are called to influence our world for good, for God, for Jesus and his Kingdom.  And, believe it or not, so are our children.  In the Bible, in the book of John, throughout chapters 14-17, we find a lot of red ink.  Those are the words directly from the mouth of Jesus.  In those chapters, Jesus works hard to encourage his followers that they really will be okay as he leaves them, both through his death, and especially after his acension to heaven.  In John 17:11 he makes this very clear as he prays to his Father: "I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name..."  Jesus is going. His followers are staying...for at least a little while.  We also find out the reason:  Jesus expects his followers to take his message to the ends of the earth. They can't do that if he takes them with him.  And the same is for us. 

When we pray the sinners prayer and put our trust in Christ, we are not immediately tele-transported to the safety and holiness of heaven.  We stay, grow, and tell others!  It is also clear that we are not to shut ourselves out from the world in order to remain holy or not be influenced at all from the world.  In fact, in the Bible, and especially in the book of John, "the world" that we are "in" is usually a reference to the dark, sinful, broken, realm of human society.  In short, the world is our mission field!  And missionaries don't sit safely at home behind locked doors!  They go out into the world and make a difference!

I believe this applies to our children.  I want Olivia and Easton to make a difference in their world.  I want them to set the example for their classmates in how they treat their teachers, other students, the bullies and the picked-on.  I want them to tell their friends about Jesus, and his great love for them.  I want them to invite their friends to church.  On the negative side, it seems just a tad hypocritical for Christians to yank their kids (and their kids' good influence) from public schools and then turn around and criticize public schools as cesspools of evil.  Duh!  That is like making a withdrawal from your bank account and then complaining to the bank manager because your balance didn't go up!

"But Jason," you might argue, "that is fine and dandy for us strong, mature adults, but should our young and impressionable children be forced to endure such a sinful world?  They are so impressionable at their age!  Shouldn't we provide them a safe, secure, environment in which they can grow to maturity, and then go out into the mean cruel world?"  Good question!  I will address it in part 2.

Viral: How Social Networking is Poised to ignite Revival- a Review

Leonard Sweet is a theologian and historian by training, and a futurist by calling and passion.  A prolific writer and lover of poetry, he was  a way of describing the future he sees.  I just finished his latest book, in which he attempts to show that social networking is a tool by which twenty-first century Christians might bring spiritual revival similar to the Reformation and the Great Awakening.  While Sweet offers some interesting insights, I believe the book fails to prove its point. 

Viral is yet another book describing the culture/generational clash using the Pre-modern/Modern/Post-modern dialectic of human history.  The author focuses on the technology used to communicate knowledge.  In the pre-Modern era (the one in which Jesus lived) communication was mostly verbal, since the production of printed material was costly and time consuming.  The Modern era is best illustrated by the Gutenberg press, which made printed material accessible and affordable to all, and allowed almost anyone to publish.  The Post-Modern era is best illustrated by the search engine Google, the most widely used source to find and share digital information, and also the digitizer of everything printed in paper books during the Gutenberg era.  The culture of the Googlers is labeled as TGIF (assembling the four great means of social networking: Twitter, Google, iPhone, and Facebook.


Sweet's critical comparison of Modernity and Post-modernity is unoriginal.  He criticizes modernity (the Gutenbergers) for its extreme individualism, its tendency to dissect/analyze, its view of truth as rational propositions, its preference for homogeneity, and its resulting compartmentalization of life.  He predictably adores Post-modernity (the Googlers) for its emphasis on community, its tendency to create/synthesize, its view of truth as living narrative, is preference for diversity, and its resulting holistic view of life.  Unfortunately, there is nothing new in all of this- it is the common fodder in books of this subject matter.  What is valuable, though, are the examples, statistics and stories from the realm of technology.  For example, he shared research that showed a decline of violent crime among those who played violent video games, something no one expected to see.

To his credit, Sweet does not blindly and naively embrace the Googler generation.  He shares the pitfalls he sees that might keep the generation from sparking revival., especially  the narcissism that social media allows, and the tendency to waste time, words and influence on meaningless details of our lives.

In the end, I have to wonder to whom exactly Sweet was writing.  Throughout the book he acknowledges his own preference for and comfort within the Gutenberger culture, while at the same time describing his deep appreciation and his attempts to use the technology of the Googler culture.  The appendix is entitled, "How Gutenbergers can learn from Googlers."  If I were to guess, the book was intended for Gutenbergers who are trying to understand, appreciate, minister to, and also live in the Googler culture.  If this indeed was the intent, I believe Sweet failed on one major point.  And that is the question of, can real relationships exist, grow and/or thrive outside of face-to-face contact?  Googlers are criticized for their constant texting, Instant Messaging, Facebooking, etc., which takes away from face-to-face interactions.  Sweet suggests that these "virtual" meetings and virtual relationships are just as deep, meaningful and real as are relationships that interact exclusively live and in person.  Sweet goes so far as to claim that because of their desire for community, aided by technology, Googlers have better relationships than their book-reading parents.  Sweet suggests this time and again, but he never really proves it.  The research he cites is scant! 

If, as is suggested in the book, Gutenbergers rely on argument, reason, and logic to convince them of the truth, and if, as it seems, the book was written to help Gutenberbers, then he ought to have devoted a large section of the book to a linear, logical, well-cited argument for his position on this point.  After all- that is how Gutenbergers think!  If he wants Gutenbergers to connect to Googlers by telling more stories, then he ought to have connected with the Gutenbergers at least on this one point with reason and argument!

While I have indeed learned more about the Googler culture, and I can use his suggestions, and have received his correction that I need be more of a story-teller than an argument creator, I am left unconvinced that Googlers have better relationships through social networking, and I am left unconvinced that they will bring revival.

Required Disclaimer:  I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Vacation: What Exactly Are We Vacating?

Vacations are difficult for me.  They just never live up to their expectations.  And if they do, the time flies too quickly.  To be honest, in recent post-children years, vacations have often seemed more difficult than regular life.  A hotel room is the worst- you can't even stay up late and watch television because the kids are sleeping!

The word "vacation" is related to the word "vacate."  Essentially that is what we do when we go on vacation.  We vacate.  We at least vacate our home, our lawn, our to-do list, and the pile of laundry.  We try to vacate our jobs at the same time.  And therein lies the difficulty.  What, exactly, do we vacate?  I have sometimes tried to vacate everything- thereby leaving my wife to do the planning, shopping, packing, etc., leaving her exhausted before even leaving the house!  I have especially tried to vacate parenting- an activity that is very stressful for me.  But this doesn't work.  Not, at least, for a family vacation. 

So this last week as we spent a family vacation in St. Louis, I tried to be specific, limiting, and realistic regarding what exactly I wanted to vacate.  Work, emails, to-do lists, and big decisions, and pretty much anything resembling a project.  I did not, however, try to vacate my family or children.  I cooked a lot of food, swam a lot in the pool, and tried to enjoy every kid-friendly activity we encountered.  I still didn't get to ride up and into the Arch.  I didn't get to eat at my favorite St. Louis restaurant.  Erica and I played a few board games.  I read my book a little but didn't finish it.

In the end, I really just lowered my expectations for what exactly I wanted to vacate.  Was it the ultimate vacation?  No, but it was good, restful and vacating.