Gym-encounter with a young female trainer

Earlier this week at the Converge Alpha Conference in Chicago Dan Kimball told us about a recent time when he went to the gym (a “once-every-two-years-habit”) and got to talking with a young female trainer.

“So… what do you do for a living?” she asked him. Dan hesitated. If he told the truth, would she brush him off? Maybe he should make something up? But what would he say? He was trapped. Finally he just went for it: “I’m a pastor” he said. The lower jaw of the young female trainer literally dropped, she back-peddled a few steps and fell into the weight machine behind her. “Oohhh, that’s creepy” she said.

(Creepy? Since when did pastors become “creepy” characters?)

Kimball talked to her for a few minutes and tried to unpack her less-than-glamorous characterization of his occupation. Well… turns out she didn’t know any Christians, personally. Turns out she’s never been a part of any Christian church. Turns out—not surprisingly—she didn’t even know any “pastors,” personally.

Okay, that makes me feel a little better. After all, THAT’S California. THIS is Minnesota. I haven’t run into that. And my hair doesn’t look as weird as Dan’s (uh… I mean, “as cool” as Dan’s).

But this 22 year-old trainer at the gym is not alone. Kimball said that many young people in his experience would agree with the statement made by one of them: "Jesus is cool, but some of his followers give me the creeps.

So, we might wonder… where did she (and others) get this characterization? Well, probably from the same place that most of the rest of us get our passing impressions of pastors (and Christians). From the media. And Hollywood. And on cable TV when you’re flipping through the channels and you pause just long enough to hear a 10 second snippet of a TV evangelist as he/she stares right at the camera, yelling into a microphone at you, like you’ve done something wrong.

Based on those sources of information, I would agree—pastors (and even some Christians) look creepy. But if that’s true then it’s even more important that, since I'm the only window through which some people will ever look to get an impression of Christianity, I need to change from acting the same as others in the world—but looking different, to looking the same as others in the world—but acting different.

Little Yellow Rental Car

My little yellow rental car started talking to me yesterday in the middle of Wisconsin. I’m serious!

After several hours of driving from Chicago to Mpls I was getting bored. So I started fiddling with the rear-view mirror (which had a lot of buttons on it), wondering how you adjust it on this car. (Hey—that’s what guys do.) I grabbed a hold of it and tilted it upwards. There. Much better. At the same time I noticed that my music suddenly stopped playing. Then I heard a woman’s voice coming from inside my car. I looked in the rear-view mirror to check the back seat. Maybe I had a guest passenger who slipped in at the last gas stop. Except that she didn’t seem to be talking directly to me. I heard her say something about “…On Star system.” The next thing you know I hear a phone ringing. I looked around to answer it. But like—WHERE was it? Then a guy with a smooth voice answered, “Emergency On-Star system. How can I help you?”

Great. I’m caught! Hey, all I was doing is dinging around with the mirror and the next thing you know the emergency services is calling me to find out what I’m doing to their mirror! I wanted to say something but… where’s the phone!? For a moment I thought… “Just pretend he’s not there.” I mean, where IS he, anyway? Really?

Then it occurred to me, “okay, if I can hear him without picking up a phone, then maybe he can hear me.” So, as I was buzzing along at 71 mph in the middle of Wisconsin, I started talking to my car. “Ahhh, sorry… I think I must have hit a button by mistake.” I waited. Would there be an answer? The smooth voice answered back, “That’s okay, sir. Have a nice evening.”

Hmmm. That’s interesting. Obviously this little yellow cheap Chevy has an On-Star system. I looked more carefully at all those buttons on the rear-view mirror. I noticed that one was reddish and looked like the culprit. So I guess that means that no matter where you are on the planet, no matter how far away from civilization you can drive this little yellow Chevy, no matter how isolated you are from other human beings, you’re not really alone after all. The whole world is just waiting on the other side of the door, ready to barge into your life. All you have to do is press the little tiny reddish button on the rear-view mirror, and someone comes to your assistance. Cool! Or Yikes! Depending on your perspective.

Actually, Cadillac didn’t invent this concept. It’s been around for thousands of years. No matter where you are, no matter what how badly you’ve screwed up, no matter how far away from others you've become, no matter how isolated you feel… all you have to do is start talking out loud, into thin air, just like I did in that little yellow rental car in the middle of Wisconsin. And God hears you. The concept is called prayer.

A Growing Interest in Jesus

Yesterday I listened to Dan Kimball speak at the CONVERGE Alpha Conference in Chicago. Dan wrote the recent book, They like Jesus, but not the church. He gave us a GOOD NEWS/ BAD NEWS scenario about Christianity and the state of the church in the USA, especially among young people (ages 20-35).

The Good news: There's a growing interest in Jesus, especially among young people.

The Bad news: There's a growing disinterest in Christianity and the organized church, especially among young people.

Earlier in the day Nicky Gumbel, author of the Alpha Course talked about a 22 year old woman who attended his most recent Alpha course in London. In one of their conversations she told him that she had never known, met, or interacted with a Christian. Nor had she ever been to a church service or stepped inside a church building, including for weddings or funerals. Ever.

Thirty years ago it would have been difficult to go through 22 years of life without ever having encountered a Christian or the Christian culture in the U.K. It’s not difficult anymore. And that’s the point of the story. Does this 22 year-old signal the “Tipping Point” of the waning influence of the Church upon our life and in our society?

Now, we might be tempted to dismiss this story as an aberration. If, for no other reason, because, of course, that’s London. Right? But—and here’s the rub—we in the U.S. are moving down the very same road. We’re just 10-15 years behind our English friends. Because I don’t sense that the movement toward secularization in the U.S. is slowing down or retreating. Do you? If anything, its rate of speed is ever increasing.

Nicky went on to observe that British culture is moving out even further on the spectrum of secularism, from a post-modern Christian culture, where truth is regarded as relative, (and Christianity is tolerated), to a culture where Christianity is not even tolerated anymore as one among many religions, but is increasingly becoming the focus of direct attacks by atheists and others hostile to Christianity as being "dangerous, untrue, and even abusive," and therefore ought to be banned altogether.

It seems like an oxymoron doesn't it? A growing interest in Jesus... accompanied by a waning influence of "the Church" on society? On some level deep down inside of me this makes sense, but it sure doesn’t look or feel like Kansas anymore.

Imagine There’s No Church (building)

Ok, here’s one for you. Think about this for a moment. Imagine your church. Got it? Ok, now… what does it look like? How would you describe it to a friend?

My guess is that the picture you have of your church is… of the church building. Right?

Now—here’s a really crazy thing—imagine your church… WITHOUT its building. (I’m serious. Try to imagine it.)

Hard to imagine? Sound strange? Okay, I realize it might be weird—but, can you picture it? What does it look like? What would be happening “at church” if there was no building?

It’s not a trick question. Just an honest attempt to get down to the core of what “church” is really all about. And no… I’m not going to give you credit for thinking, “No problem… we’ll just rent some other space and meet there!” No, I’m talking about having NO building, whatsoever. What would the church look like and how would it function if it had NO building?

Here’s some more questions… do you think your church could survive without a building? What would keep people connected? How would the surrounding neighborhood be aware of your church, if there was no building that occupied a physical “space” on one of the city streets? What purpose would your “church-without-a-building” really serve?

Okay, so what’s the point? Just this. That “church” has a lot more to do with being “a body of believers” than it does with having a building.

(read on for part 2)

Imagine There’s No Church (building), Part 2

(continued)
This doesn’t mean that we should run right out and sell off all our buildings, lease temp space, and go “building-less.” It means that how we think of “church” has a lot more to do with BEING the church Monday through Saturday than it does with GOING to church on Sunday. Church-buildings tend to obfuscate the practice of being the church, as the New Testament presents it.

For example, not once does the New Testament refer to “church” as a building. The word “church” (ekklesia) is mentioned 114 times, but in every instance it refers to a body of believers. Not a building. “Church,” and a “church building,” are not at all the same thing in the New Testament.

Here’s the kicker. For over 300 years “the church” survived (actually, it thrived!) without church buildings. The earliest Christians met in their homes for much of the first three centuries. Only as Christianity became an officially “tolerated” religion of the Roman Empire did buildings begin to be constructed for the purpose of having a meeting place for the believers.

Today Christianity is spreading like wildfire in China. And Asia. And Africa. For the most part it’s a House Church Movement, especially in China and Asia. There are very few, if any, official church buildings. Just like in the first three centuries. It’s spreading like wildfire because the believers ARE the church in their towns and villages. Their focus is on BEING the church rather than GOING to church. Here in America we have invested billions of dollars in beautiful church buildings over dozens of decades that we can GO to on Sunday morning. But attendance at “church” continues to decline precipitously all throughout the U.S., and virtually all denominations have lost millions of members over the last 40 years.

So, I’ve been wondering… are we missing something here?

More Reflections on “Surprise Me, God”

For the past 30 Days MJ and I have started out each day (most of the time) with a simple prayer, “Surprise Me, God.” This 30-Day Faith Experiment has not turned out as I expected. I figured that God would “show up” more often and in more pronounced ways that He did. So I’ve learned—once again—that…

§ God doesn’t “snap to” and show up more frequently or in more pronounced ways in our lives just because we decide to run an experiment as such.

§ Praying this kind of a prayer first thing in the morning puts you in a frame of mind where you’re ready and looking to see how God is working in your relationships, in your work, in your thoughts, and in your family.

§ God has His own way of handling things and working in the lives of people. I was surprised that the one neighborhood couple who formed this 30-Day group with us had just learned of an impending family crisis in their lives as we began. We didn’t know each other before we got together. But we all concluded that... "what was the chance of just the four of us getting together… at this particular moment… around this particular theme… in this particular neighborhood… only a few doors down from each other?"

I'm glad we began this 30-Day Group, for just such a time as this.

Day 30—Surprised.

Wow, the last day of our 30-Day Faith Experiment has come. Seems like we just started.The goal of this 30-Day Experiment was to begin each day with the simple prayer, “Surprise Me, God.” Each day we invited God to barge into our lives anytime, anywhere, anyhow He pleases, and in the process, for us to become better aware of God’s presence in our lives.

If you’ve been following along you may be wondering …well, did He? And—were we? So I went back over the last 29 days to see what happened:

First, this little 30-Day Experiment Group is a God-story in itself. We formed it with one other couple from the neighborhood. None of the other dozen-or-so neighbors that I invited were interested. (Mostly I invited neighbors who didn’t appear to be engaged in a church.) So, initially it felt like a bust. But then, it turns out that the one neighborhood couple who did join us was just learning about an impending family crisis. They had no other group to be there for them. No one else to talk to. But Shazzam! Now they did. You have to admit that the timing was… well, “providential.” We had our “group” (although it wasn’t at all what I had envisioned) and Jesus was keeping His promise to this couple (“behold, I am with you always until the end of time”) through this little group.

…oh yeah, and then there was the “coincidental” sale of our home. Our next door neighbor came over one day and asked if we would consider selling to his mother so that they could live next door to each other. Even though we had no immediate plans to sell it seemed like a gift that dropped out of the sky, especially in today’s housing market.

…and then there was the mysterious “healing” of our dog’s front leg. (Her limp disappeared a few days after our small group prayed over her. See “Day 26.”)

…and the beginning of a new partnership with some Kingdom-oriented people in the downtown area of the city.

…and as I continued to meet with and counsel several individual guys, I was privileged to witness how God was transforming their lives, their relationships and their hearts into new men. During the last 30 days I have witnessed a new strength and confidence in my own faith (the ability to stay focused in the middle of chaos).

So…did God surprise us? Did we see the hand of God working these last 30 days? Yeah. It’s a no-brainer. He did indeed. And—we were.