Why is it that people expect you to fix in minutes what took them days, weeks, months, or years to break? I often find myself initially feeling hopeless about a person’s willingness, or lack thereof, to work on the areas of their life that put them in the position in which they find themselves. I often rhetorically ask, “Why am I doing this?” While if I was on the bus pictured above I’d want out as soon as possible, but I’m pretty sure the events leading up to the bus being in this position may have taken weeks.

I’m not suggesting that the bus crept through the hole in that amount of time. I’m suggesting that the bus driver was preoccupied with a passenger whose child was being a distraction. The passenger, let’s say it’s a single dad, distraught by the recent loss of his wife has been unable to figure out how to help his child behave and is on the way to get some help. The bus driver is at the end of his shift and is looking forward to watching the World Cup at his favorite pub, but he has to get to his last stop on time to make that happen. So, the reason the bus went forward instead of reverse took weeks not moments.

When this happens I must remind myself of a few things:

1. Patience is a piece of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. When I lack it, then I’m forgetting something.
2. I need to be patient with others lack of patience
3. I should not expect others to be patient with their brokenness, especially when the Holy Spirit is absent from their lives. If they don’t know Jesus, then why should I expect them to act like they do?
4. My schedule cannot be determined by the chaos generated in others context.

It took a while for them to find themselves homeless and my immediate response to fix their situation may actually impede my ability to minister to their need for Jesus. Ever wonder why the people Jesus healed had to wait so long for God to finally heal them? Ever wonder about those who got a quick fix from Jesus? Did their lack of misery now lead them away from God instead of toward Him? I wonder if this is what happened to nine of the lepers. While I fully agree that my presence in the world should lead to more justice, mercy, grace, and love I also must recognize that suffering is used by God. So, when one chooses to buy cigarettes and comes up short on rent money maybe the only way to learn not to do it again is point out the choice to smoke over shelter and not provide shelter…at least not immediately.

“Should you ask me: What is the first thing in religion? I should reply: the first, second, and third thing therein is humility.” – Augustine, 4th-5th century

Humility

“I am amazed at how little humility is seen as the distinguishing feature of discipleship.” (Andrew Murray: 12)

Most of us think of humility as just another virtue — much like patience, goodness, or kindness. It’s nice and we appreciate it when we see it, but we rarely discuss it and almost never pursue it. Yet, the Bible seems to indicate that humility may be the bedrock of discipleship.

Jesus humbled himself by becoming a man and submitting even to death. (Phil 2:5-8) He called His disciples to “deny yourself … take up your cross … be last of all … be slave of all.” (Mk 8-10)

James reminds us that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (Js 4:6)

It’s an old biblical theme that generates little attention, especially in a culture devoted to achievement, recognition, status, and significance. But if pride is the root of our fallenness (1 Jn 2:16) then humility paves the way to our restoration.

Andrew Murray goes so far as to say: “Humility is the only soil in which virtue takes root; a lack of humility is the explanation of every defect and failure. Humility is not so much a virtue along with the others, but is the root of all.” (Murray: 17)

Marriages fail not when love grows cold but when pride trumps humility. Churches experience conflict not when unity is forgotten but when humility is lost. We grow least content not when circumstances are tough but when entitlement buries humility.

Of course, our definition of humility makes all the difference. It’s not about self-loathing or dejected defeat. Rather, “true humility comes when before God we see ourselves as nothing, have put aside self, and let God be all.” (Murray: 55)

Let God be all. Sounds simple enough, but the striving and fruitlessness of our lives suggests that we find it easier to let God be some.

The challenge of our day, as followers of Jesus, is not to rise to the top but to live faithfully among the least, because of who He is. It’ll change everything; our homes, our families, our churches, and our workplaces.

In HOPE –

David

When I read/hear comments like:

“I’d rather have 500 sold out deeply spiritual people worshipping on the weekend than 5000 that are skin deep.”

“We need to focus on growing the one’s we have before we can go out and get more.”

“Knowing the Bible should be the priority right now.”

I cringe and in all honesty I tend to boil over with anger and passion.

If every church had focused upon “growing deeper” would any of the folks who make these kinds of comments have even come to a life saving relationship with Jesus?

We often forget that while people are lambs, most of the ones we are frustrated with from a spiritual growth standpoint  are also adults. They have every right to exercise free will if only for the reason that this is the way that God wants it. They are not children who can be made to read their Bible, internalize the scripture, and be transformed by the knowledge. They can, and often do, choose not to.

None of us want a spiritually immature congregation. It sucks trying to lead people who choose to know very little, and obey even less. However, at the end of the day the Bible makes it very clear that the one responsible for the growth that we complain about, that we judge, that we often condemn is God.

God is responsible for the growth. The only thing we laborers are responsible for is planting and watering, but even then growth is God’s responsibility.

I’m thankful for the disunity in the Corinthian Church because if it were not for the problems that they faced we wouldn’t have what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, “6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.”

It may seem like semantics because now you can just complain that not enough watering is going on, but even so God is still responsible for the growth. In fact, just because we plant and water there is no guarantee growth will happen. Sometimes it could take several seasons of sewing and watering before the first sprout springs forth from the ground of the heart.

In reality conversion is spiritual formation. At conversion the Spirit is formed in us. I would argue that the most significant and abundant growth happens at this moment. All growth that follows will pale in comparison to what happens at the moment someone is transformed by the Word of God. It is a death to life experience, and as an embryonic growth happens a rates unparalleled in the rest of a humans life so it is with our rebirth.

Conversion is Spiritual Formation. It isn’t an either/or proposition. It should be a both/and proposition.

We cannot forsake being a light to the world for the sake of focusing upon the sheep we already have in the pen. We must find a way to water and not compromise the sewing of the seed. Too many people will die and go to Hell if we don’t find a way.

That’s how I came across it. It’s amazing how connected The Church is becoming. It makes me think Jesus will make a visit in my lifetime.

That may be the most compelling video on wearing a seat belt I’ve ever seen, other than the accident scene in Seven Pounds, which also doubles as a deterrent to texting, emailing, tweeting, etc. while behind the wheel.

For all of my creative friends out there see what Will had to say about grabbing attention.

In Church Unique, I cover the integration principle, “Grab attention or hold nothing.” According to studies as reported in the book, The Attention Economy, there are four primary factors for getting attention. I immediate thought of these four things as I watched this video.

Four Keys to Really Get Attention

1. Is the communication personalized?
2. Is the communication coming from a trustworthy source?
3. Is the communication brief?
4. Is the communication emotional?

In the case of this video, it is not necessarily personalized, but it does feel very personal. The trustworthiness of the source is carried by the quality production and the “embrace life” message and logo. The brevity and emotion of the piece are stunning.

I agree.

If I could impact as strongly with the gospel in as short an amount of time shouldn’t I be willing to invest in the effort and time to produce such a message? Or does the ego just get in the way?

A friend of mine has a non-profit in which he raises money to provide academic scholarships to kids in South Africa. It’s a terrific organization doing terrific work. He raises funds on the platform of Academic Equality, and mostly mobilizes college students to host parties and fundraisers then works closely with students who are being provided scholarships. As he started his organization, I couldn’t help but notice it grew much more quickly than The Mentoring Project, an organization I started to provide positive male role models for kids growing up without fathers. I couldn’t help but wonder why.

As my friend and I talked about it, we wondered whether organizations that simply raise money in America and send that money overseas weren’t easier to grow because, quite frankly, they don’t require you to change the way you actually live? I know that sounds harsh, but think about it, if you could feel like a humanitarian for simply wearing a t-shirt and attending an occasional rally or updating your facebook status, or if you could feel like a humanitarian for taking a few hours a week out of your life and working with an actual child in an after-school program, which would you rather do? In other words, would you rather wear a t-shirt that says you are a humanitarian, or would you rather be a humanitarian?

My friend shared with me a term he’d learned that summed up our current dilemma: Slacktivism.

Are you a slacktivist?

Now to be fair, organizations building wells and freeing child soldiers and stopping sex-trafficking are doing extremely important work, but I don’t think we should feel all that altruistic for throwing them a twenty in exchange for a t-shirt. People need more than money, they need other people.

What if you laid out all your non-profit t-shirts and asked how you were directly dealing with the issue? And what if you no longer considered yourself altruistic unless the causes you supported were actually making your life more complicated? What if slacktivism wasn’t actually social change? What if it was just another way of exploiting the poor and marginalized, using them to foster our own false identity as humanitarians?

Does your activism cost you anything besides money? And in exchange for that money, do you get a social commodity and identity as an activist?

Moving into a residence that they could afford if they didn’t smoke a pack of cigarettes a day.

Staying in a residence as long as possible until they receive a seven day eviction notice at which time the scramble begins.

They either miraculously coming up with the funds to pay the back rent or

Move into another more affordable shelter only to repeat the same thing a month later.

They have either had their electric or water cut off at least once, and typically receive multiple cut-off notices in a given year.

What I have discovered is they didn’t just decide to live this way, but saw their parents do the same thing. They were children who have had 25 different addresses who in Mrs. Thompson’s second grade class couldn’t remember their phone number, because it had changed again. Most of them know no other way to live.

They have used the church as a financial means to rescue them from circumstances because the church most likely refused to do anything other than just pay their bills. We’ve allowed them to play the victimization card instead of changing the game because writing checks is far easier than holding them accountable. So, we’ve become enablers instead of change agents when it comes to the poor.

In reality, these people need freedom from a cycle of living that has proven oppressive and hopeless. They need freedom from being consumed with what they want and given a chance to see what they need.  They need a friend who is willing to say, “No. I’m not going to give you what you asked for, but I’m going to dig deeper into the crap that is your life in order to shine the light of Jesus on that which is broken and even wicked.”

We, the Church, need to risk being their friend even when much of the time it ends in rejection, or it involves time, effort, money and risk. We, the Church, need to be willing to invest in their conversion.

“The lame man looked at them eagerly, expecting some money. But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!” – Acts 3:5-6 NLT

I wish this approach had multiple success stories, but the truth of the matter is that if there is change it is not immediately obvious. This leads to the temptation to just write checks and dismiss the people as hopeless. However, when I look at the life of Jesus Christ the Nazarene there is no evidence of “easy grace.” So, why then do we expect it to be easy? Especially when we’re not Jesus…

An instant?

A week?

Six weeks, after taking a class at a church?

I don’t think that there is an answer, but that it is different for every person. So, some exchange their allegiance for Jesus in an instant and some over a period of years and some somewhere in between.

The issue lies in the fact that in order to determine where people are in their journey we need to hear their story, and sometimes it takes a while before you hear the whole story. We almost just rubber stamp the whole thing as if God really didn’t want to use humans to help other humans come to faith. So, they come, we listen, they pray, we dunk, and they leave unchanged.

We aren’t willing to sit with someone for an hour or two in order to witness the intersection of God’s story with the story teller’s. It’s emotionally exhausting. It’s mentally exhausting. It’s a battle with unseen forces to help people exchange their story for His story, and we’d just rather there be a pill to prescribe.

So, I am convinced that…

there are far more people who prayed a prayer after someone than are actually converted.

there are far more people who are baptized than are actually converted.

there are far too few churches that see this as fraud.

there are far too many of us, especially in the South, who refuse to challenge someone’s “I believe in God” to substitute for a real allegiance to Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.

there are far fewer churches who are trying to change their “five minute, come speak to a pastor and before the song ends pray a prayer invitation approach” into bringing people to Christ so that they might be radically transformed by Him…who die and are raised to new life.

And so there are far less Converted People than we Church people might like to admit.

Part 3

When we evangelize, or when someone walks down an aisle during an invitation, or when we strike up a conversation with a stranger what are we expecting to happen?

Is a five minute conversation followed by a “Pray this after me…” the best we can do?

I believe, whether we want to admit it or not, that if most pastors were honest they would admit that “quick” conversions are more about the pastor than the convert. Giving more time just doesn’t make economic sense.

After all there are hundreds of people, maybe even thousands, whose attention we pastors want and if they quit giving us their attention then what?

Attendance falls, offerings decline, and we get replaced.

As long as attendance grows, emotions flow, people are energized, and we dunk a few each week it is difficult to pay attention to the fact that 9 out of 10 of those “quick” conversions aren’t conversions at all. Instead, they are a McDonalds Drive Thru God Appeasement Attempt that goes something like this, “Surely if I do this, then God will__________.”

We Church leaders then excuse our part in the fiasco -

“It’s not really my fault.”

“God is sovereign!”

“I gave them a chance!”

Right?

Part 2

I wonder if there was someone who was raised in the church, came every time the doors were opened, who just seriously threw a fit over that modern piece of machinery being installed in her church. “Only pagans use that! It’s a distraction, I just can’t worship.” she would argue.

There once was a time when the hymnal was introduced to the church pew.

I wonder if there was someone who was raised in the church, came every time the doors were opened, who just seriously threw a fit over the fact that, “It shows a lack of discipline if people can’t memorize songs. Plus, we have enough songs already why do people need to keep writing new ones? It’s a distraction, I just can’t worship with people reading books the whole time.”

Once upon a time praise choruses moved from fireside youth retreats to Sunday mornings and were first projected using overhead projectors and then video projectors.

I wonder if there was someone who was raised in the church, who came every time the doors were opened, who just seriously threw a fit over the fact that, “You mean the screen is going to cover up the stained glass window! My grandfather paid for that stained glass window! It’s a distraction, I just can’t worship knowing how much sacrifice went into that window and you’re going to cover it up with a screen.”

So, I walk into a local place of business of people who attend church, who confess to be in one every time the doors are opened, who asked what I thought of the band last weekend. I said, “I thought they were great. ” She said, “Why did that guy in the back have a hat on? It wasn’t respectful. It was a distraction.”

Whenever tradition or cultural norms dictate our ability to focus on what Jesus did for us and does to us we’ll never be able to profess that our church is full of people like this…