The Ragamuffin Blog

Francis Chan Apologies for Rob Bell Comment

This past week I had the privelege of attending the Exponential church planting conference with my wife, Megan, down in Orlando. During the first main session, Francis Chan apparently made some comments about Rob Bell that were pointed and of a personal nature. (Unfortunately, I wasn't there to hear it since I had unknowingly led my wife to slaughter that morning as we sat through high pressure sales pitch for a time share. After saying "no" no fewer than 12 times to 4 reps over the course of 3+ hours, we both agreed it was not nearly worth the $100 off universal studios tickets. You live, your learn.)

But by the time Megan and I made it to the conference site, the place was already buzzing about Francis' talk. He had struck a chord. By mid afternoon, Francis Chan was a trending topic on Twitter. But those who only sat through the main session or followed the twitter frenzy missed the best part: it wasn't Francis' comment, it was his response to making it. Immediately afterwards, I attended a breakout session with Francis that was supposed to be about prayer and leadership. Instead, a visibly distrought Francis Chan sat down and told us that he didn't have it in him to get up and give another message. What followed was a humble and painful apology for his "flippant comment" he had made about Rob Bell. He went on to explain that although he passoinately disagreed with Rob on some things, and although Rob knows that and the two have been corresponding and will be getting together soon, it was not fair of him to make a comment like that.

Finally.

I have been a fan of Francis Chan's for a while. I continue to learn from him as a man, as a Christian, and as a pastor. I can certainly say the same thing about Rob Bell. And so I can't tell you how encouraged I was to finally see a Christian, and an influential Christian leader no less, apolgoize for letting his emotions get the best of him and making unfair, personal attacking comments about Rob. Listen, it is okay to judge a man's conclusions. In fact, it is wise to do so. But it is not okay to judge a man's motives for reaching those conclusions. That is God's job. Francis Chan modeled humility and repentance by owning his mistake and asking for forgiveness.

He went first. Is it your turn?

Beauty From Ashes

Meet Dan and April. I love these two. When I met them for the first time several months ago they were hurting. They had just sold much of what they owned and moved to Lincoln from out of state in an agressive move to leave a tumultuous first year of marriage behind them and to fight to heal and rebuild together. Over the past several months, Christ has done an incredible work in their lives and marriage. And I am so proud of them for having the courage to share their journey with the world and in doing so, modeling the kind of authenticity and vulnerability that is sorely lacking in too many churches. This is their story.   

Day 16 - Beauty From Ashes from Mosaic Lincoln on Vimeo.

a glimpse into my daydreams

Alright, confession time. I am bored. We're talking profoundly discontent right now.

A little clarification please? Okay okay. I am content with what I own and what I don't. I am content with my great marriage and wonderful daughter. I am content with who I am and how God has created me. BUT I have not been able to find contentment geographically. And I have to admit that I feel like I should feel bad for feeling this way. I mean, I AM really close to most of my family (a particularly valuable bonus for new parents). I live in a place with a relatively low cost of living. I am virtually financial-stress free. We have some really good friends. Rivertree's a great church. And Lincoln is "a great place to raise a family."

SO WHY AM I SO ANXIOUS TO GET THE HECK OUT OF DODGE? (Er, Lincoln?)

I know a lot of it probably has to do with what went down with kineo. And I suppose I could list some honorable and not-quite-so-honorable reasons for wanting to move on out of here...but I don't really want to right now. Maybe later. For now, I give you a little glimpse into my recent daydreams...

agents of division

In keeping with the theme of unity, I thought I'd share (or confess) a story...

Last week I was sitting and talking with a friend at a local pub. We were catching up, laughing, talking ministry, and eventually the conversation turned to people. Initially we spoke of recent happenings among people we both knew. But before long we were questioning the motives of a mutual friend. It was a shuttle shift.

In our eyes, I think we both thought we were being objective and perhaps even CARE-ful in voicing our concern. After all, we want the best for our friend and for all that impacted by their life and leadership. But as the conversation progressed (or should I say, digressed) our words became much more critical in tone.

In retrospect, we really weren't being objective at all. We were putting a mutual friend under fire with our words. We were criticizing their actions. We were putting into question their integrity. We were both gossiping under the banner of care and objectivity. And we were both acting as agents of division in The Body - something that is detrimental to the work of The Kingdom.

I have been deeply saddened by my actions. I have definitely had to make some things right since then. But what is perhaps even more concerning is just how subtly this conversation took place. I don't think either one of us set out to tear apart our mutual friend, but in essence, that is exactly what we did. And we did it without having any face to face, heart to heart conversation with that person.

It makes me wonder how many times I have been an agent of disunity and division without even being aware of it. It makes me wonder how it is possible that I can genuinely seek to be holy and spirit-led one minute, and so careless, selfish and hurtful the next. And it makes me wonder how many of these conversations take place all of the time, going virtually unnoticed, meanwhile inflicting insurmountable damage to the work and cause of Christ.

Why does unity seem so elusive while division seems so natural, even among "the redeemed"?