can’t shake it

(January 11th, 2007)

Thoughts on present vs. past realities as a follower of Christ. (also written to a close friend after my last trip home):

After the discussions, frustration and plane ride home, I remembered that I struggled with what we (as church leaders) were doing before I left … only then, it was out of HOPE that we would step into something bigger than our stage lights and guitars … that we were meant for more than just worship on Sundays and that people needed us out there to fight for them on and off the stage. I left Wichita because I felt drawn to something I felt but didn’t see. Now, having not led worship for about 6 months and hanging on for dear life in this very real and terrifying world of lost people searching for anything that will bring them a tinge of hope, I find myself approaching God differently and approaching His people with a greater sense of urgency. There is now a deeper understanding of meeting people where they are.

We are all drawn to people like us. We love our fellow musicians and followers of Christ. We love being around them and sharing our lives with them. We enjoy their conversations about worship services, better communities, MacBooks, etc.

We love them because we love us. Ha. Sucky reality huh? How many people are in our network have a lot of the same views and visions as we? For me, in Wichita, it was … 99%. I came to Wichita with the expectation that I would be able to relax for a second.

But then I opened my big mouth and got into a conversation with another worship leader about why we worship. I told him it’s in celebration of what Christ has done in and through us and we come together corporately to acknowledge His movement in our community. Worship was not meant for those who don’t already inherently believe that the Scriptures hold Truth or Power. Worship was not meant for those who have not sacrificed their lives for the sake of following Christ. Much like the Bible wasn’t written for those who don’t believe.

I began to understand very quickly that the world I’m living in is so saturated with everything but a people desiring to make Him famous. Jesus came to heal the sick. He spent His time in the bars and with the prostitutes because He didn’t require that they come into His “church” in order to receive all that He had to give them. He invited them into His movement, but met them in their environment. At Mosaic, there is an understanding that, while Sunday is still church, it’s not meant for us. It’s our time to pave the way in innovation and creativity among the world’s successful attempts to set the pace. It’s our advertisement for a movement that is happening during the week … it is not our time to come together and isolate those who typically would never step foot in a church but came out of morbid curiosity that we meet in a nightclub. Our time to celebrate and to worship comes within our community of believers.

I’ve learned that my message had been tailored for those who already believe that the Scriptures hold power. I led worship for those who were like-minded and led small groups for those who believed what I was saying was true without questioning it. But taking those experiences and walking into the world with them, where people haven’t adopted any of the Truths I live by …. that’s a different story. I know this is getting way long, but here are some gold nuggets from Erwin’s An Unstoppable Force (his book on how the church should function):

1. So much of the church growth movement’s emphasis on relevance to culture is a response to the fact that the world has changed while the church has stayed the same.
2. Our language, style, music, and methods are pretty much Latin to the unchurched population.
3. His ultimate goal for the church is not to follow cultural change, but to be the dynamic, catalytic community that brings change in a world that so desperately needs the God of change.
4. He is not trying to keep up with culture. His greatest ambition is not for the church to become a great imitator of generational trends. He is the God of creativity, the God of imagination, and the God that chose - through his Son - to ignite a revolution.

Now here is what I read when I got back to L.A. (God’s timing is impeccable):
1. Sometimes the most painful reality of change is that we have to leave behind things that were of great value to us. If only change left alone those places that were sacred to us and just touched the worst part of us. But many times the most difficult things to give up are those things that we have identified with God’s blessing and presence in our lives. For us the crisis of our Bethel is the place where we meet God; the context in which God becomes real to us; the songs we sang when God’s presence filled our hearts; the very best of our experience with God. Yet God calls us to take the memories with us but to leave the memorabilia behind.

UGH. It gets better … of course:

2. When you see the pace of the book of Acts and realize that this new emerging movement was without established patterns, methods, or even a common address, it makes sense that the disciples had to stay connected on a daily basis just to know where the church was going.
3. In Acts 15 … The first major counsel was not, as we often understand it, about theology. It was about how the church would engage culture.
4. In everything that is about style and preference, the church must be willing to change for the sake of those who are lost. It is difficult enough for a sinful man to deal with the realities of repentance and humility without the church establishing unnecessary boundaries between man and God.

Yea. Chew on that for a while. I felt like I had talked myself out of a worship leading job, until I realized that it’s crucial for us to come together and worship as a community of believers. It just may not be necessary for us to do it in the place we’ve always done it … I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure that one out. What I do know is that our greatest worship experience will never happen within the walls of our churches.

Again, I’m still piecing all this together in my mind. I have spent less time worrying about what we do inside of the church and more time inviting others into my journey of asking questions and exploring His creation.

I need community as much as anyone else. I need Godly community. I need worship and long to lead an army in a revolution. I’m just getting visions of what that army looks like and it’s so different from the crowd at Passion or the faces I saw from the stage in my memories. They’re dirty, broken; stricken with illnesses and poverty … they are coming in from places we run from. They’re wearing all that we feel inside on the outside, for all to see. My vision is that God will do something in their hour that will transform them, that he will use me and my friends (you included!) to provide a physical manifestation of Jesus. I’m going in after them. It’s scary. It’s difficult. It’s confusing and rocks my theological paradigm. But I can’t see anything right now that would be more amazing than having the honor of leading them in worship when they decide to follow Jesus.

Until then, I am spending my days in the trenches next to people who want to make a difference (even if they don’t know it yet). Some are followers of Christ. Others inspire me because they remind me that there is a reality that I have so willingly ignored for the sake of being safe.