thejakers

Ok. So I’m totally stealing this concept from other bloggers…but isn’t that what blogging is all about?

Bunch of great new music today. So, here we go! All pictures link to lala.com, where you can spin the album for free one time. Enjoy!

In case you missed it, here is a great video released last week on the rise of the Internet, called “Did You Know 4.0″.

The statistics in the video are startling for sure. But they confirm what we intuitively already know – as a culture, we’re completely overloaded with information, especially the younger up-and-coming generation.

As the communications director at a church that has a average age of 26 or so, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the challenges that the Internet creates for us – and the Church at large – in terms of engaging people with the gospel. I’m going to be sharing here some of my thoughts on the subject over a few posts.

In this post I want to discuss why I think the Internet, and specifically social media, is ushering a fresh and new challenge for the church that I don’t think we’ve fully articulated, and that I’m not sure we are adequately prepared to engage. To be clear, I’m figuring out my thoughts on this as I go, and hope to open a healthy dialogue on this topic. Input from you will be much valued.

Post-Modernism is Dying

If you’re like me, much of your ministry training in terms of apologetics has been focused on contextualizing the Gospel for a post-modern mindset. And while this is important, I’ve got this sneaking suspicion that we’re fighting a battle that has already been lost in some respects. While we decry post-moderns, the reality is that the world has pretty much wholesale accepted this philosophy, which has been moving full force since the 1960’s. My concern is that as a church we may be fighting old battles and not seeing the new threats on the horizon.

I’ve been thinking that post-modernism is dying. It’s on it’s last legs. Taking its place is what I’ll call Digitalism. Whereas Post-Modernism (in simplified terms) was the subjection of truth to cultural context, Digitalism is the subjection of truth to personal context.

In a post-modern world, there was still some semblance of universal truth, granted it was solely within the realm of culture. But the reality was that you were still held accountable to the truth by those whom you interacted with within your culture. The reality of day-to-day interactions necessitated that people would call you on your crap and bring you in line with cultural truth. Why? Because whether you liked it or not, you were forced to be exposed to people of varying opinions, and more often than not, the majority opinion – public truth – was still upheld, and you were expected to adhere to it.

Whereas Post-Modernism was the subjection of truth to cultural context, Digitalism is the subjection of truth to personal context.

In the world of Digitalism, we are no longer forced to interact with those who disagree with us. Through our various Internet interactions, especially our social media platforms, we can easily delete friends from our lives who would dare to question our version of reality – our personal truth. For the Digitalists, the ego is supreme. Truth is derived completely from within, all reality is subjectified to personal taste, preference, and experience – and most importantly, only those who carry the same truth, or who are willing to not question that truth, are sought out to become part of community. Digitalists are creating worlds within worlds. Worlds that are not bounded geographically, but instead ideologically.

So my question is: How Does the Church Engage the Digitalists?

Part two of this series will explore some of my thoughts on what we are doing right and what I think we might do better to engage this cultural shift in its early stages. But in the meantime, I’d be very curious to hear your thoughts.

1. Do you believe that post-modernism is dying? If so, what are your thoughts on the concept of digitalism I’ve presented here?

2. What do you see as the important strategies we need to employ as the church to engage the Digitalists?

A collection of interesting and mostly unrelated content from my online explorations for the week of 9/20/09.

Read an good review of William Fareley’s Gospel-Powered Parenting.

Russell Moore discusses the 10 Best Novels by Southern writers. I’m reading Wise Blood right now coincidentally.

Brent Thomas and I are discussing the Church and our digital world at Holiday at the Sea.

Copyblogger encourages us not to be who we are – online. Read it here.

There is a lot of internet chatter about the 9 scientifically proven ways to get retweeted. I was never good at science.

Learn about churchrater.com over on Out of Ur. BTW – I think it’s a stupid idea for the record.

Justin Taylor runs a series on the historical reality of Adam here and here.

Want a job at Google? Crack this code.

Mark Driscoll continues his series on leadership being lonely, which I wrote about here.

“Ever since Adam and Eve took a bite into the deadly passion-fruit, we’ve been hiding…hiding from who we were truly meant to be, how we were truly made to live.” Great blog by Chuck Degroat here.

For you freelancers: 5 focus killers and how to deal with them.

“It’s important, we’re finding, to get beyond a token youth Sunday and start thinking about how to involve kids as ushers and greeters and readers and musicians in our services.” Interesting and enlightening interview on age segmentation in churches.

David Silverman waxes nostalgia about suits.

“Nothing on this earth is so closely attached to the gospel as good, godly sex in marriage-and Satan hates it.” Thoughts on sexual sin from Travel Blog.

One of the more amazing charts I’ve seen in a long while, courtesy of Brian McLaren.

Tim Schraeder continues some excellent thoughts on the role of the church Communications Director here.

Perry Noble offers some great, practical advice to pastors on getting recharged.

“In each case, the reason you wrote someone off had nothing to do with their product and everything to do with their lack of cultural wisdom.” A must read from Seth Godin.

The first anniversary of my grandpa’s death is fast approaching. For the last nine months, his ashes sat on the mantle of the house that he lived in for over fifty years with his wife, whom he’d been married to even longer than that, packed into a box the size of my fist. This month those ashes were spread around the foundation of that house, around the yard, and out into the back woods. A sprinkle here. A sprinkle there.

And this makes good sense. During his life, my grandpa poured himself into his home. He expanded it with new rooms, built an garage, constructed a sun room (in Seattle no less!), painted again and again, rearranged the landscaping, busted walls, rebuilt walls, and continually remade his surroundings as he continually remade himself.

A week before his death, grandpa, Liam, and I enjoyed a few hours together. I wasn’t supposed to be in Seattle that Christmas, but God sovereignly had other plans.

It was that house that I used to ride my bike down to at five in the morning, speeding on East View Ridge Drive, down onto the steep, exhilarating incline of Olympic Avenue, and into the gravel drive with a slam of my breaks and an epic skid only an eight year old boy could appreciate, giddy with expectation as I prepared to caddy for my grandpa at one of the local golf courses. It was in the warm kitchen, smelling of coffee and melted butter, that I sat down to eat the smiley face pancakes, a McElroy tradition. It was in the warmly lighted family room, where we sat around the dinner table and talked into the night, telling long and rambling jokes and playing board games. It was that house where my mom, my uncles and aunts, me, and my cousins grew up. Good memories and bad, that house that was his and ours.

I was not able to make it up for the spreading of grandpa’s ashes, and in a way I’m glad. I paid my respects, kissing his cold forehead for the last time in the living room of the very same house in which he lived and died on that frosty December morning almost a year ago. But part of me wishes that I could have been there, to see just one last time the remains of the man I loved, even if they fit in a Chinese take-out box instead of one of his spring-fresh laundered v-neck undershirts. To gather as a family one last time around a man who had been a center of our life for so long. But in the end, it is his memory that sustains my love, not ashes. And those still burn strong.

Yet, there are days when I miss him terribly. Today is one of those days.

Rest in peace, Ronald McElroy. Rest in peace, grandpa.

The following is a post I made on the Praxischurch.com blog:

Life is Tweet

Last March I was in Raleigh, NC for the Acts 29 Network (A29) Boot Camp with the Praxis Church elders and some of my fellow elder candidates.  It was a great time of worship and teaching, with some world-class speakers and a lot of very practical information.

Everywhere I looked MacBooks were open and people were clicking away little “tweets” about the conference using the #a29 hash tag. If you don’t understand any of what I just wrote, God bless you. They were on Twitter. It piqued my curiosity, and I signed up for an account to follow the goings-on.

Fast-forward seven months or so, and today you’ll find me very active on Twitter (to the point that Pastor Tim unfollows me regularly because I tweet too much!) And as someone who is very active with many social media forms, including Facebook, Twitter, and blogging, I can attest to the fact that they can be both significant time wasters and narcissistic vehicles that give the appearance of community but lack any true substance. And before you know, if you let them, your social media accounts can take over your real life! Yet, they can also be very valuable and rewarding tools.

Internet Ministry?

When I came onto staff at Praxis as our communications manager, part of my job was to create a comprehensive strategy that used social media.

Early on, the biggest danger I recognized was that our online efforts could create a community that was engaged online with each other and church information, but that had little-to-no engagement with the actual body of Christ outside of that.

So, from the beginning I’ve intentionally not been satisfied with just interacting with people online. Rather, I want our online efforts to result in what I call incarnational interactions. The word incarnation is a theological word that refers to Jesus coming down from heaven, becoming human and taking on a body like ours, and living among us. Paul talks about the incarnation in Philippians 2:5-8:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.”

For me, it’s important that our online interactions as a church result in incarnated moments – times when we come together in person, ditching the computers for a deeper, more fulfilling relationship. At Praxis, we have no interest in building an awesome online community in and of itself. Everything we do online is engineered to bring you into physical (incarnate) community with our church. It’s easy to hide behind a monitor, breaking off relationships with people who challenge you with the click of a mouse. It’s much more messy, difficult, and challenging to walk shoulder to shoulder with the people whom God has called you to be in community with, a community that celebrates with you in the good times and mourns with you in the bad times.  A community that is called to incarnationally live out the gospel, just as Jesus did, to each other and to the world.

The Kentucky Connection

I’d like to share a story that illustrates how approaching social media this way might work. When I first started using Twitter, I naturally spent most of my time finding interesting people to follow and interact with.

My first searches were for people who were connected with the A29 network, since I have a vested interest there. One person I came across was Chris St. John, who is now a good friend online.

Chris lives in Somerset, KY. As we began to interact, I learned that Chris had a brother in Scottsdale, Craig. Later, I learned that Craig went to Praxis on and off, but wasn’t sure he wanted to commit. Chris in Kentucky introduced me to Craig in Arizona. As I got to know Craig better online, we decided to get together and hang out. Today, Craig is now a part of my missional community and a regularly attending Sunday services at Praxis.

In Craig’s words, “He was ready to get off the wall and commit.” All this happened because I met Chris in Kentucky, who introduced me to Craig in Arizona, and because I intentionally moved the relationship from behind the monitor to a handshake. That is the essence of an incarnational interaction.

So I encourage you to put some thought into how you use the Internet and social media. Are there ways that you can better utilize them for the gospel? Are you taking your online interactions and turning them into incarnated moments? If not, please consider doing so. As a body of Christ, we’re called to live life together – both online and offline.

You can follow Praxis Church on Twitter @praxischurch and on Facebook – just don’t make that your only interaction with the church!

This morning I read Part 1 of Pastor Mark Driscoll’s blog post entitled, Leadership is Lonely. Mark is one of my favorite Christians, and a great leader and pastor. But  I was troubled by his words, not because he is wrong in claiming that leadership is lonely (we all know it can be), but because I think loneliness in ministry is very destructive. I believe that Mark would agree, but in at least the first part of his series on leadership being lonely, he addressed the sins that the loneliness give birth to rather than exploring the question, Should leadership be lonely in the first place? In fact Mark goes so far as to start out his blog with the statement that “Leadership is lonely. Anyone who disagrees is likely not a leader.” And I think it is this definitive statement that got me thinking the most.

First or Last?

In saying that “leadership is lonely”, Mark indicates that it is the natural state of a leader to be lonely. Something he expounds on in his first paragraph:

“By definition, a leader is out ahead of his or her team, seeing, experiencing, and learning things before everyone else. One on hand, this causes great excitement and enthusiasm because the opportunity to learn and pioneer is incredibly invigorating. On the other hand, however, the distance between a leader and his or her team is incredibly lonely, even to the point of becoming debilitating.”

According to this definition of leadership, Mark is right that leadership is lonely – and always will be. But to me that definition of leadership is more akin with our western capitalistic conceptions of leadership than with a Biblical understanding of leadership. I agree that leaders (even Christian ones) are often ahead of their team, but I’m not convinced that is where they should be at all times. I’m of course thinking of Christ’s conceptions of leadership in the gospels, which so often align with His Sermon on the Mount refrain: “You’ve heard it said, but I say unto you…”  Teachings such as: “So the last shall be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:16), “It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to serve but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26-28), and “An argument arouse among them as to which of them was the greatest. But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, ‘Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you is the one who is great.’” (Luke 9:48)

According to Christ a true leader is a servant. Mark knows this. We all know this. But let’s reflect on what that means. A servant is not generally out ahead, but more likely behind, making those he serves look good. A servant doesn’t get credit for success – though often times he is the reason for it. As leaders it is our job to cast vision, and in that sense we are ahead. But that gift is meant to be used in coming behind and pushing and empowering those whom God has entrusted to our care to be successful in carrying out that vision.

We of course see this most truly embodied in Jesus, who condescended (in the best sense of the word) to be human and die a bloody death on the cross for us. And while Christ clearly walked in authority, I find it hard pressed to say he was lonely, with the exception of his passion when even the Father forsook him. Was he exasperated at times? Most definitely. Was there times he just wanted to get away from it all? Of course. But generally, we see Jesus in continual fellowship with both his disciples and with others, specifically tax collectors, prostitutes, and other social outcasts – and there is no indication that he didn’t enjoy himself, at least most of the time. And in the end, Christ cast vision (a big one at that), and empowered his people to live it out. That to me is servant leadership. And it is far from lonely.

Everyone is Lonely

Something to consider is that we as leaders don’t have the market cornered on loneliness. Everyone is lonely. That is why they seek out the Church. We are a community that follows Jesus and strikes hard against the prevailing cultures of the world that seek to ostracize and isolate. Our job as leaders is to create a culture whereby people feel the all encompassing love and joyful community that being a follower of Jesus affords – and we as leaders are a part of that community. We too should feel the joy and peace that our community brings to our lives.

We Serve a Triune God

As a community we can be assured that the ultimate reality of the Kingdom of God is one of peace, unity, and community. After all, our God is a God that lives and has lived throughout all eternity in perfect and holy community with Himself. A triune God. And as Lesslie Newbigin writes in his book Foolishness to the Greeks:

“From its first page to its last, the Bible is informed by a vision of human nature for which neither freedom nor equality is fundamental; what is fundamental is relatedness. Man – male and female – is made for God in such a way that being in the image of God involves being bound together in this most profound of all mutual relations. God binds himself in a covenant relationship with men and women to which he remains faithful at whatever cost and however unfaithful his covenant partner is. And people and nations are called to live in binding covenant relationships of brotherhood. Human beings reach their true end in such relatedness, in bonds of mutual love and obedience that the mutual relatedness in love that is the being of the Triune God himself.”

When we examine the Triune God, we do see a clear hierarchy in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, yet we also see perfect harmony and community – there is no room for loneliness. In fact, I would be so bold to say that in such a communion, loneliness would be sin.

And that’s really the heart of what I’m exploring here. It may be technically right to say that “leadership is lonely,” but I wonder, is it morally right that it is so?

Loneliness Leads to Isolationism

As a parting thought, I want to share a story. The pastor of the church I grew up in began to experience what Mark is writing about. Our church was growing fast, and he was a dynamic and charismatic individual that was definitely a type-A personality. He had grand dreams and big plans. Slowly and imperceivably, my pastor began to distance himself from those whom he had trusted so deeply just years earlier as they worked hand-in-hand in ministry. Soon, he was consolidating power and pushing his life-long friends away. He too claimed that everyone wanted a piece of him, and went so far as to hire a body guard to escort him from pulpit to his office after each service. Eventually, he ran many of the pastors that had served with him for years out of the church and replaced them with his family members.

At its peak, my church was a thriving body of over 2,500 people who were seeking Jesus and living out the gospel. Today, that church no longer exists. The list of lives that were shipwrecked by the seeds one pastor’s loneliness stretches far and wide.

As leaders we should be asking ourselves how and why we perpetuate this pervasive condition of loneliness in ministry leadership. There must be a better way.

I pray that there is. It breaks my heart to hear that Mark and many other pastors feel this way, and to hear the questions that arise out of such feelings. I know all too well where those feelings lead, and the destruction they can bring on a community. I thank God that Mark is sharing his thoughts for all pastors to see (and feel comfortable acknowledging in themselves), but I also hope he goes straight for the jugular of loneliness itself, and shows just how destructive a force it can be.

When I was a kid, I loved this song. At the age of ten, I thought it was a great song. I sang it in the shower. I sang it in the woods. I sang it at the dinner table – where I was informed that singing at the dinner table was rude and unacceptable. Believe it or not, I thought Carmen was a great singer.

The Foolishness of Children

Now at the age of thirty-one, listing to Blind Pilot, drinking an IPA, and missing my days of smoking Nat Sherman cigarettes, I realize what a fool I was to enjoy such pedestrian music, and what a douchebag Carmen really is. I should know. I’m co-founder of the #db4jc hash tag on twitter (if you can’t figure out that 1+1=2, then you’re a #db4jc too).

You see, as a young child I was too innocent. I can’t believe I enjoyed such culturally irrelevant music that condemned the prevailing culture in no uncertain terms – all in a stout Jersey accent to boot. There are two things clearly wrong with Carmen’s music:

1. It doesn’t utilize pop-culture, pseudo poetic metaphors. It’s all brute force.
2. He doesn’t have tattoos. (OK that’s not really a problem with his music, but just a personal problem.)

Clearly, Carmen isn’t, and never was, used by God. In fact, he’s doing Christianity a disservice – and he should be mocked for doing so.

Who’s Carmen?

Most likely you’re asking, “Who’s the Carmen fellow?” And if so, I’ll admit you’re lucky. My point is that as emerging, emergents, neo-calivinists, young reformers, or whatever buzzword you can find, we’re quickly becoming the young and the mocking. From where I sit, convicted too often of my own participation, our greatest weakness (and the possible cause of our future fall from grace) is our arrogance. And it’s not even an arrogance that’s rooted in solid theology – I’m well-aware of the oxymoronic subtleties of that statement – but instead on our cultural relevance. And you know what? That’s just silly.

Admit it. You’re Angry.

I think it’s time to come to terms with the fact that we’re pissed about having to watch TBN and giving up our He-Man toys (by the power of Greyskull? I think not! We live by the power of Jesus!) when our mom came home from the pentecostal church “saved” and ready to live her life for Jesus! Oh, wait…was I projecting?

Let’s face it, you probably have some sort of similar horror story about “uncool” evangelical Christianity crimping your style. And that’s cool. The Bible is full of Lamentations. There’s even a book by that name. But they were complaining about losing their homeland and watching their loved ones run through by a sword. But I’m sure your having to give the Chronicles of Narnia (evil Christian apologists!) back to your aunt on Christmas because it had witches is a modern equivalent. Wait…was I projecting again?!

Yeah. I’m a hypocrite.

By now you’re probably forming your argument that goes something like this, “If you’re so against mockery, why is this whole damn blog post full of it?” Good question. I guess the only answer is that it’s mostly self-mockery, and I’m a hypocrite. But does that make it untrue?

And I guess that’s the rub. I probably could have skipped this whole diatribe and simply quoted our good friend, St. Paul:

“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:25-32

I’m Not a Hippie

So, where do we go from here? What exactly am I advocating? I’ll admit, this post was inspired by @_stew_’s (whom I actually think is a great man of God and a very interesting follow on twitter) series of salty tweets earlier this week (see examples here, here, and here), but mostly it was inspired by my own spirit of mocking at the Christian sub-culture. I’m truly convicted by my mocking spirit towards my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, people whom I’m called to love and serve with every fiber of my being. People who, if I’m honest with myself (as in the case of Carmen) actually were used by God in my own life and many others – even to this day.

So here’s what I’m saying, and what someone astutely said in response to @_stew_, let’s focus on tearing down the strongholds of sin in our culture, not the “irrelevance” of Christian sub-culture, and we will do just fine. Because at the end of the day, is it our delivery or the power of the Gospel as illuminated by the Holy Spirit that is the power to save?

Let’s move beyond the young and the mocking.

Grace and peace.