The film showed me that God can do the impossible, in Charlotte, NC, and in Salem, OR. Their mission statement is;” That people far from God will be filled with life in Christ.” They are seeing that happen on an astronomically huge scale. Ours is;” To connect people to an everlasting committed relationship with Jesus Christ and with others.” I want nothing more than to see that fulfilled on a large scale within my city- a region of 350,000 people, many of whom desperately need relationship with Jesus.

Seeing the faith, prayers, and sacrifices made by 16 people from a little town in North Carolina in order to reach a big city for Jesus was awe-inspiring and reminded me that with God all things are possible!

Seeing the strength, steadfastness, and boldness of their young leader reminded me that I have to step up my game and start taking what I do WAY more seriously- after all, lives are at stake!

I am someone who has strong discernment, hears from God, and who is somewhat of a visionary. Often times, though, I go through a little dry spell where I don’t hear anything from God for a significant amount of time, and I start to worry. But over the past few weeks, my soul has been bombarded with discernment. God has begun speaking to me again in mighty ways (the word I received from Him two weekends ago was amazing and makes me tremble just thinking of it). And vision is starting to poor out of me through the Spirit once again. For this I am thankful, and will move forward with fear and trembling, but with audacious faith to fulfill what God has promised!

I am excited to begin planning for Easter and the next year of our church. I am excited to create a new culture of leadership here at Fellowship Church. I am excited to empower people to do minister and to be blessed for doing so. I am excited to release people to give financially to God’s Kingdom as we wrap up our “Money Matters” series.

I am just plain excited and ready for a community of people from Salem, Oregon to become hungry to change the world!

While we were eating we watched as different customers came and went. There was one group of customers who caught our attention; two male/female couples, one with a child. Both women were in traditional Middle Eastern garb and had their heads covered. That’s not what got our attention. This was a Middle Eastern restaurant after all, and the presence of Middle Easterners eating at the restaurant showed to us that this place was the real deal.

What grabbed our attention was the group’s seating arrangements. The two men sat at a table, while the two women sat at a separate table to tend to the child. The men paid absolutely no attention to the women or the child sitting behind them and the women quietly and submissively sat, ate, and watched the baby.

Now, while I respect and am intrigued by other cultures, let’s call this what it is; “Sexist Bigotry”. Any practice which dehumanizes women, forces them to hide themselves while in public, doesn’t acknowledge their presence, and separates them from men while eating is not simply cultural, no matter how many years a group has been doing it, it’s arrogant, cruel, degrading, disrespectful, and wrong. To shove someone underneath the status of another, based solely on sex, is to elevate oneself above God for both man and woman were created in the image of God and together reflect His character more properly.

Women are beautiful creatures, and while they do sometimes have different roles than men, have every right to live and interact in a man’s world. Women should be the ‘apple’ of a man’s eye and should be both seen and heard while in public as they have just as much to offer as any man.

Any culture who treats women otherwise need to acknowledge their centuries of injustice, publicly ask for forgiveness, and give their women the place in humanity they were equally meant to have.

So when picking songs, we’ll pick ones that are enjoyable to listen to, comparable to music someone might hear on the radio, and have messages that can easily be understood. This enables the Believer to enter into worship, and the visitor to understand Who we are worshiping, what we understand of Him, and how we go about worshiping Him.

When preaching a message, we make sure that it has the substance to be able to challenge, grow, and encourage the Believer, yet the basics of the Gospel message to draw an unbeliever to Christ.

Even when we address the crowds through announcements and ‘welcomes’, we do so as to connect with those we know and who know how we do things, yet with explanation and hospitality for those we do not.

All things done with the visitor in mind, yet unapologetic of our message, our worship, our beliefs, and especially our God.

With all of that being said, our hospitality team is very good. Our people are friendly. Our music is great. And, I must say, our messages are powerful and very engaging.

Most visitors will come up to me or someone on my team and tell us how much they enjoyed the service. Oftentimes it will be accompanied with tears and “thank you” after “thank you”. They’ll tell us that they’ve “found (their) home”, that God spoke to them while in our midst, or how much they felt God’s presence. They’ll indicate on their visitor’s card or to one of us that they want to become a member, that they want to join a small group, or that they want to join a particular ministry team- all on the first visit, even if they weren’t Christians before they stepped through the doors.

We’ll then follow up with an email or even cookies and a handwritten note left non intrusively on their door. All and all, the experience is great!

There’s, most of the time, a problem though. Lots, if not most of those visitors will drop off of the face of the earth, and we’ll never see them again?? Most of the time they’ll drop off the face of the earth after their first visit. But sometimes they’ll ask to be baptized, have their baby dedicated, get you to perform their wedding ceremony, or come to just one Small Group, and then drop off the face of the earth. All along the way telling you how great you and your church is and how much God has changed their life; then disappear. And often times if you drop them a card in the mail, call, email, text, or Facebook them to let you know that you’ve missed them and invite them to come back, they’ll either never respond, or respond as if you have inconvenienced them in the biggest way possible, think that you are judging them, and that’s usually the last contact you’ll have with them.

So my thinking out loud within this vulnerable blog posting is; “WHY?” Why say how much you love things, have a “service” performed for you, or just start to get involved, and then drop off the face of the earth.

There’s several possible problems.

One is a cultural problem. We live in a post-christian nation where people do not go to church and if they do it’s once or twice a year. So it’s possible that people really do love what going on at your church, yet they think it’s only an institution that’s there when you need it, or that you if you show up once or twice a year, that your part of the “team”.

Another possible problem is that we’ve done a poor job connecting with our visitors or are conducting worship experiences that are not relevant to their lives. But after much consideration and critical thinking, I do not believe this to be the case at my church- maybe I’m wrong though.

Another possible problem is a multifaceted one of a spiritual nature. Maybe these people simply are not really connecting in a relationship with Jesus? Maybe you have sown a seed, but like the parable of the sower, the devil immediately snatches it up before it has a chance to take root. This, if it is the problem, probably is taking place immediately after the person attends one of your services, or sometime within the week before the next worship experience?

Either way, it’s a problem.

We do have people stick around. We are seeing lives changed, people saved, baptized, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. We are seeing God restore to some the joy of their salvation. We are seeing people growing in their relationship with Jesus, their understanding of God’s Word, and their community interaction with others. And our church is growing, quickly by some standards.

But I want to be the most effective as we can be with each person who walks through our doors. I want to experience Christ in a powerful way and be drawn back each week to continue to grow and to join our mission of connecting others to Him. And I want people to be so on fire for God and so in love with His Church that they couldn’t imagine not being a consistent part of what He is doing through the Church.

I know I’m not alone. I know every pastor goes through this, but when you are still small and doing new and exciting things, it can be disappointing to see people not connecting at the level they could be.

The Apostle Paul addressed these issues head on in order to call the emerging Christian Church to higher standards and a closer walk with Christ. He was aware that the world could barely distinguish between their lifestyles and those of the Church. If the saved and elected Church was no different from the rest of the world; then why would any outsider want to become a part?

Today we find ourselves in a very similar culture. One is considered free and liberated if they act out sexually however and with whomever they chose. Such behavior is considered a form of one’s expression. Sexual immorality is accepted, and even celebrated.

We may not literally worship Zeus, Aires, or Diana, but we do bow down at the altars of Sex, Celebrity, and Money. These things, along with traditionalism, legalism, and religion are even adhered to with the Church. And in practice, those who claim to be Followers of Jesus, look no different whatsoever than the ‘unbelieving’ world.

But, out of fear of offending people (and losing sacred tithes and offerings), when someone speaks out against these very sins which are destroying the Church’s reputation, destroying the lives and relationships of it’s members, and sending people to a literal hell (another unpopular topic), they are called out for being too graphic, being too extreme, and pushing the envelope. They are asked to shut up, speak on comfortable things, or move on.

In order for our nation to see a revival, our churches must address the bulls running around in the china shop, call them out, and shepherd them to repentance and change. It will take radical leaders like Paul to call out what is and call for what is not; leaders who are not afraid of offending people, who are not afraid of losing money, and who are not afraid to be on the front lines of a Christ (not moral, religious, or traditional) centered revolution.

1. Be where people are
2. Observe culture and engage within it
3. Reveal a spiritual truth
4. Invite into a spiritual reality
5. Pray for supernatural intervention
6. Reveal the inclusiveness of your message
7. Pray for a revelation of Christ
8. Expect life change and reproduction

Steve Jobs:
Jobs is definitely a culture shaper, a man who has tremendously
progressed computer technology and has embraced the idea that design
and appearance are just as important as processing power. This
design/computing approach has made Apple (MAC) an every day staple in
today’s world. As far as a message…he’s not really using his
influence to spread a message. The only thing remotely close to a
message that he is spreading is that the ascetics of the things wen
use every day are important.

Rob Bell:
Rob Bell burst onto the stage of Evangelical Christianity in America
in the early 2000′s with his explosively growing church, his NOOMA
videos, and his limit pushing books (i.e. Velvet Elvis). Bell changed
the modern perception of what a pastor should look like, and has
progressively shaped the way that today’s pastor’s speak- all in about
a decade. As far a message, though, Bell and his
Christianity/spirituality have become very vague to say the least. As
a Christian a find the subject of his teaching very hard to nail down.
I can’t imagine the conclusions that an unbeliever is led to arrive
at, as there is very rarely, if ever, a clear definition of who Jesus
is, what He has done, and how one can be saved by Him. If there’s any
message at all that he is communicating, it’s that the church needs to
be more socially conscious.

James Cameron:
Cameron has completely changed the culture of film over the last 15
years. He has shown that a movie can be as big and as impressive as a
film maker wants it to be- if they have access to the appropriate
funding. He has proven that a big blockbuster doesn’t have to be just
flash and  bang, but can also carry with it a powerful story familiar
and accessible to all humanity. His masterpieces (love them or hate
them) Titanic and Avatar have proven that a movie can radically effect
every aspect of the world’s culture. With the release of last year’s
Avatar, Cameron used his cultural influence to spread a very clear
message: extreme environmentalism (to the point of nature
worship/paganism). I am all for the environment but one would be naive
to not realize that the environmentalism portrayed in Cameron’s
message was extreme.

I could think of dozens more culture shapers, some who probably have
much more influence than the ones I listed, and some who have a
stronger message, but this is just a sampling.

All I am concretely aware of is that I wish to be not merely a reactor
to, or a rider of, culture, but one who shapes it and then uses that
influence to spread my message: the message of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. Maybe the culture that I shape will be that of a neighborhood,
a nation, a city, or the world- I don’t know. All I know is that I
have been  given God’s attribute of creativity and I hope that He can
create culture through me.

It’s like sitting downstream from a heard of pooping cows standing in
the water. You’re trying to pour something in the water for others
down stream but you spend most of your energy trying to get the poop
out. What if you could go upstream to the cows, move them away from
the water, and pour your influence into the stream instead?

What if, instead of reacting to and battling culture, you could create
it? What if you could get your message across in such an amazingly
innovative way that you created your own wave to ride? What if,
instead of battling for people’s attention with a culture everyone
loves, you created the culture and the natural outcome of that was
people receiving your message?

In my next post I will make a list of modern day culture shapers (not
reactors) and whether or not they are using their influence to carry
a message.

Anthony Trask

We talked about ministry, pastoring, evangelism, and the Church. We
discussed how small churches who want to make a lasting difference in
their communities are to respond to the “big box churches” who are
doing a much better job than them. We talked about a lot of things.

But as we stared at the magazine during our conversation, I realized
that I wanted to be like the ‘mega star pastor’ on the cover. But then
I realized something else- that the non-Christians sitting around us
at Starbucks had no idea who this magazine-cover pastor was. The only
people who knew who this pastor was, were Christians- particularly
pastors!

And, I wondered with my Starbuck’s friend; “What’s the point of having
all sorts of Christians know about you anyways?!” Had I been desiring
to be a Christian celebrity?! For years I had dreamed about being the
pastor who was invited to speak at Christian conferences- I still do-
but I realize that speaking to thousands at Christian conferences
entitles…speaking to Christians!? And while I want to help
Christians grow and advance in their faith, my (our) primary concern
is to speak, to preach, and to teach the Gospel to those who are lost.

So the question in my mind that popped up, that I asked my friend,
was; “Are their any pastors or Christian leaders within our nation,
who are not famous only amongst Christians, but non-Christians as
well?” After all, the best place that we can leverage our notoriety
for the Gospel, is not amongst Christians, but amongst non-Christians.
If people are looking to us- if we ‘had the favor of all the people’
like the early Church in Acts- for advice, and entertainment,
teaching, and etc..then we could use that fame and notoriety as a
platform to preach the Gospel. And while pastors, myself included, are
trying to find ways to be famous within the Church world, maybe we
should start looking for ways to become famous in the real world.

There’s a few leaders I can think of that have gained some notoriety
in the real world that are making a difference for the Kingdom: Rick
Warren, Joel Osteen, Bono, John Maxwell, and Tony Dungy are a few of
those, but most of their ‘Christian influence and notoriety’ still
takes place within the Church. What if there were modern day prophets
like Daniel who could greatly leverage their fame and notoriety to
influence a nation for the Kingdom? Is it happening?

What about on a city-wide smaller scale? Are there any leaders in your
community who the community knows about-not just the Church- who are
using their notoriety to spread the Gospel and influence their region
for Christ? If so, I want to know!

I want to start dreaming and instilling dreams in the hearts of young
Believers about how we can become mighty influencers, not of just our
churches ( which do need to be influenced), but also our lost world.
That would be something worth giving your life to.