Todd Hiestand

The Suburban Mob: A Year Later

July 2, 2009 // 1 Comment »

It has been exactly a year since I put some of the most significant lessons that God had taught me in the last few years  to words.

It was called, “Are You Rioting with the Suburban Mob.”

I’ve been reflecting on these thoughts and where we are as a family now, a year later. 

I can say that we have put some great effort into refocusing our lives and being aware of the culture we are living in and how it is offering a way of life that has some major roadblocks to a distinctly christian life.  This has expressed itself in different ways.  Some ways we have been successful and other ways have been harder.  For example we’ve made great progress on living more within our means financially and paying off debt.  

I think if you live in suburbia (or any other culture for that matter, as each one brings a unique set of challenges) and don’t struggle with living in line with the teachings of Jesus, then you probably need to take a fresh look at the scriptures and your culture.

The struggle is good.  

It’s complacency that I scares me. 

It’s funny, I feel like part of the reason God called me to Zambia, a culture so different than mine, so I could see the reality of my culture more clearly. 

The simple truth is, the world’s default way of life just doesn’t work.  This is definitely no exception in suburbia.

Jesus calls us to a different way of life.  The gospel has some strong critique of this default way of life. Far too often we can’t even see this critique because it’s all we know.

This way of life isn’t about solo christianity.  This way of life requires us to engage a new/ancient way together. 

New because we live in a unique time. Ancient because living in the way of Jesus aren’t new. 

That is why I need my church community.  I need them because God has always been about creating alternative communities that do their best to live life as he intended it.  Stanley Hauerwas uses the term Resident Aliens to describe this community.  I kind of like the term “Alternative mob”  that i used in the post I wrote a year ago.

Either way you say it, I pray that The Well, and your church community, can be about forming a group of people who are working together to live in light of the Kingdom of God and not the kingdom of your culture. 

God bless.

Posted in General, Missional, Suburbia

Revolutionary Road & Suburbia

June 26, 2009 // 6 Comments »

Last night my wife and I watched the movie Revolutionary  Road.  I really didn’t know much about it other than it was a critique on suburbia.  Wow, this is a movie that one needs to sit with for a while.  

Have you see it? What were your reactions to it? 

I loved the voice of the “mentally ill” friend who called out the suburban bluff.   

Interesting that he’s the one who is considered “insane.” 

The movie reminded me of my reactions to coming back to suburbia after being in Zambia last summer in this blog post here.

Posted in Faith & Theology, Suburbia

The Ol’ Pastor Swap

June 25, 2009 // No Comments »

This weekend I am swapping pulpits with Rev. Greg Holston of St. Matthew United Methodist Church in Trevose, PA.  St. Matthew is a predominately african-american congregation in our town that we partner with on occasion.   Pastor Greg will be preaching at The Well, which I will be very sad to miss. I heard him preach at our combined Easter Sunrise service and he was awesome.  He has a great handle on the scriptures and the gospel and preaches it with a ton of passion.  I know The Well will be blessed and challenged by him this weekend. 

Part of the deal is that I get to head over to preach to his community.  I’m tremendously excited about this as I love being given the opportunity to speak into other communities of faith.  I’ll be preaching on the topic of personal / corporate vocation which will fit quite well with my place in life these days. 

One of the values we have at The Well is that of “unity” with the wider body of Christ and I am excited to see us expressing it in this simple way.  If you have never done this kind of thing in your church, suggest it or if you are the pastor, just make it happen.  I think its a great way to say “we are all one body on mission together.”  

Also, its always helpful for communities to hear the scriptures spoken from someone who lives in the midst of a different environment.  While there is some overlap for sure,  there is no question that the lives that Pastor Greg’s people are living have somewhat different narratives and questions than the people at The Well.  I’m excited to be able to speak into their community from my experience and he into ours. 

Of course, since the baby has come I haven’t preached in about 7 weeks so I’ve got to figure out how to do this again…

Posted in Faith & Theology, Missional Leadership, Pastoring, The Well

It’s Official: I’m Going Back to Starbucks

June 24, 2009 // 12 Comments »

It’s hard to believe but I have been a pastor at The Well for about nine years now. In those years, I’ve served at The Well on a part-time-paid basis. This has been an intentional model for us as it allows our church to have a more diverse staff and leadership. This has served us very well as our other part-timer, the one and only Gary Alloway, complements my gifts really well. I can truly say that being “bi-occupational” has been a great asset to the mission of our church community.

(By the way, I use the term “bi-occupational” instead of “bi-vocational” because I believe that my vocation as a Christian is “witness.” What I do for pay does not change my vocation. My vocation is witness, my job is pastor. Your vocation is witness, your job is… well whatever you do for a living).

The bi-occupational approach to church leadership sounds pretty sexy to a lot of people these days. And, while I am a believer in it, I’ll be the first to admit that it isn’t always easy. The biggest challenge is finding another job/career that can support your family and still make it possible for you to serve your church well.

In these last nine years, I’ve worked at UPS, Starbucks and for the last three years I have been a freelance web designer/developer. I’ll be honest, UPS was a terrible job. I worked midnights there and it was probably one of the darkest times of my life for a few different reason that I won’t get into. Starbucks was a great experience and web designing has been pretty awesome because it has given me an extremely flexible schedule and I love the work.

I am not sure if it’s the “economy” or what but I have not been getting enough design work lately to complement my salary at The Well (which, by the way, is a good part-time salary. They take care us well). So, over the last few weeks my wife and I have been talking about what to do. And it looks like God is leading me back to work at Starbucks part-time.

I’ll still be doing some design work, but now I’ll have less pressure to make so many sales each month. My hope is to find one or two steady clients that I can concentrate on serving and sell some of my template sites that don’t require a lot of set up work.

Starbucks will then be a good base for us to work from each month, especially as the benefits kick in after a few months.

I’ll be honest, this was a very hard decision to come to for many reasons.

First, I lose some of the flexibility of my schedule. Thankfully, I’ll have set hours (only mornings) and will be able to plan my weeks in advance. But, I lose a lot of the freedom that I get from being my own boss. This freedom is nice, but I understand that the freedom that I’ve had for the past three years is pretty unique so I am willing to part with it for the time being to care for the needs of my family.

The second reason it was hard honestly revolved around my ego. On some level it feels like a giant step backwards to head back to the Starbucks world. This is not meant as a slight on Starbucks my any means, I wouldn’t be going back there if I didn’t have a high respect for the company. Being totally honest here, as a pastor of a growing church that is doings some incredible ministry, its easy to fall into the trap of thinking that I am too big of a deal or too important to work as a barista at Starbucks. I’m not really sure how cool it is to show up at pastors conferences and say that you are only paid part-time at your church and you spend your mornings steaming milk. But, when it comes down to it, my family is more important that my ego and, well, if my ego really suffers from this job then maybe my ego needs to be put in its place!

While there are some things that made taking this job hard, there are some very appealing aspects to it.

First of all, I finally get to use my college degree. You see, i got a degree from PBU which Gary and I have recently dubbed “Pre-Barista University.” This is because I have so many friends who have graduated from PBU (Philadelphia Biblical University) end up working at Sbux. Now I get to tell this joke more often! :)

Second, and more seriously, I can’t think of a better connection point to the local community. Starbucks really is a third place. That isn’t just a cliche that they come up with as some marketing jargon. I remember when I ended my employment the first time I worked there I thought to myself, “I could probably start a church with 25 non-christians from my relationships at this store.” No, it’s not because I was preaching all the time (Starbucks is not the place for that and I make great efforts to respect the environment they have there). Rather, it was because I built so many actual friendships with both customers and partners that extended beyond the counter and into the real world. I have dreams of someday seeing The Well plant a church in the area I live so this is a great way for me to get connected to my local community.

Third, Starbucks is just a great company to work for. The workplace is business-like but its also filled with great people. As a pastor, I need a second job that is not going to wear me out emotionally. Starbucks is just that: enjoyable.

Finally, I need the extra cash. By working at Starbucks I can decline the health benefits at the church and essentially give myself a quick raise in that check in addition to the hourly wages from my time at Starbucks.

So here we go. Back to Starbucks. I’m honestly very at peace about the decision. I start tomorrow morning and I’ve committed to being there for at least a year so if you are ever in my area, stop by and you’ll get to best latte you can find in the area…

Posted in General, Life, Missional Leadership, The Church, The Well, Web Design

Barna Describes Casual Christians

May 29, 2009 // 3 Comments »

George Barna, in a recent interview sent to me from your friend and mine JR Briggs, says the following when talking about the group he calls “casual Christians”…

Casual Christianity is faith in moderation. It allows them to feel religious without having to prioritize their faith. Christianity is a low-risk, predictable proposition for this tribe, providing a faith perspective that is not demanding. A Casual Christian can be all the things that they esteem: a nice human being, a family person, religious, an exemplary citizen, a reliable employee – and never have to publicly defend or represent difficult moral or social positions or even lose much sleep over their private choices as long as they mean well and generally do their best. From their perspective, their brand of faith practice is genuine, realistic and practical. To them, Casual Christianity is the best of all worlds; it encourages them to be a better person than if they had been irreligious, yet it is not a faith into which they feel compelled to heavily invest themselves.

Honestly, I think this description could have been spot on for me in high school and some of college. Not trying to be hard on myself, just stating what i think is reality. The only thing I would disagree with here is that i would say i was taking my faith very seriously and investing in it significantly. However, the faith that I was investing was coming out as someone who was nice, a good family person, a good citizen, a good employee, etc. The problem wasn’t that i wasn’t investing in my faith, the issue was that I was carrying a domesticated understanding of what God had called me to.

I don’t know, what do you think?

Posted in Faith & Theology, Missional Living

Pastors in their Offices

May 23, 2009 // 3 Comments »

“The initial locus and primary focus of [pastors] work is in their offices. Time-management studies again and again have confirmed that pastors invest a large percentage of their time in their offices – in meetings, in doing administrative work, and in taking care of administrative details…Pastors continue to spend so much time their offices because it is a familiar and habitual behavior pattern that has been nurtured and reinforced for many, many years. And the foundation underlying that behavior pattern is an understanding of the nature of leadership that is no longer helpful.”

- Kennon Callahan, Effective Church Leadership

Of course. I wrote this post from my office (which is actually a starbucks).

Posted in Book Reviews, Great Quotes

Blogging on the Good News

May 22, 2009 // No Comments »

JR Woodward has been running a great series on the Good News over at his blog the last few months. Some good people have contributed. My effort appeared on his blog late last week. You you check it out here.

Posted in Faith & Theology, Missional, The Gospel

The Furious Longing of God

May 21, 2009 // No Comments »

I’m almost embrassed to say that I have never actually read a book by Brennan Manning. From what I gather a lot of his books are the same lyrics but just to a different tune. If that’s true, its just fine with me because he’s writing about something that seeminly takes a lifetime to grasp. And, if I can summarize this book (The Furious Longing of God) in one sentance, its this:

God loves you like crazy.

To me, that’s one message that we just can’t hear enough and can’t be reminded of enough. Someone, i forget who, once said that “Sometimes we need to be reminded more than we need to be instructed.” Brennan Manning seems to take this advice and I’m thankful.

God. Loves. You. Like. Crazy.

We’d do well to let this messages sit with us every morning for the rest of our lives. Not suprisingly, Manning alludes to the fact that many people who give him a hard time for talking about God’s love too much. I guess I understand where they are coming from (maybe) but man, can we really talk too much of God’s love?

When it comes down to it, this is a good book for what Manning intended it for. I don’t think he was writing a comprehensive theological treatise on the love of God. I think he’s trying to write something that makes you begin all over again to come to terms with the fact that God love you like crazy.

If that was really his goal, I think he did well.

I’m happy to suggest this book to people who are having a hard time wrapping their minds around God’s unbelievable love for them.

Posted in Book Reviews, Faith & Theology

What Role Does Confession Play in Your Life?

// 2 Comments »

I’ve been working with someone in our church to take a long hard look at the culture and practices of we’ve developed in our church around the issue of spiritual formation, spiritual direction and discipleship. In this, I’ve been doign some reading about how other denominations and traditions have approached this topic throughout the history of the church. One book that has been immensely helpful is Gary Moon and David Benner’s book Spiritual Direction and the Care of Souls. In this book, they give an overview of how spiritual direction is approached from different traditions.

One thing that has surprised me has been how almost every tradition has a strong emphasis on some form of confession. Now, this probably shouldn’t have surprised me. But, its no secret that evangelicals are not known to place a high emphasis on confession as a regular practice in the Christian life. Perhaps we think we will become catholic or something. But, while it was talked about on some level, it was not and has not been something strongly emphasized. This is true for us at The Well. We don’t, not talk about confession. But I am realizing we aren’t intentional enough about it.

David Fitch in his book The Great Giveway writes about this a bit in his chapter on spiritual formation. This is a long quote, but i think he hits the nail on the head…

“But we cannot do therapy like this sitting in the pew. Because evangelicals are so sermon-centric, we are tempted to think that good therapy happens by taking good notes in the pew. But ironically, the more we concentrate on good biblical instruction as central to the Christian life, the less we talk to each other about our lives and especially about sin. MOst of our small group processes are either inductive Bible studies or involved more intense, scholarly study of the bible that never deals with the emotional and character issues that are destroying our lives. It is a testament to how unsafe the church has become for sinners that we rarely discuss with each other our sin and failures and seek the healing of the HOly Spirit. Rarely do we have confession and repentance in our small groups. We need to find safe places where we can share our lives, confess our sins, receive scriptural wisdom, and be prayed for. To do this, we cannot just get together and simply share our sins and quote bible verses at each other. We must retrieve from therapy the needed skills to practice biblical confession and bring it under the lordship of Christ. This is the utmost of importance to the future of spiritual formation in the evangelical church.” (195)

Posted in Book Reviews, Faith & Theology, Great Quotes, Spiritual Formation

The Next Steps for The Well

May 12, 2009 // No Comments »

May 12, 2009

Dear Church Family,

During our worship gathering on Sunday we took a break from our regular sermon series in order to look back at the early dreams and passions of The Well and to celebrate how God is making these dreams a reality. (You can listen to the audio on the church website here: http://church.thewellpa.com/podcast/the-history-next-steps-for-the-well/)

The Well has four foundational values:

• Discipleship (we are a community of people becoming more and more like Jesus)
• Justice/Evangelism (we reach out and share the love of Jesus with others, especially those on the fringes of society)
• Locality (we are locally embedded in our neighborhood, especially through the use of our building)
• Unity (we are connected to the historical and global Church)

On Sunday we focused on three of these four values, and how God continues to bless our desire to serve in these areas. Below is a quick overview:

Discipleship: God has been actively working in the lives of the people in our congregation. It’s clear that his Spirit is present and active among us. We believe that it is now time for us to become even more intentional about allowing God to form all of our lives into the image of Christ. We seek to enrich our environment in a way that will help people discover practices and relationships that foster Christ-likeness. This summer we will begin a very intentional time of searching and seeking in order to more fully understand the next steps before us. If being part of this process interests you, please e-mail Shanna (splatt20@hotmail.com).

Justice/Outreach: Over the last few years God has given us wonderful opportunities to serve our local community in things such as the missions trip to Lower Bucks County, meeting specific local needs, and partnering with local community services organizations. As we continue serving in those ways we are making intentional steps to reach outside ourselves. God has planted a desire among many in The Well to serve our neighboring community of Bristol. From June 7 to August 23, we will meet in Bristol for informal Sunday night worship gatherings. We will meet at Brian and Dorie Morgan’s house (922 Spring St, Bristol, PA) at 6 pm for a potluck dinner, followed by music and discussion from 7 to 8. Once a month, we will also do a service project in the community of Bristol. We pray this will be an awesome opportunity to worship God in an intimate setting, grow close with friends and neighbors, and serve in the most depressed part of Bucks County. For now, this is a summertime program, but we will pray as to how God is leading us in the future. For anyone interested in serving the people of Bristol, there will be a meeting after church on May 24. If you have any questions, please contact Gary Alloway (garya@thewellpa.com).

Locality: Our prayer is that our building would serve as an important means of blessing and partnering with our local community. We have certainly seen God honor our prayers, as he has allowed us to use our building to minister in exciting ways. We now see the need to hire a Building Ministry Coordinator to continue our faithful use of this resource by finding new opportunities for our community to serve others through use of our space. Our goal is to have the Coordinator in place by August in order to prepare for fall programming. We will also be undergoing some renovations to our bathrooms and coffee bar as well as adding another classroom. We are currently in the midst of estimating costs and exploring grants to fund this position and the renovations. If you are interested in helping with the planning process, writing grants, or doing renovations please contact Todd Hiestand (toddh@thewellpa.com).

Our journey the last twelve years has been much like a hike. Our dream was to walk this journey in step with the Spirit. There have been some peaks, some valleys, and some great stories of God working in, among, and through us. For the last year or so we have sensed that God has brought us (organizationally speaking) to a peaceful clearing on the trail. This clearing has been a place of much needed stability and rest. We’ve been able to catch our breath, roast a few marshmallows on the fire, and throw the frisbee around a bit. As nice as it is, we do not desire to stay in the clearing for too long. It’s time to continue on our journey. So we walk forward in faith, believing that God will continue the good work he started in us twelve years ago.

As always, we invite conversation and discussion about these decisions. We also ask you to join in prayer with us as we ask God to lead and direct these goals. As each of these areas proceeds there will be opportunities to participate with your time, ideas and finances. If you have questions, concerns, ideas or just want to hear more, please do not hesitate to ask.

The Ministry Leadership Team at The Well,

Gary Alloway, Shanna Cummings, Todd Hiestand, Patti Pearson, Anna Pelger, Phil Wood

Posted in Community, Missional, Missional Leadership, Pastoring, Suburbia

Church as Family

April 29, 2009 // 4 Comments »

In the next few weeks I’ll be a dad for the third time. This is kind of a strange thing and, despite the size of my beautiful wife’s belly, it hasn’t sank in quite yet. I keep asking her, “are you sure there is a baby in there?” She keeps saying yes. I’ll trust she knows what she is talking about.

We have a number of friends at The Well who have had babies in the last few months and when I look at the size of those kids I realize that it’s been a while since we’ve had an infant in the house. Cole turns 6 this July and Mason came home when he was 10 months (he’s adopted from Guatemala). That whole prospect is a tad overwhelming, to say the least.

Both of our parents live out of town. Her parents are a 4.5 hour drive away in Corning, NY and my parents are a 13 hour drive away in the Chicago area. I am guessing that my parents (or at least my mom) will be flying in to see her new grandchild and I know that Melanie’s parents will come down for a bit to be with us too. That’s one of the beauty’s of a healthy family life. It’s great to have your family be part of these big moments in life. Of course, it’s also nice to have your parents be there when you need some sleep too.

But both sets of parents live so far away and, despite their wishes, they will have to go home. Growing up I had at least one set of grandparents living in the area. This was cool for me because I got to know them well. I am sure this was even cooler for my parents because they had relief when they needed it. It’s nice having family in the area.

Melanie and I used to go home to her house for almost every holiday. Christmas. Easter. July 4th. Mothers Day. Fathers Day. Flag day. Secretary’s day. Any day that we could justify heading home. But, as Cole has started Cole and we’ve started to make some of our own traditions it has not been possible to get home as much. Some holidays were here with just our little family. We love that but it’s nice to have family in the area.

So, over the past few years our church family at The Well has become our family. Almost literally. They have been there for us in the births of our children and when we can’t get home for the holidays we usually celebrate with them. Our kids have some awesome literal aunts and uncles. My brothers and their wives and Melanie’s sister and her husband (in addition to some super close friends of her family that are pretty much brother and sister-in-law except for on paper) are special in our lives. But it’s been awesome to have our kids have a bunch of other “aunts” and “uncles” locally. These close friends serve as our family in the area.

I cannot be sure of how significant it will be for our kids to have other adults that they love, trust and know that they are loved by. But, I know it’s significant and I am pretty sure that we couldn’t place a value on these relationships if we tried. They are, as you say, priceless. Because, somewhere along the way our kids are going to go through something significant enough and, for whatever reason, they’ll need another adult they can talk to. I’m so glad they will have a number of people they can go to.

Its nice to have family in the area.

We’re about to have three boys and I know we’ll need this “family” to navigate the next 20 years (at least).

Of course, these three boys will have two imperfect parents and I know that they will need our church family and our “real” family to navigate these years as well!

(BTW, this is not to devalue our “real” family in anyway. We would be lost without them and we wish they lived closer. But that’s just not the way it is. Rather, this is meant to show just how valuable our church family is. And, if we did have family in the area, I would feel the same about our church family).

Posted in Community, Faith & Theology, General, Life, Life in Community, Missional

Surprised by Scripture

April 25, 2009 // 2 Comments »

Eugene Peterson is one of those writers who has the uncanny knack to take my deepest struggles with leadership, faith, spirituality and speak at directly at them. One of those books is called Working the Angles. That’s one of those books I read at least once a year. Each time I do, I end up with a knot in my stomach because I am so convicted.

I’ve been slowly working through his recent book, Eat This Book and I’m really enjoying it. He writes,

“Barth insists that we do not read this book and the subsequent writings that are shaped by it in order to find how how to get God into our lives, get him to participate in our lives. No. We open this book and find that page after page it takes us off guard, surprises us, and draws us into its reality, pulls us into participation with God in his terms.”

Peterson (and Barth) hit on something that has completely changed the way I approach Scripture…

Posted in Book Reviews, Faith & Theology, Great Quotes

Spiritual Formation and the Image of God

April 23, 2009 // No Comments »

This quote comes from the newest book on my shelf…

“Christian formation involves awaking from the dream that we are God and remembering our true identity, our ‘beloved-of-God-in-Christ” identity, and then saying yes to the pain associated with the mortification of our false self. Dethroning the false self is a pillar of spiritual direction – and a primary cause for the busyness and anxious swimming that distracts us from enjoying the water…”

Gary Moon and David Benner in the book Spiritual Direction and the Care of Souls

I’ve spoken with enough Christians about the image of their “selves” to learn that this thought that the authors share here is far too often overlooked.  I’ve a believer in the effects of the fall and sin. But I also think that in emphasizing this sin, sometimes we miss the fact that we are beautifully created in the image of God.  Our identity is not merely that we are sinners saved by grace. But more so, our identity is wrapped up first in being people who are  images of a perfect God.  At the core of us is this image.  Granted, this core is destroyed, cracked and broken by sin. Thankfully we have good news in the believe that it is Jesus who is making all things, including us, new.

One page 19 the authors write,

“Perhaps it should not be surprising to hear Christians described as “forgiven sinners” instead of beloved children of God on a transformational journey that will lead to restoration of the image Dei and spiritual union.”

Intentionally entering into the process of the re-formation of this image is a critical part of the Christian life.  I think far too many of us are content with living a rather broken existence.

Of course, this “process” is the big question for churches and communities of faith.  How do we help each other enter into this?

It’s become clear (to me at least) that a one-size-fits-all approach just doesn’t fly.  We just can’t have 6 classes on discipleship and expect that people will come out the other side all fixed. This is especially true considering we all come in with different experiences, sins and stories that generalized dispensing of information simply cannot address.

At the same time, we’ve learned that leaving spiritual formation to a totally organic process doesn’t go too far either.  At The Well we’re in search of (and have some ideas on) a hybrid of the two.  I think what churches need is a way to intentionally invite people into a life of Spiritual Formation while at the same time not having a one-size-fits-all approach.

Posted in Faith & Theology, Life in Community, Missional Leadership

My Interview at The Idea Camp

April 22, 2009 // 1 Comment »

When I was at The Idea Camp in LA I had the privilege of sitting down with Cynthia Ware and talking a bit about our church and our mission. Disclaimer: I’m bad with dates off the top of my head so i don’t know that the years in this interview are totally correct. :)

The Idea Camp – Todd Hiestand from The Idea Camp on Vimeo.

Posted in Missional, Missional Leadership, The Well

Sway by Ori and Rom Brafman

April 21, 2009 // No Comments »

Some of you might know the Ori Brafman from the very good book, The Starfish and the Spider.” Since I loved that book so much I figured I would give this one a try. This did not disappoint. Sway is subtitled “the irresistible pull of irrational behavior.” You could rephrase that as, “why smart people do stupid things.”

Not only was this book was as readable as a Malcolm Gladwell book (that’s very readable if you don’t know who Malcolm Gladwell is), but it was extremely helpful and insightful. Telling lots of stories, they gave me some language and perspective to understand why I and other church leaders often make dumb decisions.

One thing he writes struck a significant chord with me,

“The more meaningful a potential loss is, the more loss averse we become. In other words, the more there is on the line, the easier it is to get swept into an irrational decision.” (22)

The most significant loss we had at The Well in recent years was when my co-pastor, Brad Jackson, had to move on from the community earlier than expected due to financial reasons. Looking back, this was the right decision for us and for him.  Hard, but right.  It’s clear to me that God wasn’t absent in this process.

But, I have also realized that we waited too long to make this transition. By waiting to act as long as we did , we ran the financial resources of the church down further than we should have. This put The Well in a precarious financial position for the next year or so. (Basically, when we he left, we had no money.  Obviously we have recovered well since then.).

Some might take the opinion that we were idiots, or worse, selfish. Perhaps we were. But I don’t think that’s the what happened. Sway gave me language to describe what I’ve always felt about this situation.   What really happened is that we were so emotionally invested in this community that we were blinded to the road we were on. We were just convinced that we could turn it around. And, like someone who is holding onto a stock that keeps dropping in price and eventually has to sell their fortune for 29 cents a share, we too held on too long. It’s not that we were stupid. It’s not that we were selfish. It was all done with great intentions and perhaps a little naiveté.  But, if nothing else it has served as a great learning experience.  This experience has been valuable. It really makes me step back from decisions and try and see them in a more objective light.

Again, Sway helped give me language to understand this part of our story in a way that I haven’t been able to put my finger on in the past.

Of course, this whole post assumes that I am a smart… hmm…

Posted in Book Reviews, General, Missional Leadership

What is the Good News?

April 17, 2009 // 1 Comment »

JR Woodward, a good friend, fellow church planter and fellow member of the Ecclesia Network has started a great series on is blog called “The Good News”. He has essentially invited a number of authors, theologians, pastors and writers to answer the question “What is the Good News” in 300-500 words. The cool catch is that the short article has to be written as if it were going to be an article in the local newspaper. So far, the entries have been really good. I’m working on forming my response for May 15th.

Check out the series introduction here and a full list of contributers here.

Posted in Faith & Theology, Missional

Bored in Suburbia?

April 15, 2009 // 1 Comment »

Today Dave Gibbons wrote a post on the topic of Suburbia. He’s a great voice for this kind of stuff and in his post he addresses something that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Boredom in suburbia. He writes,

“And [suburban teens] are bored. . . this boredom’s outlet is doing something crazy often with activities that would impact their relationship with God and others. The spirit of adventure intrinsic in many youth is wasted in the lifestyle of the burbs, the American dream.”

I think he’s right. My 5 year old is already saying he’s bored way too often.

I also think he’s onto something we’ve been thinking through at The Well a bit when he writes,

“My sense is that the greatest opportunity during this time of global chaos and upheaval is to invest in these young people who are bored. Ignite them to do crazy things for God! Let them know unless they have a calling to stay, they should GO to the fringes of our culture, cities and culture.”

I’m in the midst of some early discussions with a few people from The Well on how we can help teens from the local high school in our area engage issues in the city. The goal would mostly be to mess with their minds a bit by exposing them to a world that most suburban kids just don’t see. This can be done through partnering with the many organizations in the city who are caring for the poor, disabled, AIDS patients, homeless, etc.

I am a big believer that when you inspire and believe in teenagers you’ll get pretty amazing results. The first thing we need to do is wake them up from their boredom…

Posted in Faith & Theology, Suburbia

Mustard Seed Associates Sampler on Suburban Missional Church

March 31, 2009 // 3 Comments »

Mustard Seed Associates just published a series of excellent resources in their April 2009 “Seed Sampler” on the topics of the Suburban and the Rural Missional Church. This is an excellent collection of articles around these two topics. See the entire Sampler here.

I am honored to have an article in this sampler that I wrote entitled, “Rethinking the Evils of Suburbia.” This article shares a subtle, but I believe important, shift in my thinking around this topic. I would love to hear your feedback.

There are also a number of other excellent articles in the sampler that I have yet to dig into but I am looking forward to reading them. Happy reading!

Posted in Faith & Theology, Missional, Suburbia

Church, Where is Your Money Going?

March 25, 2009 // 2 Comments »

Letting this quote from Brennan Manning sink in a bit today,

“To me, the lack of credibility of the Christian church in America is that we are not professional lovers of God and people.  We’ve got this carrying of the Bibles, saying “Praise Jesus!” and we don’t love one another.  We don’t reach out and extend ourselves. Tell me the amount of money in your local church that is devoted to, first, the quality of faith of the people and, second, the assistance of the poor.  Tell me those two things and I will tell you what I think of your church”

Preach in Brennan!

Our leadership team is in the midst of asking some important questions around these very two important issues.  It’s my guess that most churches do okay with the first one.  That’s where most of our staff is allocated.  Our staff make up a significant portion of most of our budgets so one could say that we are putting a good amount of money into the quality of the faith of the people. This is a good thing.  I am a fan of staff because I think this is an important part of our mission.

But what about the poor?  What about those less fortunate? What about those people on the other side of the tracks?

What’ the best way to use money so that the poor are actually helped?

Where are we unnecessarily putting money?

Where do we need to be putting money that we are not?

All good questions. Sometimes I think its too easy to get caught up in asking questions taht are hard to answer and we never actually act on anything because we are so busy asking questions and critiquing.

By the way this quote from Brennan Manning comes from some dialogue that takes places in the book The Monkey and the Fish: Liquid Leadership for a Third-Culture Church by Dave Gibbons.

Posted in Faith & Theology, Missional, Missional Leadership, Money & The Church

Three Questions that Become Answers (2)

March 24, 2009 // No Comments »

I’m working through three questions from Dave Gibbons from the book the Monkey and the Fish (I posted question #1 on Sunday night) “What is my pain” is the second question that Gibbons suggests that we ask as we seek direction for our lives and for our church. He writes about how some of the most important moments in our lives come through pain. The easiest example is that of Jesus. Salvation came through brutal death on the cross.

Our world of comfort however, seems to not like or value pain so much and we would do well to consider it more carefully.

He writes,

“I think South American and Easter countries can help us with our theology and lifestyle. They not only think of resurrection day but also have a theology of suffering and pain. It’s not just about the resurrection; its about Via Dolorosa – the way of suffering. Its about the journey of pain to the cross.

It seems that we’ve done a good job of domesticating the gospel in the west by thinking that following Jesus is all about the good life, being fulfilled and being happy (overstatement i know, but there is some truth to this).

But, Dave is getting at the fact that the pain that we carry with us is often the very thing that God uses to bring hope to others.

He writes,

“Personally, as I’ve periodically inventoried my life, I’ve listed all the painful moments, the moments of sadness and suffering involving the people in my life. My parent’s divorce. My mom’s death at the hands of a drunken driver. My being told in college at a Christian University that i couldn’t see my girlfriend because I was Asian-American and she was Caucasian. Friends who’ve left me feeling betrayed or disillusioned. I’ve realized again and again that my pain was a gift from God. As I’ve met people around the world and shared my pain with them, it is the pain that draws people in, far more so than my limited talents, skills, and accomplishments. It disarms all the things that can be used to divide us – race, economics, culture, politics, nationalism, dogma, language.”

he finishes this section by saying,

“It’s worth remembering ourselves that Jesus didn’t come from a line of professional clergy and had no social pedigree. He came from real, flawed people who weren’t necessarily proud of their past and didn’t like their pain, but he embraced them and, by faith, saw something far better come from them.”

Amen to that.

So, what is your pain?

Posted in Book Reviews, Faith & Theology, Missional Leadership