Bono's Compelling Call to the Church to love Africa

On February 2nd, 2006, U2's front man Bono (Paul David Hewson) spoke at the U.S. National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C.

Upon introducing Bono to the crowd, President Bush said:

"He's a doer.

The thing about this good citizen of the world is he's used his position to get things done.

You're an amazing guy, Bono. God bless you."



Here is the full text of Bono's speech in Washington:


Bono's 2006 National Prayer Breakfast Remarks

If you're wondering what I'm doing here, at a prayer breakfast, well, so am I. I'm certainly not here as a man of the cloth, unless that cloth is leather. It's certainly not because I'm a rock star. Which leaves one possible explanation: I'm here because I've got a messianic complex.

Yes, it's true. And for anyone who knows me, it's hardly a revelation.
Well, I'm the first to admit that there's something unnatural...something unseemly...about rock stars mounting the pulpit and preaching at presidents, and then disappearing to their villas in the south of France. Talk about a fish out of water. It was weird enough when Jesse Helms showed up at a U2 concert...but this is really weird, isn't it?

You know, one of the things I love about this country is its separation of church and state. Although I have to say: in inviting me here, both church and state have been separated from something else completely: their mind.

Mr. President, are you sure about this?

It's very humbling and I will try to keep my homily brief. But be warned - I'm Irish.

I'd like to talk about the laws of man, here in this city where those laws are written. And I'd like to talk about higher laws. It would be great to assume that the one serves the other; that the laws of man serve these higher laws...but of course, they don't always. And I presume that, in a sense, is why you're here.

I presume the reason for this gathering is that all of us here - Muslims, Jews, Christians - all are searching our souls for how to better serve our family, our community, our nation, our God.

I know I am. Searching, I mean. And that, I suppose, is what led me here, too.
Yes, it's odd, having a rock star here - but maybe it's odder for me than for you. You see, I avoided religious people most of my life. Maybe it had something to do with having a father who was Protestant and a mother who was Catholic in a country where the line between the two was, quite literally, a battle line. Where the line between church and state was...well, a little blurry, and hard to see.

I remember how my mother would bring us to chapel on Sundays ... and my father used to wait outside. One of the things that I picked up from my father and my mother was the sense that religion often gets in the way of God.

For me, at least, it got in the way. Seeing what religious people, in the name of God, did to my native land...and in this country, seeing God's second-hand car salesmen on the cable TV channels, offering indulgences for cash...in fact, all over the world, seeing the self-righteousness roll down like a mighty stream from certain corners of the religious establishment...

I must confess, I changed the channel. I wanted my MTV.

Even though I was a believer.

Perhaps because I was a believer.

I was cynical...not about God, but about God's politics. (There you are, Jim.)

Then, in 1997, a couple of eccentric, septuagenarian British Christians went and ruined my shtick - my reproachfulness. They did it by describing the millennium, the year 2000, as a Jubilee year, as an opportunity to cancel the chronic debts of the world's poorest people. They had the audacity to renew the Lord's call - and were joined by Pope John Paul II, who, from an Irish half-Catholic's point of view, may have had a more direct line to the Almighty.

'Jubilee' - why 'Jubilee'?

What was this year of Jubilee, this year of our Lord's favor?

I'd always read the scriptures, even the obscure stuff. There it was in Leviticus (25:35)...

'If your brother becomes poor,' the scriptures say, 'and cannot maintain himself...you shall maintain him.... You shall not lend him your money at interest, not give him your food for profit.'

It is such an important idea, Jubilee, that Jesus begins his ministry with this. Jesus is a young man, he's met with the rabbis, impressed everyone, people are talking. The elders say, he's a clever guy, this Jesus, but he hasn't done much...yet. He hasn't spoken in public before...

When he does, his first words are from Isaiah: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,' he says, 'because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.' And Jesus proclaims the year of the Lord's favour, the year of Jubilee (Luke 4:18).

What he was really talking about was an era of grace - and we're still in it.
So fast-forward 2,000 years. That same thought, grace, was made incarnate - in a movement of all kinds of people. It wasn't a bless-me club... it wasn't a holy huddle. These religious guys were willing to get out in the streets, get their boots dirty, wave the placards, follow their convictions with actions...making it really hard for people like me to keep their distance. It was amazing. I almost started to like these church people.

But then my cynicism got another helping hand.

It was what Colin Powell, a five-star general, called the greatest W.M.D. of them all: a tiny little virus called AIDS. And the religious community, in large part, missed it. The ones that didn't miss it could only see it as divine retribution for bad behaviour. Even on children...even [though the] fastest growing group of HIV infections were married, faithful women.

Aha, there they go again! I thought to myself judgmentalism is back!

But in truth, I was wrong again. The church was slow but the church got busy on this the leprosy of our age.

Love was on the move.

Mercy was on the move.

God was on the move.

Moving people of all kinds to work with others they had never met, never would have cared to meet...conservative church groups hanging out with spokesmen for the gay community, all singing off the same hymn sheet on AIDS...soccer moms and quarterbacks...hip-hop stars and country stars. This is what happens when God gets on the move: crazy stuff happens!

Popes were seen wearing sunglasses!

Jesse Helms was seen with a ghetto blaster!

Crazy stuff. Evidence of the spirit.

It was breathtaking. Literally. It stopped the world in its tracks.

When churches started demonstrating on debt, governments listened - and acted. When churches starting organising, petitioning, and even - that most unholy of acts today, God forbid, lobbying ... on AIDS and global health, governments listened - and acted.

I'm here today in all humility to say: you changed minds; you changed policy; you changed the world.

Look, whatever thoughts you have about God, who He is or if He exists, most will agree that if there is a God, He has a special place for the poor. In fact, the poor are where God lives.

Check Judaism. Check Islam. Check pretty much anyone.

I mean, God may well be with us in our mansions on the hill. I hope so. He may well be with us as in all manner of controversial stuff. Maybe, maybe not. But the one thing we can all agree, all faiths and ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor.

God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them. "If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom with become like midday and the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places."

It's not a coincidence that in the scriptures, poverty is mentioned more than 2,100 times. It's not an accident. That's a lot of air time, 2,100 mentions. (You know, the only time Christ is judgmental is on the subject of the poor.) 'As you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me' (Matthew 25:40). As I say, good news to the poor.

Here's some good news for the president. After 9/11 we were told America would have no time for the world's poor. America would be taken up with its own problems of safety. And it's true these are dangerous times, but America has not drawn the blinds and double-locked the doors.

In fact, you have doubled aid to Africa. You have tripled funding for global health. Mr. President, your emergency plan for AIDS relief and support for the Global Fund - you and Congress - have put 700,000 people onto life-saving anti-retroviral drugs and provided 8 million bed nets to protect children from malaria.

Outstanding human achievements. Counterintuitive. Historic. Be very, very proud.

But here's the bad news.

From charity to justice, the good news is yet to come. There is much more to do.

There's a gigantic chasm between the scale of the emergency and the scale of the response.

And finally, it's not about charity after all, is it? It's about justice.

Let me repeat that: It's not about charity, it's about justice.

And that's too bad.

Because you're good at charity.

Americans, like the Irish, are good at it. We like to give, and we give a lot, even those who can't afford it.

But justice is a higher standard.

Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice; it makes a farce of our idea of equality.

It mocks our pieties, it doubts our concern, it questions our commitment.

Sixty-five hundred Africans are still dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease, for lack of drugs we can buy at any drug store.

This is not about charity, this is about justice and equality.

Because there's no way we can look at what's happening in Africa and, if we're honest, conclude that deep down, we really accept that Africans are equal to us.

Anywhere else in the world, we wouldn't accept it.

Look at what happened in South East Asia with the tsunami.

150,000 lives lost to that misnomer of all misnomers, "mother nature."

In Africa, 150,000 lives are lost every month.

A tsunami every month.

And it's a completely avoidable catastrophe.

It's annoying but justice and equality are mates. Aren't they? Justice always wants to hang out with equality. And equality is a real pain.

You know, think of those Jewish sheep-herders going to meet the Pharaoh, mud on their shoes, and the Pharaoh says, "Equal?" A preposterous idea: rich and poor are equal? And they say, "Yeah, 'equal,' that's what it says here in this book. We're all made in the image of God."

And eventually the Pharaoh says, "OK, I can accept that. I can accept the Jews - but not the blacks."

"Not the women. Not the gays. Not the Irish. No way, man."

So on we go with our journey of equality.

On we go in the pursuit of justice.

We hear that call in The ONE Campaign, a growing movement of more than 2 million Americans...Left and Right together... united in the belief that where you live should no longer determine whether you live.

We hear that call even more powerfully today, as we mourn the loss of Coretta Scott King - mother of a movement for equality, one that changed the world but is only just getting started. These issues are as alive as they ever were; they just change shape and cross the seas.

Preventing the poorest of the poor from selling their products while we sing the virtues of the free market...that's a justice issue. Holding children to ransom for the debts of their grandparents...that's a justice issue. Withholding life-saving medicines out of deference to the Office of Patents...that's a justice issue.

And while the law is what we say it is, God is not silent on the subject.
That's why I say there's the law of the land. And then there is a higher standard. There's the law of the land, and we can hire experts to write them so they benefit us, so the laws say it's OK to protect our agriculture but it's not OK for African farmers to do the same, to earn a living?

As the laws of man are written, that's what they say.

God will not accept that.

Mine won't, at least. Will yours?

[pause]

I close this morning on...very...thin...ice.

This is a dangerous idea I've put on the table: my God vs. your God, their God vs. our God...vs. no God. It is very easy, in these times, to see religion as a force for division rather than unity.

And this is a town - Washington - that knows something of division.

But the reason I am here, and the reason I keep coming back to Washington, is because this is a town that is proving it can come together on behalf of what the scriptures call the least of these.

This is not a Republican idea.

It is not a Democratic idea.

It is not even, with all due respect, an American idea.

Nor it is unique to any one faith.

'Do to others as you would have them do to you' (Luke 6:30). Jesus says that.

'Righteousness is this: that one should...give away wealth out of love for him to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and the beggars and for the emancipation of the captives.' The Koran says that (2.177).

Thus sayeth the Lord: 'Bring the homeless poor into the house, when you see the naked, cover him, then your light will break out like the dawn and your recovery will speedily spring fourth, then your Lord will be your rear guard.' The Jewish scripture says that. Isaiah 58 again.

That is a powerful incentive: 'The Lord will watch your back.' Sounds like a good deal to me, right now.

A number of years ago, I met a wise man who changed my life. In countless ways, large and small, I was always seeking the Lord's blessing. I was saying, you know, I have a new song, look after it. I have a family, please look after them. I have this crazy idea...

And this wise man said: Stop.

He said, stop asking God to bless what you're doing.

Get involved in what God is doing - because it's already blessed.

Well, God, as I said, is with the poor. That, I believe, is what God is doing.

And that is what he's calling us to do.

I was amazed when I first got to this country and I learned how much some churchgoers tithe. Up to 10% of the family budget. Well, how does that compare with the federal budget, the budget for the entire American family? How much of that goes to the poorest people in the world? Less than 1%.


Mr. President, Congress, people of faith, people of America:

I want to suggest to you today that you see the flow of effective foreign assistance as tithing.... Which, to be truly meaningful, will mean an additional 1% of the federal budget tithed to the poor.

What is 1%? (One percent of last year's budget would have been about $26 billion.)

1% is not merely a number on a balance sheet.

1% is the girl in Africa who gets to go to school, thanks to you.

1% is the AIDS patient who gets her medicine, thanks to you.

1% is the African entrepreneur who can start a small family business thanks to you.

1% is not redecorating presidential palaces or money flowing down a rat hole. This 1% is digging waterholes to provide clean water.

1% is a new partnership with Africa, not paternalism toward Africa, where increased assistance flows toward improved governance and initiatives with proven track records and away from boondoggles and white elephants of every description.

America gives less than 1% now. We're asking for an extra 1% to change the world. to transform millions of lives - but not just that and I say this to the military men now - to transform the way that they see us.

1% is national security, enlightened economic self-interest, and a better, safer world rolled into one. Sounds to me that in this town of deals and compromises, 1% is the best bargain around.

These goals - clean water for all; school for every child; medicine for the afflicted, an end to extreme and senseless poverty - these are not just any goals; they are the Millennium Development goals, which this country supports. And they are more than that. They are the Beatitudes for a globalised world.

Now, I'm very lucky. I don't have to sit on any budget committees. And I certainly don't have to sit where you do, Mr. President. I don't have to make the tough choices.

But I can tell you this:

To give 1% more is right. It's smart. And it's blessed.

There is a continent - Africa - being consumed by flames.

I truly believe that when the history books are written, our age will be remembered for three things: the war on terror, the digital revolution, and what we did - or did not do - to put the fire out in Africa.

History, like God, is watching what we do.

Thank you. Thank you, America, and God bless you all.

Need You Now

Need You Now
(7/06)

Stressed
Depressed
Cuz this just aint fair

Perception
With no direction
Leaves me grasping at air

Expectation
Frustration
Over what cannot be done

I’m in the cross-hair
Shouldn’t be there
This has stopped bein fun


But I can’t walk away
Cuz I got a family
So I need You
Need You now
Cuz if You don’t come thru
My chances are few
Cuz I need You
Need You now


Maybe it’s my fault
Always hear that guilt
Cuz I took it all too light

Didn’t see this comin
Guess I shoulda been runnin
Instead of kickin up my feet

Misplayed my hand
Now here I stand
So I need You
Need You now
In this place again
Really need a friend
So I need You
Need You now



You know it’s hard for a man to say he’s wrong
Harder still to say he needs a hand
But I’m asking You in this song
Help me up onto my feet, help me stand

Raise up a Father

Raise up a Father
(7/17/06)

Starin at the ceiling
Listen to her breathing
But I can’t find no rest

So start to thinking
‘Bout the chains still linking
Me back to those sins of the past

Those counterfeit fathers
Controlling the waters
That I thought I needed to heal

So I danced for the blessing
While they kept me guessing
If what they offered was real


Spent time as a soldier
But now I am older
And that aint the life meant for me

I believe in the Bride
But can’t live inside
Cuz it burns in my heart to be free

I read in the Bible
That His voice is quite able
To guide me and set me aflame

So I’m off to the wild
To play like a child
With the Father who knows my name

Call to me
Find me
Speak to me
Set me free
Destiny
Father me
Raise up a father
To raise up a son
To raise up the Joshua Generation

be encouraged

Great word of encouragement from John Paul Jackson...


Welcome, King of Peace
By John Paul Jackson

And those who know Your name will put their trust in You;
For You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.—Psalm 9:10

Trust is an act of worship, one that can be incredibly difficult because to fully trust God, you have to embrace a virtue no one enjoys very much: patience in the midst of trial. Over and over again, the Bible highly suggests we trust God in all things—especially when life seems more "prunish" than peachy. The inference is that when we trust Him, our issues will fall into place. We will have some semblance of order (wouldn't it be nice to have that again?), and we will know the peace of God. In other words, life will be good.

Obviously, that doesn't mean everything we're struggling with will suddenly correct itself and we won't have tension anymore. Not at all. All of us have seen life be uncommonly hard and dirty and sweaty and difficult. All of us have bled all over the place and have been wounded and are still being wounded. However, when our priorities are straight, we see with the eyes of God. Do we see everything? Again, not at all. But when our priorities are straight—meaning, God is God in our lives, and we know it and let Him be—we see what He sees, at least in part. We know suddenly that He is completely, absolutely, and irrevocably in control—and because that's so, we have nothing to fear.

At one of the early churches I pastored, I learned an important lesson about letting God be in control of my problems. I had some elders get upset with me, and for one night I thought they might be right in what they said. But that night, the Lord came to me in a dream and spoke to me. "Do I know everything about the future?"

"Yes, Sir, you do," I replied.

"Did I know you would do what you did?"

"Yes, Sir, you did."

"And I knew that, and I still called you to be the pastor at this church?"

"Well, yeah . . . Are You sure you wanted me to do that?" But I knew He did. I knew that I knew that I knew. "Yes," I finally said, "You did."

What He said next I will never forget. "Therefore, if I knew what you were going to do, and I still chose you, then they have not come against you, but they have come against Me, and I will deal with it." So I backed off, and God dealt with it.

So what does all of this mean? It means that what you are going through right now is led by One and One alone. Does He know your future? Yes. Did He know you would do what you did to get yourself into the mess you're in now? Yes. And—even though He had plenty of opportunity to rat you out and write you off as a failure—did He still choose you to be where you are and do what He's called you to do? Yes. You have nothing to fear. God is perfectly able to keep your head above water, even if the mess you find yourself in was entirely your fault. He can keep your checkbook in the black, your name on His roster, your hand in His. Never let the enemy convince you otherwise. Your destiny is worth far more than that.

Copyright © 2006 John Paul Jackson, Streams Ministries International. All rights reserved. ",1]

Dream, Interpretted

First off, to all that emailed, thanks for your heart. It was great to read it all.

Here is the dream from the other nite interpretted:

Ocean- In dreams, water often symbolizes the Holy Spirit. This may seem off, since in the dream my kids were in danger, and God obviously wouldn't do that. But wait...

My Kids- In reality, I would have been panicked for all three of my kids, since my daughter is far from a competent swimmer. But I was only trying to rescue my sons. And I couldn't tell which son I had and which one was still lost... A bit of a headscratcher, until you look at what my sons would mean in metaphor. Progeny, heritage, destiny.

Odd Shelf-like beach- Again, in reality, I've never seen anything like this. And it would never hold the weight of a child, much less a grown man...
So to put it all together...

I am sitting (in an unsupportable place) comfortably, one-step detached from what the Spirit is doing in front of me. I'm looking out and seeing my future in an idyllic setting, splashing about in the very tame low-tide of the Spirit. But as the waves come suddenly (God's about to do something...), I freak out, cuz I lose sight (and control) of what I thought was my destiny. But then the Lord has me wake up before I see anything bad happens, but also (intentionally) to not give away the suprise of what He has in store. And I find that what God has to do to get me off of my unsupportable, slightly detached seat on the sidelines and into the water is let me believe that my future is in jeopardy.

He is a crafty One, He is...

Invitation: Live!

Come on my brothers
Come on my people
You broken, you “others”
In the shadows of steeples
Step on out
Step in
Step up

Come on you tired
From your ruthless perfections
So uninspired
By soul-less directions
This is God
Alive
Pursuing

This is Love

So come on and
Live!
In your fear in your pain
Live!
Angels shout your name
Live!
Only one thing remains


So come on you fearful
Tied to your labor
So precise and careful
To hide from His anger
Its not there
It's gone
Forever

So come on and
Live!
In your fear in your pain
Live!
Angels shout your name
Live!
All that remains is to
Live!
Inside Heavens’ embrace
Live!
See the smile on His face
Live!
He invites you to live

Almost Sober

Almost sober
(7/06)

Almost sober
Starting to feel again
And I feel older
Than when this all began

When she was with me
In both heart and hand
And when she’d kissed me
Knew I could take the land

Now those dreams all call down
Like crows up on the wire
But love still burns
Just like a funeral pyre
And I still hear your breath
As I lie alone in this bed
And all that’s left
Is your laughter in my head

Almost over
Starting to feel again
Don’t think I’ll ever
Find what I had back then

But who am I foolin?
Cuz I’m in love with love
May be my ruin
I can never have enough

My heart still feels you
Like a ghost behind the walls
Just outside my reach
A voice from down the hall
In my dreams I try to touch you
But you dissolve like smoke in rain
Wakin up crying
Wakin up mumbling your name

Think I’ll have another drink…

Under Quiet Stars (new song)

wrote this Saturday.


(new song)
Under Quiet Stars


Television blaring
Newspaper scaring
All around you can hear the fear
Of a world uncaring

I try to front and hide
Shelter in my pride
But all this noise is killing me
Start to feel the cold inside

I gotta get out
I gotta get out...

I look around my city
Boys hard, girls pretty
Amputated souls
Hearts incapable of pity

I gotta get out
I gotta get out...

Under quiet stars
To hear my Father's heart
To soften all these scar
Under the quiet stars

You're the only one I've known of
Didn't let your heart just give up
Even tho they hated
Saw this world and gave love

Now you're telling me to follow
Tho bitter tears I gotta swallow
See this place thru Your eyes
And find the gold thats below

I gotta dig down
I gotta dig down...

Under quiet stars
To hear my Father's heart
To soften all these scars
Under the quiet stars

Cuz under these quiet stars
I can see so far
You take me to where You are
Under quiet stars

Calling all Dream Interpreters...

Had a very distressing dream this morning between snoozes on the alarm clock.

I was on the beach with my kids (Em 8, Zach 6, Jake 4) and there were other kids there, too. I don't remember any other adults, but that didn't occur to me as odd in the dream.
We live on the coast, so going to the beach is nothing novel to us, but this beach was odd in that the surf splashed up to the beach, which was elevated about 4 feet above the water level- kind of a small sand bluff rather than a beach.

In the dream, it was low tide, and as the waves came in, they didn't even reach the sand bluff where I was sitting with my feet dangling and watching my kids play in the surf up to their calves. They were about 30 feet out. Then I noticed that the waves were beginning to roll all the way up to the bluff, and realized the tide must be coming back in. My two youngest are not proficient swimmers, yet, and my eldest is just barely, so I jumped down and hollered for them to come in.

As I did that, two large waves came in and suddenly I was up to my waist, even still close to the beach. I was struggling against the waves to get to my boys. I grabbed one (can't remember which), and could hear the panicked scream of the other as he flailed and dipped under the waves. I couldn't locate him, but I could hear him screaming out to me. Then the alarm went off and woke me up.

I know a little bit about dream interpretation, in that dreams are metaphorical, and should not be interpreted too literally. But i still feel a little freaked out, still hearing my boys' screams in my head.

Please feel free to post any thoughts you have on the dream. All submittals are appreciated...

Frodos need Gandalfs

I just ripped this off of a blog at http://dankimball.typepad.com/
Cool insight on the difficulties of emerging an "Alternative Church" out of an existing one. The new needs to be flexible and not too demanding, the old needs to be willing to let go and to change.

I read on Scot McKnight and Marko's blog about the announcement this past week regarding the ending of the Axis worship gathering at Willowcreek Community Church. I don't know all the behind the scenes discussions and what led to the decision to stop the gathering, so I cannot make any guesses about what were the actual reasons behind the reasons. I have talked with some of the Axis staff throughout the years, so I have a general understanding of the history and changes made since it started. I even wrote a chapter specifically about Axis in the Emerging Worship book. But whatever the reasons for shutting down Axis, I can say, that from an outside perspective it saddened my heart - but I was not at all surprised. I am surprised it didn't end sooner actually.

Willowcreek and Axis was one of the first churches to experiment with launching an alternative worship gathering within an existing church. I have followed what they have been doing since before they began it. There were really good reasons behind it as they were noticing that even in wonderful large megachurches, there are value differences and cultural differences in local populations and between generations. Because of these differences, if one is truly missional and being a missionary to various cultures with a larger culture, it means various expressions of evangelism, worship, teaching, learning, spiritual formation then occurs. This should be a natural thing, and to my understanding was the reason behind birthing Willowcreek itself back in the seventies.

Generational vs. Worldview(s) differences makes all the difference
However, when launching a new worship gathering in an existing church, the question is - are the changes occurring out there, mainly generational (music style, appearance, language) which changes every generation? Or are the changes bigger than that in worldview(s) and more about how people learn, specific values people have, how people think of God and the spiritual world etc. If it is just a generational change, then might as well just change the music, add some candles and create hip environment and play a video of the senior pastor. That's doing some outer dressing work - and I think that if we really peeled back the layers of the majority of these alternative services in existing churches - that is what you would find.

The generational focused worship gatherings may have a younger pastor with a goatee or funky glasses and who wears his (usually is a male) shirt untucked and easily look like they could be a band member from Death Cab for Cutie. They have some freedom, but their hands are tied to really make holistic change to the church at large - as the whole things needs to fold into the systems and values of the larger church they are within. There are value differences and philosophical differences between cultures and generations - so that is only natural and should be expected. That tension is part of the mission of doing this.

But when these new worship gatherings within a church are only generational and not considering the worldview changes - what mainly happens is that they then cater to those who grew up in that church or another church. People come to where they have better music, cooler environment and be around people their age and can do the healthy single flirt with others. Because of the power structure, they report to the senior pastor or Executive Pastor at a church. To some degree, and I say this with respect, it is somewhat of a glorified youth ministry in most cases. So these are generational changes and catering ministry to a generational change. However, if the changes in culture are bigger than that though - then it is absurd to think that creating a different aesthetic environment and changing the music is really being missional.
If we are specifically looking at a mission - to our culture, then it means looking at community different, spiritual formation, evangelism, membership, leadership, communication etc. - the whole culture of a church will change. Not just what happens in a worship gathering. That is why only changing the worship gathering is not the answer.

This is why so many of these worship gatherings launched within a church last 3-5 years which are truly more missional, end up imploding generally due to all kinds of reasons, generally it is a senior pastor vs. younger pastor whom have value differences and struggles as they try to squeeze a new cultural form of ministry within an existing church. The power lies with the senior leadership, so the decisions are made from top to bottom and the alternative worship gatherings are not at the top tier in leadership structure within a church. So it is usually the new alternative gathering that gets changed by the wishes of the upper leadership to fit within the whole. Lots of conflict, pain and difficulty in many cases, and I have so many stories of sad things that occurred in staff situations.

Axis certainly served a purpose and perhaps stretched things as far as the larger church could extend to. I remember it used to have I believe around 1,800 people at it at one point when it was thriving. I was close to an Axis staff person at that time and heard such wonderful things going on there. I assume Willowcreek will have specific college and twenty-something activities and retreats going on to cater to that age group specifically. But, it is the story of yet another one of the alternative gatherings that happen using different staff (not a video of the senior pastor) ending.

"Intergenerational" church does not happen by sitting in the same worship gathering
When I hear someone say they want an "Intergenerational" church - it usually means they want everyone to sit in the same room for the 60-90 minute worship gathering each week. It seems odd that this is seen as being "intergenerational" as all you are doing is sitting in a chair looking at the backs of heads of others and watching someone speak on a stage and singing together. I don't see intergenerational relationships occurring that way, especially in larger churches where everyone then floods out as there is another worship gathering happening in 30 minutes.That isn't any different than attending a movie together. You do have the same emotional and learning experience, but then you leave without relationships being built. Relationships occur outside the time you sit in a chair and watch what happens on the stage and sing. And then the never ending not pleasing anyone if you try to get all ages together "stylistically" for worship blah blah blah so it causes frustration any way you may look at it.

Can alternative worship gatherings in a church work?
The common way to do this now seems to launch it via video, where the senior pastor is seen a video screen and then the music is more hip and youthful and candles are other aesthetically-oriented things are changed in the room. I won't comment on my personal feelings of those things here. But in terms of churches launching actual worship gatherings with a different pastor and team - the only ones I know that I know that have made it so far longer term is Frontline which is part of McLean Bible Church. They have lasted the longest to my knowledge and I respect them for going through all the struggles and tension, yet still pushing onward. I have also been at and met with the staff at the Upper Room in Minneapolis which is part of Christ Presbyterian Church. The Upper Room has been going now on for several years as well and seems to be doing OK.

I also am trying to keep a pulse on Illuminate at Overlake Christian Church, a megachurch in the Seattle area. Mike, the pastor there of the new "Illuminate" gathering is a really sharp thinker and when I met with him he seemed to really be asking all the right questions. However, they have an interesting situation developing where I recently heard that the new alternative worship gathering is now surpassing the existing ones from the main church in attendance. That should cause some interesting discussion internally there.

What is the answer - I don't know. For me, it turned out in my specific situation after leading an alternative worship gathering and ministry within a church - that we had to plant a new church. The more I pondered "what is church?" and all the things that caused tension and questions because of value and philosophy differences in a single church - we realized that the differences were too great, and the mother-church did not want to allow us to truly change further beyond just the worship gathering itself, but more or less conform the the systems and values of the mother-church. The mother-church actually began adopting some of the things we were doing with more contemporary music and added art and things to their worship gatherings - but those are externals and without rethinking spiritual formation, evangelism, what is community, leadership etc. holistically - it didn't work. It is much bigger than the worship gathering itself in what we need to rethink if we are truly missional today.

Frodos need Gandalfs
So we found it could not work in our specific situation. But I truly do wish that it could work. I wish that churches could launch alternative worship gatherings within churches and see them continue. To me that is the best way to not constantly be spending money on buildings and facilities, and also even if there are alternative worship gatherings that have a generational attraction to them where they worship at different times - they can create relationships and community outside the worship gathering. One of the best things we had going at Graceland (the alternative worship gathering within a larger church I led) was older couples from the main church mentoring the younger. Many of the older couples did not go to Graceland, but they had a heart for younger people. That was beautiful - and that sadly is missing from many younger church plants. I believe that Frodos need the wisdom of Gandalfs. Younger people in the church desperately need the wisdom of older people. But it doesn't mean you get and develop intergenerational relationships that by sitting in the same worship gathering. It is what happens outside of those worship gatherings - so I am perplexed when churches force it the other way to keep them in the same room for the 90 minutes of a worship meeting.

But - who knows...... I truly wish these alternative worship gathering and ministries within a church would work - but they usually don't.

Oh Jesus, lead your church. Keep our own human egos and control issues out of the way - so we can let others lead who are in tune with different cultures that we may not be in tune to. May we yield to those placed in leadership above us if serving on a staff. This is your church Jesus - may we never forget that and may we serve you in the way you want us to for your Kingdom and the mission.

Farewell Axis - Cheers to you - You served a wonderful purpose in the Kingdom and helped so many, many people through the years and inspired so many of us to experiment with launching new gatherings within a church. Thank you for pioneering new experimental ways and even though you are now shut down, your influence and inspiration was wide spread.

Pioneers & Settlers

Slavery of attachment

Attachment...
How is an attachment formed?
First comes the contact with something or someone that gives me pleasure: a car, a gadget, a word of praise, a flirtacious glance...
Then comes the desire to hold on to it, to repeat and maintain this wonderful sensation that this thing or person or experience caused me.
Finally comes the conviction that I will not be happy without it/them, for I have equated happiness with the pleasure it/they brought to me.
I now have developed a fully-conceived attachment, and with it comes an inevitable exclusion of other things, an insensitivity to anything that is not part of my attachment. Each time I leave the attachment, I leave part of my heart with it, thereby not having it to invest in the next place I go. The symphony of life moves on, but I keep looking back, clinging to a few bars of the melody, blocking my ears to the rest of the music, thereby producing disharmony and conflict between what life is offering me and what I am clinging to. Then comes the tension and anxiety that are the very death of love, and the freedom it brings. Because Love and Freedom are only found when one enjoys each note as it arises, then allows it to go, so as to be fully receptive to the notes that follow.
So how do I drop an attachment?
Do I try to renounce it?
But to renounce some bars of music, to blot them out of my existence, this creates the same kind of soul violence and insensitivity that clinging does. Once again I have hardened myself.
The secret is to renounce nothing, to cling to nothing, enjoy everything and allow it to pass, to flow.
How? By really looking at the product of my clinging. The rotteness, the corrupt nature of attachment. I usually just concentrate on the thrill, the lust, the infatuation of aquisition, the pleasure it brings. I don't look at the anxiety, the the loss, the un-freedom it brings.
Finally, I can look at attachment at a mass-level. Our culture, driven by dissatisfaction and the lust of aquisition. Rotten and infected with attachments. To be a productive member of society, you must participate in that race for more. In other words, if I pursue these things/people/experiences with a driving ambition that destroys the symphony of my life and makes me hard and cold and insensitive to others and myself, you will look at me as a "good man" (which happens to be one of the things that I desire, to boot...). My relatives and friends will be proud of the status that I have achieved, and I will feel like I have worth. For a brief moment.
I believe that some of this is what a very wise man meant when he taught, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."

"realer" and "realer"...

I was struck by something in the shower this morning... it was my wife's shampoo bottle that had been placed precariously in the ledge over my head.
After that, I resumed thoughts on an evening spent with a buddy this weekend. We talked like women- meaning the conversation had actual substance, wandered over multiple subjects, and took a few hours. But the context and the subject matter was entirely male. We were drinking fine ales and smoking fine cigars and talking about things like previous criminal exploits, drunken roomates, the fact that we don't really know what love is, the plan of God on our lives, what type of porn really appeals to us and why, getting away from religious form and into the simple and glorious presnce of God, getting your heart broken by parents or wives, and how to get your heart back from the wreck.
The thing that struck me (after the shampoo), is that 5 years ago, that same conversation (at least on my end), would have been quite different. It would have been about things like politics, things I don't support (i.e. Chinese products produced by imprisoned Christian slave labor, the gay agenda, the liberal media and it's effect on society, etc...) and why, current social issues and the biblical defenses to my positions, and on, and on, and on. Ever notice how alot of people who consider themselves serious, committed Christians are much more eloquent on what they don't support than what they do...?
I suddenly realized that these were no longer things that I am passionate about, and I haven't been for a long time. While I think they still have value, I see the conversation has moved into new fronteirs. Less abstract, more impact. Less about changing the culture, more about changing my heart. And even saying that, less about what I need to do to improve my character, more about being in the presence of the One who changes me just by being in His company.
The really backward thing about maturity is that when you don't have it, you can't see it. You believe that your passion and fiery rhetoric are sure signs of your depth and your call. But you're still busted up inside and full of shit. So, don't be an ass-bag like I have been... put down your newspaper and bullhorn, burn the soap-box, let all you agendas and your ideas of converting the culture to your idea of Christianity die. And let Him in to mess you up, remake you, be your Friend.
It's amazing to be able to relax and just be me with God. I look out and see enormous deserts in my heart where He still desires to bring water and life and maturity, but I can also look back and see great lush gardens where I finally let down my guard and allowed Him to bring healing and life to a scared and burned valley.
So relax. God is not chasing you around the back yard with a switch. He wants to help you learn who you really are, outside all the posturing and positioning. Quit "churching" yourself and others around you, and let Him bring the real out of you.

learning to follow

What does it really mean to follow You?
Cuz the cost is way higher than I ever knew
But so is the reward
And so is the journey.
Why do I lie thru this mic & guitar?
Smiling and singing happy songs from a troubled place?
Why do I focus where there is no value at all?
I'll give up what Ive loved to deathfor what I can hold and still live
You say sing Your songs
a minstrel with authority
But I need people to like me too much
So I entertain rather than love you with my songs
But You dont listen to my doubting
Cuz Youre too busy telling me how great I am
And I wonder if I believed You
could I really just walk away from all this frailty
Use your music to call your children home
Turn murderers into prophets
Use Your music to clear out the distractions
And reveal that Youve been waiting here all along
You keep stretching out my lines
Ignoring my no trespassing signs
Pushing me to come awake and move on
You love me and want to be around me
But dont care about what I think about anything
You want me to absorb what You think about everything
Im a messenger carrying the gravity of Your heart
Not a praise leader yawning out happy songs
I want to move your Spirit with my music
Cuz that's all that really matters anymore
Except for applause.
that still matters to me.
But You don't like to share
so You'll wait for me to choose
I wont obey You if I dont love You
And I wont love You if I dont believe You
And I wont believe You if I dont know Your character
So keep introducing me to You
And I'll be captured and follow