Recap of Ignite Youth Service, October 29, 2009
Bananas.
For the past several weeks, we have been hitting the topic of missions, both in Ignite Youth, and during regular worship services at The Rock Church. Last week, during our annual Speed-the-Light (STL) service at The Rock Church, my wife, Amanda, spoke about missions and all the ways we can reach out to the lost locally as well as internationally.
When we think of a “missionary”, what typically comes to mind is a white guy, living in some remote African or South American, 3rd world village, handing out donated clothes and Bibles. And those folks exist and deserve our support. However, each and every one of us are missionaries, too. We are missionaries in a very specific field: our daily lives.
Matthew 5:13-16 (MSG) says this:
13 “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.14 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.15 If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand.
Salt has so many uses. Two that come to mind specifically are 1) Seasoning, and 2) Preserving. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch of the imagination to see the metaphors here. As the “salt of the earth”, we’re called to be the spice of life, and givers of a life-preserving Word.
It’s time to wake up and realize what we have! We’ve got Jesus! We need to share Jesus as the answer to EVERYTHING! And not to just be crazy for Jesus, but to affect our surroundings for Jesus.
Check this out: Did you know that as a banana ripens, it releases gasses that help other fruit nearby to ripen as well? Again, not a stretch to see the metaphor. We “bananas,” as we “ripen,” or mature in the Lord, should help others to mature as well. In other words, we should affect our surroundings by our gasses! :)
So, what can you do tonight, or tomorrow, or all weekend, to be an influence on the people around you. Better yet, what WILL you do?
Confessions
Hilarious! Just found this via Twitter, and I had to share it. AVL techs and worship leaders will appreciate this:
Confessions from Mike Silliman on Vimeo.
Mysticism vs. Practicalism
So this is what I’ve been dealing with recently. And I’m just being honest. I am critical of pretty much anything mystical these days. And that’s almost antithetical to the faith and doctrines I hold dear. I am an Assembly of God minister. I believe in the baptism in the Holy Spirit, complete with the initial physical evidence of speaking in other tongues. I really do believe it. This is not a crisis of faith where my beliefs are in question. My faith in God is pretty much sound. It’s my faith in people!!
I tend to lean more towards the practical side of Christianity. The cup of water is His Name kind of ministry. But I long for, and pray for, authentic moves of God, and the third person of the trinity, in my life and in the lives of those around me.
I’m only 29 at the time of this writing, so I can’t exactly say I’ve seen it all. But I have seen and experienced more than most people my age–at least what one would call “mystical.” And the sum of those “mystical” experiences have left me jaded. I have seen too many authentic moves of God to doubt His Word. The problem is…that I’ve seen too many fakes, too. There are so many screwballs out there when it comes to spirituality. It’s the mysticism that attracts them. Some of them are just trying to make themselves appear “uber-spiritual” to others. Some are trying to scam you out of money. Some, and this is probably the scariest of them all, are just certifiably nuts!! And seeing so much of this fake-ness has left me cynical. I’m to the point now where in my mind I’m daring them to prove themselves to me.
And I am ashamed.
I know my God is real. I’ve experienced Him. I’ve felt Him. I know Him.
And I know that He uses people to perform signs and wonders.
And I know that there are many bona-fide Christian mystics out there.
And what’s really concerning me is the fact that in the Bible, most mystics, prophets, and authentic people of God were indeed certifiably crazy! And everyone around them thought so. I could make a long list right here and now of many of those people. So I’m really having a difficult time with this.
Does anyone else have these issues as well? Not a set of doubts that God is real–just that people, and their mysticism, are real. Have you faced this and come to terms with it? How did you marry the mystical and the practical? Help me out with your comments and your feelings about this.
Just Show Up
Every morning when I get to the church, I spend the first half-hour or so in prayer. Well a few mornings ago, my heart’s cry was simply this: Just show up. I’m really tired of a God that I know is all powerful, reduced to a science experiment. I’m tired of Him being explained away. I’m tired of Christians falling prey to the power of suggestion, and then finding out that their “miracle” is false. I feel this is why Christianity has become such a joke. And I’m tired of it.
So my heart’s cry for the rest of this week, for the rest of the month even, is for God to Just Show Up. Lord, please, show your power to these people. Let Your glory be revealed, and may there be no excuse, no possible way to explain it, or to rationalize what is Your glory.
Why Twitter, Part 2
So, in Why Twitter, Part 1, I introduced Twitter, and began to discuss who I follow. And I believe that may be the most important thing to learn. If you follow everyone under the sun, you might as well be standing in a large room with everyone talking at once!! There’s nothing practical about that-at least that I’ve figured out thus far. In fact, here is a hilarious video that pretty much sums it up (warning, this video is PG, the language is not…pristine):
Who knows, maybe there’s a tool out there that helps you organize all of that chatter into something cohesive and useful. If you find one, let me know!
But in this note, I want to discuss the social aspects of Twitter. Sure, it’s true that a vast majority of “Tweets” are self-promoting babble. I have no excuse for this. However, Twitter has become a way for the “untouchable” to become…well…human!
Let me explain: the “untouchable” folks I am referring to are entities such as large corporations, celebrities, Pastors, and other organizations. Say for instance, the CEO or another high ranking executive of a large corporation has a Twitter account. He/She tweets about the business, the industry, competitors (in a non-competitive tone), personal updates, helpful information and internet links…the list can go on. Even more, because of the nature of Twitter, they can interact with customers in a personal way. Their followers can reply and carry on a conversation with these high ranking execs. Recently, we’ve seen where, time after time, a customer’s issue with a company has been resolved because of their interaction with a corporation on Twitter. Not only does this make the executives and the corporations more human, but since they’re industry insiders, you can learn alot of information by following these folks.
In my case, I follow several high profile Pastors. Now, there’s no way that I’ll ever get an appointment with one of these guys because they’re busy leading a large congregation. But by following them, I get updates, thoughts, prayer requests, local news, etc. from these guys. I come away from it with my horizons expanded. And, as I mentioned in my last post, I follow Wild Adventures. In the 3 weeks I’ve been following them, their PR person has carried on a conversation both with me and with others in the area. Not only do I feel like I’ve had personal interaction with this large organization, but, ultimately, they’re promoting their business because of it. It’s marketing genius!
And, it’s all instant! You may remember the Iran Election disaster a month or two ago. The story broke on Twitter hours, even days, before the mainstream news organizations picked it up. Those things take time, but, because of Twitter, the whole world knew about it as it was happening–in real time! The US Government even went so far as to “request” (I’m sure it wasn’t a request, but whatever…) from Twitter that they not shut down their servers for a scheduled maintenance window during the crisis. That way, the information that had been streaming out of Iran would keep coming.
There are many other useful applications for Twitter, but these are some of the more important ones to me personally. I hope I’ve explained it well enough to be understood. But, I want to know what you think as well. Leave me your comments!