organic christianity

the rock

I wanted to let everyone know that Charlotte and I are officially working with The Rock of Brentwood a church plant in Brentwood, CA as well as working part-time at Peet's Coffee & Tea.  We are so excited for this great opportunity to love and serve the community of Brentwood.  I will fill you in on more news about the church plant as things progress.  Please pray that God will help all the details come together and that He will give us favor as we begin to minister in Brentwood.  We should have a website coming soon and I'll let you know about it when it's up and running.   

success

I can't say that I agree with Michael Scott's words of wisdom on success but he is hilarious. This question of what is success has been on my mind lately. I am reading a book by John Maxwell called Your Roadmap for Success. It's a signature John Maxwell book that has way to many points put in overwhelmingly cheesy ways but I love his stuff anyways. He got me thinking about what I am pursuing each day that I wake up. Obviously we all want to be successful but what are we pursuing after. Each of us have very different definitions of what success really is. My co-worker said that she would define success as beating Kobayashi in a hot dog eating contest. I have to admit that I would feel like I have accomplished a mighty task by beating the world hot dog eating champ but is that really what success is all about? John defines success as

"knowing your purpose in life,

growing to reach your maximum potential,

and sowing seeds that benefit others."

If we are going to pursue after success we better define what it is. Is success having lots of money, climbing the corporate ladder, obtaining fancy cars, raising wonderful kids or helping others? I am currently in the process of figuring out what it is to me. I would encourage you to do the same before you go one more day pursing after success. If we don't define it we will inevitably never reach it. I couldn't help but include this movie in my blog post in tribute to my co-worker's definition of success.

unchristian

David Kinnaman's, President of the Barna Group, latest book, co-authored with Gabe Lyons, is called UnChristian. It's basic message is that Christianity has an image problem. Here is the description of the book from the back cover ...

"Christians are supposed to represent Christ to the world. But according to the latest report card, something has gone terribly wrong. Using descriptions like 'hypocritical', 'insensitive', and 'judgmental', young Americans share an impression of Christians that's nothing short of ... unChristian."

The book goes on to detail the negative perceptions that exist, especially amongst the younger generation, then goes on to give some insights as to how these perceptions can be reversed in a Christlike manner, including practical examples of how Christians can positively contribute to culture.

(Gabe Lyon's talking about UnChristian on CNN)

Are Christians helping Jesus reach the world?  Is the Church effective or is it hindering the gospel?  Do Christians need to repent and change the way they live their lives before the world?  Do Christians get people saved to get a notch in their belt or do they really care about people's needs?  This is a challenging call to the church. After all, the apostle Paul told the first-century Christians that they were like a letter, known and read by everyone around them. I wonder what people read when they see our life and whether it says what Jesus would want it to say. That's a challenge for all of us. (Excerpts taken from Mark Conner's review of UnChristian)

relevant?

Why is Christianity depicted as being irrelevant to our culture? I don't know but here is a band that is creating waves and bridging the gap between Christianity and our culture. Ok, so hopefully you realize I am totally joking.  I got a laugh out of this and I hope you did too.  (I apologize to any old-school Christians that were offended by me mocking this.)

authenticity

I hear the word authenticity all the time. It seems to be the word for my generation. I wonder if it's a reaction to a generation before us that seemed to be so unauthentic. I am not exactly sure but it sure seems to be a value of my friends and leaders of the emerging church. I could blog about this but I thought it would be easier to simply copy a good friend of mine and cut and paste his entry into mine because I don't want to be too transparent or authentic with people on the internet : ) This was written by Chris Jenson a loving father, a hard-working man and true shepherd of Jesus' church.

What does it mean to be "authentic?" It seems as though this word keep popping up around me--authentic. Maybe because i am discovering that it is something that I have struggled with for so long.

I looked up what the word "authentic" means, here's what I've found:

-not false or copied; genuine; real
-Having a claimed and verifiable origin or authorship; not counterfeit
-Genuineness; the quality of being genuine or not corrupted from the original

WHAT?!?!?! I mean seriously... it's so easy and yet so hard! The reason I have struggled is that I have wanted to fit in. Since elementary school I have just wanted to fit, be accepted, be apart. I have done, dressed, acted, said, all kinds of things in my life so that someone would accept me. Even in my relationship with God I have found it difficult to try not to perform for God to get his acceptance.

But let's think about being authentic:

-I'm I being false or copied?
-Do I have a verifiable origin and authorship?
-Do act with genuineness and truthfulness?

I guess what this is about is character and integrity... Do I understand who authored me? And am I BEING who I was made to be?

"For you were created in my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful and I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes way my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." --Psalms 139:13-16 (NIV)

Christ is my Author! I find my purpose IN Christ! I must learn to be ME in HIM. I used to think that being ME was insufficient. I was not good enough. Unless I was a "Super Star," "Big Faith," "Too Strong," or "Champ"... then I needed to... well, DO something different. But I'm Chris, just Chris. I like to read, I love music, I love coffee, I don't like playing sports, but I do sometimes like to watch them, I sometimes don't like to hang out with people, I sometimes love to hangout with people, I love humor, my heart actually hurts when I see injustice, I really do believe that Jesus Christ really did die and pay ALL of the penalty for me, and that because of that, and only that, I am accepted by Him, and find full life... and I really love to just BE with God.

Does that sound weird? Maybe because you are not me. But I ask you...

Do you know the Source of your origin? Are you BEING who you were MADE to be?

...Are you authentic? Are you... YOU?

steven furtick

I ran across a church leader's blog in my internet travels and it seems like this leader and the church he pastors is accomplishing the primary mission of the church, which is to lead non-christians to follow Jesus. I believe many churches lead people to follow either a pastor or movement and have missed out on the mission to bring people into a deeper relationship with Jesus. How often do churches in America preach the gospel and see people give their lives to following Jesus? Are salvations the passion and primary focus of our churches or do we focus more on feeding bloated Christians, bickering in church politics and making excuses to why we aren't experiencing success like other churches may be experiencing? I believe every local church is destined to lead many people to follow Jesus. I wonder what would happen if we stopped putting our time and energy into things that didn't focus on leading non-christians to follow Jesus. Do you think our mission as a local church would be more pure? I wonder if we preached a simple, clear, challenging and loving gospel all the time if we would see more salvations and experience real church growth.

Steven Furtick and Elevation Church seem to be making an impact in Charlotte, North Carolina and according to his last post there were 145 people who received Christ last Sunday during their service. Their sermon series is called "The Gospel Series." So far during this series 750 people have received Christ. What a simple yet effective series. I hope you check out his blog and church website.

peet's

I recently started working at Peet's Coffee & Tea. I figured I was hanging out there so much I might as well start getting paid. It has been very enjoyable to work with great people, accomplish a mission every day, hang out with our community, work with measurable goals and deliver a stellar product. It is has been fun to learn about the Peet's culture and its values. I talk a lot about church culture and I think we can learn from coffee shops. I realized how much they reflect what a church should be in some of its core essentials. It is a community center, a place where people communicate about life and serious issues, a haven in a busy world and consistently excellent. It has core values, a mission, measurable goals and a clear vision that inspires people to be excellent. How much easier should the church be able to be like this considering who we are doing it for. Anyway, I am enjoying work! I plan on learning a lot from my great co-workers and Peet's culture. Come on by and grab a coffee at the Hopyard Peet's.