More than personally transforming…
We live in an exciting era in the American Church. An era that will very likely see a tremendous amount of change as leaders discover what Richard Stearns writes in his introduction of The Hole In Our Gospel, that “…being a Christian, or follower of Jesus Christ, requires much more than having a personal and transforming relationship with God. It also entails a public and transforming relationship with the world.” (p.2)
This is an age where we begin to see a new fleshing out of what it means to be an ambassador of Jesus Christ. With the invention of beta testing and continuous app updates we have been given an opportunity to investigate and experiment with what it means to be the Church while maintaining much of the doctrine to which we already ascribe. We are being given permission to refuse to arrive, and to always alter and adapt how we participate in our faith. Many are already beginning that experimentation, like Shaun King in Atlanta, and while that may look like a failed experiment I believe his audacious experiment to have done much to move a community toward Redemption. I don’t necessarily think everyone should go try what Shaun tried because I think a different leader does something different, but the fact that the Church must involve people penetrating the community is being understood once again on a scale unseen in my lifetime.
This public penetration is necessary to see all people of all nations come to an understanding of who Jesus is, and it will be necessary in order to maintain the authenticity and authority of the Church with those who follow us. The knowledge of, and belief in Jesus is not just for us, but our neighbor should also benefit, and benefit from us not the preacher or the worship service or the Bible class, but us, personally.
Prison Saves
Make sure you have some Kleenex. I could listen to stories of change all day long. Often people come to the Church looking for immediate solutions in order to avoid their circumstances. Sometimes God may grant those petitions, but often the change that needs to happen requires time. Today be thankful for those who preach and teach about the power of Christ to the captive audience of the American prisoner, and pray for the transformed as they re-enter life outside of those institutions.
Kill the NBA in order to Fix the NBA
I’m a huge basketball fan. It is by far my favorite sport to play; however, I haven’t been an NBA fan since MJ left the scene the second time. Even at that I was a NBA playoff fan.
In my humble opinion the NBA should take a year off. Let their best players go play in other countries, and then resume their talks. I have a feeling that in the long run they’ll benefit from worldwide exposure and may see players become willing to discover why they play the game and owners who are willing to have some profit versus a loss.