Road Rage Reduction

Cory and I are working together in a coffee shop this morning and we were talking about our efforts to put into practice a strategy for prayer that we talked about on Sunday night. Basically the idea is to use down times in our day to focus on different kinds of prayer. For both of us these are the shower, driving to work, driving home from work, and before falling asleep at night. We are focusing on worship, giving thanks, offering requests, and confession. Cory said he's had times this week (in only two days!) when he was praying in the car and something happened that sent him into mild road rage, which made for an interesting contrast to the prayer. Unfortunately, I can associate too well with this.

Yesterday I was on my way way to work and came to a point in my harrowing journey where the two lanes merge into one. The sign on the side of the road clearly indicates that the right lane merges into the left, which means the left lane should have the right of way. Now, because I am so philanthropic, each day I allow one of the cars from the right lane to get in front of me. After patting myself on the back I continue on my way to work. Well, yesterday I was allowing the nice minivan beside me to take the sacred space in front of me, when a big, menacing SUV came roaring up beside me, got within about a foot of the beautiful minivan who was playing by the rules, and made it clear that he was going to try and butt his way in front of me. I was going to have no part of it! (Did I mention I was praying as this started to happen?) So I rode neck-in-neck with the presumptuous SUV as we came closer and closer to the point of merging. This continued to the point that the horrible SUV was about to be driving on the shoulder. At that point I relented and hit the brake so he could take his wrongful place in front of me. I sat in my car, shaking my head like a disappointed parent hoping with all my might that he was looking at me in the rearview mirror.

At that point I remembered I had been praying, and I knew my attitude at the moment was not godly, but even realizing that I was still upset! I prayed about that attitude and slowly remembered that in that bully SUV was a driver who God loved, who I should love. That's the hard thing about prayer, it doesn't allow us to be selfish or angry! Hopefully Cory and I will both reap the benefits of praying in the car and have a road rage reduction.

Church Plant Update

(Below is my update letter I sent this week about Infuse. We ask for your prayers.)

Friends,

In college my closest group of friends often talked about serving in ministry together, but it was more of an unrealistic dream than something that would ever come to fruition.

For these seven years since graduation, I’ve worked at Christianity Today International. I get to help create resources that equip churches and their leaders, and I’ve grown more in love with the church and convinced that it is the hope of the world.

Lately, through my professional and volunteer church work, God has shown me that one of my unique gifts is apostleship. Apostles are entrepreneurial and often seen using their gifts on new frontiers of ministry like church planting or creating new ministries.

With this in mind, I want to share with you some exciting news in my life.

On July 27, one of my best friends from college, Trevor Lee, and his family will move from Denver to Aurora, Illinois to follow a call God has grown in us—the call to be missionaries to our own culture. We’ve chosen Aurora because of its diversity and its great needs, and Trevor has seen the passion and commitment I’ve developed for this city over the last several years I’ve lived here.

Statistics show that people are detaching from church and becoming increasingly unfamiliar with what it means to be a Christian. You’ll probably notice this just in your circle of influence. I’ve noticed this as more people my age stop being part of a church or never show an interest.

We’re starting a church called Infuse. We want to take time to develop relationships and to understand how to reach those who have had little or no contact with the church. We’ll simply serve and love people more intentionally throughout Aurora.

Infuse is a non-traditional church plant, based on an organic model that is gaining momentum in the States. Practically, it looks like going to a new country to be missionaries. This means taking the time to really listen to people, gain an understanding of what the Church would look like for them, and empower them to live out faith in Christ within their cultural setting. We don’t expect quick, tangible results because we know that relationship-building takes time.

We cannot fulfill God’s call on our lives without the support of our friends and family. We’re looking for partners in this missional church plant, and I thought it was important you know what we’re doing so you could pray with us in these beginning stages.

Because we are starting with a small group and pursuing a model that will take time to make an impact, we will also need financial support to make this work. If you feel led to support us financially in this start-up ministry, you can fill out the card below and mail it in the envelope provided or sign up for electronic funds transfer at www.InfuseChurch.com under “Support.” If you are willing to pray for us, please also let us know on the card so that we can keep you updated on what is happening.

I love talking about what we’re doing so please ask me questions. Attached is an FAQ page that provides more detailed information. We’re excited about this new spiritual journey and look forward to you being a part of it with us.

Trusting in Him,

Cory Whitehead

Praying for Puppies?

One balance I've often struggled with in prayer--especially group prayer--is taking everyone's issues seriously but not making prayer some kind of trite grocery list of suggestions to God. What do you do when someone says their dog needs prayer because it's going to get a shot? Or that their grandma got a bad watermelon at the store that she can't take back?

On the side of accommodating, and even encouraging, any and every request are a few things. One, I believe that God is intimately involved in the world and that there isn't anything that escapes his awareness. So on some level, anything that is a concern to someone is a concern to him. Second, I don't believe I have the right to judge the validity of someone else's experiences. So if someone says they are anxious, sad, or angry about something, my reaction shouldn't be to dismiss it as stupid. It may be something that wouldn't matter to me were I in their shoes, but apparently it does matter to them. Third, I believe that God answers prayer. Prayer is not just something God uses to shape us (though it can do that), he has invited us to shape his involvement in the world through prayer.

On the side of not wanting to accomodate seemingly trite prayers are a few other things. One, the Bible doesn't give us many examples of the kinds of prayer. Prayer in Scripture is rich and is far more about the things of the kingdom of God than it is about minor inconveniences or pains. Two, prayer requests like these tend to make group prayer time less meaningful and more routine. It's easy to make a list, check it twice, and talk out loud about it under the pretense of it being prayer. Sometimes it may be prayer, but I know that there are many times I've just prayed for someone's request without passion or desire because I thought I had to. Many times these requests seem to come out because someone really wants to say something, just give an update on their life and not know when else to do it, or spread some gossip. Third, this reinforces that Christianity is all about "me" and God giving me what I deserve. I don't have time to write about all the things that are wrong with that and how that thinking has neutered Christianity.

Something that motivated this is an article I came across by JoHannah Reardon on group prayer. Again, there's no hyperlink button on this computer, but if you're up for cutting and pasting it's at http://www.christianitytoday.com/smallgroups/articles/artofgroupprayer.html.

Your thoughts on the topic?

The Priority of Prayer

Yesterday morning Jon Haley, a missionary in Spain, preached an amazing message called the Horizons of Life. It was out of 1 Peter 4, and what caught my attention most was Peter's call to be clear-minded and self-controlled (NIV) so that we can pray. As I have delved deeper into the missional paradigm of church I have enjoyed reading and interacting with people about all kinds of concepts and ways of thinking. I have made time for this reading and these conversations. I make time to write on this blog and to read others. Many times I do not make time to pray.

One of the things I have loved about the missional church conversation is the call to reliance on the Spirit of God. We take action but understand that it is not our strategies that will transform lives, ours or others. One of the logical outcomes of this should be a desire, even a need, to cry out to God and say "your kingdom come!" Yet lack of discipline in our lives can defeat the best of intentions. I came out of the sermon yesterday wanting to spend significant time calling out to God, but if I do not create the time for this to happen it will not happen.

I was talking with a friend this morning about where prayer should come from. By that I mean specifically, should we wait until we have a desire to pray and then do it, or should we discipline ourselves to pray and then hope our heart follows. We both spent much of our lives setting aside time to pray because we were supposed to and our hearts didn't follow. But I think it is also possible to have a heart that longs to pray but never do it because we are not disciplined. It seems to me that both of these elements are essential. We must seek God and be given a heart desire to be with him, but we also have to create time when this can happen. We must be both passionate and disciplined about prayer. Prayer reminds us that we are reliant on Him and that we will see greater things that we could imagine when it is His power and not ours at work.