No More Moving--For Now

This morning I'm sitting on Cory's couch in Aurora. The move from Colorado is complete, and it was memorable! (A side note--all I really know about Michelle and the kids at this point is that they have made it to Huntington and that the trip wasn't great. Lots of crying, no sleeping--but they're there and safe.)

I got up Tuesday morning and walked outside to discover it was raining--hard. I went from the Naden's house (Southern Gables worship pastor whose family graciously allowed us to stay with them) to my brother's house to load the car up and get the truck. He and I got the car loaded, but it was raining so hard we both had to change clothes and towel off before leaving.

Because of the rain and the time of day, the 15 mile drive through Denver took about an hour. We had been looking forward to our trip together so much that neither of us really cared about the rain or the traffic, we were just glad to be enjoying our time. We had some great talks about theology and the Bible and spent a lot of the time playing stupid games that gave me the hiccups.

Our first night we stopped somewhere in Iowa. It was still raining. When we got up in the morning, it was still raining. In a show of our fatherly inability to really sleep in we were up and on the road again by 8:00. About two hours from Aurora, it stopped raining. This was a huge blessing because we didn't have to unload the truck in a downpour.

One side note--if you ever drive a big ol' truck through the Chicago area, bring wads of cash for tolls. Each one cost us $5.35.

One other great thing is that Cory let us put stuff in his spare room and the garage so we didn't have to rent a storage space. Cory, Ryan, Megan, Michael, and I worked a sweet assembly line up the stairs and filled the spare room in record time.

So we're glad to be here. I do miss Denver already and so many of the people who have greatly impacted our life who we will see less frequently now. But we know that they will continue to be a part of our lives and we continue to see God's graciousness to us in the transition.

God's Goodness in Pain

Coming to Denver from Indiana five years ago was tough for us. When we left we all had to drive separate cars, and when we made our first stop I got out and saw Michelle's eyes stained with tears. She said she had cried for the first two hours of our trip. We both had a hard time leaving our families. We assumed we'd be in Denver for three years and then move back nearer home.

Now, five years later, we are taking the step we thought would be a relief--we're moving back to the Midwest. We are very excited for what lies ahead of us, but it is very difficult too. One of the prayers we prayed when we came here was that God would give us good friends, and I know Michelle prayed for that especially hard. We have seen God answer those prayers beyond what we could have imagined.

Now, when Michelle thinks about leaving, she is moved to tears in the same way she was when we came. If I stop and think about our move in the midst of the busyness I also have a hard time thinking about the people we're leaving.

It's this pain that has been my greatest reminder of God's goodness in the last few days. First, that God would create us with an ability to relate to others in a way that leaving them would be painful. I praise Him for that. And the fact that he has made this place that is so far from home become our home, that could not have happened without His hand, and I praise Him for that. So our pain is our reminder of the goodness of our God. It is this goodness we throw ourselves on as we move to the next chapter in our lives.

Crazy Weeks

We are now only a little over two weeks from leaving Denver. After spending five years here we are sad to go but excited for what is coming next. I don't think the full impact of leaving will hit us for a while because there is so much to do at the moment. We are packing, figuring out how to start a 501C3, looking for housing and jobs (thanks to Cory and my parents for their help on that front!), trying to see everyone here one last time, and finishing up our jobs here.

I am thankful that our lives will only be so scattered for a few weeks!

Who's Purpose 3

I want to wrap up my thoughts on our current church culture and historically American values with a look at wealth. Here's some of what Scripture has to say on the topic.

"Those who love money never have enough; those who love wealth are never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless." Ecclesiastes 5:10
"No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Matthew 6:24
"Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely--be content with your pay." Luke 3:14
"And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time, those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need."

It would take a very long post to lay out all the Bible has to say on this very important topic, but these verses illustrate the biblical witness on a few key points. Aquiring wealth has always been a central tenent of the American dream. Entrepreneuership, upward mobility, and a solid portfolio are all things to be coveted. I'm just not sure Jesus' values would match our infatuation with wealth. A few observations about America, the church, and money--

First, in American culture and in the church, money is a very private and personal thing. The fruit of wealth is often seen in houses, vehicles, boats, and other luxuries, but don't ever ask someone how much they made last year or how much they give to Kingdom efforts--that's too personal. The passage in Acts doesn't say that everyone knew how much everyone else had, but they must have had some awareness. The wealthier people knew when there were others in their community who didn't have enough and made sure they were provided for. Now churches are big enough that we can find ways to hide from the needs of others. Our wealth and the way we use it are like our sex life--private knowledge that we keep to ourselves.

Second, Americans and the American church are never content with their current level of financial resources (Ecc and Luke). Norman Rockefeller was once asked, "How much money is enough?" He replied, "Just a little bit more." This summaries the American view of wealth well. Unfortunately it doesn't seem this is often much different in the church, it's just masked more carefully. More money is desired in the name of better programs, which we assure people will mean better ministry. I've never heard a church talk about their excesses and scale back. Rather, attention is given to how just a little more money would solve all the problems. We have adopted this mentality of finding purpose in the pursuit of just a little more wealth.

Finally, Americans have made wealth a god. We work long hours to provide as many things as possible for our families, but we remove ourselves from their lives in the process. We compare ourselves to whoever is one rung up on the financial ladder and try to figure out how we can match them, only to look up again when we get there. We assume more money to buy more things will fulfill us, only to be left empty and wanting. The god of wealth has also invaded our churches. We give preferential treatment to those who put a big check in the plate. We drool over the large houses and vehicles of congregants, never imagining that we should question their stewardship.

Our nation's history and values have taught us that wealth is good, period. This may be the most difficult area for us to embrace Kingdom values, because it will cost us comfort and status.

The Chinese Church

Last week I made a connection that has encouraged me about the missional church movement. As you probably know, the Chinese underground church has grown rapidly--impressively--over the last decades.

The Chinese church forms cell-like structures because they have to. The government's persecution and interference have forced them underground, but they've stayed connected and networked. These Chinese house churches simply can't become a religious institution with "baggage"--buildings, famous leaders, theological and political debates. They have to "travel light," as Alan Hirsch says in The Forgotten Ways.

And the movement has spread because they're driven to prayer, and the Holy Spirit, and the responsibility and passion for sharing Christ comes back to the individual and away from an institution.

I see some connections here with how a missional church usually works. We can learn alot from the Chinese church--and come to think of it, it's not too different from the early church, is it?

Raising Support

One of the necessary parts of what we are doing is support raising. I don't think a family of four can live on thirty hours a week at a coffee shop, so I have to pursue support relationships with people. This is probably the thing I have dreaded most of all that we are doing, but two conversations in the past week have eased that dread a little bit.

The first one was with a guy named Matt who works with Missio. We were talking about raising support and he said, "This is going to be very difficult for you until you believe that people need to give to you as much as you need them to give." I've been reflecting on that, and I do believe that it would be beneficial for people to be involved in it through financial support. It is a way that others can participate with us in God's call to missional church planting. We can't do it without them and they might not be gifted or called to go and do it.

The second conversation was with a friend from Southern Gables named Jim. He and I haven't had the chance to get together all that often, but he always challenges me to think and I appreciate his influence in my life. He was talking about the chain that exists between people in all the work of the Kingdom. For instance, if a person enters into a relationship with Christ, there is someone (more likely many people) who have represented true Christianity to them through words and actions. And there are people behind those people who shaped them in a way that they would be disciples. The chain goes on and on, but I think it really applies to our support raising. We don't yet know who will be impacted by our efforts in Aurora, but I believe those people will go on to have significant impact on others for the Kingdom. If it were not for people supporting us, that chain of influence would not continue to expand.

I can't say I want to become a full-time fundraiser now, but these conversations did help to give me some perspective.

Who's Values 2

In order to not belabor the point I'm going to pretty much skip over the second item I mentioned in the first post--alcohol consumption. All I will say about that area is that I think there may be a connection between the years of prohibition laws and the evangelical church seeing alcohol consumption as a sin for many years (even if this wasn't stated people lived as though it were true). This seems to be changing but that may only be because we are far enough away from that time.

Now I want to turn my attention to a couple values the evangelical church has adopted from our nation that are not biblical. In this post I want to deal with pride (I'll deal with wealth in the next one because it will take its own post!). Below is a sample of what the Bible has to say about pride.

Pride leads us away from God. 2 Kings 19:21-23; 2 Chron. 26:16; Jer. 13:17
It is associated with the wicked. Job 20:5-7; Psalm 10:4; 31:18;
It is evil. Prov. 8:13
In whatever sense pride is positive it is pride in a proper relationship to God and the opposite of the things the world takes pride in. Gal. 6:4; Jas. 1:9-10

Despite a strong biblical stand against arrogant pride, it is an area of sin that is seldom addressed in the church and at best is given some lip service. Most people are socially conscious enough not to be vocal about their pride, but it abounds in actions and false humility. Many of us take pride in our status, job, income, abilities, achievements, and other things we believe come from ourselves.

I believe the reason pride is given relatively free reign in our churches is that our nation has taught us that pride is positive. This starts with national pride. We see ourselves as the greatest nation in the world. It is true that we have more freedom, security, wealth, and power than most if not all the nations of the world, but instead of seeing ourselves in a place of responsibility to serve the world we tend to view ourselves atop the pile of humanity. Though we would never say it, we view the people of the world as beneath us. We take pride in our high position.

This American value of pride extends to both self-esteem and the pursuit of the "American dream." We have been taught that pride in ourselves is essential to functioning properly as human beings. It is what gives us a positive self image. It is often pride that drives us to pursue the things that will bring us status in the eyes of others. As Americans we virtually worship the rich and famous and in so doing reinforce the idea that pride is positive.

Pride is an American value the Church has adopted as its own. A trend that is far-reaching...