Going Viral: an Interaction between Strategy and Prayer

And Another Thing . . . Going Viral

This past Sunday, after our service in the awesome Carmel Middle School auditorium, we traveled to Soho Café to learn how to go viral.  Before I became a pastor and community builder at The Gathering, I spent 25 years as a sales rep for a pharmaceutical company.  At various times in my career I sold antiviral medicines to treat things as diverse as herpes and flu. The fear with all of these viral conditions though, was that a new strain would emerge that the medicines could not contain. If that were to happen, the whole population would become infected and perhaps die.  In my former life, virality was something to be avoided--so it feels strange that now it has become a goal.

Churches throughout history have periodically hit the viral wave. On the day of Pentecost the church began as a prayer group of about 120 and ended the day with more than 3,000 members. This early church exploded when God’s spirit came on the scene. Christ-followers inside a house were so overcome by the presence of the Holy Spirit that they spilled out into the streets where people passing by began to observe and encounter this move of God. These spectators were soon infected with God’s spirit and the whole thing went viral. God and men were joined together until this holy amalgamation snowballed into a revival. As a church word, revival means that a whole lot of people at almost the same time, choose to change their lives and live for God. When revivals happen, society changes.

Every new church is a prayer for revival. The Gathering is such a prayer.  We want our city to change into a place where people love each other and God.  We want to see hope and light flow into our shuttered neighborhoods and “access-controlled” apartments. We want the children growing up on our streets to fear less and play more.  We pray that resources will flow from our community into the whole world to improve the plight of our neighbors everywhere. We want marriages to be renewed and restored. We want there to be a turning of the hearts of the children to their parents, and the hearts of the parents to their young. We want the people in our community to turn from anger and move towards laughter and joy.  We want Carmel to look less like a city of man and more like a city of God. Most of all, we want the people of our city to find their life in the life of Jesus. The Gathering is a prayer for this kind of change.

We have been asking each of you to pray for the imminent launch of The Gathering into our community.  Each day we have suggested topics to be prayed for, and I know that many are faithfully praying for our emergence into Carmel.  Keep it up.  The secret of virality in the church is not so much strategy as it is prayer.  When God shows up, everything changes.  If God does not show up, what we build is ultimately a vanity. 

We want God to inhabit and multiply our various strategies, just as he did for Gideon and Joshua and all the other people of faith in the Bible. So pray for all of those you will be inviting to come to The Gathering on March 4^th.  Pray before you hit the “send” button.  Pray for your neighborhoods as you drive down the streets.  Pray for the homes and businesses all around you as you move in and out of your daily routines.  Prayer makes strategy look brilliant. 

And that is all I have to say about that . . . for now.

Gideon's March Or How Faith Moves to Victory

And Another Thing . . . Gideon

The question is almost never “Will God show up?”, but, rather, “Will we remain faithful?” The real tale of faith is usually found in the small moments before the big event.  The story of God this week was about the victory Gideon’s army of 300 men won over the 135,000 Midianites occupying the land.  God’s people were in a hard place, reduced to hiding in caves and scrounging for food.  Starvation was an imminent danger for every family.  To remedy this situation God chose an unlikely hero: Gideon, the least member (the runt) of the least tribe in the country. In God’s economy, he was the perfect choice.  

Gideon amassed an army of 32,000 but God reduced the number to 300. In fact, it took two waves of reductions to get down to a size God believed was appropriate! Not only that, but Gideon’s inspired plan was to approach the enemy without weapons; they were to carry a torch hidden in a jar, and a trumpet. Three hundred unarmed men walked for miles toward what appeared to be certain destruction.

This march toward the battle is the part of the story that intrigues me. This march of faith is the battle.  It is easy to say we trust God.  It is another thing to instruct our own legs to walk us into the presence of an overwhelming force and near certain destruction.  Everyone in Gideon’s army knew the stories of what God had done for their ancestors-- the parting of the Red Sea, Manna falling from heaven, Jericho’s walls falling down -- but He had not been in the miracle business for awhile. They had to wonder if things were really going to change. Would this be a God story, or just another failure? They mustered faith to believe that God was talking again and that Gideon had heard Him. So they walked through the dark night.  With each step came the question, “Do I keep going or run away?” I wonder if the faces of their friends who left in the early reductions haunted them as they walked. I suspect they could almost hear their voices encouraging them to move toward the safety of known subservience and abandon their foolhardy quest for freedom. 

As the small army approached the camp it all became very real. They could hear the noise of the soldiers. They knew they were committed.  They would see it through.

Fredrick Buechner once wrote that “doubts are the ants in the pants of faith; they keep it awake and moving.”

Paul Tillich similarly wrote, “Doubt isn't the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.”

The King James Version of the Bible translates Hebrews 11:1 this way: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

There are times when our life with God requires us to go on a march towards something that only makes sense if God is on the other side of it. If God is not there it will be a disaster. Each time we receive this call we can choose to embrace our fear and run away, or to move with God until He releases us. Sometimes, we are called to go on the entire journey. With each step we must choose between continuing on with God or running back to the perceived comfort of what we know. Much of this march is a dance with doubt and faith. The trick is to continue the dance all the way to the end. Our faithfulness on the journey finally brings us into the position where God can do the amazing things He intends.

In Gideon’s case, God defeated a mighty force with just light, sound and a whole lot of faith.  Faith was the journey then as it remains the journey now. Move with God and you will find him faithful.

And that is all I have to say about that . . . for now!

Samuel, Eli and Listening to God (The Seven Minutes a Day Exercise)

And Another Thing . . . Listening

My mother was told she would never survive childbirth.  I am now an old man with two younger sisters and Mom is still alive and living well.  My parents named me Samuel, which means “asked of God,” and one of the first Bible stories my mother taught me was the story of the man I was named after.  Hannah, Samuel’s mom, was barren but she promised God that if He would let her have a son, she would give the boy back to Him. He did and she did.

While he was still a young boy, Samuel was taken to live in the temple with Eli, the head priest. One night, even though he was barely old enough to be in Junior Church, God called to Samuel. The story goes that he thought it was Eli calling and went to ask the old man what he wanted. This happened two more times before Eli realized what was up and told Samuel that the voice he was hearing belonged to God. That night Samuel learned the sound of a voice he would listen to the rest of his life. He would listen to, and then speak God’s words to the nation of Israel. He was a transformational figure in Jewish history serving as the last judge and the first major prophet. He learned, while still very young, to listen to God. His ability to hear and then speak what he heard is why we still talk about his life after all of these years. Samuel’s story was the story of God at this week’s Gathering.

No one can teach anyone the sound of God’s voice. Each person must make this discovery his or her own. Learning to listen, to recognize God’s voice, is an important milestone on the road to becoming a disciple. I believe that this is a lesson God is asking His people to learn in this moment.

Mike Elmore, MD, who has been discipling me for the past year, spoke at The Gathering this past weekend on the importance of listening to God. I had lunch with my good friend David Mullins this week and he told me that E91 is doing a series on listening to God. David also told me that Southland Christian Church in Lexington was in the middle of a series called “Listening to God.” Every morning I read Oswald Chamber’s, My Utmost for His Highest, and this week it was all about listening to God. Perhaps God is trying to tell me something. Perhaps he is trying to tell all of us something.

Mike suggested at this week’s Gathering that a great way to hear God’s voice is to commit to setting aside seven minutes a day for the purpose of listening. He said to find a “sacred space”—free of cell phones and easy interruptions – and a “sacred time”—usually early in the day—to sit still and ask God to speak.  Mike suggested that we meditate on Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Jesus is waiting to be invited in.  Take seven minutes every day to do just that.

I have been doing this exercise for many months and I am amazed at how God shows up during this time. He speaks when I stop, focus, and invite Him in. I am learning that God is not really silent as much as I am most of the time not really listening. So now, I am trying to listen more. I find that when I am able to do this I wind up being renewed.

We are all busy.  And even though seven minutes sounds brief and even though the reward is high, it is surprising how hard I have to fight, sometimes, to accomplish this. It is as though the brakes on my life won’t engage to let me stop and focus. Perhaps there is a conspiracy out there to keep me moving, to keep me from listening to God. I am not really into conspiracy theories, but it feels that way sometimes.

Like this morning, I felt this pressure to finish my blog before I did my seven minutes. I felt like I needed to accomplish that goal first. Now, I feel like I need to stop writing and go listen.

And that’s all I have to say about that . . . for now.

Focus On God

And Another Thing . . . Focus

As I sit down to write this blog, on my desk are two computers, an iPad and an iPhone. I am looking at four different screens and I have an expectation for each one. I know a text will be coming through any moment. And now I see a new Groupon.

Focusing is a challenge.  We are surrounded by images and ads and shiny things.  Everywhere we look we have multiple opportunities for distraction. Years ago, only the aristocracy could afford entertainment and background music in their homes.  Today, nearly every life comes with a soundtrack; in fact, I am listening to one of my “playlists” as I write this.

Ps 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God.”  That truth was written before there were noisy combustion engines; before the printing press and ubiquitous literacy; before artificial light.  When David, the shepherd, wrote these words, if a person were to act on his advice and become still, the sounds of nature and silence were much more likely to come rushing in.  God would come into focus.  God is everywhere, but we can miss him if we never stop; if we never choose to become still and look for him. 

If people who could never travel faster that the speed of a horse needed to be encouraged to slow down, how much more do we need these words today?  If people with no access to mass communication, whose worldviews were shaped primarily by the things they saw and experienced in their small communities, are encourage to be still and know God, how much more do we need to take these words to heart?

God told Moses in Exodus 3:14 that his name was “I am.”  Jesus said in John 8:58, “before Abraham was, I am.”  The place where we encounter God is in this moment.  The present is the only place we can be, so it is the only place we can be with him.  Each breath; each second is an opportunity to encounter God.

Satan’s main strategy in each of our moments is to direct our focus somewhere else.  To essentially say, “Hey, look at this. Keep going. This is funny. This is upsetting. Worry about this. Puzzle over that. Don’t stop. Faster.”  His intention is to distract us so that we miss the moment God has for us. He can distract us with relatively benign things, or he can double down and direct our attention to self-gratifying or even evil things. But his overarching goal is to get us to think of anything besides Jesus.

Jesus says in John 12:32, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” In John 14:6, Jesus says, “"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” When a person sees Jesus, they are drawn to him. When a person encounters Jesus, they find life.  John 10:10 tells us that Jesus came that we might have life to the “full.” The enemy’s strategy is to get everyone to look any place except the place where Jesus is lifted up.

The truth of David’s Psalm remains forever. Be still (stop moving, clear your head of distractions), and know that I am God (embrace the truth that brings clarity and life to everything else).

And that is all I have to say about that . . . for now.

Tell It Like It Is

And Another Thing . . . Testimonies

John David Webster spoke about how he became a Christ follower at last night’s Gathering. As I watched JD share his story, I looked around the room and saw several people wiping away tears. I saw others smiling and nodding in agreement. As he shared some of the painful parts of his story, I saw several empathetic looks; I did not see anyone sneering or judging.  His story was familiar—not in the details, necessarily, but in the journey. We have all started in or found our way to lost places.  We have all discovered that the lost places were painful and scary and damaging to our life.  Any person who has found their way to a faith relationship with Jesus will feel a crescendo in their spirit when someone like John David begins to talk about how he cried out to God. Tears come when he describes how God hears and saves.  People who have not found their way to faith are presented with a dilemma, because the story resonates.  The testimony sounds credible and seems to be existentially true. 

I think that testimonies are a great argument for faith. When I was young, apologetics were the thing. The rational argument and objective proof were seen as incredibly important tools for defending the faith. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” When I was a teenager this verse was used to establish the need for a well articulated apologetic, or defense of faith. Through most of church history, however, this verse meant tell me the story of how you discovered God. Tell me about your journey to faith. Our “hope” was born out of an encounter with the person of Christ, not out of a set of propositions.

Apologetics are less compelling today because most people do not really believe in objective truth.  They believe in personal truth. Apologetics are a wonderful study for new believers because they offer a strong support for the faith that they have recently found, but many men and women who have been termed “seekers” by the church culture, view rational arguments as spin. They believe that every group can make a rational argument for anything, and ask, “Are those facts the ‘real’ facts?” Our culture has heard “point and counterpoint” so often that they doubt everything and believe that all such activities are mostly a commercial for your cause. In our culture, the reason is less compelling than the person. The personal story of a journey to faith, a testimony, is compelling, even if all of the reasons are not. People believe the truth of a changed life much more than they believe arguments.

Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Doctrine is a church word that means the principles and truths of faith. What we believe is very important. In fact, according to John 8:32, truth is what sets us free.  But truth statements are a less compelling starting point in our culture. Changed lives are always compelling. Matt 5: 14-16 says, “You are the light of the world.  . . . let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

St. Francis of Assisi is commonly attributed with saying, “Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words.”

And that is all I have to SAY about that . . . for now.

Taking It To The Streets

And Another Thing . . . Culture

The culture has quit coming to church, so we are taking the church to the culture. Jesus would have been amazed at the way we cloister. Cloistered means enclosed. Monks who lived in monasteries with enclosed inner courtyards were said to be cloistered.  They cut themselves off from the world and tried to spend their time meditating on God inside the protection of this sequestered environment. Of course, “the world” is not really an external thing; it mostly resides between our ears and behind our eyes. We carry the world in our hearts and heads. We can change the external stimulation, but, for most of us, an internal fire still rages.

Our modern cloistering is different from what the ancients practiced. Many today have resolved to cloister God rather than themselves; to cloister faith life solely within the walls of church services and calendars.  The attempt is not to lock ourselves off from the world, as much as it is to lock God away into a small manageable corner of our life.  Places we can visit and then leave. We cloister, enclose, compartmentalize the part of our lives we let God into, and take no notice of him as we pursue our “secular” lives in the world. Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” God will not be cloistered inside of our church services or our designated “holy times.” We can find God in those moments because he is present everywhere.  God is in our worship services, just as he is in our workplaces, hospitals, courts, malls, jails, houses, cars, showers, bars, restaurants, streets, sidewalks, . . . you get the idea.  The last thing Jesus tells his followers in the book of Matthew is, “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 

We cannot cloister God. He is always everywhere.

Psalm 139 says:

 ⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?

   Where can I flee from your presence?

⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

   if I settle on the far side of the sea,

¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,

   your right hand will hold me fast.

¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

   and the light become night around me,”

¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;

   the night will shine like the day,

   for darkness is as light to you.

New International Version (NIV)  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

When the people of God gather, they are called the church.  When we say we are taking the church to the culture, we mean that we, God’s people, are going to join him where he already is. He is everywhere and the church needs to expand the number of places where we seek to reveal him.

Rich Mullins once wrote,

And go to the city and sing out the song

For the walls of the Temple will be shaken

And the music will transcend the concrete and the chrome

And the minds of the children will waken

                                          O Come All Ye Faithful, Rich Mullins, Sparrow 1983

The message was never meant to be kept inside our walls.  Let’s shake it out of our temples and into our streets.

And that is all I have to say about that . . . for now!