Conversation Formulas

I have been reading the book of Luke lately and today read through chapter two where it talks about Jesus hanging in Jerusalem while his parents took off without him. This of course sent Mary and Joseph into a frenzy, so they hurried back to look for him and the Bible tells us that he was in the temple “sitting in the midst of the teachers both listening to them and asking them questions.” Here Jesus is having a conversation probably with some form of Rabbi/Pharisee/overeducated beyond their own humility guy. You know this guy, maybe he is your father, your friend, that dude that is always sitting at Starbucks reading some weird sophisticated looking book, the older gentlemen that hangs out at McDonalds or What-a-burger all morning with his Vietnam Veterans hat on reading the paper, or maybe that classmate that never stops asking ridiculous questions and sharing their incredible wisdom with all of us. Either way its someone that thinks they have some answers for somebody. Nonetheless, what is important to notice about this conversation is that Jesus both listens and asks questions. How often do we fail to notice that about Jesus? He listens and asks questions. Here is a perfect formula to win people for Jesus. Listen and ask questions. In other words stop trying to convince them they are wrong and what you have to say is so much more important then they are. Listen and ask questions. Show them you care about them and your not just interested in proving to them you are right and they are an idiot. There are a ton of examples in the Bible of Jesus ripping the Pharisees for opening their mouth and we stand by and cheer for Jesus to “get’em!” But Jesus still took time to listen to them and ask questions, which tells us, Jesus still tried to win them over.

Multifaceted

When I was part of a church plant back home the Pastor said to me once, "It takes all kinds of different churches to reach different kinds of people." This I have found to be true. When this Pastor arrived he went to several churches within the city to inform them that he was starting a church but also to partner with them. I believe he was promoting a sense of unity and just trying to work together with the other Pastors in that city to achieve the same goal of reaching people despite the fact that his church may be different from their churches. Through this I learned that it does take several different types of churches to reach a community. The reality is who cares what style your church is as long as life change is happening. I have met many people who believe that church can only be done one way. The problem with this is that our world is multi-everything. And I believe our God is also. Just look at the number of different races in the world, or different types of plants and trees, and crazy bugs and animals. Sometimes I watch the discovery channel and see some animal that they are researching and I think to myself, "what in the world is that?" I believe its a declaration that God loves variety.

Principles...#3

Today I was reading in 1 Kings chapter 12 and was reminded of a great principle for ministry. In verse 6 King Rehoboam (Solomon's successor) was seeking wise counsel to rule his people well. He chose to ask the older men who counseled Solomon, but also his young advisers. The older advisers counseled well and the young ones gave foolish advice. Reading this made me think of one of my professor's advice to always have someone older you can go to for advice and accountability. For any ministry it is a life saver in a sense. I thank God that I have had this til now in my spiritual mentor, Steve Vaughan, and another church planter Scott Weatherford. Their advice and insight has been a real gem.

Principles...#2

Im reading the book, Breaking the Missional Code by Ed Stetzer and David Putnam. So far the book is great and what I believe is a great resource for any pastor/church planter. One of the points in the book was that how as pastor's we need to be willing to learn from others, including other pastors and even church members. It is obvious that there are many pastors out there who are unteachable. This I would have to believe is a terrible downfall. From an individual's unwillingness to be teachable can stem an attitude of arrogance which will often result in a spirit of disunity, something Jesus was strongly against. I believe that Jesus' one proof he left of himself was our love for each other. In other words our unity proves God.

Principles

One of the most difficult things that I find in church planting is understanding the people around you. Exegeting the culture is a crazy hard task. Sometimes when I am trying to engage someone in a conversation about Jesus I find this total blank mindset of how do I begin. Everybody is different and not everybody needs a "gospel presentation." Its so hard to understand what people need sometimes. In New Orleans there is a real lost sense of hope. Somehow we have to bring that hope to them.

Central City, New Orleans and Hope

Megan and I recently went prayer walking in Central City with our church here in New Orleans. I listened to three men talk about when and how they got high. Kids were wondering everywhere. The level of poverty was catastrophic. "Thou shalt not kill" signs were in home windows. Homes were still destroyed from hurricane Katrina. People walked by carrying beer and liquor at 10:30 in the morning. It was a very dark place. There was no pride and no hope. You found yourself wondering, "what could I possibly do for these people." Amidst all of this, not one person or group of people refused prayer. We prayed with probably 50 people. They were so desperate for anything. They had lost everything. But more then that they lost hope. Erwin McManus wrote, "When you lack hope, you feel powerless to change anything and certain that nothing will change. When you have hope, you are able to see the beauty and potential of every circumstance." These people don't need money, or food or any material thing. What they need more than anything is hope.

Honest Confession

The God is trying to deal with one of my most apparent character flaws. I am extremely judgemental. I hate it. It drives me crazy. I notice it more and more everyday. It reveals how broken, damaged and foolish I am. Last night I had a long talk with Megan about how it needs to be destroyed. I like that word destroyed. Its a good way of describing how God wants to eliminate your character flaws. Anyway, I work at a place were there is this bubble of wealthy people who think they don't need anything, and deserve everything, and that really brings out my judgemental attitude. But this is a place in which if I am willing God can really do some awesome things for my character and teach me how to love these people as he does. Judgement is not my job. A critical spirit is not healthy. It fuels negativity and puts off a very "I am better than you" attitude. Followers of Christ have been known for this for far too long and Jesus was never known for this. Its time for a change. Judgement coming from me is not right, its not loving and its not the way Jesus wants me to be. This process of destroying my judgemental attitude is going to be very painful, difficult and ugly. It will expose me for a lot of who I can be. But in the end it will be so freeing and rewarding as the God will renew my mind and heart and make it more like his. The pain starts today.