Tag Archive - worship

Becoming a Heretic on Church Ministry

October 20, 2008 in Ministry-Theology with 11 Comments

Heretic
Heretic, the one word that you never want to be associated with you as a Christian or ministry worker. OR IS IT?

Rather, maybe we need more heretics. Those challenging the status quo in Church. Just maybe we need to think more unorthodox thoughts when it comes to ministry. (Notice I said ministry, not theology; though there is a conversation there).

Of course, most people call others heretics when someone else’s views don’t align with theirs. Meaning, they think that they have a corner on the “right theology”, and the “right way to do ministry”, and of course everyone else is just wrong. I even have some friends I think who wish they could still burn heretics at the stake today…just to teach them a lesson and prove a point.

I know this is a serious word and I’m somewhat playing with it. But maybe Seth Godin is right, maybe we have been entrapped by the status quo, and been caught up in the trappings of Church culture, politics, hierarchy, etc. Godin’s idea of heretic goes beyond Church, but involves corporations, non-profits, politics and more.

Heretic & Ministry
But what I’m interested in is the idea of the heretic in ministry.

For argument sake, I’m not talking about heretic when it comes to theology. I’m not debating the orthodox views of the faith (virgin birth, death, resurrection, etc.), though I know people disagree on those. I’m interested in the role of the heretic who challenges the trappings of the Church. The facade, roles, hierarchical authority that is built over 1000′s of years of faith.

Is it possible that the Church culture has enslaved us, and keeps us from actually doing what our faith asks of us? So rather than living out our faith and theology, we are captured by the status quo. Reminds me very much of being caught in The Matrix and deciding which pill to swallow.

Godin says:

Challenging the status quo requires a committment, both public and private. It involves reaching out to others and putting yourideas on the line. (Or pinning your Ninety-five Theses to the church door). (pp. 49)

and later in the book, Godin says:

Religion and faith are often confused. Someone who opposes faith is called an atheist and widely reviled. But we don’t have a common word for someone who opposes a particular religion.

Heretic will have to do.

If faith is the foundation of a belief system, then religion is the facade and the landscaping. It’s easy to get caught up in the foibles of a corporate culture and the systems that have been built over time, but they have nothing at all to do with the faith that built the system in the first place.

Change is made by people, by leaders who are proud to be called heretics because their faith is never in question. (pp. 84)

Thinking Heretical Thoughts on Ministry
In the next several posts I would like to challenge, raise questions, debate some areas of Church ministry that need some unorthodox thinking in them. Maybe we need more heretics in our midst to help us re-think/re-imagine how the Church could be.

These are areas that I have struggled with a long time as I know many of you have, many of you are beginning to, and others will just think, well, that’s heretical thinking. I’m simply bringing them up to raise discussion and conversation, not because I have all the answers to these. That’s why I want your input.

  1. The Sermon: Primarily in its current form (1 person; usually a male; talking at people for 45 mins).
  2. Church Leadership: Primarily as it pertains to top-down, hierarchical, male driven committees.
  3. Worship (music): Primarily as it pertains to “the rock star”, performers on stage.
  4. Communication: Primarily in its top-down, non-inclusive/non-participatory of the Church body.

There are more, but those 4 are enough for me to look at.  If you have others that you think should be on the list, add them in the comment section and we can explore them together.

What would you add?

Is (Your) Church in “the dead zone of slick?”

August 27, 2008 in Ministry-Theology with 10 Comments

The below is an excerpt from Seth Godin’s post the dead zone of slick.

There was a terrific duo playing live music at the farmer’s market the other day. They were well-rehearsed, enthusiastic and really good. Being a patron of the arts, I bought a CD.

I hated it.

I’ve thought a lot about what turned me off, and I think it’s the curve above.

Faced with the excitement of making a CD and all the knobs and dials, they overproduced the record. They went from being two real guys playing authentic music, live and for free, and became a multi-tracked quartet in search of a professional sound. And they ended up in the dead zone. Not enough gloss to be slick, too much to be real.

BINGO. Seth gets it.
Seth, as is his style, precisely and briefly puts in words and a graph what many of us often feel about church.

“Not enough gloss to be slick, too much to be real.”

A complaint I often heard in college ministry was that church was too slick, whether it was their home church where I pastored, the church down the road, or the one they grew up in. It’s a complaint that is hard to describe, but we all know what everyone means when they express it.

It’s that fine line between authenticity and being overproduced. Not everyone likes the duo on acoustic guitars leading worship, but not everyone is into the eight musicians on stage with lights glaring and moving images behind them either.

I’m someone who so desires authenticity in our churches and community, but I also want us to think through how we do things as well and do them with a sense of integrity, hard work and passion.

Too Slick

If I had a choice, I would usually prefer the “not slick” versus “slick” everyday of the week.

My 10 Reasons of how you know when is church too slick?

  1. When no one else is allowed on stage/upfront on Sunday, but the paid clergy/staff.


  2. No one is allowed to share or preach but the handful of ordained staff, etc.


  3. Everything is on perfect cue that when there is a mishap it becomes a big issue to the staff or congregation.


  4. When children (crying, talking, walking around) have no place in church, are given dirty looks, or ushered out.


  5. The service is broken down into minute detail…minute by minute. No room for the Spirit to move as some say.


  6. Professionalism reigns (oratory skills, musicianship). There is a difference between putting “capable” people up front, and allowing only the best of the best or professionals to do everything.


  7. When a staff meeting becomes the place where the service is dissected, but very little time is given to prayer, theological reflection or why we do the things we do.


  8. When the pastor or band/worship leader carries with them superstar status that if they weren’t up front on a Sunday people might choose not to attend or bring their friends.


  9. When those up front reflect only a segment of the population of the church (usually the pastor’s demographic or circle of friends), and there is no room to try things differently, with different people.


  10. When people’s reflection upon the service was more about the technicalities, than it was about the content.




Thoughts?

When is church too slick?

What makes church authentic?

ECHO Conference: Great from top to bottom

August 18, 2008 in Ministry-Theology with 7 Comments




Last week I was debating on whether or not I should attend the ECHO Conference, mainly because I was pretty exhausted from just moving here. And second, I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to pay the $329 for the conference.

I debated, but ultimately I felt like it would be a great opporunity to take part in this new conference. I thought I would make some good connections and hopefully some friends as well. And last, I hoped to really take away some valuable things from my time there.

Hands down, it was one of the best conferences I have been to, and I have been to a lot. I realized on Friday while I was looking at the snack table and pouring some more Starbucks coffee for myself, and for that $329 fee I was easily getting my money’s worth between the great speakers, the great food, the great connections, the challenges put forth, etc.

At this point, let me just state a few of the highlights for me and what really stuck out for me.

  • Hospitality: It was the most hospitable conference that I have been to.  It began on Friday when I swung by only to pick up my registration packet and head home. I wasn’t planning on staying since I had my daughter with me.  Two young women offerred to hold my daughter for me while I walked around the place too see what was going on and to find Cynthia Ware.  First, let me say that I would never just hand my daughter over to complete strangers, but there was something in these women that made you feel like you knew them personally as friends.  Great people to have at the front greeting conference attendees.  But I did.  I passed my daughter to the two of them and I walked around, only to come back and find my daughter having a great time playing with one of the women’s i-phones and smiling.  Thank you Haley Thomas.  That type of hospitiality continued all three days of the conference and it was one of the easiest conferences to mingle amongst not only the attendees, but the speakers and workshop leaders as well.  Great hospitality.


  • De-Centralized/Flattened Leadership: This is a really important ethos for what I want leaders to embody. And even though I knew who was putting the conference on and who was in charge, it was nice to watch them serve people all three days, and not be above setting up things, helping cars find parking spots and being there to resolve any issues that may have arisen.  You just don’t see that enough.  Most speakers and leaders are often the first to leave after they speak and never stick around to help with the day to day work.  So props to Rob Thomas and the people at Igniter Media, those at Worship House Media, and Scott and the crew at Collide Magazine.


  • Great Challenges from the Speakers: I’m sure if I were to poll the people at the conference everyone would have something different to say about each speaker.  I didn’t attend all keynote sessions, but I did attend Donald Miller’s and Mark Batterson’s.  Mark had me thinking all weekend about the quote he shared by Martin Luther: “It is wonderful’ proclaimed Luther, ‘how at this moment in history all the arts have come to the light…like the art of book printing, God’s highest and extremest act of grace, whereby the business of Gospel is driven forward.”  His challenge that Christians and churches should be on the leading edge of innovation, and who of us in the room would develop that tool to drive the gospel forward has been echoing in my mind a lot.  And Donald Miller’s message on “Story” was amazing.  It held special importance to me because my wife and I were listening to that message about 6 months ago (he had given it at Mars Hills in Michigan; check here for it) as we drove from Los Angeles to Phoenix to visit my family.  After his message all we could think about was the story God had given us and were we truly living in it.  That message gave us courage to continue our move to Dallas, and to hear Miller give it on Friday night was confirmation of God’s grace in my wife, daughter and I’s lives as we had safely made the journey from Los Angeles to Dallas…desiring to live a different story than the one in LA…desiring to live the story God had given us.  I know many of us are still chewing on that talk as it continues to resonate with us.


  • Networking: This is probably one of my favorite things to do at conferences.  But there was something different about the networking going on here.  It wasn’t the typical, here is my card, and if you can meet my needs, then we should hang out more.  Rather, I genuinely felt like that the people I networked with are people I want to spend time with.  Over dinner, drinking coffee, going to church, dreaming, etc.  The networking had a sense of humility and friendship, and I think it was evident that people’s connection with Christ and ministry is what motivated them, and not money and power.  That is a very different feel.  So at the end of the day, networking was about friendship and dreaming together, not money and fitting a peg along someone’s ladder of success. I have to believe that that tone was not only set and embodied by those putting on the conference, but also those who came through the door.  I am looking forward to the new friendships, and the times we will eat together, play together, and dream big dreams together.


  • Innovation and Creativity: Truly the keynote speakers, lab leaders and workshops were led by people doing very innovative things in their field. So no matter what breakout you attended or speaker you heard, it was always challenging and refreshing.  Who saw the creative work of Barton Damer and was amazed?  Everyone.  Those are the type of people doing ministry that a conference needs and ECHO had plenty of them.


  • Christ, Church and Ministry: No matter who I came into contact with during my time at the conference, I was impressed with which everything came back to Christ.  It is Christ who has given us our gifts, our talents, our relationships, and it is Him that we glorify when we use our gifts, and so in humility, always pointing towards Him who has given us such grace.  I was excited that not only was Christ evident during our time there, but people were concerned about ministry.  How does what I’m doing affect ministry?  How does it spread the gospel and enhance ministry?  So the talents and gifts and creativity were embedded in the local church of these people and they all came together to learn from each other.  Obviously not everything must be tied to ministry and church, but when it’s a conference on media arts and church, well, it’s nice that it lived up to its billing.

I learned a lot, made a lot of new friends and was encouraged by the passion in others. And I’m looking forward to many coffee times and Mexican food lunches and dinners here in Dallas with many of you.

You can find some of the notes from ECHO here.

Couple of Great Conferences…

August 14, 2008 in Technology-Social Media with 0 Comments

I will be heading over to ECHO Conference  (if not tonight, at least tomorrow and Saturday) at Watermark, and I’m super excited to hang out with Cynthia Ware, Scott McClellan, Tony Steward, Greg Atkinson and others.  I’m sure my head will be exploding with ideas and thoughts after some time with them.

Oh yeah, and Donald Miller will be one of the speakers.  If you are in Dallas, it’s not too late to walk on up and register.

 

Then on September 20-21 in Las Vegas I will be attending GodblogCon and will have a small role with some of the other authors in our new book, The New Media Frontier: Blogging, Vlogging and Podcasting for Christ.

 

  • GodblogCon, September 20-21st at the BlogWorld and New Media Expo, Las Vegas NV


  • Registration prices increase on August 22nd so sign up ASAP


  • A limited number of seats are still available for our opening night dinner and we will begin registration for GodblogCon’s Sunday Gospel Brunch and the House of Blues.


  • GodblogCon is presented by Biola University and the Torrey Honors Institute and is proudly sponsored by the Family Research Council, Desiring God Ministries, the High Calling, the Acton Institute, Stand To Reason, and the Mars Hill Audio Journal.


  • More information including schedule, sponsors, events, and registration is available at GodblogCon.com