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Friday Five on the Fourth

1. Looking forward to a great day & weekend with family and friends. Swimming, ribs, fixins, more swimming, more ribs, more fixins, and then cap it off with some serious fireworks. Yeah!

2. On Sunday night, Awaken will host the 1st of 5 prayer experiences as part of the 40 Days of Prayer & Repentance. Each experience will start at 6:00 pm @ North Point Church. I cannot wait to see how God answers our prayers to change us and change our city!

3. We're in the middle of taking the ultimate irreversible step to put down roots in Columbia. We're nervous as all get out, but confident that if God wants this to happen, it will happen.  Pray it through with us, please!

4. My grandfather in-law, aka "PeePaw", retired this past Sunday after 60+ years in the ministry, the last 41 years serving as Pastor of Ekron Baptist Church in Brandenburg, KY. Talk about commitment, putting down roots, and giving your life for the sake of a city...there it is! He and "MeeMaw" are in town and I am looking forward to spending time learning from and reflecting with them this weekend. Thank you, PeePaw & MeeMaw!

5. Freedom is never free. Really grateful for the men and women whom you and I never knew but who willingly gave their lives for our freedom. Even more grateful for the freedom and life that comes in trusting and following Jesus. While we were still sinners, He gave His life for our freedom. Amazing!

Happy Fourth!

Leave it Behind

Bono says it so well at the end of the U2 tune, "Walk On"...

Leave it behind
You've got to leave it behind
All that you fashion
All that you make
All that you build
All that you break
All that you measure
All that you steal
All this you can leave behind
All that you reason
All that you sense
All that you speak
All you dress up
All that you scheme...

Gotta admit that I didn't exactly jump for joy when it became clear that God was calling us to Columbia.  I sort of wondered why God would call us back to our hometown when Jesus didn't do so well when He passed through His hometown (Matthew 13:57-58). :-)

Not long after we started the journey, the unique opportunity that God was giving us became clear. Because we grew up here, there was a bit of street credibility that we could leverage.  We've paid our dues here. We know the culture. We know the people. We know the lay of the land.  We have an inside track.

As part of leveraging this, we felt like God called us to leave behind every form of church we've ever loved, hated, wondered about, worked in, dreamed about...everything.  He called us to leave it all behind, join Him in Columbia, and spend considerable time getting to know people.  Without a big vision to sell my only option was to listen.

As we got to know people...people far from God, people very near to God, and people at all parts in between...the question became "what does church look like among these people?" Instead of me asking, "How can I get people to do what I want" the question was, "How can I join what God is already doing and do what He wants."  I'm telling you, we would have never arrived where we are without this beginning point.

We'll use the same beginning point with all of our missional community leaders and anyone else who embraces the missionary call of God on their lives.  God is already at work in every man, woman, and child drawing them to Himself in and through Jesus - He's calling us all to join Him.  But joining Him often times means we have to leave it all behind.

Awaken Columbia

Well, the cat is finally out of the bag. Head on over to www.AwakenColumbia.com to see what in the world God is up to here in good 'ole Columbia, SC and what He's called us to do to be a part of it.

Pretty exciting stuff.

Pretty scary stuff, too.

Last night, we launched a 40 day season of prayer & repentance. You can follow, read stories, and participate yourself via the Awaken blog. We'll culminate this season on August 10 with a worship & communion gathering where as a community we will give ourselves fully to Jesus and His mission in this great city.

I've been sort of stealth about what we've been up to on purpose. Mostly because I needed time to let this vision marinate in my mind and heart, which has involved lots of wrestling, stretching, learning, doodling, etc. But, I also wanted our family to have time to start to live it. Don't want to take anyone where I am not willing to go and already going myself.

So, I'll unpack more of this in the coming days and weeks.  But for now, you know what we're up and you know how to pray. Thanks to all who have already been praying for, encouraging, and supporting us and this work. Keep it up!

Friday Five

1. House Hunting Mis-Adventure #2: Went to look at a house last Saturday. Walked in one of the upstairs bedrooms only to find a man and a woman...IN THE BED!  I don't even want to know what we're going to walk in on next! Any crazy house hunting stories out there?

2. Viva La Vida, as a whole, is going to have to grow on me. I like it, but I don't love it...yet. X&Y was the same, so I'm okay with giving it some time.  Your thoughts?

3. Preaching at Center Grove Church in Winston-Salem, NC on Sunday. The message I am preaching has been brewing in my heart and mind for months...can't wait to let it out!

4. I've decided that my new favorite drink at Starbucks is the Iced Doubleshot.  It is simply fantastic! What's your favorite at Starbucks?

5. Thanks to some very generous friends, LB, the girls, and I are heading out on Monday for a week at the beach. Really looking forward to getting away for a whole week with just the 4 of us. This will be our first "just us" vacation and I can't wait! What are you doing for vacation?

Happy Weekend!

The Upside-Down, Alternate Kingdom

From Tim Keller's masterpiece, The Reason For God:

"This pattern of the Cross means that the world's glorification of power, might, and status is exposed and defeated. On the Cross, Christ wins through losing, triumphs through defeat, achieves power through weakness and service, comes to wealth via giving all away. Jesus Christ turns the values of the world upside down...

This upside-down pattern so contradicts the thinking and practice of the world that it creates an 'alternate kingdom,' an alternate reality, a counterculture among those who have been transformed by it. In this peaceable kingdom there is a reversal of the values of the world with regard to power, recognition, status, and wealth. In this new counterculture, Christians look at money as something to give away. They look at power as something to use strictly for service. Racial class and superiority, accrual of money and power at the expense of others, yearning for popularity and recognition, these normal marks of human life, are the opposite of the midset of those who have understood and experienced the Cross. Christ creates a whole new life. Those who are shaped by the great reversal of the Cross no longer need self-justification through money, status, career, or pride of race or class. So the Cross creates a counterculture in which sex, money, and power cease to control us and are used in life-giving and community-building rather than destructive ways." (emphasis mine)

I think it's safe to admit that we have largely lost this ethos as the collective, universal community of Jesus-followers...at least we have in America.  The statistics prove it every year...there is virtually no difference between Christians and non-Christians in terms of behavior, values, and relationships.

Just after the Cross, you would have been an idiot to call yourself a follower of Jesus, yet retain the world's value systems and only wiggle your toe in the upside-down, alternate kingdom that Jesus founded.  You would have been an idiot because you would have been killed for something you only halfway believed in.

We are headed back to the culture the first disciples lived in after the Cross.  Christianity is no longer at the center of American culture.  And I'm not convinced that's a bad thing.

Yes, we should speak up for, defend, and fight for a Christian worldview.  But maybe before we defend it and argue for it, we should actually try living it. Christianity being shoved from the center of American culture just may be the jolt that we need to return to this upside-down, countercultural ethos that defined Jesus and His first followers.

What if we all lived on less so we could give more. What if we leveraged the power and influence we have for those who have none and never will have any.  What if we really embraced the Cross as all the justification we need...we are justified in and through Jesus and Him ALONE! No money, power, or sex can trump the justification of Jesus! What if we rested in that and then ordered our lives accordingly.

This is where I want to live...the upside-down, alternate kingdom of Jesus.  I'm begging God to continue to break me of pride, of my need for justification from other sources, and of my selfishness. At the same time, I am begging Him to give me a heart full of His love and grace shown toward me so that I can freely live it and give it to others.

It Might Not Work

I needed this today.  Maybe you do, too.

The object isn’t to be perfect. The goal isn’t to hold back until you’ve created something beyond reproach. I believe the opposite is true. Our birthright is to fail and to fail often, but to fail in search of something bigger than we can imagine. To do anything else is to waste it all. - Seth Godin

I often tell people that I feel like we're in the Research & Development Department with our lab coats and goggles on. Lots of "what's that button do?" kind of conversations!  What we're doing right now is nowhere near perfect.  It probably never will be.  It might not even work.  And, that's okay.

Lara Beth and I talked about this very thing last night.  A year ago, I was scared to death of failure. Last June, if God would have clued me in to all that was to come in the next 12 months, I doubt we would have ever left Greenville. Instead, what He's done is lead us little by little to a place of complete confidence and trust in Him and His call on our lives. And along the way, He destroyed my fear of failure.   But, I still have my moments and need reminders like Godin's.

What can you do today to advance the idea or vision God has given you for what could be and should be? Don't wait for it to be perfect in every way. Take your best thinking, best plans, best ideas to this point and take an irreversible step....as Godin says, anything else is a waste.

My irreversible step today...I'm buying a URL for our new website/blog. What's yours?

Hi, I'm Jay...Let's Talk About Sex

I've preached I don't know how many times in I don't know how many places and have never done what I did yesterday at The River Church.

When Bryan invited me to speak, he told me they would be in a series on marriage and that it would great if I could stick with the series.  The good news is that he is a part of a network of pastors/churches that plan their series and sermons together, so I wouldn't be on my own to come up with content.  But I'd still have to preach the message and make it personal...

So, in my first ever visit to The River Church, not only did I preach, but I preached on sex!  In the words of Gary Lamb, "Yeah...come on!"

And, since it was only 15 minutes away and they have one service, Lara Beth and the girls were able to go, too.  No, the girls were not in the service :-), but LB was on the second row smiling and laughing at me the whole time.  We had fun with it...no pun intended! ;-)

All in all, I had a blast! The people were great...they laughed at my jokes, talked back when it got good, and were gracious when it was all said and done.

So, if you need a sexologist to come in and drop some hammers, I'm your guy! I've got my opening line..."Hi, I'm Jay...let's talk about sex..." :-)

Friday Five

1. Loved hanging out with our new friends at Northgate Trailer Park this week. So many stories, so many needs, so many opportunities for us to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  Can't wait to go back!

2. So cool to look amongst all these poor hispanic kids and see our girls playing, laughing, singing, and learning with them.  Even better than that...our girls see no difference between "us" and "them." We're all friends.

3. As we looked at the master bedroom in a house with our realtor on Wednesday, we heard water running in the bathroom and the door was closed.  Yep...someone was in the shower. Our realtor said that's not the weirdest thing she's walked in on...hmmm....

4. Preaching twice this weekend in two different cities at two different churches.  Tomorrow, I'll be at SNC @ Mud Creek Church in Hendersonville, NC. Sunday morning, I'll be @ The River Church in Camden, SC. Sunday morning at The River will be unforgettable...I'll tell you why right here on Sunday afternoon or Monday.

5. Sam and I, along with some help from Professor McGlohon and several others, made some serious headway in putting down on paper what's next for this movement God has called us to here in Columbia. You'll hear more next week!

Have a great weekend!

When Good Becomes Ultimate

I got hit with a double whammy over the last few days...and I'm thankful for it.

Last Thursday, I spent the day with a network of church planters from South and North Carolina that I am a part of.  Captain Dino dropped some serious hammers, but none more effective than this one:

"What would your relationship with Jesus look like if you were not in vocational ministry?"

If I couldn't preach, would I still follow Jesus?  If I wasn't planting a church, would I still follow Jesus? If no one read this blog, would I still follow Jesus? If I never met another pastor again, would I still follow Jesus?

As the question continued to roll around in my mind over the weekend, I read the chapter entitled "The Problem of Sin" in Tim Keller's masterpiece, The Reason for God.

"...according to the Bible, the primary way to define sin is not just the doing of bad things, but the making of good things into ultimate things. It's seeking to establish a sense of self by making something else more central to your significance, purpose, and happiness than your relationship to God." - p. 162

Is preaching ultimate, or is Jesus? Is planting a successful church ultimate, or is Jesus? Is having an increasing blog audience ultimate, or is Jesus? Is being known ultimate, or is Jesus?

Keller argues that putting anything that is good in the role of ultimate and trying to draw identity, significance, happiness or purpose out of it is sin. Preach, plant, write, meet...if my identity, significance, happiness and purpose depend ultimately on those things, then I am preaching, planting, writing, and meeting in sin.

I'm diving into these questions headfirst because I know that if I am honest, I have to say that there have been and are times when those things (and others) move into the role of ultimate in my life. 

My highest calling is to remain, or abide in Jesus (John 15). That means all of life has Him as my center point and His glory as my motivation for living. The cool thing is that when I am in that place, He produces more fruit than I could ever hope for or imagine.

What good thing battles for the place of ultimate in your life? For those of you in professional ministry, what would your relationship with Jesus look like if ministry was taken away? Challenging questions, but ones we need to ask of ourselves often.

From Riches to Rags to Riches

That title sums up my day.

Started at Starbucks in 5 Points with Ros, a former student of mine who just graduated from USC. I guess you could say I am discipling Ros, but I'm probably learning more from him than he is from me. We talked about cutting through the noise to hear and follow Jesus everyday. Thanks, Ros, for challenging me to rest.

As we walked out, I met Eddie. Eddie asked for change so he could buy a cup of coffee.  I had some money left on a gift card, so I bought Eddie a cup of coffee and we shared an apple fritter. We sat on the steps for a few minutes and talked about his story, my story, Jesus, religion, and life. After I prayed for Eddie, he thanked me for praying in Jesus' name because he said "that's the name with all the power...the name above all names." Thanks for the reminder, Eddie.

Then I met up with Lara Beth, the girls, and Sam and we helped our good friend Christy and 4 summer missionaries put on a VBS-type thing in a trailer park 10 minutes from my house that looks more like a third world country. Most all of the families are hispanic and very transient. I spent most of the day with "Johnny Bravo" (that's not his real name, but it's what his friends call him and he likes it :-)). Johnny just finished 7th grade and goes to the same middle school I attended. When I was in 7th grade, I had no idea kids like Johnny existed...I figured everyone lived in a brick house with a mom and a dad, two cars, stable jobs, and stable income. But you know what...Johnny and I had a blast throwing a rotted Nerf football around and talking about soccer...he doesn't know what he doesn't have and he doesn't care. Thanks, Johnny, for your joy. See you tomorrow!

And finally, LB and I met with what will likely be our realtor to help us figure out where God wants us to live permanently. It's exciting to feel like we're at the point where we're ready to go to the next level in our search. But I'll admit, it felt sort of weird driving from the trailer park to a real estate office. Asking God to give us healthy and proper perspective on all this.

So that was my day today...gotta admit, I loved it! Wonder what will happen tomorrow...