Friends & Family Plan

Some 40 years ago there was a poll taken that revealed where the vast majority of church members had come from: 87% of those attending worship were there because a friend or family member had invited them.

At the time of this survey, I was involved with a series of churches that gave approximately 95% of their time and effort to door-to-door evangelism or to promoting a rewards based invitation to Sunday morning attendance where either the church member who brings the most visitors or all the visitors, or both the inviter and the invited, get a prize of some kind.

As I shared this incongruity between poll and practice recently with a friend, I wondered aloud what the churches at the time of that statistic should have done. They probably should have, first, shut down all those silly efforts to attract crowds. Secondly, they should have reveled in the fact that the stats show how organic/relational church growth is still the ticket. And finally, if the people in their congregation were not inviting others to worship then the problem is internal and perhaps if that were fixed, then the church would grow, naturally.  

Reanimating the Church

It has been difficult to read Ed Catmull’s book, CREATIVITY INC. Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand In the Way of True Inspiration, without thinking constantly about the work of the ministry and the training of ministers. It doesn’t help that Catmull uses covenantal language and utilizes biblical ideas throughout his disclosure of Pixar Animation’s successes and success.

Seeing how a CEO has discovered basic understanding of the Imago Dei and embraced a secular version of Boaz’s approach to his ‘employees’ is remarkable. Catmull’s philosophy is full of discipleship, forgiveness, mercy, edification, loving your neighbor, praise, speaking into one another’s life…the list goes on. I have rarely seen such an honest and vibrant approach in the Church.

Fetal Position

We got this term honestly and like a babe in the womb, we find ourselves sometimes in this position, emotionally. And it is then we should assess if this is because we believe the circumstances and situations that caused us to curl up inside are hopeless or is it just a matter of innately understanding Beatitude language and all that we can do is ‘hunger and mourn’ or try to be ‘pure’. We become aware of ‘meekness’ being our only real position in all of life, though now, it is quite evident how ‘poor’ we always are, always have been and always will be and how being meek and poor in spirit is not our natural position when things are going well.

So, when thrust into a Psalm of Lament we instinctively fold inwardly as to protect our innermost being, containing and channeling our emoting intercession via distress of heart and mind and strength. 

Being persecuted by others or feeling that way as they selfishly pull their lives down and seemingly care not who the rubble hits we must soon climb our way out and be merciful, and pursue peace. This is what the hopeful know. For us, that fetal position is spiritual, realizing and recognizing our reliance upon grace and our all-powerful Lord.

Not only is this world ‘fallen’ it continues to fall around us. If it were literal brick and mortar, or stars from the sky, the pain would not be as bad.

Deer Dynasty

People ask if I have ever watched Duck Dynasty. My reply is that I was raised in 'Duck Dynasty' mode with the exception of the money and the Bible.

Pictured: My Dad on the left, M.F. Osteen standing on the right and a man named 'Ford' down by the antlers.  

Go Native

The natural and supernatural—to our minds two strictly separated realms—lie for the primitive man in one plane, like two concentric circles, which he calls the usual and the unusual. There is no absolute line of demarcation.

         Thus between religion and art, and between other domains, there is no actual contrast. What for us is a series of neatly separated planes, the primitive man sees as concentric circles. Life, for him, is still a unity. In our system of language, every act, every happening, can be judged scientifically, logically, religiously, or ethically. By primitive criteria, it can possess all of these characteristics at the same time, one merging into another. Even if we do not always hold ourselves to this separation, we have learned at least to avoid setting up ethical criteria in an economic situation. For the primitive man there are, of course, various motives and criteria as well; but one does not purposely differentiate them. A person performing a religious act can eo ipso act aesthetically. For example, one who dances acts through motives and pursues goals which to our minds, are at once recreational, economic, aesthetic, and religious. One of these motives or goals can predominate. Then, to retain our metaphor, one of the concentric circles is larger than the others. Nevertheless, they all exist at the same time and have the same center. This center is the single, unbroken life itself. There do not yet exist an ‘earth’ and a ‘heaven’; there is neither the concept ‘religious’ or ‘aesthetic.’ In other words, the problem we are considering does not yet exist for the primitive mind. We do not need to search for paths and boundaries when there are no boundaries and therefore also no paths. All primitive art is religious, but not in the sense that it is purposely dedicated to religious goals. It is, rather, religious in itself, even when specifically religious objectives are lacking.

Sacred and Profane Beauty: The Holy in Art—by Gerardus Van Der Leeuw

Part One: Beautiful Motion

Ministers & Ministry

In real life, the primary purpose in raising flocks is to gain income. 

Herding is an economic choice, a livelihood. 

Any shepherd, ancient or modern, would be surprised if he were criticized for raising animals only for their fiber, milk, and meat. 

Yet this is Ezekiel’s critique of the ‘shepherds of Israel’ in Ezekiel 34. The criticism only makes sense if the leaders of Israel are undershepherds. In that case they have no right to the products. 

The parable goes right to the heart of the matter: the rulers behaved like owners rather than hired servants.                      --Timothy S Laniak