Driscoll - Confessions...3

"The upstairs room at the fundamentalist church was so hot that everyone was sweating like Mike Tyson in a spelling bee." (page 38).

Not only that but people passed out due to the heat, it had horrible golden shag carpet, Christian rock posters on the wall, speakers that only pumped out feedback, a projector that worked less than half the time, and a couch and foosball table in the sanctuary. So started Mars Hill Church. I am paraphrasing greatly but you get the picture.

It didn't take long for Mark to figure out the church he envisioned in his head was not the same church he was currently trying to lead and get going. He had some work to do and a lot of it if he was going to ensure the church was keeping "the mission of Jesus as the most important factor in the church and Christian life." (page 40).

Mark goes on to explain that he decided to attend different church services every week and take away the best and do away with the worse for Mars Hill. He went to strict fundy (oops I mean fundamentalist) churchs, mainline liberal churches, suburban churches, urban churches, all denominations and age groups. What he discovered was this:

"In visiting numerous churches scattered across the city and throughout the surrounding suburbs, rarely did I hear a clear declaration of the person of Jesus Christ. He was never presented as the eternal God who incarnated as a man in culture to live without sin, die as a substitute for sinners, and resurrect in triumphant victory over Satan, sin, and death; who is now exalted as King of Kings and Lord of Lords; and who is coming again to judge the living and the dead, sending the repentant to his heavenly kingdom and sentencing the unrepentant to his fiery hell." (page 42)

So Mark has developed a Missional Ministry Matrix that must be able to answer 4 questions (even more questions now...is this college?)

1. Christology - Who is Jesus, what has he accomplished, and what has he sent u to do?
2. Ecclesiology - How does the Bible tell us to structure our church leadership so that our church can most effectively be God's missionary to our culture?
3. Missiology - How can we most effectively expand God's kingdom where we are sent?
4. Ministry - How does Jesus want me to help serve his mission in our culture through my church?

These questions work in a continuous loop where one answer leads to the next question which leads to the next and keeps going round and round and across all the time. This will help in keeping your church on target and on Jesus mission not our own.

He gives many funny stories and quick blurbs to many of the churches he attended and his experiences during that time. He discovered that we need 2 portraits of Jesus, the humble incarnated Christ and the triumphant, exalted Christ (Christology). The church is to honor God through the gospel as a church transforming the city, serving Christ and building his ministry. Strong, biblically grounded leadership is a necessity to accomplish this (Ecclesiology). The church, the leadership, and the congregation need to be sure they are not on their own mission but are to be on Jesus' mission to transform people and cultures by the power of the Holy Spirit through the work of the gospel (Missiology). Finally the pastor of the church must fight like a soldier, train like an athlete, and work hard like a farmer. "God had the manliset of men in mind when it comes to church leadership." (page 54) (also see 2 Tim. 2:1-7).

These are the questions that a church and its leader must answer and be able to provide for in the infancy stage of the church plant and growth (Mark classifies 0-45 people). During the infancy stage it is the season of dreaming and envisioning the future, gathering peopl, raising money, and making plans. The Ministry at this stage exists only in the mind of the leader, who seeks to effectively communicate the vision and compel people to help make it a reality. In the infancy phase, the church and the leader are one and the same because the leader is essentially the only person holding the church together and doing most of the work. (page 39).

A strong foundation and firm start is needed, the Missional Ministry Matrix provides an excellent start.

Next will be chapter 2 "Jesus If Anyone Else Calls My House, I May Be Seeing You Real Soon" (45 - 75 people).

Driscoll - Confessions...2b

To recap - Mark begins his book, Confession of a Reformission Rev. Hard Lessons From an Emerging Missional Church, with Chapter 0 where he asks 10 questions that all church leaders and church planters should ask themselves to "help clarify your church's identity, gospel, mission, size, and priorities." Some questions have only one right answer (according to the author) and some have a couple, but must be answered correctly so that you understand your congregation. Last time we reviewed the first 5, and now we will finsih with the last 5. I'll provide each question again but only expound on 6-10.

1. Will your Rev. require reformission?
2. Will your church be traditional and institutional, contemporary and evangelical, or emerging and missional?
3. Will your church be an emrgent liberal church or an emerging evangelical church?
4. Will you proclaim a gospel of forgiveness, fulfillment, or freedom?
5. Will your church be attractional, missional, or both?
6. What size shoe will your church wear? - This is all about size and numbers. As churches grow their shoe size will change and they need to learn how to fit into them. Mark goes so far as to claim that a church that does not want to change, negates their ability to grow and is a sin which must be repented of. He also makes it a point to write, "nothing is wrong with a small church providing it hates sin, loves Jesus, serves people, obeys Scripture, and sees transformed lives (page 31). I couldn't agree more.
7. Will your church have a mission of community or be a community of missions? - Community is definitely a buzz word nowadays. It is thrown about a lot by a lot of people to define and explain church. All that is good, but if community is done wrong, then it falls short. Unfortunately too many new young leaders who prefer smaller and more loosely defined neo-church arrangements...in which being in community sometimes takes priority over being in Chirst (page 32). Mark goes on to compare 2 distinct "communities" in the Bible, Babel/Bethel and Pentecost. Babel exists for itself and Pentecost for missions. Babel meets because people are similar and Pentecost because the mission is similar. That mission is God's mission and that mission is the gospel and greatness of Jesus.
8. Will your leaders work from guilt or conviction? - Leaders of emerging and missional churches need to work from the conviction that comes from the Word of God instead of the guilt that comes from people and their words. Mark makes an analogy of a boat. The pastor is to be the architect of the boat, not the captain who pilots, the cook who washes dishes, or the activities director who coordinates everyones shuffleboard reservations. Pastors should build the ship not work on it. Having a skilled captain, cook, and activities coordinator is great, but if the ship can't float what does it matter (page 34).
9. Do you have the guts to shoot your own dogs? - Dogs are idiotic ideas, stinky styles, stupid systems, failed facilities, terrible technologies, loser leaders, and pathetic people. You must have the guts to shoot those dogs. And then only have to do it once, so they do not come back and bite you.
10. Can you wield and sword and trowel? - Our culture is know less hostile now than it was in the days of Nehemiah. Nehemiah charged everyone to carry a trowel to do the work and build the church to the glory of God and a sword to defend themselves from Satan and evil.

As Mark concludes this chapter, he finishes with, "I will be painfully honest about the shots from hell that nearly killed my family and our church. In the next chapter, we'll start our journey in the hot upstairs youth room of a fundamentalist church.

After each chapter (just as he did with The Radical Reformission) Mark asks a series of questions in a quasi sort of review for the reader. These seem to be tailored toward someone who is really going about to have a book study or a group in a church doing the same thing. I'll stay away from these here and going forward.

Overall, this Chapter 0 (fancy for Intorduction) was a good lead in as it gave you a glimpse into how Mark thinks and lay out an explanation for some the decisions he will make going forward in this book. As I already mentioned, I am happy his questions didn't carry an all or nothing "you must answer the way I do to be right" with them. Rather, they need to be asked so that you have a better understanding of yourself and your leadership or that of your church.

Driscoll - Confessions...2a

Chapter "0" is titled 'Ten Curious Questions' Mark explains that he asks these questions of himself and Mars Hill Church to ensure they are on the correct path - faithful to Jesus and his mission for your city (page 14). They are intended to "help clarify your church's identity, gospel, mission, size, and priorities."

When I first realized he was starting with 10 questions, I was worried it would be a form of a pulpit for Mark. Meaning, he would lay out 10 questions with the answers already written into them and if you fail to answer them as Mark does, then you are doing church all wrong. Thankfully and refreshingly he only does that a couple times and the other times he explains why he answers the question one way, but that does not mean it is the right way. Each culture is different and congregations have different ideas and expectations to their church, worship style, songs they will sing, etc.

There are 10 questions total and I'll just provide some highlights to them:

1. Will your Rev. require reformission? - This goes back to Marks first book, The Radical Reformission: Reaching out without selling out. In that book he explains that Jesus has called us to the gospel (loving our Lord), the culture (loving our neighbor), and the church (loving our Christian brothers and sisters). You must have all 3 of them in conjunction or you are missing the mark. Without all 3 you fail to get Reformission and you end up with either a Parachurch (Gospel+Culture-Church), Liberalism (Culture +Church-Gospel), or Fundys, oops I mean Fundamentalism (Church+Gospel-Culture). Reformission is all 3 and means you are culturally liberal yet theologically conservative.
2. Will your church be traditional and institutional, contemporary and evangelical, or emerging and missional? - This is a question where Mark explains that neither one is wrong, but if you pick wrong, your congregation and reach into the culture will fall short and success may be very slow in coming. As Mark explains, modern-thinking retirees are different from suburban baby boomers who are even different from spirtual young creative types. Mars Hill is emerging and missional.
3. Will your church be an emergent liberal church or an emerging evangelical church? - He explains at length the difference between emergent and emerging. The emergent movement has become liberal in its theology (I'll spare you the rant Mark goes on) and as such has failed to keep closed the hand that holds the unchanging truth of evangelical Christian theology (Jude 3). As you can imagine, Mark is firm in his stance that a church must be emerging and evangelical.
4. Will you proclaim a gospel of forgiveness, fulfillment, or freedom? - Mark shows the similarities bewteen the three forms of church from question 2 and the gospel that church will proclaim. Institutional churches preach a gospel of forgiveness. We've screwed up real bad and God's wrath is poured out on us until we ask for his forgiveness. Evangelical churches lean toward the preaching of the fulfillment gospel. God is there to bless us unconditionally with heaps and heaps of blessings. Its focus is on self-worth. Very dangerous path to start down Mark contends. The emerging church preaches freedom in Christ. The only way to be brought back into friendship with God is through Jesus. Additionally brought into a community of united brethern for the cause of the cross.
5. Will your church be attractional, missional, or both? - I could see right where this one was going as soon as I saw the word both in the question. Attractional churches try to draw people and culture in and provide them with programs and agendas that fit their needs. Missional churches send people out and into the culture to serve as missionaries in the culture and develop strong relationships. He goes on to explain both sides in a little more depth and explain the "dislike" each method has for the other. He then concludes that a church should take into account both elements.

I'll go through the last 5 next time.

Driscoll - Confessions...1

Confessions of a Reformission Reverend: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church is "the story of the birth and growth of Seattle's innovative Mars Hill Church...It's also the story of the growth of a pastor, the mistakes he's made along the way, and God's grace and work in spite of those mistakes." (Back Cover).

Mark Driscoll is both a unifying and polarizing force in the current church and the blogosphere. Google Mark Driscoll and you get over 6.2 million hits. Current sport icons such as Derek Jeter, Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James do not even garner 5 million hits. As such, his reach is extensive and whether you agree or not with him, he gets two different groups of people on both sides (christian and non-christian and emergent and fundamental) talking. As such, I enjoy listening Driscoll preach (you can download his sermons in mp3 format at marshillchurch.org.) I have read his previous book "The Radical Reformission: Reaching Out without Selling Out," and I also frequent his blog (TheResurgence.com). So, I enjoy his style, his delivery and always feel challenged listening, reading, hearing from him. I have mentioned to my wife before that I would like to make a trip to Seattle just to attend Mars Hill Church and be able to hear Pastor Mark preach and see how they "do church" in "the least churched city in America." This book is providing that glimpse.

The book starts with a Prelude where Mark lays out a plethora of numbers and statistics to eventually lay out the fact he wanted to start a church to fill the gap of eighteen to thirty-five year olds who were missing from the churches (page 10). He also goes on to explain that he does know Mars Hill is peculiar but he sees them as one of Noah's dove off to find land. There is a new world of ministry opportunity to explore, among cities, young people, and cultural progressives (page 11). This urban setting and culture provides trend setting that attracts young, single, educated, creative, and liberal group of people. These specific group of people require new methods of ministry and opportunity. Mars Hill church is exploring these knew methods and opportunities and the city of Seattle (a city Mark "loves like a drunk uncle") is an ideal locale.

Coming out of this short 3 page prelude and wrapping yourselves around all the numbers you come to understand that Mark believes reaching the residents of the urban area is the key to spreading the gospel like wildfire. Go to where the people are, who embrace culture and set the trends for everyone else, and live with them and share the gospel. Establish a beacon of light in the middle of the emerging urban culture and some of those trends that are started will include Christian ideals and the love of Christ. But to reach you must adapt and provide Christ-centered worship that appeals to them. To do that, you need, no must, be engaged in the culture of the people you are trying to reach to understand them.

Post updates

1st post rememberance

"Finally - They Have Arrived"

Well, Finally, the reviews are coming.

Not totally though. I had some mandatory book reading I had to do for work (I know, kind of weird, but I am trying to "champion" something) on top of my brother's wedding so I have not picked up any of those books to read. But I am going to start "Confessions...." very soon and start blogging that as I go along.

Open honesty alert - I have some crazy near man love for Mark Driscoll. So to be objective going into his book is very hard. So just know that.

2nd post rememberance

"Now, I am really on a roll"

Well, surgery is coming. I have a fractured ankle and some bone chips to deal with. So, I'll have even more time to read and blog as I have to be off the foot for 6 - 8 weeks. Nothing is going down until after the 4th of July, but still not looking forward to spending my summer like this.

Oh well, one day my body will be perfect and I will have all the time in the world to read all I want.

But I cannot comprehend the fact?!

Faith, G-O-D, and Comprehension

I sometimes stop to comprehend the fact that God
"breathed life"
into Adam. Ultimately I never comprehend the fact.

I sometimes stop to comprehend the fact that God
"spoke"
and created all. Ultimately I never comprehend the fact.

I sometimes stop to comprehend the fact that God is truly
SUPREME
he has no beginning or end. Ultimately I never comprehend the fact.

I cannot comprehend
G-O-D,

but I can comprehend
God.
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"Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen has been made from things that are not visible." - Paul (Hebrews 11:1,3)

Just a smattering of cartoons that have made me laugh or snicker over the last couple of weeks.
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This one comes from Time.com. I am happy to finally see something in the mainstream on this from someone outside the Christian right. Plus if Da Vinci really had a "code" you cannot disregard "Why the Mona Lisa is Smiling" Maybe he knew all along.

Maybe there really are "all these jobs no Americans want to do" that we hear about all the time.

For those not in Michigan you may have missed this, so here it goes: Jimmy Hoffa was the Teamsters boss in the 60s and 70s and through a lot of mob connections he brought A LOT of power to the teamsters. But he also made a lot of people really, really, really mad. One day in 1975 (over 30 years ago!) he disappeared and has never been seen or heard from again. The FBI recently spent millions of dollars during 2 weeks in May digging up a farm and tearing down a barn on said farm in Milford, MI. What did they find? Nothing. So about that Osama guy?

"He really had a story to tell you"

Powerful...

Jesus The Radical Pastor

Christiany Speaking Person

Stomach Wrenching Hilarious

Awesome video at Liquid Church

http://liquidchurch.typepad.com/liquidchurch/2006/05/real_christians.html

So what does 6 billion look like?

Like this:

The vast majority of the people in the world do not live as we do. If “we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of only 100 people, it would look something like this:”
There would be

• 57 Asians
• 21 Europeans
• 14 North and South Americans
• 8 Africans
• 30 white
• 70 nonwhite
• 6 people would possess 59% of the world's wealth, and all 6 would be from the United States
• 80 would live in substandard housing
• 70 would be unable to read
• 50 would suffer malnutrition
• 1 would have a college education
• 1 would own a computer

Ken Wilber, A Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science and Spirituality (Boston, Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications, 2000), 57. The statistics are based upon work done by Dr. Phillip Harter of Stanford University School of Medicine.

June 2, 2001 - "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?"

If this was 5 or so years ago, Friday night would have been such a bummer, who knows how much sleep I would have gotten. The only thing I would have been grateful for was that it was a weekend night and so my pathetically induced insomnia would have been offset by being able to sleep in. But now, with Friday's events transpired, sleep will be easy now.

On Friday night, first the Pistons completely collapsed. The game was done by the middle of the 2nd quarter. You could argue the series with Miami was over after Game 5 against Cleveland in the previous round. Do not get me wrong, I am completely bummed out that the Pistons are done. But 5 years ago, I would have been devestated.

Then, later that evening, after the Pistons collapse was complete, the Tigers proceeded to lose in the 9th inning to the Boston Red Sox. After fighting to take the lead, Todd Jones came in in the 9th. Got 2 outs, then gave up a base hit and the next batter Kevin Youkalis (who? you ask, exactly......) hit one over the wall in left field. Game over. That one really isn't that bad, being a season ticket holder for 5 years now, I have seen that alot. But on top of the Pistons loss, I would have lost sleep over this.

I told you it was a "pathetically induced insomnia." I use to lose sleep over the outcome of sporting events. It was bad. It was pathetic. And to be honest, it has happen in the last year. After the Pistons loss game 5 of last year's Finals (when Horry hit the 3 to win), I didn't fall asleep until like 3am or something. Of course the game wasn't over until after 1am, so I could chalk some of that to ahdrenile and caffeine, but the games the Pistons won, I had no problem getting to sleep. And really, when they loss game 7, it wasn't a big deal.

This is just me and something I have reflected on as the events happen on Friday that shows some of my "growing up" and changing priorites with life. Actually, there are very few things I lose sleep over now. It just isn't worth it. (That comment may be a blog entry on a different day, someday).

But now that the Pistons are out, I anticipate an extra 20 hours of sleep this month compared to the last 2 years.

But maybe I am saving that up for September and/or October when theTigers hopefully make a playoff push. As much as I enjoy watching the Pistons, the Tigers were and still are my "first true love" of professional sports.

We'll see how much maturing and growing up I have done in the next 2 or 3 months.

Palace Throw Down

Do not underestimate the impact this block may have on the rest of the series.

Shaq ("listed" at 7'1" and 325...more like 350) was going up for one of his monster throw downs, and Ben Wallace (listed at 6'9" and 240) went up, and with one arm but Shaq down on his ass!!!! Forced a jump ball, and then "The Big Red 3 From Virginia Union University" won that jump.

The Heat only scored 5 points the rest of the way (over 9 minutes of playing time).

Bring on the "Beach Brawl!!"