organic christianity

the "branch" office

I ran across this video in the blogosphere and found it to be pretty funny.  It's a church's version of NBC's The Office.

black friday

As usual our family went shopping on Black Friday this year.  Black Friday is infamous for being the biggest shopping day of the year with long lines, disgruntled people and mass chaos.  I usually find that it isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be.  I believe most people stay home to try and avoid the shopping madness and a few of us insane deal shoppers brave the unknown to get our DVD's for $2 and our baby food half off.  But I guess it isn't always so pleasant everywhere else.  I ran across this article on the internet that absolutely shocked me and I thought it represented the worst of America's consumerism that marks Christmas. 

Daily News NY Local

A Wal-Mart worker died after being trampled when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island store Friday morning, police and witnesses said.

The 34-year-old employee, a temporary maintenance worker, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.

Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him.

CAUGHT ON CAMERA: WAL-MART CROWD MOMENTS BEFORE DEADLY STAMPEDE

"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," said Jimmy Overby, 43, a co-worker. "They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too...I literally had to fight people off my back."

The unidentified victim was rushed to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:03 a.m., police said.

The cause of death wasn't immediately available pending results of an autopsy.

A 28-year-old pregnant woman was knocked to the floor during the mad rush. She was hospitalized for observation, police said. Early witness accounts that the woman suffered a miscarriage were unfounded, police said.

Three other shoppers suffered minor injuries, cops said.

Wal-Mart spokesman Dave Tovar called the incident a "tragic situation."

"The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top priority," Tovar said.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families at this difficult time."

Before police shut down the store, eager shoppers streamed past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the store clerk's life.

"They were working on him, but you could see he was dead, said Halcyon Alexander, 29. "People were still coming through."

Only a few stopped.

"They're savages," said shopper Kimberly Cribbs, 27. "It's sad. It's terrible."

member to missionary

In earlier posts I have talked about a reformation that I am seeing in America where members of churches are giving up the institutional church with it's "club member" activities and desiring to live in real Christian community where the culture is engaged with the purpose of seeing neighbors, co-workers and friends experience the love of Jesus.  The truth is that member values clash with missionary values because members are more concerned with what they are getting out of church and missionaries are more concerned with how they are partnering with God's work in people.  Missionaries are about the streets, the needs of the community, breaking down barriers and members are more about programs, buildings, services and who's in and who's out.  

I believe church is suppose to encourage people to think like missionaries and less like members.  This may require having less activities on the calendar and making room for people to serve in the community.  It's frustrating for the club members of the church when a church begins to focus outward towards the community because the focus is no longer on meeting the needs of the member but meeting the needs of the culture around us.  

I know that nothing is more invigorating and personally developing for a christian than to play a part in someone's life being transformed in Christ.  Praying for someone on the street, serving food to a homeless person, having a non-Christian neighbor attend your home group.  This is what we were made for.  This is what our savior Jesus was all about.  He was always loving, serving, teaching and giving out to the people He ran across.  Shouldn't we be doing the same things?

Today I spent some time in Brentwood meeting with people on the streets and asking them questions about their needs.  When I asked one young man what advice he would give a minister who really wants to meet the needs of people he simply said, "Do exactly what you are doing right now, listen to people and really care about them."  I was so encouraged by this young man and I hope I can always listen and serve the people I meet along my journey.  

My encouragement to you is BE the church.  Not everyone is going to be a missionary and church club members are always going to be out there telling you why you are off base and that you need more balance in your life.  Start serving, loving your community, working in local social justice projects because people will soon catch on and you can be a member or better yet a missionary of this reformation.  

stand

While we are starting The Rock Church in Brentwood we have been traveling around to visit different churches in our local area to see what's going on.  Today we visited The Father's House in Vacaville, CA.  I don't want to come across like a food critique who is traveling around to different churches to find the subtle nuances of why I like or don't like the style of worship or color on the walls.  We are doing this to expose ourselves to what the body of Christ is doing to reach their communities.  I wish many more pastors would do this because I think they would realize that they aren't all that and a bag of chips and it would encourage them to know that the struggle to reach their community is being shared by many more faithful followers of Christ.  

The Father's House recently spent one million dollars to purchase an old Good Year Tire store and remodel it into a homeless shelter and food pantry.  I appreciate that the call to social justice and serving the practical needs of communities has been heeded by this community of Christ-followers.  They could have spent that money on a whole bunch of different things but they decided to help the needy of their community.  I also was so refreshed by their Christ-centered worship.  Often times worship can be more about singing about ourselves or about the Church than singing to Him of how much we love Him and adore Him.  

Pastor Dave preached a message on Ephesians 6:13 "..having done all, to stand firm."  Dave spoke about the battles that we face whether financial, our health or the mental battles and how God has promised us victory through life or death.  He talked about the trap of worry and how we need to stop expending energy on things we can't change and stop focusing on the worst case scenario.  He even talked about penal substitutionary atonement and actually made it understandable and relatable (I thought we weren't suppose to talk about such "heady" material because we might lose a visitor with such nonsense : ))  Some people, for the first time, confessed their need and love for Jesus after the service, which is always so exciting to see happen "in" church.  I was impressed at what this community of believers was doing in Vacaville and was inspired to see similar results in Brentwood.  

I pray that The Father's House in Vacaville would be overwhelmed by God's blessing and that they would see many more people fall in love with Jesus through their ministry.  Bless their homeless outreach and all their efforts to see people's lives transformed in Christ.  Protect Pastor Dave and his wife Donna and allow their leadership to flourish.  Always remind them of their dependence on Christ and surround them with the presence of God.

house upon the rock

From the very beginning this blog was created as a look into the journey that I have been on for a while to discover a relationship with Jesus free from man-made theologies and ideologies.  This journey in some ways began about a year and a half ago, which was turbulent to say the least but in the midst of it all I discovered that God was after my heart and mind.  He was not allowing me to live in comfort and security nor in judgement but to learn how to trust Him in the most trying of circumstances and maybe find Him and His purpose for church in the midst of it all.  

I am a "churched" Christian through and through and even though that has spared me from making "bad" decisions as a youth it has also left me handicapped in some ways.  Sometimes being "churched", attending institutional church all the time, can cause you to see the kingdom of God more like a club than a community of passionate Christ-followers.  What I mean by club is you have to wear the right clothes, vote the right way, sing the right songs, read your Bible the same way, meet at the "clubhouse" every week, make it hard for outsiders (the dirty culture) to feel accepted and a part of the club and never do anything that contradicts the club or you can be ousted.  Sometimes it's difficult to just find Jesus in church.  How did so many of us miss the simplicity of what the church was suppose to be?

Church has had many successes along with sometimes many more failures but it doesn't mean that God has given up on the idea of church; Christian brothers and sisters living in community with one another with the sole purpose of reaching the world with the love of God.  I believe the church just needs to be reconstructed.  The foundation needs to be torn up and a new one laid in its place; a revolution is occurring and it needs to continue.  

I am currently planting a new church along with a great team in Brentwood and I passionately desire to see it make a difference in the community and not become another church that is more like a club and leaves shattered lives in its wake.  The foundation of the church must be love for Jesus and love for people.  It's once we start adding extra biblical things and incorporate inflated egos that church becomes diluted and ineffective at sharing the love of God to its surrounding community.   

So I finish my blog entry with the words of Wayne Jacobson, author of So You Don't Want to go to Church Anymore, that talks about foundations.  My prayer is that God will grant us the wisdom to plant a church that represents the church of the New Testament that sees many people far from God experience transformed lives in Christ.  I hope a new generation of Christ-followers will not look at church as something that handicaps them but rather encourages them to live out their Christian lives before God and man with passion, creativity and commitment.

I love that. The dogma, doctrines, and rules just will not hold up when the storm surrounds you. Love, trust, and relationship with Jesus will. I get hundreds of emails from people who know the rituals, doctrines, and rules well. They have observed them all of their lives, but when the tide turns against you, those things are as shifting as sand on the shore.

Learning to live inside a relationship of love is where real Truth is found. Settling into the confidence that Jesus and his Father love you and that you can trust them no matter how hard the wind blows or the rain falls, is as certain as a granite boulder.

I’ll admit it isn’t easy making the shift. I hear that every day from people and I still remember my own. It’s incredibly disorienting when your doctrine lets you down and your rules aren’t enough to sustain you. It’s easy to get angry at God and others.

But there is no better time for Jesus to show you the way that really is Truth and Life. And finding that, you’ll find the incredible peace that endures even through the most despicable of tragedies.

But finding a relationship with Jesus and his Father is where this relationship really begins.