The Ragamuffin Blog

Supermarket Superhero

I love creativity. I love stories. And I love when people come together and combine the two to create something beautiful and meaningful. This is a short film made by some of my friends. Enjoy. 

Burned by the Church

This past week I was talking to a coworker about what it means to follow Christ. He had committed his life to Christ a couple years ago (he was actually led to Christ by Mosaic Lincoln's new creative director) but had fallen away from faith until just recently. He is very much a new, young believer. As we talked about the perseverance it takes to follow Christ he shared with me a statistic his pastor had told him regarding how many people fall away from Christ after making an initial decision to follow Him.

At that moment, another coworker who had been listening in leaned over and said, "There is probably a reason for that." I knew what was coming. This person has a well known reputation around work for being angry and argumentative about all things philosophical. To be honest, he comes off like a pretty miserable person and he seems to enjoy making others miserable. Everyone there knows I am a pastor, so I had been wondering when this guy was going to take a swing at me. Now was apparently his time.

"And what reason would that be?", I asked, bracing myself. 

"It's a sham!", he shouted. "The whole thing is a sham. It is no wonder people don't stick with it, they get smart and figure out organized religion is nothing but a hoax!"

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.

Mosaic Lincoln & Kingdom Mindedness

A few months ago I was having a conversation with a good friend of mine who is a pastor and church planter in the Midwest. The church he pastors is just a few years old and they are still getting their feet under them in a lot of ways. They've been back and forth between multiple locations, weathered seasons of low numbers and inconsistent giving, had to fire multiple staff under difficult circumstances, in addition to all of the normal obstacles that come with starting a new church. In spite of all that, however, this last year they selflessly stepped out in great faith and planted another church in the same city. 

Not only did they commit finances and people to the church, but they were instrumental in getting a property donated to the church by their denomination (one they technically had first dibs on). As a church, they cast vision for the new plant in their Sunday gatherings, culminating in a Sunday in which they commissioned everyone who was leaving to be a part of the new plant. That Sunday, my good friend got up before his church - the one he had watched grow over the previous several years from just an audacious dream in his heart to the community he now saw before him, a church he had led through thick and thin, one he had sacrificed so much for - and with conviction he looked into the eyes of close friends, many of which he had personally counseled and said, "Alright, whose going?!"

I love that. It is such a bold testimony of what it means to have a "Kingdom" mindset. Rather than seek to have the biggest steeple in town or to protect what momentum he had been able to build so far (and through much struggle, I might add), this pastor held what had been given him with an open hand. He understands that its not his church, its Christ's church. And he boldly showed that he is committed more to the movement of Jesus, the Capital "C" Church at work in his city, than to his own little "c" church. It makes me proud to call this pastor my friend.  

But it cost them. It cost them big. That Sunday they watched a lot of great families leave to be a part of the church plant, families they didn't anticipate losing. They lost leaders, lovers of people, people who got the vision, and consistent givers. To make matters worse, shortly after sending those families off, the church encountered a crisis when the new building they had been preparing to move into and rent gathering and office space from was suddenly foreclosed on just weeks before they were to move in. They suddenly found themselves in crisis mode, and shorthanded. 

In the long run, I have no doubt that God will honor their sacrifice and faithfulness. But in the short run, their commitment to being about the Kingdom and not just "their" little church cost them. It cost them money, leaders, resources, volunteers, momentum and relationships, to name a few. It is certainly easy to see why many churches cling tight to what they have rather than multiplying God's work through church planting. But to those who get it, the risk is well worth it.

I share it for a couple reasons. 1, to praise my friend David and his church for leading the way in faith and generosity. Your story is testimony to how extraordinary you truly are. Your city is better for it, the Church is better for it, and so are the many leaders who will follow in your footsteps. 

Number 2, I share it because Mosaic Lincoln is committed to this kind of Kingdom mindedness. Sometimes new churches give off the vibe that they think they are THE answer for most everything. That's not us. We recognize that we are only a single expression of the church, one that some will love, and others will not. And that's okay. Our goal is not to try to be all things to all people, but rather to be faithful to who we believe God has called us to reach. 

You see, we are convinced that Lincoln doesn't need a new church, but many new churches to reach the many different kinds of people represented throughout the Lincoln area. So Mosaic Lincoln is not the end, it is only the beginning. From Day 1, 10% of our total budget is set aside for future church plants. And we are committed to equipping and sending out people to plant churches in Lincoln and beyond. After all, it's not about us. It's about seeing a movement of God's grace unleashed in the city of Lincoln!

Epic Mistakes in Ministry

You ever think back to something you did and wonder to yourself, What was I thinking?! Perhaps it was your first ministry gig or one of the first times you were trusted with significant responsibility and you did something of such epic stupidity that it still makes your face hot to think about it?

When I was in my early twenties, I was hired as the part time worship pastor for a church plant in Lincoln, NE. I had previously sworn to never work for a church. As a wounded pastor's kid, I had spent most of my young adult life avoiding church people. So when I took the job, I did so with more than a little hesitation and with a big church-person-sized chip on my shoulder.

So you can about imagine how well I handled it when anonymous comment cards started coming in attacking myself and the worship team for (of all things) wearing hats on stage. All of the bad pk memories came flooding back as I remembered the people who had caused me to tuck tale and run from religion so many years ago. Adding to the fire was the fact that these comment cards represented a direct contradiction to the vision of our church (the reason I was there in the first place). I was primed and ready to flip.

Then one week I received a particularly scathing comment card. Its author took cheap shots at various members of the worship team for their unacceptable attire on Sunday mornings - particularly their wearing of hats - and what they believed that reflected about their character. And in true coward form, it was once again anonymous. I was livid. But ya know, it probably wouldn't have been that big of a deal if I hadn't been on deck to preach one of my first sermons that coming Sunday.

Skip 1, Jump on 2

My daughter is fearless.

Sometimes I really wish she wasn't, but she is. Despite hitting her head more times than I can count, she just refuses to come to grips with her frailty. Her favorite game is when I launch her into oblivion and she comes crashing down onto our couch on the other side of the room. The induced whip lash causes her to explode into laughter. She bounces onto the floor, picks herself up and runs right back to me begging for more. She’d do it for hours if I’d let her. She has no fear.

Re-Engaging Relevance

 Relevance has been a favorite topic of conversation in many circles over the last decade. The word is everywhere. We have Relevant Magazines, Relevant Radio (& these guys definitely are), Relevant Churches, Relevant Worship, Relevant Performances (sorry, I had to) Relevant Multimedia, Relevant Para-church Ministries, Relevant Branding, Relevant Blogs, and Relevant Conferences where Christian leaders can learn how they and their ministries can become all things, you guessed it, relevant.

The word has soared to the great heights of Buzzword - reserved for only the most ridiculously over-used terms in Christendom - taking its place alongside former chart-toppers, like seeker, contemporary, community and postmodern. But like most buzzwords, the hype has since fizzled out leaving our poor word to hang out in ambiguity with the other has-beens. Here they are generally assumed to be understood by most, but rarely are. And since they are no longer considered a relevant part of the conversation, they remain misunderstood.

Thus is the case with our friend Relevant. And so I thought I'd bring him back into the conversation today in order to address some of the common misunderstandings about him and to better understand the valuable idea he still represents.

"Relevance is not about being cool. It is about being understood." - Jason Jaggard

Tuesday I spent the day snowboarding at Big Bear with buddy Kurtis. If you've never been to Big Bear, it is a relatively small mountain consisting of 90% snowboarders, 75% fake snow, and 100% terrain park. It is a x-gaming terrain freak's dream. Every run on the mountain has terrain features - even the bunny slope. We're talking table tops, jumps, rails, funboxes, trees, wall rides, bonks, even conversion vans and broncos (the car, not the horse) on which to pull your sickest trick. The venue naturally pulls in a large hipster crowd from all over L.A. and Orange County.

In surveying this melting pot of cool, a converted midwesterner, like myself, can't help but muse on the almost comically obvious reality that I have stepped into a world far from the one I was raised. "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto." As we took another ride up the mountain, Kurtis and I talked about the importance of fashion to L.A. You don't even have to live here to see it. Visit L.A. anytime of the week or weekend and you'll see it. It is everywhere. But here is the interesting thing about L.A. fashion, it is both necessary and relative. There is no one way to dress that is deemed cool or in. There is no one designer, one look, one anything, there are many. There is an understood freedom to express oneself. And because it is relative, no one is really better than the other. However, the one thing that isn't acceptable is to disregard the importance of fashion - in essence, to say with your look that you really don't think fashion matters. To do this is to essentially take a shared value of the culture and say that you do not deem it to be worthy of your time. Like all matters pertaining to relevance, it is a sure way to alienate yourself from the culture in short time.

And so herein lies a valuable truth about relevance to culture: It is not about being cool. It is about being understood. And at least in part, it is about communicating to others that their interests, concerns, struggles and needs are worth your time.   

Relevance is about starting on even ground.

Sometimes pastors make the mistake of thinking that being relevant gives them "one up" on everyone else; as if one's ministry could only be cool enough, hip enough, edgy enough, it would almost certainly succeed. This is not the function of relevance. Relevance only affords you the opportunity to start the conversation on even ground. Irrelevance, on the other hand, forces you to start from behind. In ministry and relationships, it can often cause you to lose your voice with people before you even start speaking.

Relevance, therefore, is only Step 1. Failing to engage people in a relevant way may prevent you from ever getting to Step 2. And so it is important. Very important. But again, it is only Step 1. If relevance is all you have to offer, you don't have much.

Relevance is not a tool. It is a worldview.

Please hear me on this, being relevant does not mean repackaging what you are already doing in a trendier way. In fact, if you want to guarantee failure in engaging with those outside of the church, keep on doing what you're doing and repackage it to look like something different. That is not innovation. That is not vision. That is manipulation. And many pastors and churches are really good at manipulation. Relevance is not a tool to get people to do what you want. It is not the missing piece in your life or ministry. It is a worldview. It is a way of approaching life and ministry that puts the desires and needs of those who do not yet know Christ before your own and before those in your church. 

It is the latter part of that statement that often makes leading relevant movements so difficult. The desires and perceived needs of church people almost always conflict with the desires and needs of those who do not yet know Christ. And just to spare you some time, the two mix about as well as oil and water. Choosing to pursue relevance may force you to make some difficult decisions. You may have to decide between talking about real and uncomfortable issues or maintaining the status quot. You may have to axe some programs that are loved by your members but that do not serve the mission of your church. You may have to watch friends leave and big tithers take their checks to the church next door. You may have to endure a lot of pain. Ultimately, you will have to choose between which voices you will listen to - the loud, constant and often powerful ones coming from within your church's four walls, or the soft, unspoken, unrepresented voices of those who do not yet know Christ.

Your relevance and irrelevance will be decided by which of these voices you choose to listen to. It is a choice that is made not once, but one that must be made continually. The voices will continue. The powerful voices within your ministry will continue to campaign for their interests, and that might involve also campaigning for your resignation. But that is the price of leading a ministry that strives to do what Jesus called us to. That is the price of relevance. Is it hard? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely.

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST

I just got off the phone with a gal named Renae a couple minutes ago. In trying to dial a local crisis line she somehow got the Mission. Being the great Christian that I am, I offered to find the right number for her so I could get on with my work. To this she replied, "Well, can you help me?" I'm not really much of a counselor, but given the the circumstances, I felt more than a little obligated. "I can try," I said.

I asked her what was going on. She told me that she was on her way to Crete, NE to kill herself. We talked for about a forty five minutes. I (very poorly) shared the gospel with her. I prayed for her. I invited her to church. I told her she could call me anytime. But it sounded like she is still on her way to Crete right now to throw herself from a bridge. Please pray for her.

tiffany

It is 4:30am. I just got done listening to Tiffany, a single mom, share with me over the last hour her desperate struggle to survive while trying to care for her two beautiful little girls. She wept as she spoke about the choices she has made, the things she has done, and the deep shame she feels for having to live with her girls at a homeless shelter. I watched this tough, independent, survivor of a woman break before my very eyes.

She has no one. Her family won't take her in because of her past. She is being sued by a local day care because her income last year ended up being slightly over the limit for receiving the federal aid she was signed up for. She limped into town just several months ago from Michigan after her boyfriend beat her and threatened to kill her again in front of her girls. And the bruises on her face and neck tell me her current relationship isn't going any better. To make matters worse, she is suspended from receiving any housing aid for another six months for abruptly skipping town a few years ago while on the program. A pending financial dispute is preventing her from getting food stamps. Her car was totaled in a car accident about a month ago. And despite being utterly exhausted, she has an interview Monday for a 3rd job.

She absolutely loves her girls. She lives for them. Fights for them. And they are gorgeous. But Tiffany is alone.

Please pray for her. No, seriously, now. later. both. PLEASE. Pray that God would sustain her, draw her to himself, provide for her needs and the needs of her girls, and rain his love and grace down on her. Tiffany is tough. Really tough. And by her own admission, she is a loner. She has lived her entire life believing that she doesn't need anyone. Until now. If there is a rock bottom, she is pretty much there. Please pray that our conversations will continue to point her to the Father. Pray that she would feel his arms wrapped around her. And that she would trust his love. Tonight she confessed that she needs God in her life and that she desires for her girls to grow up as part of a church.

Tonight my heart is broken. I am worshipfully, hungrily, desperately listening to "Our God Reigns" over and over, shouting it from my soul, affirming it to be true, crying out for him to mercifully care for the destitute and the orphans among us.

Father, shake me and my brothers and sisters from our complacency.

Painting by Francine Turk at www.francineturk.com

Most Memorable Church Moments (part 1)

Tonight I started thinking about all of the bizarre and hilarious things that have happened during my time on staff at rivertree over the last three years. My conclusion? Come-as-you-are, grace-oriented faith communities are by far the funnest to be a part of. When you throw a bunch of messy, screwed up people and pastors in the same room you just never know whats going to happen! For all of you stuck in Ken and Barbie churches, and Fortune 500 ministries, here's what you're missing. Enjoy.

 

In an effort to inspire listeners to action, pastor Greg repeatedly comes back to earlier illustration of the hard work and dedication of Michael Jackson, each time inciting more laughter than the last. Frustrated and confused, Greg finally asks, "What? Do I have something on my face?" The theater erupts with laughter again, followed by a long silence. Although we all know he really meant to say Michael Jordan, no one tells him in hopes that he'll say it again. (Which, to the delight of us all, he does.)

Reverting back to his rock star instinct, electric guitar player, Keith, performs two guitar throws in a single worship set.

In an apparent effort to the break world record for most people offended on a Sunday morning, elder chairman, Eric, repeatedly calls God a "badass". He finally accomplishes his goal a year later when he spontaneously jumps off the stage and runs out of the theater mid-sermon after informing the congregation that he had drunk too much coffee and "had to pee".

While leading a song one Sunday, I happen to open my eyes between verses to spot a couple lesbians making out in a booth up front. Although I clinched my eyes shut for the next four songs, all I could think about were sexual puns for the rest of the morning.

In response to the rhetorical, sermon-closing question, "Do you really believe that Jesus loves you?", an excited old woman jumps to her feet and, with a passionate fist pump, shouts "Hell yea, I believe!" Caught off guard, pastor Greg awkwardly replies, "thank you", and shuffles off stage.

In promotion of National Porn Sunday, I commited to setup XXX Church's big blue elephant outside the Rococo Theater in downtown Lincoln. As it turns out, the elephant was much bigger than we anticipated, blocking all sidewalk usage and towering over the street. Midway through the 2nd service the cops informed me of how many laws we were breaking and demanded we remove the elephant right away.

Upon finishing his first rivertree sermon entitled "Ministers of Reconciliation", my good friend Walt is approached by a man in his 30's. The man walks up to Walt, throws his arms around him, and excitedly proclaims, "Man, that was exactly what I fuckin needed to hear!"

To introduce a series on spiritual gifts, I decide to show a scene from X-Men 2 depicting a government raid on a secret mutant school. Although nearly 20 are killed in the eight minute sequence, I somehow fail to realize that showing the video would be a mistake until after I hear the congregation collectively gasp at the violent stabbing which opens the scene. In a moment of panic and "duh", I frantically turn to my wife, who was already giving me the unmistakable "You are SO fired" look.