Poker Playing Priest

Came across this article on a priest who's playing poker to "raise funds to help build a new, bigger church." You can read it here.

So what are your thoughts on gambling and the way of Christ?

Burning up

The church that some of our friends attend in downtown Toledo recently burned to the ground. It was a devastating loss, but the great thing is that they've decided to remain in the downtown and rebuild.


The other great thing is this sign they hung out in front of the burned-out shell of their sanctuary. Would that we all had the same perspective in tragedy.

.

Getting Sick on Vick

So how screwed up is it when we pay a recent criminal $1,600,000 this year, and $5,300,000 next year, to play a silly game like football, while untold thousands of men, women, and children in our country (not to mention the rest of the world) languish in abject poverty?

I'm all for second chances, but come on.

It's never the right time, but there's never been a better time

As I've continued to reflect on the journey that has brought us to this point in our lives and the life of Emmaus Road Church, I've become convinced of the following statement:

It's never the right time, because it's always the right time

A simple illustration to explain: As the Allied forces prepared for the D-Day invasion of Normandy, the element of surprise was their greatest weapon. Although they amassed hundreds of ships and thousands of well-trained soldiers, it was only a minuscule number compared to what would eventually be needed to break out of the beaches of Normandy and eventually liberate continental Europe.

The point is this, had they waited until they had every last ship, tank, cannon, soldier, and bullet they thought they'd need, they would never have landed and the outcome of the war would have been vastly different.

There are times in our lives, and I believe they are many, when God calls us to some great and difficult task. We sense it in our hearts and perhaps even long to respond, but the fear that we're underprepared holds us back. "I don't have the right training." "Who will go with me?" "How will I provided for, and how will I provide for my family?" Such questions, while legitimate, can become the antithesis to walking by faith.

I've recently met two women who have stepped out beyond the need for answers to these questions to the front lines of faith. They're an inspiration to me to continue in what God's called us to at ERC. They've chosen to walk at the edge of faith where only God knows the way ahead and He must come through for them.

From time to time, young married couples will ask Barb and I "When is the right time to have children?" I simply tell them that there's never a "right" time--there's nothing you can ever do to fully prepare yourself for the wonderful challenge of parenting; choosing to have children is something you step into knowing that it's a decision you have to grow into.

Following God's calling, obeying His voice, joining Him in reclaiming the earth for Him requires us to recognize that although it's never the "right" time, according to our standard of how things ought to work, there's never a better time than the present.

Now is the time!

GPS: Reorient Yourself

A couple of weeks ago I began the journey of reading through the entire Bible in 90 days. Here's a link with the schedule if you're interested.

While reading through the books of Exodus and Numbers, I was struck by the sheer amount of rituals and sacrifices and holy days and feasts and . . . well all of the myriad things that God called the Israelites to follow. Some of it sounds confusing, even bizarre, to our modern ears, but it must have had a purpose. What possibly could be the reason behind such an all-encompassing list of rituals and regulations?

As I prayed and asked God to help me understand, slowly I began to see what a radically tranformative way of life this must have been. God's purpose in calling and creating the Israelites as His people was to demonstrate to the world how best to live in relationship to God and with others. They were to be the nation through whom all nations would be blessed. And so, as they participated in the worship patterns laid out for them by God through Moses, their entire way of thinking, believing, and being was transformed.

Like a mountaineer alone in the vast wilderness of Alaska taking a GPS reading to locate her precise position, each time the Israelites gathered for worship, each time they kept the feasts and performed the sacrifices, they reoriented themselves according to God's loving direction.

The insight gained into Israel's worship also gave me insight into our worship and this question:

What lies behind our modern-day rituals, liturgies, and celebrations? Is it not the desire to reorient ourselves to the Kingdom of God, to the Way of the Cross, to life in the Holy Spirit?

Lord, let it be so.

(S)he who has ears . . .

I've offered this thought for reflection before here. But reading Brennan Manning's book "The Furious Longing of God" last night brought me to the same idea in a slightly different way. It's worth reprinting Manning's words here.

"How is it then that we've come to imagine that Christianity consists primarily in what we do for God? How has this come to be the good news of Jesus? Is the kingdom that He proclaimed to be nothing more than a community of men and women who go to church on Sunday, take an annual spiritual retreat, read their Bibles every now and then, vigorously oppose abortion, don't watch x-rated movies, never use vulgar language, smile a lot, hold doors open for people, root for the favorite team, and get along with everybody? Is that why Jesus went through the bleak and bloody horror of Calvary? Is that why He emerged in shattering glory from the tomb? Is that why He poured out His Holy Spirit on the church? To make nicer men and women with better morals?"

"The gospel is absurd and the life of Jesus is meaningless unless we believe that He lived, died, and rose again with but one purpose in mind: to make brand-new creations. Not to make people with better morals, but to create a community of prophets and professional lovers, men and women who would surrender to the mystery of the fire of the Spirit that burns within, who would live in ever greater fidelity to the omnipresent Word of God, who would enter into the center of it all, the very heart and mystery of Christ, into the center of the flame that consumes, purifies, and sets everything aglow with peace, joy, boldness, and extravagant, furious love. This, my friends, is what it really means to be a Christian. Our religion never begins with what we do for God. It always starts with what God has done for us, the great and wondrous things that God dreamed of and achieved for us in Jesus Christ."

It's not me

Recently I heard the pastor of a church living on the edge say this to pastors:

"Don't take credit for when the numbers are up, because if you do, you'll be tempted to take the blame when the numbers are down."

Please don't hear me falling into the numbers game, but tonight we had 24 people at Emmaus Road Church. That's 4 more than we had at Easter (20) a few weeks ago when 8 of those people were my family members--and four people who are there every other week were gone tonight. I'm blown away (but I shouldn't be) at what God's been up to since Easter this year.

What's even more exciting is that we had an awesome time of worship, prayer, and listening to God's word together followed by most of the folks coming over to our house for ice cream and cake afterward. I can see community starting to grow among those who were there, and I'm so thankful that I'm beginning to see that it's not me doing it, but God's Spirit at work bringing to fruition His kingdom right there on Central Avenue.

We've got a long way to go, I'm sure. But I wanted to thank God publicly for what I've been privileged to see Him doing tonight and this entire year.

Francis Chan at Exponential 2009

Francis Chan spoke at Exponential 2009 conference for new churches. He gave a powerful testimony, challenge, and encouragement to those of us participating in the conference. I thought many others may find it as challenging as I did.

Here it is.

What if . . . ?

This will be quick because I'm subbing in 15 minutes at Oscar's school, but I wanted to offer something to think and meditate on.

I just got back from the Exponential conference in Orlando. Nearly 3,000 church planters from around the country. If you know me, you know I don't say this about very many things, but it was life-changing. If they ever put the messages from the plenary speakers online, I will post them in a future entry for you to hear.

To sum up and combine the challenges from two of the speakers, Craig Groeschel and Francis Chan, I offer this question:

What if we stopped living out of our preconceptions about what life in Christ really is and instead started living out what Scripture reveals it to be? Imagine how radically that would alter our churches and our personal lives.

Well, what if?

Design Your Own Church

A friend of mine recently challenged me to dig deeper into what it is that God's called us here to do--to give congitive flesh to the yearning that God's placed in my heart. Each of us hopes and waits for something, he said. That "something" doesn't look like everything else. Specifically, if I've heard him correctly, he's describing an expression and incarnation of faith that is authentic and genuine: we know it when we see it, and consequently we're drawn to it.

The Church, (and by "Church" I don't mean the Institution, but rather the Body of Christ, i.e. the life of the Holy Spirit lived out within those who call themselves Jesus' followers), is the nexus of this yearning hope and incarnate expression. It embodies (or ought to, at least) the Kingdom of God here on earth. Too often it (we) fall short. This "falling short" induces in many of us the yearning described above: we long for the fullness of salvation and relationship (with God and others) for which God created us.

When I say, "Design Your Own Church" I'm asking what does the Church that fully embodies the Kingdom of God look like for you. In these intial stages of exploration and definition I've simply come up with a list of words that at least hint at what I believe it is.

Trinitarian
Worshipful
Christ-centered
Mysterious
Explorative
Open
Belonging before you believe
Genuine
Authentic
Confessional
Healing
Devotional
Historical
Eucharistic
Celebrative
Imaginative
Spirit-inspired
Life-giving
Journeying
Safe
Fellowship
Hopeful
Inclusive
Forgiving
Beautiful
Relational
Comprehensive
Color-blind

What do you think?

Our Next President--Barack Obama

For me, this day, this night, was a demonstration of all that is good about America. It was about loving our neighbor, about seeking something higher than our own self-interests, about the reality that God has created all of us brothers and sisters. The speeches by both McCain and Obama gave testimony to and called us forward into a future where we are not identified by our differences but rather known for our charity and unity.

I believe this brings us much closer to the intent for this nation of our country's forefathers. More importantly, I believe it brings us that much closer to the message of Christ and God's intent for us as His beloved creation. Of course my hope for our country and indeed our world rests firmly upon God and His mercy in Christ, but my heart cries out "Yes!" when I catch a glimpse, as I did tonight, be it ever so faint, of the image of God in humanity--of people of all colors and ages, incomes and cultures, hoping and pledging to sacrifice for each other and a better tomorrow.

I know Barack Obama will not be able to fix everything. I know I will disagree fundamentally with him on certain, if not many, issues. But I believe, and want to believe, that He will bring an end to the hatred and fear and partisanship that have divided us from one another and prohibited us from accomplishing great things. And that gives me great hope.

Hear me clearly, Christ is our Lord and King. We ought not put our complete trust in any other but Him. Nevertheless, we live in a world that needs good men and women who will call us to live for something greater than ourselves. Perhaps Barack Obama will be one of them.

May God give him wisdom and grace--and may he listen and lead justly.

Corey Threedux

Okay, so threedux isn't a work, but redux is, and I couldn't think of a word for a third repeat (other than threepeat--but that's not in the same literary category as redux), so I concocted threedux. Add it to your dictionaries folks.

You may remember a young man named Corey I met and wrote about a while back. If not, you'll find it detailed here. He's a guy I have no reason really to have a connection with other than the fact that God keeps bringing us together. We don't live near each other. We're not close in age. We don't have similar occupations. And yet, as I said in that earlier post, "God is in the details."

If you read my earlier post, you'll see that I hadn't seen Corey for several months. Again, no real reason I should have. But two days ago at the Old Orchard Elementary School movie night Barb and I stuck around afterwards to help clean up and also to meet new people. One of the people I met was Fay. She had a son in school there, but she lives in Dayton, OH. She comes up regularly to be with him. She just happened to have some family members with her. She introduced me to them and one of them happened to be her cousin Corey!

I don't know what you think about the fact that God keeps bringing us together. In a city of 300,000 people what are the odds that he would be at my son's elementary school with his cousin and nephew? (It's only a school of about 200 kids, 217 to be exact.) I was able to make a good connection with him that night--even exchanging contact info and me helping him with some job info.

I say this all the time, but when you put yourself in position where God can use you, when you open yourself up to the world outside of your comfort zone, God will do amazing things like connecting you with the people He wants you to connect with--even when it's one out of three hundred thousand.

I Was a Bookfair Chairperson

So, I'm chairing the Scholastic bookfair at Oscar's elementary school. I know--that's not really me. Anyone who knows me knows I'm about as organized as a pile of leaves. Still, we felt like it was something we should do to help out at the school and to make connections with teachers, students, and their families. It's not really an area of strength for me, but we believe the opportunity was given to us for a reason. Let me explain.

Last week, Barb and I went to a seminar at Mount Vernon Nazarene University put on by the Gallup Organization called StrengthsFinder. Backed by 30 years of research and development, it consists of a battery of 180 questions that lead you to the discovery of your strengths. Some of them may be obvious to you, others may not. There are 34 different ones and you receive a personalized list ranking them from most dominant to least. At this seminar, we received our top 5. Just in case you're curious, mine were: Adaptability, Ideation, Input, Intellection, and Connectedness. That doesn't tell you much, but you can look them up if you're a stalker and really want to know.

While I think there's a lot of good that is going to come from seeing pastors and congregations use this (think: spiritual gifts test tailored more toward personal talents and strengths), I also had to think about the Apostle Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 12:9, "But [God] said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."

In looking at my strengths, there are certainly some things that lend themselves to church planting--Adaptability, Connectedness (seeing things as having a purpose; understanding that all of us are created for Someone greater than ourselves)--but the others aren't quite so strong. In fact, I would think that strengths like the Achiever, Maximizer, Developer, Activator would all be more suited to what we're doing here in Toledo. Then I remembered Paul's words that in our weakness, Christ becomes our strength.

I often tell people that part of the reason I'm planting Emmaus Road is for my own salvation. I NEEDED to be in a place where my faith was challenged on a daily basis, where I was counting on Christ's strength instead of trusting in mine. I came to the point where just going through the motions and playing at being the church were leading me to a place where my Christian walk was dying. The disjunction between what I believed Christ died for and what I was experiencing was too great. It was time for a change.

In stepping out of our comfort zone, taking a leap of faith to a city where we knew noone and had no prospects, doing something we've never done before or even been trained to do, we have come to a place of complete dependence on God and His power through Christ and the Holy Spirit.

I prayed this morning, as I've prayed many times in the last 6 months, that God would do what He wants to do here. That He would fulfill in us what He's designed for us. I have to believe that the many literal "signs and wonders" that we've witnessed are testimony that He's at work in ways more awesome than we can imagine. I also prayed that I would be open and diserning enough to see exactly what it is He's calling us to do. That I would follow each day His direction. That I would work alongside Him rather than being an obstacle to Him.

So, if God wants to be in charge of the Old Orchard Elementary Bookfair, then so be it. Even with my weakness, I'm in.

Emmaus Road Church Building Photos

Thought some of you might like to see the building Emmaus Road Church is going to be leasing soon. It sits on a busy street corner of Central Avenue. It's not a lot to look at yet (inside), and there's a lot of work to do, but we're excited about how God's going to use us and that building to reach our neighborhood and our community.

Jesus Loves McDonalds

The reason they call them the Golden Arches must be because Jesus works there a lot.

This is the weirdest thing, but I've had 3 significant spiritual encounters at the McDonald's on Monroe and Talmadge since we've been in Toledo. Let me share.

The first one was a week or two after we'd been here. We had a good conversation with a father there, which turned to spiritual matters after a while. Although I've not heard from the gentleman we spoke with that day, I believe it was not a fruitless discussion.

The second encounter was a rather roundabout one. One day, I was to catch a ride with a friend down at the rescue mission to go to a conference together. Well, his secretary told us both different times, so I missed him and was stranded. I ended up walking back toward home. About a fourth of the way I decided to catch a bus. I had a fiver in my pocket and thought I was set. When I boarded the bus, they only took exact change--$1 please. I was about to get off the bus when they young guy behind me offered to pay my fare. (It was a real lesson in humility for this middle-aged white dude from the innerurbs to have his $1 bus fare paid for by a kid from the hood.) We sat next to one another on the bus--he wasn't really talkative, but I thanked him and asked him where he worked. Bingo. McDonalds on the corner of Monroe and Talmadge. Two weeks later, I saw Corey sitting outside of his apartment building as I was driving downtown with the fam. We pulled a uey, and I jumped out, gave him a couple of bucks and told him he had offered me grace, and I wished to do the same. I shared with him briefly that we're starting a church and gave him an info card. I haven't heard from him since, but God's in the details.

Numero three: Today, Barb had a meeting with the Old Orchard Mom's group at our house, so I took the kids out for dinner at--drum roll, please--McDonalds on the corner of Monroe and Talmadge. While we're sitting there, I strike up a conversation with a couple of women who were there with their kids. Shortly after we start talking, one of them says, "Pastor Andy?" It was Nicole, a young mother of a student at Oscar's school with whom I had spoken and invited to our Bible study a couple of weeks ago, but hadn't seen her since. I hadn't recognized her at first because of her new weave, but the three of us struck up a conversation like we were old friends while our kids rampaged on the jungle gym. It ended with not only Nicole, but her sister planning on joining us this coming Sunday evening. You tell me, what are the chances?

I'm not sure what it is about that place, but Jesus seems to love hooking me up with people there, so I guess I'll keep going back. The food's not half-bad anyway. (did I just say that?)

Relational Evangelism

Just this past week I was talking with someone about Emmaus Road Church and the fact that we're still meeting on Sunday nights with just us and one other person. That's one new person total in over 5 1/2 months of ministy here in Toledo. Not exactly stellar if you use the standards by which many church plants are measured.

Now I'm as good at justifying myself and make excuses as the next person, but I don't think what I'm about to say concerning our "numbers" at ERC is in any way a justification or excuse for our low numbers.

The conversation I had earlier turned to the subject of evangelism. The question arose about whether we might need to do more head-on evangelism to reach people. I had explained that we've made numerous significant relationships with many neighbors and have had a lot of contacts with folks in the community around us. But the question remained, are all of those contacts and the relationships really getting it done when it comes to growing a church and reaching people for Christ? Good question, and one I've asked myself a lot over the last few years.

My conversation partner brought up two examples to prod me further. First, he asked about Jesus' calling of the disciples--"Come and follow me"--which appears to indicate Jesus made a cold call to join Him, and they did. Second, he asked about the examples of the Aposlte Paul and John Wesley who preached publicly in what ostensibly was non-relational evangelism--speaking to large, unfamiliar crowds.

It was in answering these two questions that the reality that good evangelism has always been relational became apparent.

Matthew 4: 18-21 is the reference to the calling of several of the disciples. Often when we read it we take it out of context or we don't do a little common sense thinking about it (we fail to use common sense way too often when we approach the Bible--not explaining things away, but simply using common sense). Usually when I've heard people talk about Jesus calling the disciples we assume that Jesus neither knew these men nor did they know him; He just walked up, and His personal charisma and attractiveness reeled them in (pardon the pun).

I read it a different way. What makes us think that Jesus didn't know them before? As a rabbi or teacher (as Jesus is often called), He would have had contact with many people through His teachings. As a person who had to eat, He would have to have bought food from the local fishmongers and fishermen. As a carpenter, He may have even crafted fishing boats for the locals. All of these instances provided ample opportunity for Jesus to have contact with them.

And even more than that, how many of us would drop everything--family, friends, house, job (assuming we like our job)--to follow someone we know nothing about? If we wouldn't, then common sense says they wouldn't either. Moreover, why would Jesus choose men about whom He knew nothing to carry on His work after He'd returned to heaven? Doesn't it make much more sense that Jesus would have chosen persons whose character and personality He knew something about?

But beyond all of this, we have record in John's gospel that Jesus did already know these men. John 1:35-42 let's us in on this fact. You say, "Ah, but what about Nathanael? (See John 1:43-51. Some scholars think that the disciple Bartholemew is the same person as Nathanael.) It seems Jesus didn't know him ahead of time."

It helps if we understand the phrase "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree." That phrase in Jewish tradition commonly referred to one who was a student of Torah, as rabbis were often said to sit down under a fig tree to teach their students. In other words, Jesus had seen Nathanael learning about Torah and the Messiah at a previous time, perhaps when Nathanael was unaware he was being observed. And to take the relational evangelism element even further, even though Nathanael may not have known Jesus personally up to this point, he never-the-less was brought to Jesus on the strong recommendation of a close friend, Philip.

Concerning the Apostle Paul and John Wesley's preaching, I would simply point out two things: First, both Paul and Wesley (and many others I might add) utilized the public forum in a way consistent with their culture. Open air preaching or teaching was more common then than it is today. People who preach on street corners today are more often than not seen as something out of the ordinary. In Paul's and Wesley's days, it was not so. Second, both of them, although they preached (evangelized) in a public setting, in a seemingly impersonal, non-relational sort of way, were preaching to folks many of whom would join or were already part of communities of Jews or gentile Christians. For Paul is was the synagogue or house churches of his day. For Wesley, it was the bands and societies that he started in every town he visited. There existed strong relational ties in both instances.

All of that is to say that relational evangelism is a legitimate, and perhaps even superior, form of evangelism and one that we would be smart to follow.

As we've attempted to make many friendships here in Toledo, we understand that it accomplishes two things. First, it connects us to each other as humans in a way that God intended; indeed, relationship makes us more human, more like God intended. Second, it gives those whom we know, the opportunity to see and feel the incarnational love of God in Christ through us, and hopefully, they will come to know the fullness of life that is in Jesus Christ too.

Well, if you've stuck around this long, I'd love to hear your thoughts--even, and especially if, you disagree with me. I'm certainly not done learning.

More from Solzhenitsyn

So I've been reading a some more of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's writings and came across his address to students at Harvard University just over 30 years ago. It's remarkable how prescient is his analysis of our current state of society--as if he foresaw where America and much of the West would be 3 decades later. I might also argue that this address might be one of the earliest and clearest portents of postmodernism as we are experiencing it today. Finally, his prescription for the way forward preceded and yet stands perfectly in line with where many of our leading contemporary Christian thinkers believe we ought to go.

While I won't copy all of the address here, I would like to reprint his concluding remarks. If you'd like to read the address in its entirety, you can read it here.

Here are his final remarks. Tell me if they aren't spot on.

"I am not examining here the case of a world war disaster and the changes which it would produce in society. As long as we wake up every morning under a peaceful sun, we have to lead an everyday life. There is a disaster, however, which has already been under way for quite some time. I am referring to the calamity of a despiritualized and irreligious humanistic consciousness.

To such consciousness, man is the touchstone in judging and evaluating everything on earth. Imperfect man, who is never free of pride, self-interest, envy, vanity, and dozens of other defects. We are now experiencing the consequences of mistakes which had not been noticed at the beginning of the journey. On the way from the Renaissance to our days we have enriched our experience, but we have lost the concept of a Supreme Complete Entity which used to restrain our passions and our irresponsibility. We have placed too much hope in political and social reforms, only to find out that we were being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life. In the East, it is destroyed by the dealings and machinations of the ruling party. In the West, commercial interests tend to suffocate it. This is the real crisis. The split in the world is less terrible than the similarity of the disease plaguing its main sections.

If humanism were right in declaring that man is born to be happy, he would not be born to die. Since his body is doomed to die, his task on earth evidently must be of a more spiritual nature. It cannot unrestrained enjoyment of everyday life. It cannot be the search for the best ways to obtain material goods and then cheerfully get the most out of them. It has to be the fulfillment of a permanent, earnest duty so that one's life journey may become an experience of moral growth, so that one may leave life a better human being than one started it. It is imperative to review the table of widespread human values. Its present incorrectness is astounding. It is not possible that assessment of the President's performance be reduced to the question of how much money one makes or of unlimited availability of gasoline. Only voluntary, inspired self-restraint can raise man above the world stream of materialism.

It would be retrogression to attach oneself today to the ossified formulas of the Enlightenment. Social dogmatism leaves us completely helpless in front of the trials of our times.

Even if we are spared destruction by war, our lives will have to change if we want to save life from self-destruction. We cannot avoid revising the fundamental definitions of human life and human society. Is it true that man is above everything? Is there no Superior Spirit above him? Is it right that man's life and society's activities have to be determined by material expansion in the first place? Is it permissible to promote such expansion to the detriment of our spiritual integrity?

If the world has not come to its end, it has approached a major turn in history, equal in importance to the turn from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. It will exact from us a spiritual upsurge, we shall have to rise to a new height of vision, to a new level of life where our physical nature will not be cursed as in the Middle Ages, but, even more importantly, our spiritual being will not be trampled upon as in the Modern era.

This ascension will be similar to climbing onto the next anthropologic stage. No one on earth has any other way left but -- upward."

Getting Outside the Four Walls

Since Barb and I have been in Toledo (nearly 4 months now) we've had the great opportunity to visit a lot of different churches on Sunday mornings. As a pastor for the last 10 years, I've always been tied to a particular congregation on a Sunday morning, but since we don't have a congregation right now we have the freedom to check out other places to see what God's up to.

So far we've been to the following churches:
--Cedar Creek Church (non-denominational)
--First Alliance Church (Christian Missionary Alliance)
--Westgate Chapel (Christian Missionary Alliance)
--Hope Lutheran (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)
--Hope Community (Nazarene)
--The Source (Nazarene)
--Upper Valley Community (Nazarene)
--Bedford Church of the Nazarene
--Vineyard Toledo (Vineyard)
--North Point Church (Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA)
--Joshua Generation (non-denominational)

Each one has been surprisingly different, a fact that certainly points to the creative diversity of God's Spirit moving among His people. It also points to the diversity of human beings and the ways in which we connect with God. I can't recommend enough to you that you take opportunities to visit other churches in your area. It will expand your vision of God's kingdom in ways that few other things can. And it will either increase your love and understanding of your own church or your dissatisfaction with the current state of things. Either way, you'll grow.

In visiting all of these churches, it wasn't until this last week that I felt like I was really sitting amongst "the least of these". Without exception, every church we worshiped in was well organized, well behaved, fairly monochromatic (meaning: predominantly white), and comfortble. Joshua Generation could not have stood in sharper contrast to them all.

Joshua Generation is a new church whose nascency is in a local rescue mission. It began about 10 months or so ago at the building where they feed the homeless on Sunday mornings. Recently, the president of the mission asked the pastor if he'd consider taking the church to the streets in south Toledo, and he agreed.

My first meeting with pastor Chris both impressed and surprised me. Chris stands about 6'2" and is a big African American man. Looks like he played football or something. His arms sported tattoos and gold jewelry. The white baseball cap on his head was cocked slightly to the side. MC Hammer would have been proud of his sunglasses. He immediately welcomed me and said, "We just trying to get out the four walls. We takin' God's love to the streets!"

"To the streets" was right. They'd blocked off the old brick-paved road next to their building which stood next to a boarded up, weed-overgrown Rally's (btw, how does Rally's go out of business in the hood?). A dj blared Christian gangsta rap through the sound system. On a small platform sat three shiny, new bicycles and 3 microphones. I soon found out they were raffling the bikes off as well gift certificates to WalMart (free raffle, of course). 50 or so metal chairs sat in about 10 rows between the crumbling curbs.

The people gathered were a true cross section of the hood: black/white/latino; poor; homeless; drug addicts, prostitutes, old, young, and inbetween; clean/dirty; sober/hungover; and a few of us middleclass urban types sprinkled throughout. To be honest, we felt a bit out of our element.

We arrived at 10:15 for the 10:30 start which turned out to be more like 10:50. Preceding the worship time was JJ's Express Drill and Drum Corps, which, if you've ever been to a parade in an large urban environment, then you know what I'm talking about. It's about loud drums and booty shakin'. (But I think it's also about a lot more--the backs of their uniform/tshirts stated "We all we got!" For some of the kids that was probably true. I praise organizations like JJ's for that.) I doubt that it would have gone over in many other churches, mine included.

Then pastor Chris stood up and with all the aplomb of a ghetto MC began to tell us about himself--from the hood, grew up in church, made some bad decisions, got into gangs and drugs, God got a hold of his life, and now he's trying to help others find the Savior. Powerful.

After that, a couple of guys moseyed over to a drums set and keyboard sitting next to the curb while 4 women and a teen took the stage. Pastor Chris and the singers began to lead us in a few shouts-out to the neighborhood and then moved into the R&B edition of "This is the Day" and a few other songs I didn't know. When this was over it was 11:45. We'd been there and hour and a half and we'd just started.

I confess to you that we had to leave at that point. The loud music, blazing sun, and general bedlam had taken its toll on our 16 month old to the point that she was inconsolable. The other two were content playing in the dirt on the street (sorry mom) and pulling the leaves and flowers off the weeds, but we decided it was time to make our exit.

Since yesterday, I've been thinking about and praying for Joshua Generation and pastor Chris. I'm not trying to say one church is better than another just because it's out on the street, but I can't help but read the Bible and see what kinds of people it mentions as being around Jesus and wonder: Are we missing something?

In a moment both comical and lamentable, the catholic church, which sat on the corner opposite our little street scene, let out their services just at the time JJ's drummers were banging away and the dancers were shakin' it. To quote a popular syrupy Christian song: "I can only imagine" what those people thought. Were they disgusted, amused, dismayed, confused, angered, joyful?
Did they recognized God at work there? Did it make them grieve that they'd missed out on such a large segment of the population around them?

What about me? Did I really care for these people like pastor Chris did? Like those serving did? Like Jesus did? Were many of us there simply out of shame--like we should be doing something? Out of fear--"whatever you've done unto the least of these you've done unto me"? Out of guilt or sense of duty--I ought to do something because I'm white and privileged? Out of hubris and pride--I can fix these people? My guess is that it's a little bit of everything all mixed up together.

I don't know if we'll be back. I would guess we will, but I don't know. I can't guess what's going to happen to that little church, but I believe God's in it.

Still, I know two things: many of the people gathered there wouldn't have been in another church that day if it weren't for Joshua Generation, and, if He could have only chosen one church in Toledo to be, I doubt you would have found Jesus anyplace else either.

Thanks, President and Mrs. Roosevelt

I watched the story of President and Mrs. Roosevelt's life last night on the American Experience on PBS. I don't want to call myself a history buff (because I'm not), but the lives of those who lead or become leaders during difficult times always give me pause to think.

I believe that there exists an element of sacrifice of one's person to become a leader at that level, particularly when it comes to leading other people. From my observations, such people often end up being completely spent, washed up and worn out at the end of their task. It often takes a heavy toll on their health and their family. I would be hard-pressed to find many exceptions.

However, that's not what stood out to me the most.

President Roosevelt came to power just during the start of the Great Depression. Nearly a third of all able-bodied people were out of work. Families lived in shanty towns. Children went hungry and lacked any medical care. Millions lost their life savings. We've known nothing like it before or since.

Into this milieu comes Teddy, and with him comes the New Deal. In his first 100 days in office he introduced dozens of new policies providing instant economic, material, social, employment, and medical relief to millions. He dared to dream big, to believe that He could use his office to do something to help those who were hurting. And he did.

What stood out most to me, however, was the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. Propelled into a spotlight she never wanted, she nevertheless embraced it wholeheartedly. She began to travel the country extensively, to meet with the poor and destitute, to champion the cause of racial, economic, and gender equality. She became the personal face of the New Deal, and she relayed to her husband the harsh realities experienced by many Americans.

Observing this, it struck me how Kingdom-like this was. Here was a woman born into affluence, who resided in wealth and high culture her entire life, who now chose to move among society's dregs. She travelled tens of thousands of miles to be with hurting and lost people, to give them hope, to hear their stories--to show them love and compassion. Photos of her dining with poor families in shanty houses, talking with factory workers, and serving in soup kitchens, gave hope to and inspired millions of her countrymen and women. It reminds me of the kind of company Jesus kept during His earthly ministry.

I so long for a church like that--a church that actually reflects the racial, economic, and culturual realities of our society. Instead of a milquetoast whitebread church, I want to worship in an environment of human diversity, of fearlessness, of hopefullness, of active love. Call it utopian, call it idealistic, call it a pipe dream--I call it the Kingdom of God.

So, each day, I'm praying and asking God to help me to know how to grow this church. President and Eleanor Roosevelt's story inspired me and put into images and words the longings within my own spirit. My greatest challenge at this point now is making reality those longings and inspiring others to join.

Upon his death, President Roosevelt's body travelled by train from Georgia to Washington to New York for burial. The images captured on film show millions of people lining the tracks as his railcar passed by. Men and women wept, children clung to their mother's skirt, and all mourned the loss of a man (and woman) who had given them hope in a time of hopelessness.

I believe that when someone lives in a way reflective of God's Kingdom, that countless persons will be drawn to the hope and love they find there.

Lord, help my life and church exemplify your Kingdom. Amen.