glenn packiam's blog

Video Sermon: "Made for Contact with God"

This is a video of a talk I gave at New Life a few weeks ago based on "Secondhand Jesus". It's available as a video podcast download from itunes (Search: New Life Church Sunday Morning). But for all my non-itunes friends-- and there are a few-- here it is:

Download Secondhand Jesus_ Made For Contact With God

Family Camping Trip 09

OK, so I have my detractors, those who say there's no way I would ever attempt a real camping trip with my family, let alone survive one. So, since we've just completed our first ever Packiam family camping trip-- in a tent, not a pop-up or an RV-- I thought I should tell you about it. 

And the first thing I should say is that a lot would have gone wrong had it not been for Jared Newman! You see, the truth is it wasn't a strictly Packiam family affair. No, I'm smarter than that. What I lack in Hunter-Gatherer skills I make up for in common sense. And common sense says no way we try this alone. So that's how it came to be that the Packiam clan joined the Newman family for three days and two nights at 11-Mile State Park. 

DAY 1:

We arrived at the site around 3:30pm to gusting winds and discovered I had selected a site on the other side of the reservoir where there would be no trees. We decided to switch locations and thankfully the park office was amicable. After driving for a little while, Jared and Holly Newman spotted two great sites, side by side, among large boulders and a few tall trees.

Setting up my tent was going well until I realized that the stakes they give you aren't really designed for actual campgrounds. No. You'd have to buy a set of 9-inch "nails" from REI for that. Fortunately, Jared had Big Man stakes aplenty.

After taking turns pumping up air mattresses and giving Jared a hand with their tent, we got the fire going. And by we, I mean Jared. Lovely meal, capped off with'smores and it was time to hit the hay. Kids did great. You can see from the picture, they thought sleeping in the tent all together was how life was meant to be.

It was a restless night for me. The moon was full, parading its light into our tent like it was hers to shine.

 A dark cloud passed over the moon, casting spears of lightning from side to side, proving it could play along. This all sounds like it would be the perfect combination for sleep, but I felt it my duty to stand guard in nature's playground. I kept a watchful ear for any rustling in the leaves that just might be a bear sniffing the sweetness of wet wipes and confusing it for actual berries. And I peered out the window to make sure a tornado was not waiting to descend into our campground. And just when weariness was getting the better of me, the sun was sending the moon behind the mountains, taking its rightful place as Earth's true light. Yeah, I was a little mad.

DAY 2:

We used what some call "pudge pie" thing-a-ma-jigs to make delicious breakfast sandwiches complete with bacon, eggs, and cheese. Fire to cook with: compliments of Jared Newman; breakfast sandwiches: courtesy of yours truly.

Later that morning we rented a kayak and a canoe and took turns paddling the kids around. Norah (pictured with Myra, the Newman's youngest girl) enjoyed getting splashed and Sophia was cruising in style. But Holly looked like she belongs in the Great Outdoors. 

Hot dogs for lunch.

That afternoon, we drove about an hour or so-- mainly to get the kids to nap in the car-- to the hot springs by Mt. Princeton. Very cool place. They've pumped water into large un-chlorinated swimming pools. Swimming in a pool as warm as a hot- tub, with cleansing minerals in the water when you haven't showered? Oh yeah! Just what we needed. 

Hit a sweet burger place in Buena Vista then headed back to camp before daylight disappeared. It was a much colder night, though I slept much more deeply. The sound of weekend campers filling in the sites around us brought a strange comfort, as if I missed the crowded living quarters of my suburb.

DAY 3:

Not much of day. Woke up with the sun. Fell back asleep as condensation formed on the roof of our tent. Woke up again to go to the bathroom-- I meant to use the tree, but then I remembered the newly arrived campers and thought it better to hit the perma-porta-potties. 

Tore down camp and left around 9:30am to make it back for some afternoon events in Colorado Springs. Stopped for breakfast at McDonald's.

So, there: three days (sort of) and two nights camping in a tent with the kiddos. I could get used to this.

Oh...and if you're wondering why Jared Newman isn't in any of the pictures, it's because he was taking them. 

And so there wouldn't be any hard evidence that I didn't do this all by myself. :)

A Widget to Share With Your Friends on "Secondhand Jesus"

What Creative People Never Tell You About Creativity

There is a myth about creativity that will surface in almost every conversation about the subject. It may not be expressed in quite the same way; it isn't even always said. But at the bottom of almost every discussion on creativity is the belief that creativity is about authenticity, it is about being unique, being different, being an individual. When a person does "what no one has ever done before", she is being creative. When a person copies or incorporates ideas or methods that have been used before, he is being dull and uncreative. 

But here are three things that every artist knows but is reluctant to admit...three reasons why the confusion of creativity with authenticity is misleading:

1. Only God Creates Out Of Nothing

Ex nihilo is the Latin phrase the Church used to explain that when God made the world, He didn't have any starting materials. He made it all from scratch. Out of nothing.

Every creative person thereafter has been building with His lumber. We are, as it were, painting with a fixed palette. All our so-called inventors are not making new things; they are taking existing things and combining them in such a way as to bring new possibilities to our world. A musician is working with a finite amount of notes. In Western composition, 12 to be exact. In Eastern melodies, intervals "within the cracks of the piano keys" are acceptable, but even then, the possibilities run out. Every dye ever made reflects a color God first sprayed in our universe. Even in our most creative work, when we join with God to co-create life, we are not creating something out of nothing. The building blocks of art are ancient.

2. Imitation is an important part of creativity.

OK, so not much room for disagreement on the first point. But here's is where things get a little dicey. No one who truly aspires to be creative cares to admit the amount of imitation they've engaged in. I recently went with my wife and Rob and Sarah Stennett to hear the award-winning short story writer Tobias Wolff do some readings at Colorado College. He talked about how in virtually every field of art imitation was an acceptable form of learning. Painters might begin by sitting in front of a Monet and trying to recreate it. Musicians will mimic riffs from Hendrix or Armstrong or Coltrain. But writers are somehow disdained for writing stories that imitate Hemingway or Fitzgerald. 

Why the double standard? Why not come out and admit that imitation is how we learn to create, in all fields? Imitation places us inside the head of an artist, making us see the notes they chose and the ones they ignored, the colors they blended and the combinations they used. It lets us peer at the world through their eyes as we try to re-create their "creation". Since none of us are making new "materials", we can learn about how to rightly combine these materials from the works of others. We learn to talk, to put words together, by being spoken to; we learn to pray by praying the prayers of Scripture; and we learn to create by re-creating the works of others.

3. Creativity is a combination of "theme" and "variation".

OK, so if we're not creating ex nihilo, and if imitation is part of the creative process, then where is the individuality, the uniqueness? It is in the way we reference the "theme" and the way we vary from it. What this means, then, is that the unwillingness to include any part of "theme" or a norm in our work means that we've lost any point of reference for others. It may be "creative", but it is isolated and esoteric. Let's think of it this way: a language that is truly unique is also utterly useless; it is a language known and understood only by you. It is gibberish. So, any art that refuses the inclusion of "theme" or even fragments of a template is an art that is individualized to the extreme. No one else can participate in it or benefit from it or be inspired by it. But if what we create is to have some sort of "public service" to it (the word "liturgy" comes from a Greek word that means a civic or public service)-- and not all art has to-- it must be willing to submit to "theme and variation."

If you think about it, human beings are unique not in an absolute sense, but we are unique in the way themes and variations of those themes combine in us. We all have themes of God's image in us; we are sullied by the familiar stains of sin. Yet there are infinite (?) variations of God's nature and sin's defacement in each of us. And it is those combinations that make us unique. This may be disappointing to have to admit that we are more like each other than we had supposed, that no one is truly all that different. Even more deflating is the realization that if we all sought to be "extraordinary", no one would be extraordinary since extraordinary would then be the new "ordinary." We find ourselves, then, pursuing creativity like a teenager wanting to be different: we want to be different, just like everyone else. And so we are forced finally to admit that we are all more similar than different. We are living displays of theme and variation. And so is everything we make.

Two Sides of the Same Coin: Why I Recorded a Solo Album

I have always felt that at my core I am a teacher. It shows up in everything I try to do. This has often come with some unwelcome baggage. I find myself turning simple conversations into a soapbox pontifications; friends who simply want to vent are forced to endure my "teaching moments". Music for me has always been a tool to teach-- a lovely, moving, beautiful tool, but still, a tool. I have never considered myself a "true musician", one who loves the art for the art itself. I have been a worship leader because I love calling people's attention to God. And music is an elegant and potent way to communicate that call. In some ways, I stumbled into being a worship leader vocationally, always knowing that some day that would pass. So, when I stepped out of the Desperation Band last summer, it was not to "go solo". I had no intentions then, nor do I now, of being a "solo artist". I left so I could make room in my life for more speaking and writing. When I made the decision in April (it didn't become official until the summer), I hadn't signed a contract with David C. Cook, though conversations were in process. Still, I had no idea how things would play out.

After spending the summer writing Secondhand Jesus and much of the Fall re-writing sections, a friend who used to work for Integrity Music and is now a free-lance producer called. He asked if I would be interested in making a studio solo record. He would recruit the musicians and fund the project, and if we sold it to a label, he would reap the full benefit of his investment. 

Faced with that unexpected opportunity, I realized something: I'm not done with music yet. It is still a huge part of my life. I had written some new songs that I believed in and had used at theMILL (New Life's college ministry where I led every week). The thought of being able to record them and to also give new artistic life into a handful of previously recorded songs was exciting to me. I had to make my peace with the fact that, for now, speaking and worship leading, writing and songwriting, are two sides of the same coin: they are part of who I am and how I teach. 

So I spent a week in Mobile with a bunch of incredible musicians making the album. As it took shape, I couldn't believe how good it sounded-- and it had nothing to do with me! Then Integrity Music said they were interested in picking it up. I made it clear that I would never be a career artist or spend my life on the road. They said there were many ways of making a deal work. And this is why I'm so thankful for them, this is what makes them true ministry partners and not simply a record label: they got it; they understood me and how the Lord is at work. We found a quick, low-pressure way of making this album theirs.

In the process of choosing songs for the project, I realized that in many ways this would be a sort of companion piece to Secondhand Jesus. The book and the CD are twin expressions of the same journey. They have been a kind of soundtrack for my walk. In fact, many of the songs unintentionally correspond with the themes of certain chapters. It makes sense; after all, both were written in the same time in my life. For example:

Track 7 "Without You" works well with the themes of Chapters 3 and 4; 

Track 1 "This Is Our God" seems to correspond with Chapters 5 and 6; 

and Track 4 "For Love I Sing" captures the heart of Chapters 7 and 8. 

Maybe the most obvious correlation is Track 3 "Burning in Me" with Chapters 9 and 10 because of the pre-chorus: 

"I have only heard the whispers of Your majesty,

All I've known were only rumors, 

Now my eyes have seen Your glory, God." 

Anyway, I hope that helps explain what's going on in my life. I can't see what's around the bend all that clearly. But for now, music and writing are two sides of the same coin. They are faithful vehicles for me to express what God is doing in my life, and I hope both can be of some usefulness to you. 

"Rumors and Revelations" releases June 23. To hear tracks and to get chord charts, visit the brand new www.glennpackiam.com.

In Defense of the "Institutional Church"

Before we begin, it's important that we get our terms right. When some people say "institutional church", what they really mean is the "corporation church"-- the church-as-a-business that operates for profit and self-preservation. I would offer no defense for such a church. But I would suggest a caution to you: while there may be pastors who have become more like shopkeepers than shepherds, I want you to understand the seriousness of the allegation you are making when you denounce a church as being nothing more than a corporation. You are making a claim that cuts to the heart and motives of pastors and people you may not know, suggesting that they are mercenaries who care nothing for God and His work. There may be cases where that is true, but you cannot know for sure. Which leads me to another point of clarification: it is impossible to deal honestly in generalities. I could not possibly defend every church, nor could you condemn every church that fits a particular bill (too large, too small, too stagnant, etc.). 

That being said, let's begin. Here are four reasons to defend the so-called "institutional church":

1. Place Matters

There is this saying that the church is not a building. Of course, we understand the point-- that WE, the redeemed, the "called out ones", are the Church. But this over-emphasized distinction can seem a little foolish. It's like lecturing your kids about how your family is not a home. Certainly a family can survive without a home and a family is still a family even when children go away to college or are displaced by trouble and hardship. But a home is part of the fabric of a family. It is where the family gathers after work and school; it is where they cook and eat, carry out their chores, sit and talk, and, for better or worse, make memories. In fact, if you've had the good fortune of growing up in the same home, you understand that over time the distinction between "home" and "family" becomes academic. If you've been away from home and you return for a holiday or for the summer, the familiarity of furniture and rooms and aromas remind you of everything about your family. Home is not just where the heart is; it's where the family lives. 

Jesus frequently pointed people to the Temple after interacting with them. The Apostles of the Early Church met with Jewish believers on Solomon's Porch, the East wing of the Temple. When Paul traveled, he often made a bee line for the synagogue, knowing he could find God-worshippers there. Why? Place matters. A church without a place is like a family without a home: it can be done, but the two are better together. The Church is not a building, but what is the "gathering of the called out ones" without a gathering place?

2. Ritual Matters

For all the knocks on "dead tradition" and boring ritual, rituals make up our everyday life; they are what keep our teeth from falling out, our personal hygiene in tact, and our oil changed roughly every 3000 miles. Life is full of things we do out of habit because we believe in the long term value of an activity. Ritual is a way to reinforce desire.

Ritual is also a way to preserve meaning. We celebrate birthdays to remind ourselves how precious life is and how quickly it passes. We celebrate when two people pledge their lives to one another in holy matrimony. And we pass out on the couch after stuffing ourselves with turkey and mashed potatoes, while the Detroit Lions lose another Thanksgiving Day game. (Not sure about the meaning that preserves, but it's a fabulous ritual!) For the ancient Jews, their year was full of festivals and special days that God ordained as a way of preserving meaning, of reminding them of who He was and what He had done for them and what He wanted them to be. 

And so we do the same in church. The Early Church quickly fell into rhythm and Luke records the ritual they practiced: breaking bread, prayer, eating meals in each others' homes, of which the Eucharist was a part. Secular historical records describe the early Christians as a strange group who gathered before sunrise on Sunday to "sing hymns to Christ as if to a god."

3. Creed Matters

It feels good to say that you're not against anybody and anything, that you define your life simply by the things you are "for", but it doesn't have any practical meaning. If you're for Jesus, you're against your own selfish ways. If you're for the Divinity of Christ, you're against anything that says he was just a man. To say one, all-encompassing "Yes" is to say a thousand smaller "No"s. 

Interestingly enough, Paul, John, and Peter spent a fair amount of space in their letters addressing false teachers. You would think they had enough problems on their hands with persecution from the Romans and castigation from the Jews. You would think they would take the warmth of friendship wherever they could find it. But no. Some are to be cast out of the church, shunned from homes, disassociated with. This flies in the face of that popular yet naive defense many a modern writer or author has offered when his doctrine is scrutinized: "People are dying without Jesus, and you're questioning my doctrine?" The Apostles would answer, "Yes, as a matter of fact, we are."

It's good and fine to start with an informal gathering of believers, but soon enough you'll have to decide what you believe and come to terms with it. Creed matters. And it mattered as early as Acts 2, where they followed in "the Apostles doctrine." The Church, from the outset, had some things they held onto unswervingly.

4. Structure Matters

Whether the authority is forced or relationally granted, all things on earth have structure. Having said that, I should say that all structures are flawed. The Church is not exempt. Instead of living to demonstrate (in N.T. Wright's phrase) the power of love, we persist in the love of power. Nevertheless, structure formed quickly in the 1st Century Church. Early in the Book of Acts, Deacons are appointed to help with their service project. On numerous occasions, Paul defends his apostleship because his leadership mattered. He also wrote to Timothy about how to appoint Elders and Deacons. While we are not completely sure of how the structure worked, we know that it was loosely in place. Paul also wrote of the necessity of order within a church service, and gave detailed criteria to Timothy on how to determine which widows should get assistance from the church. Sounds like systems and structures to me. Flawed as they are, structures are like the banks of a river: the are designed to protect the life of the church. Certainly they can get in the way and end up choking the life out of it. But then it is time to reform the structures not to try to do without them.

In conclusion...

So, if you have a place, a ritual, a creed, and a structure, you are part of an institutional church. It may be exclusive or open to the public. It may be informal or a suit and tie affair. It may be in a home or in a large hall. But if it is a gathering of God's people in a place, with ritual and creed and structure, you are the institutional church, and to speak against it is to cut off your nose to spite your face.

Now, there are some that have been busy writing books and blogs decrying the evils of the "Institutional Church", and the critique is tired and old. It reeks a little of adolescence. And if you won't hear it from me, then listen to the words of a seasoned old man that I have used before:

“What other church is there besides institutional? There’s nobody who doesn’t have problems with the church, because there’s sin in the church. But there’s no other place to be a Christian except the church...I really don’t understand this naïve criticism of the institution. I really don’t get it. Frederick von Hugel said the institution of the church is like the bark on the tree. There’s no life in the bark. It’s dead wood. But it protects the life of the tree within. And the tree grows and grows. If you take the bark off, it’s prone to disease, dehydration, death. So, yes, the church is dead but it protects something alive. And when you try to have a church without bark, it doesn’t last long. It disappears, gets sick, and it’s prone to all kinds of disease, heresy, and narcissism.” -Eugene Peterson

What I Wish I Knew About Worship Leading...10 Years Ago

Last month marked 10 years since I graduated from college. It also marked 10 years of leading worship in a full-time, vocational capacity. I was 21 when I started and I thought I had it figured out. I was a theology major in college and had led worship in chapel services and traveled all around the world with teams from our university, leading worship and teaching churches how to do it just like we did. I knew how to run auditions, put a set-list together, and make worship flow like a river. 

But I was clueless. I had no idea the way I would be drawn aside by own ego, fooled by opportunities and so-called fame. I was not prepared me for the hidden dangers that threaten the modern worship leader. If I could time-travel and talk to Glenn circa 1999, this is what I would say to him:

1. Don't be fooled by popular worship CDs/DVDs.

Almost every worship CD-- including ours-- begins with the roar of a crowd. I have yet to see a worship DVD filmed in front of a handful of people. The more time you spend with worship CDs and DVDs, the more you subconsciously believe that a worship service is about the euphoria of a crowd, the adrenaline rush of taking the stage. More people aspire to be worship leaders now because of what a cool profession it has become. It's sickening to sit with young worship leaders and watch a U2 or Coldplay DVD and see their eyes light up as mine once did as they think of ways to incorporate those elements at their church. Why wouldn't they? There is little difference between today's worship services and rock band show.

And yet, lights and smoke are not the fall guys. Crowds and electric guitars and not evil. The problem is much more subtle-- and more sinister. It is what is happening in our hearts: the subtle confusion between showmanship and leadership that comes from paying too much attention to recordings of people on a stage. Speaking of the stage...

2. Beware of the stage.

The stage is a dangerous place. The sooner we admit it and stop hiding behind cliches about a "platform God has given us" or an "opportunity to make God famous", the better we will be. Then we can be honest about how tempted we are to work for the praises of men. The stage makes us talk in funny voices, prone to melodrama, careful with how we report the facts. It makes us less honest versions of ourselves, and, in the worst cases, reduces us to a persona and no longer a person.

Confession is the path to healing. Psalm 90 is a confession of how temporal life is, how fleeting our best efforts are, and what limited, time-bound creatures we are. The Psalm is attributed to Moses, the leader and heroic deliverer of, quite likely, millions of people. Moses knew that standing in front of people who could one day be an adoring crowd and the next day be a riotous mob would tempt the best leaders to attempt more than they can really achieve, to inflate themselves to be larger than life. So, confess your limitations. Ration your time on stage. Remind yourself and others how replaceable you are by involving other leaders. In Moses' words, "teach us to number our days."

3. Learn to love a congregation not work a crowd.

The more I traveled with the Desperation Band, the more I longed for my church. At first, it was fun to be at festivals and conferences, to share green rooms with other celebrity artists enjoying their vapor of influence. We had always made the commitment to be at our church far more than we were gone. In fact, on average we were leading worship here three times more than we were leading worship anywhere else. 

But still, time in front of large crowds can make you do funny things. I've sprayed water from a bottle onto "worshippers" on the front row, I've crowd surfed in a packed room, and kicked beach balls from the stage. All in the name of having fun in church. None of these things are hideously evil, but they are deceptively destructive. They destroy the sacredness of the priestly vocation-- and the worship leader is priest before he is anything else. The worship leader is not a priest who mediates on behalf of the people; he is a priest who stands among a congregation of priests, calling attention to God. He is, as a priest is, one of the people. He shares their bloodline, their heritage, their history. He knows their stories. Today's worship leader is trained to be a performer working the crowd, instead of a priest lovingly standing among the people of God. 

4. Worship is more than our response.

Much has been made about how worship is our response to a revelation of who God is. That is true. But what is often left unsaid is that even our response is the result of God at work in us. Grace is not God doing something for us and then leaving us to respond. Grace is God working is us to become and do what He has called us to be and do. Grace is God doing FOR us what we COULD NOT and it is God doing IN us what we CANNOT. 

So worship, then, is more than a grateful, whole-hearted response to God; it is God Himself at work in us causing us to see Him, leading us to surrender, making our offering pleasing and perfect. Here, the whole Trinity is at work. God the Spirit, at work in our hearts, revealing Christ and drawing us to the Father; God the Son, through Whom our sacrifice is made perfect because His was, the One in Whom the Father is well-pleased and so when we are in Him, the Father is well-pleased with us; and God the Father who is glorified forever. 

That takes all the pressure off the worship leader. You are not responsible for how the people respond. That is God's work. You are there to be attentive to God at work in you and in the congregation, and to call attention to God among the people.

There. This is what I wish I knew 10 years ago. Perhaps it can save some of you from shipwreck.

Church Planters Beware: What Prometheus Would Tell Pastors

Three conversations made me think of church planters this past week. This first was an unexpected encounter with an old friend who has been leading worship for a church-plant. He was, at once, exhilarated and exhausted by the work of setting up a mobile church service every week and watching it grow to well over a thousand people in a little over a year. The second was a lunch I had with a worship leader in town that same day who told me that he had considered planting a church in the future but was intimidated by the enormous pressure and work that comes with planting. I listened to both wondering if church planting was doomed to be a herculean task.

The third conversation came a few days later, though it was not truly a conversation for I was only the listener. I heard a speaker introduced as the pastor of the "fastest growing church in America", a man whose church has increased on average by more than a thousand people a year over the past eight years. It is a remarkable accomplishment and a tribute to his leadership. He is a rare breed.

Then the three conversations on church planting wove together: Maybe some church planters are exhausted because they're trying to be the next mega-church. Here, I must confess my ignorance. It very well could be that church planting is inevitably as exhausting as any start-up business. But then again, why should a church plant be like a business? Why is there this torrid current of busyness and business that pushes pastors along, convincing them to do more and grow more quickly?

It may be because we've forgotten the myth of Prometheus Bound. Prometheus is well remembered in our day simply as the god who stole fire from the gods and gave it to mortals. But there is more to the tale than that. Up until then, humans had been born with the knowledge of the date of their death. In other words, they were conscious of their mortality. Prometheus erased this knowledge from their hearts, or as many translations say, "took away from human beings the foreknowledge of their dooms", and gave them instead "blind hopes." It is after both these things that Prometheus gives fire to mortals, the "technology" to accomplish their blind hopes. And what happened to Prometheus? He was chained to a rock doomed to live in perpetual suffering, never to be free. So, what would Prometheus tell church planters and pastors today? Here's a guess:

1. Don't trust your vision.

You've probably never heard anyone say this before, but it's quite Biblical. Jeremiah tells us that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9). James says that wars and strife within a church come from the lusts that rage in our own hearts (James 4:1). Peter spoke for all the disciples when he asked what they would get out of following Jesus (Matt. 19:27). And twice, Peter, following his own vision of how Jesus would carry out the Father's will, acted hastily and incorrectly: rebuking Jesus for talking about death on the cross, and cutting off the ear of the High Priest's servant.

In general vision is good, but the overall untrustworthiness of our own hearts and ambitions needs to be factored in when determining if our vision is actually God's. Many desires have been christened as vision because of too much trust in ourselves.

In short: Just because you want to, doesn't mean you should aim to.

2. Don't maximize your potential. 

Zeus was allegedly upset at Prometheus for many reasons, not the least of which was that he gave power to humans who lacked the wisdom of the gods. It might seem familiar to the Eden story of Adam and Eve gaining knowledge of good and evil and then being prevented from the eating the immortality of the Tree of Life. Sin has a way of aggrandizing our perception of our potential.

Technology has made us capable of doing many things that were previously impossible. I am grateful for most of these things. But technology has also given us the illusion that we can do more than we actually can. It inflates our ability beyond our capacity. We can blow up the world so we think we deserve to rule it. We can set up a video campus and people will come, so we think we can pastor on a national scale. We can broadcast talks and people will listen, so we think we are creating disciples of Jesus. But it's a ruse. We are like balloons filled with too much air, believing that we can reach the moon, when in truth we are a few puffs away from bursting beyond repair.

In short: Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

3. Embrace your limits.

"I made them stop focusing on their own mortal limitations," Prometheus said. How true for all of us today. With energy drinks for the masses and steroids for culture's most-watched performers, we are taught to aspire to a life without limitation. But this is not what Jesus called "blessed" when He praised the meek-- those who have strength under control; those who have the ability to do much but have embraced their limits. James, after warning us about the way our desires mislead us, writes that we are not to say that we shall go to this city and do this business and plot our life as if we had no boundaries. He reminds us that we are but a vapor, that everything must surrender to the will of the One Almighty God-- the only One who has no limits (James 4:13-15).

In short: Let God be God.

And now a word about Jesus.

It may not come as a surprise that Jesus did all these things in His ministry on earth. He did not trust His own "vision", when in the Garden He prayed for the cup to pass, but said to God's glory and our eternal good, "Not my will, but Thine be done." He did not maximize His potential when He refused to turn stone into bread, or to jump from the Temple's peak to show, in the center of the city, what God could do.He turned down the limelight, spending most of His ministry in fishing villages away from bustling cities stained by Herod's garishness. As Philip Yancey rightly said, His greatest miracle might have been the "miracle of restraint." Jesus embraced His limits when He laid His life down, learning obedience through death on the cross (Heb. 5:8). His 33 years on earth were not to be marked by victory but by humility and death. And through that death has come a life that truly know no limits, the God-kind of life.

[For more reading on the warning of Prometheus as applied to pastors, read "Working the Angles" by Eugene Peterson. It is the source to which I owe the greatest debt for this piece.]

Listen to a Reading of Chapter 1 from "Secondhand Jesus"

OK...so, I know that some of you prefer to listen to books rather than read them. Well, I don't have all of Secondhand Jesus in an audio format, BUT I do have an audio track of me reading Chapter 1. It will be included on my upcoming studio project, Rumors and Revelations, as the Track 11...but more on that later. 

For now, click below to listen to Chapter 1.

11 Second Hand Jesus Chapter 1

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Secondhand Jesus, by Glenn Packiam

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The Seduction of Leaders

Today's ministry leaders face an enormous amount of pressure from all sides. Many times, there is pressure from our superiors to produce more or grow larger churches or ministries. The "bottom line" mentality has crept into the church so that numbers are how we gauge success. Then there are the pressures from the people, our congregation. There are calls on every side to attend to this need or that, complaints that we aren't satisfying their expectations of church and pastor. Parishioners leave out of boredom or the lack of any tangible project. Like Aaron who was pressured by the children of Israel into making a golden calf out of their jewelry, pastors are tempted to pander to the demands of a congregation prone to idolatry.

But to make matters worse, there is a pressure from within, a seduction we are often unaware of, that can prove to be far more damaging. It is a voice we may never fully escape because it is our own. We find it difficult not to enjoy the attention, the influence-- the power-- that comes with leadership.

This seduction has its roots in that old Eden story. Adam and Eve were drawn by the serpent's promise of becoming God-like. It was suddenly not enough to be with God; they had to be like God. Now, with every crowd's applause and each open door we feel ourselves become more powerful, more God-like, and it becomes harder to resist its appeal.

My tutor in this seduction came over my sabbatical as I read Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Though Tolkien insisted he was not trying to write an allegory, the large themes he paints with broad strokes are unmistakable. Nevertheless, to spare myself copious comments from Tolkien junkies, I'll say this is merely my take-away from the book:

1. Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely

The phrase is Lord Acton's, a 19th-century English historian. He goes on to say that it is simply heresy to assume that the "office sanctifies the holder of it". In other words, just because you have power doesn't mean you are worthy of it. Even when it's earned, there comes a point where the kind of power given to a human surpasses a human's capacity. This was something the ancient Greeks sought to teach through the Myth of Promethius. The power of the gods cannot be handle responsibly by mortals. The Hebrews talked about the human heart as "deceitful and desperately wicked", "prone to wander". 

Tolkien's Ring is, of course, a metaphor for absolute power. "One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them; One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them." The Ring has a strange effect on most who are near it, maybe none stranger in the first book than on Boromir. Boromir was a noble warrior who had travelled the perilous journey as part of the Company, the Fellowship of the Ring. He has tirelessly and courageously fought to protect Frodo, but near the end of the book the Ring's appeal is too difficult to resist. He tries logic to persuade Frodo to lend him the Ring. When that fails, he becomes angry, threatening violence.

" 'It is by our own folly that the Enemy will defeat us,' cried Boromir. 'How it angers me! Fool! Obstinate fool...It might have been mine. It should have been mine. Give it to me!' "

 
When Frodo escapes, Boromir tearfully comes to his senses. "What have I said?...What have I done? Frodo, Frodo!...Come back! A madness took over me, but it has passed."

2. Power, when it falls in your hands, must be "destroyed".

Good people who become powerful always vow to use their power for good. (Recall any presidential campaign speech you've ever heard.) Yet when one person can become too powerful, even when he means to do good. 

Of all the Elven kings and dwarf warriors and human heroes in Tolkien's tale, none is grander or more noble than Gandalf. Early in the story when Frodo realizes the magnitude of the ring that has fallen to his care, he tries to offer it to Gandalf. Gandalf's response is gripping:

"No!...With that power I should have a power too great and terrible. And over me the Ring would gain a power still greater and more deadly...Do not tempt me! For I do not wish to become like the Dark Lord himself. Yet the way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good. Do not tempt me!"

Gandalf knows there is only one thing to do with that kind of power, for its seduction is great even to those who wish to do good through it: destroy it.

3. Power is destroyed by distribution.

Tolkien's "One Ring" was dangerously corrupting because it nullified the other rings. It was a power that made ineffective all other power. It concentrated power on one individual-- the ring could be worn by but one finger. That is why it had to be destroyed. For us, power is destroyed by distribution.

If there was ever a man who could have accumulated power on earth, it was Jesus. Yet He consistently refused. He didn't take Satan's bait when offered the kingdoms of the world and He tried to keep news of His miracles (read "power") quiet. At what was likely His largest crowd miracle, the feeding of the five thousand in John 6, He tries to sneak away quietly. The mob tracks Him down and offers Him what for the Jew was the pinnacle of earthly power: the Messiah's crown. What does Jesus do? Preach his most offensive sermon (eating His flesh and drinking His blood-- forbidden by Levitical law) and lose almost all his followers. He was like in Dale Carnegie in reverse. 

Then within a week of entering Jerusalem-- finally a city where He would be noticed instead of the Galilean countryside-- He lets himself be betrayed by a friend and captured by the Romans. At the height of His power, Jesus laid His life down.

Even after resurrection, when "all authority in heaven and on earth" had been given to Him, what does He do? He gives it over to a band of over-zealous and slightly confused disciples. Jesus consistently refused to amass power; he continuously gave it away. 

I suspect He wants us to do the same.

There Are No Dead Churches

It is too easy to leave a church because it is "dead". It sounds much more spiritual than admitting some sort of consumer impulse in us to have it our way. If we pronounce a church "dead", we are by implication suggesting that we are not, that we are truly alive, that we really know what it means to experience God. God has graced us by placing our finger on the pulse of churches all across the world, letting us play coroner in an ecclesiastical morgue, guessing at the cause of death.

Ah, this one had too much tradition. Or, This one never taught the Bible verse by verse. Or This one didn't have enough open worship or room for the Spirit. 

But before we get carried away in spiritual superiority, it's worth asking ourselves what we mean when we say a church is dead. Consider this:

1. God is always present

Jesus said "for where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them" (Matt. 18:20).

Wherever God's people gather, whenever they gather, however they worship or how aware they are of God, God is there. 

God's presence is not contingent on our awareness. Remember Jacob who only after his stairway to heaven dream exclaimed, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it"(Gen. 28:16).  God's presence is often subtle and subversive. Think of the still, small voice Elijah almost didn't hear after the dramatic fire at Carmel. Think of the Son of God coming to earth as a Jewish baby born in a manger almost unnoticed by Herod from his opulent palace. God seems to specialize in being on the scene without fanfare and fireworks. 

2. God is always working

In Revelation 2 and 3 , Jesus speaks to 7 churches regarding their forsaken first-love, their endurance in the face of persecution, their idolatry, their immorality, their dying hearts, their fading strength, and their lukewarm faith. Chances are, if you or I went to any of these churches, we might never go back. We might pull out of the parking lot, shaking our heads, saying how sad it is that this once-great church is now dead. And yet...

None of these churches are dead. Even the one he calls "dead", He clarifies by calling them to "strengthen what remains and is about to die" (Rev. 3: 2). They are not dead for one simple reason: Christ is speaking to those churches. As much as they struggle with sin (immorality, idolatry, and adultery), as much as they struggle to keep a burning, living faith in the midst of their institutional development, Christ is still speaking. What's more, for some of them, if His warning is unheeded, Christ Himself will come to them!

When we call our church "dead", too often we are basing our assessment by what we see. And all we see is human activity. We see how people worship or if they don't. We see how many people are coming or if they are. We call a church dead because of human inactivity when what makes a church alive is God's activity. And God is always present and working.

If we are evaluating churches by human activity or its approximation to perfection, we would be more accurate to say that every church is, in a way, dead. It is a relational organism that even at a small size involves structure and order. That makes the church-- even a house church-- at some level institutional. Furthermore, since it involves humans, it's imperfect. If we are going to condemn a church for being institutional or sin-laden, what are we left with?

“What other church is there besides institutional? There’s nobody who doesn’t have problems with the church, because there’s sin in the church. But there’s no other place to be a Christian except the church. There’s sin in the local bank. There’s sin in the grocery stores. I really don’t understand this naïve criticism of the institution. I really don’t get it. Frederick von Hugel said the institution of the church is like the bark on the tree. There’s no life in the bark. It’s dead wood. But it protects the life of the tree within. And the tree grows and grows. If you take the bark off, it’s prone to disease, dehydration, death. So, yes, the church is dead but it protects something alive. And when you try to have a church without bark, it doesn’t last long. It disappears, gets sick, and it’s prone to all kinds of disease, heresy, and narcissism.” -Eugene Peterson

The church-- dead by our standards-- is necessary to protect the presence and activity of God among His people...

...and God's presence and activity among all His people means that no church is truly dead. 

It is only dead to our eyes.

The Shape of Pastoral Life

Over the course of our six-week sabbatical, it became evident that there was a theme to our reading, our reflection, our prayer, and to a certain extent even our experiences. We were discovering the shape of pastoral life. From our time in Vancouver Island, visiting Mark Buchanan's church, watching and conversing with a pastor who knows his people by name, to our time away in Florida reading Eugene Peterson's Under the Unpredictable Plant, where he tells the story of his 30 years of pastoral ministry and challenges a return to the sacredness of our call, pastoral ministry was at the core of our reflection and prayer. It even emerged from the pages of my recreational reading of choice, Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring-- though I'm certain it wasn't Tolkien's intent! More on that at some point.

So, over the next few posts, I want to share a few thoughts. Some of the things Holly and I read and reflected on are still fermenting in our hearts so to share them would be pre-mature. But other things have already begun to take root and might be worth a discussion.

Working the Angles was written by Peterson before Under the Unpredictable Plant, yet they share a similar core and expound on each other. In Working the Angles, the operating geometric metaphor for pastoral ministry is a triangle. In a triangle, the most obvious parts are the lines, yet what gives a triangle its shape are not it's lines, but its angles. So in pastoral ministry, the most obvious elements-- the lines-- are preaching, teaching, and administration. But what gives pastoral ministry its shape are less obvious, more hidden things. They are described in Working the Angles, but expounded on with personal story and the Jonah story as a metaphor in Under the Unpredictable Plant. Drawing on ideas from both, the angles that give pastoral ministry its shape are:

1. PRAYER

Praying the Psalms helps give shape to our language when we pray our own spontaneous prayers. The five Books in the Psalms were likely designed to be a partner to the five Books of the Torah. The Torah is God's speech to us; the Psalms are how we answer.

"I want to pray slowly and lovingly, so that my relation with God is inward an honest."

(Eugene in a talk with his Elders, told in Under the Unpredictable Plant, pg. 39)

Prayer is giving attention to God.

2. SCRIPTURE

In the study and the proclamation of Scripture, we do not handle the Bible as a textbook, extracting "principles" and "big ideas". We instead "turn eyes in to ears" and listen to God and His word to us. We enter the stories, immerse ourselves in the particularities of time and place and name, and let the Word enter us. For in "listening the speaker is in charge; in reading the reader is in charge." 

(Working the Angles, pg. 88)

"I want to study God's word long and carefully so that when I stand before you and preach and teach I will be accurate."

(Eugene in a talk with his Elders, told in Under the Unpredictable Plant, pg. 39)

The study and proclamation of Scripture is calling attention to God.

3. SPIRITUAL DIRECTION

Like Grape Nuts that is neither grape nor nuts, sometimes spiritual direction is neither "spiritual" nor directive. It is prayerfully and imaginatively sitting before people, attentive and in awe of what God is doing in them. We have learned how to study the text and see connections and cross-references. Can we learn to do the same with people?

"I want to be with [people], often and leisurely, so that we can recognize each other as close companions on the way of the cross and be available for counsel and encouragement to each other."

(Eugene in a talk with his Elders, told in Under the Unpredictable Plant, pg. 39)

Spiritual Direction is being attentive to what God is doing in people.

Summarizing Quotes:

"I want to be a pastor. I want to lead people in worship each Lord's Day in such a beautiful way that they will be brought into something larger and beautiful-- into God and His salvation...And I want to be with them through the days of the week at those times when they need verification and clarification of God's continuing work and will in their lives..."

(Under the Unpredictable Plant, pg. 173)

"What are the actual means by which I carry out this pastoral vocation, this ordained ministry, this professional commitment to God's word and God's grace in my life and in the lives of the people to whom I preach and give sacraments, among whom I command a life for others in the name of Jesus Christ?

"The answer among the masters whom I consult doesn't change: a trained attentiveness to God in prayer, in Scripture, in spiritual direction. This has not been tried and discarded because it didn't work, but tried and found difficult...and so shelved in favor of something or other that could be fit into a busy pastor's schedule...The fact is nobody has an aptitude for it. It is hard work. It is unglamorous work...Still...none of us can mature into excellence without a lifelong persistence of trained attentiveness to God."

(Working the Angles, pg. 16-17)

So help me, God.

What A Pastoral Sabbatical Means to Me

Tomorrow begins my first pastoral sabbatical. Every pastor at New Life who has been on staff for seven years or more is being given a one month sabbatical that can be combined with vacation time. Mine will be six weeks. I'm grateful for the time and want to be a good steward of it. So, here's what it means to me:

1. A time not to create but to enjoy what has been created.

I spend much of my energy creating. A sabbatical is  a time to remember that God is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. I create because He created and still creates. It's good to stop and watch God's creative work of revelation and redemption continue without me!

The places Holly and I have chosen to spend our time are places where God's creation is unmistakably on display. Between the three locations, we'll see mountains and beaches, colorful flowers and sandy white beaches. We'll feel the rain and taste salty water. And as we are stilled and hushed by God's work, I will remember how all my work is wrapped up in Him.

2. A time not to write or teach but to listen and learn.

Believe it or not, I won't blog, check email, write articles or anything close to it. As a teacher/pastor I find myself all too willing to offer advice, provide solutions, or attempt explanations. This will be a time of input not output.

There are a few books Holly and I will read together, some fiction, some non-fiction. There are also books we'll read on our own. We've carefully chosen subjects and themes that seem to be "right" for this season. We have also set aside a few mornings to meet with some of our mentors so we can be directed spiritually and prayerfully. 

3. A time not to work but to rest.

Ah, yes. Sleeping in. No early morning meetings, no need to rush out of the house. Long, leisurely breakfasts, and prolonged pajama time. Need I say more?

4. A time not to produce but to play.

I admit: I will be getting reacquainted with my PS3! But more than that, I am so looking for to playing with my girls...not just living around them...but living with them, reading to them; not worried about being productive, but being fully present.

Sophia (our almost-four-year old) said to me this week, "Dad, I can't wait for sabbatical!" Me too, dear.

5. A time not to react or respond, but initiate and pursue.

I won't be on Facebook, my phone will be off most of the time, and my laptop will be ignored. Why? Because I don't want to live reactively-- responding to questions or emails or texts. I want to initiate relationship. First with the Lord, but also with my wife. I want to dust off the art of pursuit. Living in a relationally reactive way has made my love lazy. To be free of contact that I do not initiate is to be free to pursue.

There you have it. Now, to be helpful to this sacred time, it would be wonderful to not come back to a barrage of voicemails or emails...either in my work email, my gmail, or my Facebook inbox. Please give me time to not be worried about the work that is piling up. Help my "re-entry" be smooth not stressful.

Thanks for listening and understanding. I am grateful for all my readers and friends.

Talk to you in May!!

Worship MVP-- Pt. 2 "The Worship Trainer"

[EDITOR'S NOTE: This is yet another hilarious spoof video done by the brilliant folks at theMILL. What if worship teams hired a trainer for their worship "performance"?] 

In Defense of Tradition

[EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a follow-up piece to my "Liturgy" post I wrote for Relevant's www.neueministry.com. Read it HERE.]

How Liturgy Can Save Your Soul

EDITOR'S NOTE: Some of you know that I am a regular contributor to www.neueministry.com. As strange as the name is, and as unclear as I still am on what it means, I know that the site is a resource to Relevant Magazine's network of churches and ministries. I've said before that I would occasionally link from my blog to their site if there was a post that might be of interest to you, my fabulously faithful readers. This week, my post on "How Liturgy Can Save Your Soul", is their feature article. 

Click HERE to read the post. I'd love your thoughts and comments.

Why I Now Read Fiction

I have always been a reader, but I haven't really been much of a fiction reader. At the risk of revealing my snobbery, I must confess that I used to think of fiction as a waste of time. I read for information. I want to learn! Who has time for silly stories?

Over the last few years, I've realized what a fool I've been for ignoring great stories. Here are just a few of the things I'm reminded of when I read good fiction:

The power of storytelling is not just in the story but in the telling. Not all fiction is created equal. Many stories rely on gimmicks and tricks, with more plot twists than a bubble gum blockbuster. No doubt, these stories are entertaining, but they will never be great. They acheive an emotional response by manipulating the reader not be truly letting him enter the story.

Take Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, which I only recently read. There's not much of a plot per se. An old man goes too far out to catch a fish too big and struggles with sharks and fatigue as he tries to make it home. But that's not it. The way Hemingway tells us the story makes us feel the cracking rope burn against our hands, taste the salty breeze on our parched lips, and rise up with the deterimination to conquer age and nature and all the criticisms of society.

Solzhenitsyn's One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich is, as you would guess a story of one day. Yet, that one day captures so beautifully all the agony and disappointment and hope of living in a Siberian concentration camp-- ordered by the country he had once fought for.

The lesson is simple: how we say something is every bit as important as what we are trying to say. How we do something matters as much as what it is we are trying to accomplish. This foolish pragmatism of having to learn something efficiently or communicate something directly robs us of the joy of life. And God's way of teaching us is usually not as direct as we'd like. Sometimes it takes 40 years of wandering to test our hearts and make us humble.

Every scene matters.  Telling a story well means treating every scene with equal delicacy. Tolstoy in Anna Karenina transports us to elegant parties in Moscow and peasant farms in the countryside with equal deftness. Each scene is described in detail, making them believable and "feel-able".

Good fiction doesn't tell you that the journey matters as much the destination; it shows you why by making you present in every step. Good fiction makes us slow down. Ah, to live that way!

The best characters are people you know.  (Or vice versa) In the movie, Shadowlands, the C.S. Lewis character says that we "read to know that we are not alone." Some people object to reading saying that they choose to live in the "real world" instead or to write their "own stories." But good fiction creates characters that remind you of someone you know and helps you to see them more deeply and more truly.

Our temptation is to turn the people around us into caricatures...to say that Bob is just an accountant, or Susan simply a mom. Or worse, we peg people by one or two traits, ignoring a host of others. Jill is a "neat freak". John is a porn addict. But no one is only those things. Every person is complex. Good fiction makes us see the characters in 3D or HD or both. We see their confidence and the underlying insecurity. We see the noble impulses and their base cravings. We see the imago dei and the carnality of flesh. This is what good characters do: they remind you that every human being is a rich, beautiful mess.

Holding up a mirror is better than breaking a window. The best fiction, though, reminds you of yourself. It makes you come clean about your hidden thoughts or motives. It makes you admit your fears and face your demons. We are not as pure as we imagine. We are not as hopeless as we feel.

The beauty of good fiction is it makes us face ourselves without our being threatened by a confrontation. Think of Nathan the prophet telling David the King that he has sinned against God by sleeping with Bathsheba and murdering an innocent man. It was the power of a story that allowed Nathan to lead David to see his own guilt-- though David didn't know it until Nathan said "You are that man!" Jesus repeatedly used obscure stories that unwittingly made listeners feel a knot in their gut. The pinch of the "Good Samaritan" story wasn't that Jews needed to help the poor; they already did that...and Pharisees were famous for doing so. By making the hero of His story a person that Jews despised-- the Samaritan-- Jesus subversively made them recognize their own prejudice without calling them bigots and hypocrites. (He saved that speech for later!)

A story is subversive. Rather than throwing a brick through a window in anger, a story holds up a mirror and leads to you to the truth. One has to do with confrontation, the other with confession.

Over the last few years, I've seen myself in Tolstoy's Levin (Anna Karenina), Huckleberry Finn, Ryan in Rob Stennett's The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher, Eustace, Jill, and all four of the Pevensie kids in Narnia. I am like the Hemingway's Old Man who goes out too far and gets more than he can handle; I am like Tobias Wolff's narrator who wrestles with his cultural roots in Old School.

I've still got loads of catching up to do, but with every page I can feel my life getting broader, and slower, and richer, and more honest. And those are all good things.

Practicing the Wrong Presence

Ask most charismatic church-goers what the focus of their worship service is and they will invariably say something about the presence of God.

"We just want God to show up."

"We want to make room for God to move."

"It's all about experiencing the presence of God."

It sounds so good, so spiritual, so other-wordly that we don't easily recognize how misguided it is.

Think about it: is there any doubt that God will be present?

First, we know from Psalm 139 that God is omnipresent. But secondly, through the promise Jesus gave in Matthew 18:20, we know that whenever believers gather-- whenever, not just when they sing-- God will be there in a special, more manifest way.

The focus of the Baal-worshippers at Carmel was to get Baal to do something, to act on their behalf. The Baal worshippers danced, chanted, cut themselves, cried out in loud voices, all to coax their god to make his presence felt. The scary thing is, if you take away the whole cutting bit, it sounds like a good revival service!

Contrast that scene to the one that follows with Elijah, the prophet of Yahweh. He simply speaks the word of God. God responds at Carmel with fire. But later, when Elijah is hiding in the cave, God speaks not in dramatic fashion, but with a still, small voice. God is present in both scenes but in very different ways. When we make the focus of our singing and dancing and worship the attempt to "experience God's presence", we fall in the trap of thinking God is present only when we "feel Him". But He is already there.

So, why do we sing and dance? Not to coax God into acting. Not to make ourselves feel His presence. We sing and dance-- and all the other physical activities-- to make ourselves more present to God, to engage God with our whole being. In a sense, the focus of the worship is not on whether God is present, but whether we are.

Are we really present to God? Our minds, our thoughts, our plans, our desires, our fears-- are all those things hidden and withheld from Him, or laid bare before Him? Are we presenting our whole lives to God? In Romans 12:1, Paul writes, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual act of worship."

The word Paul chose here for "worship" is latreia. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, that is the word chosen to describe the priestly functions of worship...and it's the word Paul used earlier in his letter describing Jewish Temple worship. Paul is saying that for New Testament believers, our worship is the presenting of our selves before God.

So, the next time you're in a worship service, stop worrying about whether God will show up or not. He will. God is present whether we feel Him or not. The only question that remains is whether we will be present to Him.

Secondhand Jesus

Hi friends,

This is a video explaining the core message of my new book, "Secondhand Jesus: Trading Rumors of God for a Firsthand Faith." I'd love it if you shared this video with all your friends. The book releases in June BUT you can pre-order it now by clicking here. 

I believe strongly in this message and hope it resonates with you.

"Don't look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don't fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention."
Matthew 7:13-14 (the Message)

"I admit I once lived by rumors of you; 
now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears!
I'm sorry—forgive me. I'll never do that again, I promise! 
I'll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor."
Job 42:5-6ish (the Message)

 

Famous Ones: Is Influence Overrated?

Hi friends and casual readers,

Over the next several weeks, I will be writing for Relevant Magazine's online resource for their network of ministries (www.neueministry.com). I will continue to post different blogs here, but from time to time I will provide a link from here to there...especially in weeks when I find it difficult to write two new posts! 

So, for this week, click here to read my first post, "Famous Ones: Is Influence Overrated?"  I would love it if you left a comment.

Peace,

Glenn

Why Resolutions Miss the Mark

So, any resolutions for the New Year?

That's the question on everyone's lips around here. Well, that and who the next coach of the Denver Broncos is going to be. 

Every January people start making lists, setting goals, and creating schedules for the New Year. In 2009, we're going to lose weight, read more books, pay off debt, and eat more vegetables. Our need for some sense of progress and improvement carries over into our so-called "spiritual lives". So we vow to read our Bibles more, pray an hour a day, spend more time with the family, stop being angry,  quit looking at porn, deepen our friendships, and become a better person overall. 

As good as it is to have goals, we inevitably fall short. Why does it seem that no matter how hard we try, we can't seem to make ourselves better? If Life gave out report cards, we would be lucky to hold a B average. 

What if the whole approach is off target? What if life-- and life with God-- is not first about progress and improvement?

The Bible has two favorite word pictures for our life with God. The first is of a potter and clay.

We are reminded that God is the potter and that we are the clay. Using this imagery, God rebukes Israel for trying to take over what only God can do:

"You turn things upside down as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'He did not make me'? Can the pot say of the potter, 'He knows nothing'?" (Is. 26:19)

Jesus picks up on this theme by pointing out the futility of worry:

"Which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" (Matt. 6: 27)

We cannot make ourselves more like Jesus any more than a lump of clay can make itself into a vase. We are not the initiator of change; we are the responder. From the picture of a potter and clay we learn the first reason resolutions often miss the mark:

1. God is in charge of the process and the progress; We are responsible for our response.

We often defend our addiction to progress with the word "growth". We need to grow this year-- that's why we have so many goals. The second Biblical image speaks to the concern for growth. Life with God is often pictured as a tree planted by streams. 

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him.

He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in the year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." (Jer. 17: 7-8)

Here again we are reminded that growth is God's work. But there is another lesson from the tree: 

2. Bearing fruit is a byproduct of faith in God.

Will our lives be different as a result of walking with God? Yes. Will we be changed to become more like Christ? Yes. Is that the point, the focus of our efforts? No. The point is faith-- trusting obedience-- in God. The point is relationship and connection. Growth, fruit, is the external result of an internal work. 

Paul places our work, our effort, in the context of God's work in us. 

"...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose." (Phil. 2:12b-13)

God is at work in us. And He is in charge of the process and the progress. That's why it's slightly misguided to set our own timelines for growth. Can we have goals? Yes. But maybe our goals should be more about how we can create space for God to work in our lives, how we put down roots by the River, how we can respond to His molding. 

I ran into a friend at a coffee shop this morning and he told me that at the beginning of every year he and his wife ask the Lord what He wants from them this year. I love that phrase. Rather than coming up with a list of goals and targets that we bring to God, how about asking Him to make us aware of what He's doing in our lives and how we can respond accordingly?

Happy New Year, friends. May He who "began a good work in you...carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus". (Phil. 1:6) 

Missing the Messiah

Last blog, we began by asking how people who were looking, waiting, expecting, hoping for a Messiah completely missed Him. Herod was on top of the list of those "absent at advent"-- chiefly because of his control issues. 

But there is another group of people conspicuously missing at the manger: the teachers and chief priests. When the wise men came to Herod saying they had seen the star in the east and asked where the Messiah was to be born, Herod consulted the brightest and best scholars.

"3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: 
 6" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, 
      are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; 
   for out of you will come a ruler 
      who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'" " (Matthew 2:3-6)

A few observations about the chief priests and teachers of the law at the first Christmas:

They were quick with their answer but slow in their pursuit. It's strange to me that despite knowing the location of the Messiah's birth, despite hearing about the star in the east, nothing is recorded about their desire to go and see the Messiah. 

They were content with their knowledge. No movement, no questions on their part, no desire to know more. It's as if their answers made them feel so good they forgot the weight of the original question: "Where is the one born King of the Jews?"

It's a tragedy of the New Testament that the ones who knew the most and sought to obey the best found themselves as the antagonists to the Son of God. How is it the such great knowledge translated into so little faith?

I have been in vocational ministry for almost a decade. A large part of what I do at New Life involves training worship leaders for local churches through the New Life School of Worship. I know from my experience that being surrounded by teaching about God and talk about God doesn't automatically mean that I'm growing to know Him.

Our knowledge about God must lead us to a pursuit of Him.

For all that we know about the Christmas story, are we turning aside, coming away to "Bethlehem" to come and see, behold, adore Jesus?

For all the insight into Scriptures, and understanding of culture and language, are we missing the Messiah the Scriptures speak of?

Knowledge about God and knowledge of God are not mutually exclusive.  They can go hand in hand. Jesus said that all the Law and the Prophets speak of Him. So, friends, let's allow our knowledge lead us to faith, and let our faith lead us to pursuit.

Merry Christmas from the Packiam family! 

Christ has come and Christ will come again. 

I'm going to take a two-week break from blogging over the holidays. Talk to you in 2009!

Absent at Advent: How We Miss God's Arrival

This Christmas, as images of wise men and shepherds, and Mary and Joseph and animals and baby Jesus cover our refrigerators with all the familiar greetings of the season, what strikes me is all the people who aren’t part of the Christmas Story.

No doubt you’ve heard sermons on the unlikely cast of characters who found themselves in the thick of God’s arrival on earth. Lowly shepherds who were serenaded by angels, wise men from faraway lands, and, of course, young Joseph, and his pregnant-out-of-wedlock wife, Mary.

But what about all those who weren’t there but could have been or maybe should have been?

The real mystery of the first Christmas is how people who were longing, praying, hoping, looking for the Messiah missed Him.

Top on the list for me is Herod. Here’s a guy who hears about the star and all the prophecies about where the Messiah was to be born and yet instead of being remotely glad becomes insanely insecure…and then brutally murderous.

So, who was Herod?

• His father was a weak, but brilliantly manipulative king and high priest
• When his brother took power from him, he eventually sought help from Rome, the rising power in the East. Each Roman leader—culminating with the great Julius Caesar—gave Herod’s father the sacred and respected role among Jews as High Priest.
• As part of his father’s ambitious plans, Herod was made governor of Galilee at only 25.
• Herod impressed Roman rulers with the way he collected taxes and suppressed revolts—two things Rome valued highly.
• When Cassius and Brutus murdered Julius Caesar, they allied with Herod, giving him a larger governorship, knowing that he could generate revenue for them until they killed Antony and Octavian. But when Cassius was defeated by Antony, Herod aligned himself with Antony and Octavian, instead, allowing them and the Roman senate to anoint him “King of Judea”.
• Through a strategic marriage and a display of brutal betrayals and murders, Herod finally became “King of the Jews”.
• During the later period of his reign, around the time of Christ's birth, Herod wrote 6 wills, changing the succession plan. He had 10 wives who each had sons that they wanted to be the next King, but Herod was determined to script the outcome.

To Herod, control was everything.

Herod was a scheming, ambitious man, who, upon gaining power, became insecure, angry, and vengeful.  He lived by the sword and was afraid of dying by the sword.

Herod was absent at Advent because he was too afraid of losing control.

It wasn’t that Herod somehow missed the memo that the Messiah was born. In fact, it was precisely because Herod suspected that the Messiah had come that he acted the way he did: deceitful and murderous. Herod had manipulated people and situations, sold out friends and relatives, used his own marriage to his own political ends all to become the “King of the Jews”. He wasn’t about to let some newborn baby undo all of it.

So, here’s the question for us: Are we too in love with being in control that we might miss what God is doing right under our noses?

The other night, our two girls, Sophia (3) and Norah (2), somehow ended up in our bed right around midnight. It was fun for the first 10 minutes, but then I was ready to go to sleep. But I was too tired too really do anything about it…and Holly wasn’t moving either! As I lay there half-asleep, wrestling with whether or not to strong-arm the kids and restore control in our house, I heard Sophia whisper to Norah, “Love you, Norah.” “Luvoo Fia,” came the reply. Tears welled up in my eyes. It was the most beautiful little scene. Surely God was in this place…and I almost missed it!

Then the girls started tickling each other, and screaming and giggling, and eventually I needed to get Norah back to her crib. But what if I had reached for control sooner? I might have missed a little piece of God’s activity.

Advent is the season where we remember Christ coming to earth. But Advent happens all around us. God is coming to us in little smiles and heartfelt hugs, in needy families and single mothers. All around us are signs of God’s arrival. But we could miss it if we cling too tightly to control.

In a way, Herod got it right: the real King had arrived, and He had every intention of dethroning Herod. God has come, and He has come to rule our hearts, to take control. But every time we cling to control and close our fists or shut our eyes or withhold love when we have the chance to freely give, we will miss what God is doing in the earth, miss His very arrival on the scenes of our lives. We will be absent at Advent.

 

New Christmas Song: "Gloria (Mary's Song)"

In the spirit of the holiday season, I thought I'd post a new song I wrote for an Integrity Christmas project that will release next year. The song is from Mary's perspective... imagining her emotions, borrowing from her song in Matthew. This demo is just a rough recording I did on good ole GaragaBand with the wonderful Bekah Ham singing on it. Feel free to use it if you'd like. 

Click on the link below to hear the song....the lyrics and chords are below.

Download Christmas song (mary) 3 

"Gloria (Mary's Song)"

Words and music by Glenn Packiam

Copyright 2008, Vertical Worship Songs

VERSE 1:

C                        G/B

Staring at the stars tonight

Am7                     Em7

Feeling so alone inside

F                      C/E                             Dm7

I’m not sure You are here with me

 

C                        G/B

Carrying this child in me

Am7                        Em7

Is it true, how can it be?

     F                                  C/E                   Dm7

Is this Your plan to save humanity?

 

CHORUS:

                          F            F4  C

            Singing Gloria

                        F F4            C

            In the highest

            (repeat)

 

VERSE 2:

C                       G/B

Suddenly an angel’s voice

Am7                        Em7

Singing to the world, “Rejoice!”

F                       C/E                                    Dm7

Light of God, breaking through the clouds

 

C                               G/B

Now behold the baby’s face

Am7                        Em7

Picture of the Father’s grace

F                      C/E                    Dm7

God is here, night is over now

 

CHORUS:

                          F            F4  C

            Singing Gloria

                        F F4            C

            In the highest

            (repeat)

 

BRIDGE:

G                        F              C

My soul magnifies the Lord

       G                     F                        C              G

My spirit rejoices in God, my Savior

G                F               C

I’ll magnify the Lord

        G                     F                      C/E            Dm7

And I will rejoice in God, my Savior

Live from Singapore!

OK...sorry for the delay, our schedule here has been a little full...and I've have Holly and the girls with me in our hotel so time on the Mac is sparse. 

Thursday night at the famous Singapore Night Safari was simply spectacular. Wish I had pics, but we forgot our camera! The kids loved it...elephants, hippos, rhinos...and the fearsome Malayan tiger. I must admit, I was afraid the hyenas were going to pounce on us. You see, the Night Safari has no cages around the animals...with a few exceptions (the Tiger being one). 

The Assemblies of God conference here was really good...especially the night rallies. Today, we got to lead at the home church of the AG Superintendent. Really col experience. There were some AG pastors from Vietnam who joined us this morning...they had been at the conference as well. One pastor shared how for some 30 years the Church in Vietnam had endured persecution. He said that every Sunday they would end up being taken to the police station. Can you imagine? Needless to say, we were all really moved by hus faith and commitment to Christ. And we rejoice with them that they now have the freedom to worship God.

How's that for perspective?

Meanwhile, in my world of vanity, tonight, a really nice guy let me borrow his sweet silver Gretch and Top Hat amp so I can add some beef to the music and free Chad up to do what Chad does best. I'm not sure if it was because of the Gretch in my hands or the fact that was the last night of the conference...or all the youth that responded to Ross's invitation to fill the front...but the worship service felt great. (Not that it's about feelings, either! :) )

Well....it was fun showing the guys around Orchard Road...the heart of Singapore's downtown...and watching them try local food. In a few hours, someone's coming to pick us up and take us to the airport. Holly and I changed our flights so we're coming home earlier than expected, but it's for the better. 

I have a feeling we'll be back to Singapore and Malaysia a lot more frequently in the coming years. 

Live From Malaysia! (Pt. 3)

We had a fantastic day yesterday. We took the girls to an incredible aquarium in downtown Kuala Lumpur. It's connected to the two towers, which are the tallest buildings in the world. This was easily the best aquarium Holly and I had ever been to. There were large tanks of underwater creatures whose native environments range from oceans to the mighty Amazon river. The highlight, though, was a massive glass tunnel you walk under with sharks and gigantic stingray swimming overhead and on either side. 

Though Sophia was willing to pet a baby Tiger Shark, both girls more naturally gravitated to the friendlier turtles, of both the sea and land varieties, all of  whom they insisted on calling "Tiny Tim".

We spent a few hours shopping afterward. (What would the tallest buildings in the world be without a six-story luxury mall?) Decent deals. Found a few good things and some essentials-- especially since Holly's luggage still had not arrived. Word is it is on it's way to our house even as I write. Sophia and Norah are quick learners at how the whole shopping thing works. I was wishing I had my camera at a store called "Zara". They had somehow slipped their feet into a couple pairs of $400 shoes, and a slung a stylish, overpriced handbag over their shoulders to complete the ensemble. Their dream day ended when the security guard politely asked that they stop. Now. 

Today was much more laid back. In the morning, we visited the school my mom founded and runs. The kids performed their end of the year program for us (the Malaysian school year ends in November), complete with Malay, Chinese, and hip-hop dances. Then Holly, the girls, and I went to the pool for a late morning swim. Good times. Here are some pics of us eating "roti canai", a traditional Malaysian breakfast. These pics are from our first day here.

Tomorrow, all four of us head to Singapore to meet up with Ross Parsely, Matthew Fallentine, Daniel Grothe, and Chad Tipps. We're leading worship for an Assemblies of God pastors conference in Singapore called "Fresh Fire". Should be fun. I'll try to holler from there. We'll get back to my parent's place on Monday.

Oh...the bag arrived! One full week late....through Frankfurt and Saudi Arabia...Man, if the stories this bag could tell!

Peace.

Live From Malaysia! (Pt. 2)

Well, last night was the conclusion of an amazing three days with the wonderful folks at DUMC. The conference began Friday night. As I walked in, I was greeted with the sounds of our new "Counting on God" CD blaring through the sound system. Next on the playlist was a little Kari Jobe and the fine folks at Gateway Church...Just can't get away! :)

The worship team from the church (DUMC) got things kicked off in the right way with a fabulous time of worship. I preached for about 45 minutes and then went out with the team for more yummy Malaysian food. Saturday morning involved two back-to-back teaching sessions with me and a traditional Malaysian breakfast in between-- nasi lemak, for all my Malaysian blog readers. That afternoon, I met with the band and singers to rehearse the songs for that evening's Celebration Service. I was blown away by how well they had prepared-- every riff was meticulously noted and wonderfully executed. I felt right at home. For the Saturday evening church service, I led three songs and then preached for about 45 minutes. Then Holly and I joined the DUMC Worship team for the most fantastic Malaysian late night supper-- roti canai and nasi kandar. (If it sounds like we're eating all the time, it's because we are! And I love it!)

The Sunday morning service was a repeat of the same worship set, but a new sermon. At this point, I was tired of hearing myself talk-- and hoping no one else was feeling the same way! Then, we wrapped up the weekend with an awesome 2-hour worship set that night. It was a very meaningful time...and very special for me. We even changed a lyric of "Your Name" for the hometown crowd: "Your name...let Malaysians sing it louder!" Oh yeah. It was special. :)

After it was all over, we had one last late night meal with the team: Satay, another Malaysian favorite. I then headed back to the hotel and stayed up all night following the Bronco game online. Fortunately, they rewarded my devotion with a dramatic, come-from-behind win.

Anyway, we're all back at my parents' home now. Holly's luggage will arrive tonight. The kids are well, though Norah's sleep schedule has been a little off. That's all for now. Maybe the next post will include some pics and videos of food and family.

Live from Malaysia! (Pt. 1)

33 hours of traveling. With two kids under the age of four. Yup. My wife and I are insane.

Nevertheless, we made it to Malaysia. The flights were great and Sophia and Norah proved to be natural globe-trotters. We got the front row of our cabin, and, since we strategically chose the two aisle seats of the middle section and one of inside seats while leaving the other inside seat empty, we managed to actually got all four seats of that row to ourselves. Guess no one wanted to sit between a couple of kids. 

We landed in Singapore at midnight and checked into a transit hotel for a few hours. The Changi airport in Singapore is like one-part 5-star hotel, one-part luxury mall. Too bad we were too wasted to actually enjoy it. Early the next morning we got up and got ready to fly to Malaysia. As soon as we landed, my parents surprised us at the gate. As it turns out, they have some friends who can pull a few strings! Our first stop from the airport was a place that serves my favorite Malaysian breakfast/brunch: roti canai. Instead of plates, meals are served on a gigantic banana leaf-- something Sophia found especially fascinating. I might have overdone it with the eating, but, man did it taste good! 

The good food kept on coming. My mom pulled out all the stops for dinner. It was so good to be in our home.

The one setback has been that Holly's luggage somehow did not get loaded on the plane in Denver-- courtesy of United Airlines. Trying to get a hold of someone who knows what's going on and can help has been an exercise in futility. It seems the airline-airport blame game can produce a run-around of internationally epic proportions. Oh well. Hopefully it will get here soon.

Tonight begins the first session of the conference at a really fantastic church in Malaysia called DUMC-- Damansara Utama(the name of the region) Methodist Church. Registration so far is near 600. Attendees are coming from about 25 different churches. I'm pretty pumped about it. It is such an incredible honor to be back and to have been asked to speak into the worship ministries here. I get emotional thinking about it. 

Part of the emotion is also in seeing Sophia and Norah running around in the very environment and culture I was a child in. And part of the emotion is the lingering effects of jet lag. 

OK, that's all for now.

Peace.

Are We Too In Love With A Nation?

Like most of America, I was in front of my TV on Tuesday night. As it became clear that Senator Obama was going to make history as the first minority president, I felt a mix of emotions. I was excited to witness this landmark moment yet slightly disappointed in the outcome because of the potential of certain policy implications. But I was not surprised by his victory. His campaign was near flawless, his strategy shrewd, and his speeches downright inspiring.

What was surprising was the reaction of so many Christians on Wednesday morning. I heard words like “anti-Christ” and “persecution” and “end times” thrown around so much you’d think we were living in a Tim LaHaye-Jerry Jenkins book. The kind of fear, panic, despair—even anger—I saw in some Christians post-elections is a tell-tale sign that they have put too much stock in a government, or even in a nation.

Is it possible to love a nation too much? Is it possible to love a nation so much that we’re confused about our identity?

Don't get me wrong. I love America. I would rather be here than in any other nation in the world. It is a truly beautiful, remarkable nation. So, let me explain. God’s master plan is, has been, and always will be to rescue and redeem all of humanity. His first vehicle was the nation of Israel. Through all of Israel’s difficulty and oppression, they often lost sight of that. In N. T. Wright’s words, Israel asked, “How is God going to rescue Israel?” But Jesus revealed that the question should be “How is God going to rescue the whole world through Israel and thereby rescue Israel itself as part of the process…?” God’s plan was always to rescue and redeem the whole world. That plan began with one nation.

When Jesus arrived, he showed that HE in himself would fulfill all that Israel could not and in himself rescue the whole world. From Jesus onward, God’s vehicle on earth is no longer a nation, but a New People from every nation—the Church.

Another way to say this is that the Church is to the New Testament era what Israel was to the Old Testament era. We know this. Or so we say. And then every time there is a prayer meeting for America, Christians reach for 2 Chronicles 7: 14, claiming that if we humble ourselves, God will hear from heaven and heal our land, i.e. America. Let me point out the faulty logic. If the phrase “My people” is a reference to the Church, then the phrase “their land” must also be a reference to the Church. After all, if you asked an Israelite of Solomon’s day who “My people” or “their land” referred to, they would say, to Israel. So, if we’re going to apply “My people” to the Church, then we must also apply “their land” to the Church and our spiritual inheritance. You can’t keep quoting Old Testament verses about Israel’s rulers and applying them to America. To say it bluntly, America is not the new Israel. St. Paul makes it abundantly clear that that designation belongs to the Church. Neither should we take phrases that were said about the Church and apply them to America. America is not called to be a city on a hill. Jesus said those words to HIS followers—HIS disciples, the men and women who would become the Church.

To me, the debate about whether or not the Founding Fathers were Christians or had intentions of founding a Christian nation is largely irrelevant. Has it occurred to you that even if the Founding Fathers intended to create a Christian nation, that they could have been wrong for trying? The Founding Fathers, after all, for all their faith or lack of it, are not the Holy Apostles of the Church. If their quest was to found a nation on Christian values, they might have been misguided in that quest since God no longer works through one nation.

The Kingdom of God is not advanced by geo-political nation states. The New People of God—the Holy Nation and Royal Priesthood St. Peter refers to 1 Peter 2:9—are no longer people of one particular race or nationality. We are men and women from every tribe and tongue. I wonder if it is to any Kingdom benefit who is in the White House. God does not think in nation-states; he sees individuals.

The Kingdom has been advanced by the Church regardless of what political state the nation was in. After all, as my wife reminded me on election night, for most of my childhood, I grew up in a nation where the Prime Minister was always a Muslim. And the Church in Malaysia rose to the challenge.

I cant’ say whether or not the end is really here. But to say that the end is near just because a leader is in office who doesn’t represent values many Christians hold dear is simply foolishness. By that gauge, the end was nearer in the A.D. 60s when Nero intensely persecuted Christians. We would do well to hear again St. Paul’s words to the Church in Philippi, suffering (most likely) under Nero’s rule:

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” (Phil. 3:20-21)

This is not Paul saying the world here and now doesn’t matter and I can’t wait to get out of here. This is Paul using Roman language (like “Lord” and “Savior”, designations Romans used for Caesar, and “citizenship”, which Philippians would have understood, having been colonized by Rome and granted Roman citizenship) to say the invasion of God’s Kingdom has begun. And His vehicle is not an empire or a nation; it is the Church.

We cannot be so in love with a nation that we miss the Kingdom—and the vehicle God has chosen to advance His Kingdom: us, the Church.

Why Loving the World is a Waste of Time

It is not enough to say that we have love. 

Many would-be reformers of society have claimed a great love for humanity, but their lives tell a different story. Take, for example, the great nineteenth century English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley believed that poets were the “unacknowledged legislators of the world” and that poetry could “push forward the moral progress of civilization.” His poetry lived up to his own high expectations of the art, and most of his works were highly moral and political. He wrote of an uprising against oppression, of the freedom and equality of all human beings, and he imagined a mythical being “leading humanity to utopia on earth.” He called his readers “to join him in his righteous utopia.”

Shelley’s personal life, however, was littered with the casualties of the men and women who loved him but whom he eventually destroyed. He was estranged from both parents and his first marriage lasted only three years (producing two children) before he left his wife for another woman. After marrying his mistress, he had other sexual affairs, abandoned an illegitimate child, left his debts unpaid, and fleeced friends and family members for money.

In his sobering work, Intellectuals, Paul Johnson writes that Shelley was “capable of feeling for, in the abstract, the whole of suffering humanity, yet finding it manifestly impossible, not once but scores, hundreds of times, to penetrate imaginatively the minds and hearts of all those people with whom he had daily dealings.” Johnson is a fan of Shelley’s poetry, but he summarizes Shelley’s life in this way:

"Shelley [was] astonishingly single-minded in the pursuit of his ideals but ruthless and even brutal in disposing of anyone who got in his way. Like Rousseau, he loved humanity in general but was often cruel to human beings in particular. He burned with a fierce love but it was an abstract flame and the poor mortals who came near it were often scorched. He put ideas before people and his life is a testament to how heartless ideas can be."

Shelley’s life is not an anomaly. 

Many intellectuals who dreamed of shaping society and revolutionizing the world were famous for “loving humanity” but loving no actual human being. Karl Marx, whose Communist Manifesto was driven by his alleged love for the worker, knew only one member of the working class well: Helen Demuth, known as “Lenchen,” his wife’s servant. Marx had an affair and a child with her (a son, whom he never publicly acknowledged), and despite his concern for the working class, he never paid Lenchen a penny. It’s no wonder that Marx’s theoretical society, when implemented by Lenin, Stalin, and Mao, created horrifying political regimes that resulted in the most catastrophic human casualties of modern history. If we are to create lasting change, we must not be reformers moved chiefly by ideas; we must be moved, as Christ was, by love—not for humanity in general, but for the people we know in particular.

It is impossible for us to love the world. Only God can accomplish this feat—because he is able to be with every person simultaneously. We cannot love “the lost,” or “humanity,” or “our generation.” 

We can only love the specific people who surround us at home, at work, or wherever we find ourselves. The needs of specific people are now within our reach through the wonder of technology. We can save a child in Africa-- a child that has a name and a story. But loving “the world” is a great misunderstanding of Christianity that has deterred many from simple service and ordinary kindness to the people right in front of them. “Universal love” does not inspire meaningful action.

Love must be here and now with the people in front of you.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: This is yet again another excerpt from my book, Butterfly in Brazil, taken from Chapter 12: Love and War.]

A Journal From Africa

A friend of mine who works with an amazing orphan ministry recently took a trip to Uganda. Here is a link to his daily journal. It will blow you away.

www.danieljclark.com 

"Worship MVP"

This is a hilarious spoof video made by the brilliant folks at theMILL.

Imagine that worship services were a sporting event, complete with commentators, stats, and worshippers with competitive attitudes that rival Terrell Owens'. Then watch this and laugh your head off. 

From Moses to Google: When Unity Isn't the Answer

The most common way we become an obstacle to Christ’s work is actually disguised as Christian virtue. It stirs the emotions of tender-and-almost-bleeding-hearted believers everywhere. It comes in the language of unity. No doubt you’ve heard it.

“All denominations should go away; we should all just work as one.”

“We should just have one main church, one main missions organization, with one person in charge, or a committee where everyone has a say.  We don’t need all these different ministries or organizations.”

“We need a city-wide rally where all the churches come together for a night of worship.”

The list is long. But if you listen closely, the plea is not truly for unity; it is for uniformity. It is not for collaboration; it is for control. It is not for single-mindedness; it is for “sameness”. 

When unity comes to mean sameness, unity is no longer the answer. 

When unity is about one method, one organization, or one event, it elevates a person. When unity is about one desire, one mission, or one goal, it elevates a purpose.

The diversity and dissimilarity of the Body of Christ is not its weakness; it is its greatest strength. We don’t all need to follow the same methods or the same human leader, or participate in the same program or campaign. We don’t even need to sing the same songs. [Ouch. That one’s going to hurt me personally.]

Diversity—whether applied to races, cultures, or ways of following Christ—is an idea we love to talk about and swear allegiance to with our lips, but one that we have great difficulty actually embracing. We like the way we are. And deep down we wish everyone else could be as wonderful as we are. It’s one thing when we choose our friends by the things we share in common. It’s good to have a select few whom we connect with, ones with whom we will walk through life. It’s even better to be able to work with our friends. There is nothing like linking arms with our best friends and working toward a common goal. Indeed, if we are going to last we have to have those kinds of people around us. But if we limit the spread of our cause to people just like us, we’ve missed the whole point of having others involved. When we look to advance Christ’s work and create lasting change by reproducing ourselves, the temptation is strong to reproduce ourselves exactly. We tend to find people who are like us or to persuade everyone to adopt our methods and approach.

Appreciating and allowing diversity is only the first step. It must also be empowered.

The strength of diversity is only fully seen when control is decentralized. James Suroweicki elaborates on the brilliance of decentralized decision-making and problem-solving in The Wisdom of the Crowds. Suroweicki defines the concept as a system, organization, or company where “power does not fully reside in one central location, and many of the important decisions are made by individuals based on their own local and specific knowledge rather than by an omniscient or farseeing planner.” (Suroweicki, pg. 70-71) Two important benefits immediately surface. First, decentralizing “fosters, and in turn is fed by specialization—of labor, interest, attention, or what have you.” (Suroweicki, pg. 71) By individuals narrowing their scope and becoming better at specific tasks, the collection of individuals becomes more knowledgeable, efficient, and productive. It also has the potential of increasing the diversity of opinions and information, as they can be as many unique approaches and perspectives as there are people within the system. Which leads to the second benefit, a concept economist Friedrich Hayek described as tacit knowledge. (Suroweicki, pg. 71) Suroweicki explains:

Tacit knowledge is knowledge that cant easily be summarized or conveyed to others, because it is specific to a particular place or job or experience, but it is nonetheless tremendously valuable…Connected with this is the assumption that is at the heart of decentralization, namely that the closer a person is to a problem, the more likely he or she is to have a good solution to it. This practice dates back to ancient Athens, where decisions about local festivals were left up to the demes, as opposed the Athenian assembly, and regional magistrates handled most nonserious crimes. It can also be seen in Exodus, where Moses’ father-in-law counseled him to judge only in “great matter[s]” and to leave all other decisions to local rulers. (Surweicki, pg. 71)

I’m sorry. Did I read that right? Did a business column staff writer for the New Yorker just cite Exodus for leadership insight? Perhaps we should have started with Jethro’s advise to Moses, found in Exodus 18, so you don’t think I’m simply grabbing trendy business concepts and trying to baptize them into Christian culture. Perhaps it is Western culture that has grabbed timeless Judeo-Christian truths, drained them of their spiritual implications and demands, and laid them as the foundations for life. Back to decentralization. In summary, our new favorite writer concludes: 

"Decentralization’s greatest strength is that it encourages independence and specialization on the one hand while still allowing people to coordinate their activities and solve difficult problems on the other. Decentralization’s greatest weakness is that there’s no guarantee that valuable information which is uncovered in one part of the system will find its way through the rest of the system….What you’d like is a way for individuals to specialize and to acquire local knowledge—which increases the total amount of information available in the system—while also being able to aggregate that local knowledge and private information into a collective whole, much as Google relies on the local knowledge of millions of Web-page operators to make Google searches ever-smarter and ever-quicker. (Surweicki, pg. 71-71)"

Releasing control and empowering individuals allows a system or a cause to harness the power of each individual’s specialization and tacit knowledge. You could say then that the test of our belief in the blessing of diversity is in our willingness to let others lead, work, and use their uniqueness for the cause.

[This blog is an adapted excerpt from Chapter 11 of my book Butterfly in Brazil: How One Life Can Make a World of Difference.]

Why "Overcome" Means So Much to New Life Church

 

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THE NEW IQ: Why Your Child May Be Smarter Than You Think

[Editor's Note: This is a guest post from Dr. Tracy Alloway, a leading researcher in the field of cognitive development. Apart from being featured in the BBC, US News, ABC, NBC, Forbes and other major news networks for her groundbreaking research, tests, and intervention programs, she is also my older sister!]

Have you noticed that your daughter is a whiz at remembering lyrics to a song yet can never remember her multiplication tables?  Do you find that your son can recite lines from a movie but can’t follow simple instructions? Why is it that your child can spend hours playing a video game but gets frustrated after a short time on their homework?

Working Memory is the answer.

Working Memory is our brain’s ‘post-it note’. We make mental scribbles of bits of information we need to remember and also work with that information. For example, if you were baking a cake that fed only two people, but you had four people coming to dinner, you need working memory to remember the ingredients and to multiply them in your head so that everyone gets a slice. Without it we would be lost literally, we wouldn’t be able to juggle directions in our head to get to that important meeting at a new location and would forget important phone numbers and contacts. Working memory is just as critical for a variety of activities at school, from complex tasks like reading comprehension and mental math, to simple activities such as navigating around the school and taking the right books for homework.

There are three key facts about the impact of working memory on learning:

1. Working memory is the #1 predictor of learning success. IQ tests only measure knowledge that a child has already learned, while working memory tests are a pure measure of a child's learning potential. Working memory is not linked to social or financial background. Working memory levels the playing field.

2. Scientific research shows that 1 in 10 children have a low working memory. In a study of over 4000 children, I found that 10% to 15% of children have working memory impairments that lead to severe learning difficulties, including poor grades.

3. A child with a low working memory will not ‘catch up’ with their peers. Without intervention, they will continue to struggle in all areas of learning. In a recent study, I found that teenagers who were diagnosed with low working memory two years earlier were still performing very poorly in school compared to their peers.

Imagine your 7-year old child struggling to succeed in a class of 10-year olds. That’s what is it like for someone who is not reaching their working memory potential.

The question is: can we increase our working memory space?

Brain training is a growing and exciting new area in scientific research. In particular, there is a lot of evidence of our brain’s plasticity: that it can actually change—shrink or grow—depending on what we do. For example, there are studies that show taxi drivers brains "grow on the job" as they build up detailed information they need to navigate around a city.

This has powerful implications for learning. If our brains keep growing as adults, it is so much more important to train our children’s brains while they are still developing. One effective program to improve your child’s working is JungleMemory©. It is fun and interactive online training program based on cutting-edge science. Your child plays games that train working memory in key learning activities, like reading and math.

Benefits of JungleMemory©:

§  Scientifically designed to increase working memory and learning

§  Trains both verbal and visual memory for a complete brain workout

§  Games are engaging, with bonus features to motivate the player

§  Get detailed feedback on daily training sessions

Try a free demo here: http://www.junglememory.com

If you would like to find out more information on my research, click here:

www.dur.ac.uk/t.p.alloway

BIO

Tracy Alloway

Tracy Packiam Alloway, Ph.D., is a senior research psychologist at Durham University, UK. Her research involves government-funded projects on how working memory affects learning. She is the author of numerous academic articles and books on working memory in children with ADHD, language impairments, dyspraxia, and learning disorders. She has developed the world’s first standardized working memory tests for educators published by Pearson. Her research has received widespread international coverage, appearing in Reuters, Scientific American, US News, Forbes, ABC News, NBC, and the Guardian, to name a few. She has also been interviewed on the BBC television and radio as an expert on working memory in the classroom.

New CD from NewLifeWorship

Pastor of the Universe

Pastors like power. It would be absurd to pretend that pastors are immune to the allure of power. We are not. In the name of “influence” and “expanding the Kingdom”, some pastors say yes to interviews they shouldn’t have, accept roles they cannot truly fill, and answer complex issues with a certainty that no human possesses. Why? I suspect it’s because we want to be bigger than we are.

It’s this subtle monster, hidden in the caverns of a pastor’s heart, that Rob Stennett addresses so well in his satirical The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher. It’s the story of a realtor in Denver who gives his business a second life thanks to the Christian Business Directory. Even though Ryan is not a Christian, he poses as one after discovering that Christians tend to give their business to other Christians without much due diligence. Eventually, Ryan realizes that his people skills and winsome charm would make him a great senior pastor. Besides, pastors are loved by the people they seem to help. So, Ryan and his wife Katherine—who is a wonderfully complex character—move to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, to plant a church. With fake credentials and a winning church growth plan, the church thrives. Fisher’s rise to becoming the America’s Most Loved Pastor is unlikely as it is unnerving.

Stennett’s prose is intentionally clumsy at points, giving the story all the charm and awkwardness of an average suburban couple who makes the move to rural America. Full of impossibly long sentences and run-away thoughts, a reader will feel like he’s listening more than learning. There were definitely sections where I laughed out loud.

But the humor and the quirky narrative style are disarming. The book, at its heart, is a cautionary tale. It warns of what can happen when a person stops being a carrier of God’s presence and message and begins to become a God-like figure. In the book’s most poignant scene, Ryan, countering his wife’s rebuke that he is trying to play God and help people with problems only God can solve, retorts:

“I’m better than God. God can’t help them…I can change their lives.”

Stennett holds the reader’s hand at just the right moment, helping them see the point:

“At that moment Ryan seemed less human than Katherine had ever seen him. His face was hollow and his eyes were clear. The last few months had stretched his soul so thin that it looked as if it were paper dipped in bacon grease. It was suddenly clear to Katherine. The problem wasn’t that he didn’t believe in God. The problem was that he believed he was God.” (Stennett, pg. 281, emphasis mine)

I must confess that the latter portions of the book were eerily familiar. Because I know Rob, I know his intent was not to defame or be opportunistic. In fact, the bulk of the book was written before the events at our church unfolded almost two years ago. But his familiarity with the context only helps his message. Rob nails church life, church growth techniques, challenges and strategies with the kind of clarity and precision that only comes from being a pastor’s kid and from having worked in a large church. If you can pretend that “any resemblance to real people is incidental and unintentional”, you can get to the heart of this book: we are too easily in love with power. 

In a sense, the temptation to have power to be God-like was the first temptation in the Garden of Eden. Eat this fruit and you will be like God. It was the last temptation offered to Jesus. Bow down to me and I will give you all the kingdoms of the world. Adam and Eve chose the path of power in the hopes of being God-like; Jesus showed us that to be truly God-like you must choose the path of service and humility.

So, what then? Should a pastor turn down media interviews or decline the opportunity to grow or become influential? There is no easy answer to this. But that is the point. Its seems like up until this point, every pastor that gets a chance has answered these questions all too easily, by simply saying “Yes”. I heard an interviewer ask Rob Bell why he hadn’t planted more satellite locations for his church. With over 40,000 downloads each week of his sermons and “only” 10,000 attending, there was certainly room for him to open up campuses all over the country. His reply was honest and beautiful and rare. He said that for him, that reeked a little of empire-building.

If we were honest with ourselves, with our ambitions, with our pride, with our desire for “success” as the world defines success—as more and more and more—then we would be slower to answer with a "Yes". Maybe once in a while, we would say, “No” to a satellite campus or to an interview or to anything that for us might be an empire-building endeavor. If we become more suspicious of our thirst for power and more willing to serve and sacrifice, we just might see a generation of pastors that are truly serving the Body of Christ. And this could be the lasting contribution of The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher.

Why Jesus Isn't Running For Office

The frenzy has begun. The DNC is an hour drive away and the swirl of election buzz is about to burst open with gale-force intensity. Decision ‘08 (or whatever dramatic title the news outlets designed to christen this presidential race with) is only a few months away. The speeches are being honed, candidates are being smeared, and radio talk-show hosts are bursting veins and developing ulcers. 

Last election season, I found myself surrounded by a lot of busy and bothered people. I had no idea there were so many politically-concerned Christians all around me. It seemed like they were coming out of the woodwork. Acquaintances-turned-activists were handing me pamphlets and giving me their best two-minute speech on why I should vote for their cause or their candidate. You should have seen the look on their face when I apologetically told them that they were wasting their time on me. 

I can’t vote. 

I’m not an American citizen. Though my beautiful Iowan wife affords me the privilege of residency, I have not held my green card long enough to become a citizen. As a Permanent Resident, I can do everything but vote.

So, while I watched many Christians trying to rock the vote like their eternal security depended on it, I amused myself with this thought: Jesus would be a good president.

Think about it. If the Lord were around today in the flesh, we would be whipping our Christian political action groups into a frenzy. Churches would be a hive of activity, with media crews swarming, and publicists buzzing. I can hear the campaign now: “Bring God back to America! Jesus for President!”

It would seem so right, so natural, so Christian.

And yet so wrong.

We can’t be blamed for trying to elect Jesus; believers have been trying for centuries. The very first followers of Christ were so taken by their leader’s charisma and wisdom, they gave their lives to see him crowned. John and James, with the help of their mom, Mrs. Zebedee, vied for cabinet seats in the Jesus Administration that was sure to come. Peter cut the ear off a priest when they came to arrest Christ. Their behavior is not so ludicrous when you consider that they believed Jesus was the Messiah, the chosen one from God who would bring salvation to Israel. (It was Peter who first had this revelation.) To a Jew, serving God always had political implications. By definition, being the “people of God” meant belonging to a specific ethnicity and living in a specific geo-political nation-state. To be a Jew was to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God.

And that’s the way God set it up. He called Abraham out of the land of his father so that he could make Abraham a great nation. He blessed Joseph with wisdom and favor in Egypt so that he and his brothers—the fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel—could be saved during the years of famine. He raised up Moses to deliver them from the oppression of the Egyptians and to lead them into a promised land. He called Joshua to bring them victory over other nations, driving them out of the land they would claim. He gave them instructions on how to form an orderly, safe, free, and godly society, and orders on how to preserve it but not inter-marrying. He gave them a king that to this day is loved deeply by all Jews, and stands as the model of the kind of leadership that brings blessing to a nation. But then their sin became too great, and they were taken captive by other nations. Some tribes were scattered across the earth, lost forever. But still, they clung to a promise—the promise that God would restore, that they would return, that Jerusalem would be a shining light in the earth once again. It was the Messiah that would bring all this to pass.

But it was the Messiah who turned it all on its head. Jesus, the Son of David, Israel’s greatest king, had no desire to be king. His lack of political ambition was only the beginning. He began to teach about God and His enterprise as a heavenly kingdom, not an earthly one. For the first time, Jewish people were told how to be a citizen of a wicked earthly empire while following the God of Heaven. “Give to Ceasar what is Ceasar’s,” he said. You can imagine the slow shock of Christ’s Jewish disciples as everything they had been raised to believe about God and his work on earth began to unravel. Instead of trying to overthrow a wicked ruler, they were told to obey. When asked by an oppressor for their coat, they were to give their inner garment as well. When struck on the face by a heavy-handed ruler, they were to turn the other cheek. Then the worst came true: Jesus lived out these teachings, leaving no doubt as to the literal nature of their application. To the horror of his followers, Jesus allowed himself to be carried away by wicked Roman soldiers, tried in the court of a weak and unscrupulous ruler, and killed like a vile criminal. And with the Messiah died all hope of God’s Kingdom-- as they had known it-- being restored on earth.

Christ’s arrival on earth marked not the beginning of the Kingdom of God on earth as the ultimate nation-state, but the end. Israel was God’s chosen nation to bring salvation to the world and they had failed. Christ’s mission was to make the way to God open to men and women of all races and nationalities. That’s why the Apostle Paul claimed so enthusiastically that in Christ there is neither slave nor free, Jew nor Gentile. Even Peter, likely the most thick-headed disciple, saw the light. He wrote that followers of Christ are a “royal priesthood, a holy nation.” The Kingdom of God comes to earth now not as a political nation, but as a spiritual community of “called-out ones”.

Christ did not restore a nation; he formed the Church.

The Jewish people of the Old Testament were given principles for making a society godly, free, safe, and orderly. (Read the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy for a sampling of these laws.) These impulses are still alive in us as Christians today. But when Christ brought the sword between earthly citizenship and heavenly allegiance, we were left to wrestle with how to act on these impulses as a Christian in the civic square. There are gray areas now. And that is a good thing. I don’t think Christ intended to make it clear how every Christian should carry out his civic duty.

Our highest priority is the task of making men and women godly. The Scripture is clear that men and women only become godly through rebirth in Christ. It is Christ in us that is our hope of glory—not behavioral reform or a legislated morality. The Church, then, is the best vehicle for making men and women godly through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The civic square—the ballot box, political action groups, etc—becomes the vehicle for making society free, safe, and orderly.

How Then Should We Vote? (Simply my opinion)

1. A Christian should vote Christian values insomuch as those values contribute to making society free, safe, and orderly for all people, even the ungodly. Remember that the original covenant that began Israel as a nation, was God’s promise to bless Abraham so that he could be a blessing to all nations. Not just the nation of Israel; not just the nations that surrendered to Israel and its God; ALL nations. A Christian’s role as citizen, then, is to be a blessing to ALL people within the society, by making it safe, free, and orderly.

2. A Christian should also vote Christian values when his view on a specific issues is asked.

I, like all Christians, want the society I am raising my family in to be godly in the way that Christians define godliness. But I know that if I give in to the temptation to use civic, lawmaking channels to make society godly, my children may wake up in an America governed by Sharia (sp?) law. After all, if Christians can muster enough of a “moral majority” to outlaw Christian sins, what’s to prevent Muslims 50 years from now from working the system to ban the vices of an Islamic worldview?

This much is clear to me: the mission of the Church in its culture is to lead people to godliness by the power of the Gospel, and to make society safe, free, and orderly for all people through the power of the ballot. The latter leads to the former. A free, safe, and orderly society provides the Church its best opportunity for presenting the Gospel.

But the way it plays out is something we must wrestle with. Perhaps the wrestling will make us better Christians and citizens in the end. We would stop trying to make men and women godly through the ballot box, and truly become a blessing to our society.

And maybe then we’d stop trying to elect Jesus. After all, He took himself off the ballot a long time ago.

Whose Doctrine Is It Anyway?

In light of some of my recent posts, there seems to be a good bit of confusion on what doctrine means, where doctrines come from, and whether or not there can be room for personal preference, opinion, or interpretation. So, here are some answers to common questions on doctrine.

1. Are Doctrines Mentioned in Scripture?

Yes. Contrary to popular opinion, doctrines were not the invention of a power-hungry Roman Empire eager to use Christianity to assert its power. Doctrines are seen as early as in the second chapter of Acts:

“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” (Acts 2:42)

Here are a few other New Testament references to “doctrine”, or as it is also translated “teaching”.

“Give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching” (same Greek word translated “doctrine”). 1 Tim. 4:13

“Preach the word . . . with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.” 2 Tim. 4:2-3

“Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching (Greek “doctrine”); persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.” 2 Tim. 4:16

“…holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.” Titus 1:9

2. What Is “Doctrine”?

The word “doctrine” ought to be reserved for basic beliefs of the Christian faith. However, it usually means the foundational beliefs of a particular stream of Christianity. For that reason, it is necessary to divide the term a little further. I like the term “Core Orthodoxy” to refer to what C.S. Lewis describes as “Mere Christianity”—the bare essence. Some have called these “absolutes”, but I don’t like that word because it implies that they are facts that are undeniable and provable. There are not. There require faith. Keep in mind that these are not things we know  are true; these are things we hold to be true and must hold to be true if we are to be considered Christians.

For a list of what these might be, consider the “Apostle’s Creed” or even the “Nicean Creed”, creeds held by virtually every stream of Christianity. They have to do with the nature of God (uncreated Creator, Trinity, etc), the nature of Christ (fully God and fully man), the life, death, and resurrection of Christ and what it accomplished for our salvation, the Holy Spirit, the Church, the return of Christ and the coming resurrection.

Doctrines that are not part of the core, basic, mere essence of Christianity are what I call “Respected Interpretations/Traditions”. Examples of these are the belief in predestination versus strong free will or the belief that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are today versus the view that they have ceased. These represent respected, long-held views. But neither stance is essential to the Christian faith. In other words, you can be a Christian and land on either side of these issues.

Here is a visual way to think about “Core Orthodoxy” versus “Respected Interpretations/Traditions”: 

DOCTRINE:

It may be helpful to think of this picture as a flower. The various respected interpretations and traditions are like petals on the flower-- an important piece, but not critical to the life of the organism. The core of a flower, on the other hand, cannot be plucked without cutting it off from the stem, from life itself. In other words, core doctrines are things that you cannot let go of and still claim to be a Christian. As a seeker, you can wrestle with different core elements before choosing to believe. But once you believe, you are taking a leap of faith, choosing to hold these specific things as true.

3. Are All Sermons Based on Doctrine?

No. Nor is that a bad thing. Most sermons are some mix of what I call “Doctrine”, “Biblical Exposition” and “Counsel.” In my terminology, “Biblical Exposition” is a responsible, scholarly study of the text, context, and treatment of a subject throughout Scripture to provide principles, insight, and application for our lives today. An example of “Biblical Exposition” would be the consistent Biblical teaching on sex being reserved for the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman. According to the Bible, sex outside of marriage is not simply wrong, it's destructive to the people involved.

“Counsel” refers to things that shape a preacher’s perspective and are valuable to a congregation or a community of faith. “Counsel” comprises responsible but more personal Biblical interpretation, personal convictions, and proven wisdom. Of course, all of these must be held in check by doctrines—especially core orthodoxy—and responsible exegesis.

Examples of “counsel” are sermons on financial management or time management. Dating advice or marriage tips are other examples.

 SERMONS:

 

 

 

4. How Can I Learn More?

A good systematic theology book is helpful. The common protest to any systematic theology book is simply that the Bible was not written that way. I agree. God's first goal is not that we memorize a list of doctrines. He wants relationship with us. But in order to properly be in relationship with Him, there are things we must know-- things about who He is, who we are, and how we approach Him through Christ. That is the reason for doctrine. 

A responsible theology book will show you the Scriptural basis for each doctrine-- and not from a few verses strung together, but through a unified reading of the Bible. It will also make a clear difference between a "core doctrine" and a doctrine that has some respected variations. There are two theology books that repeatedly show up in the libraries of scholars I admire: Millard Erickson's "Christian Theology" and Wayne Grudem's "Systematic Theology", through Erickson's provides a better overview of various views on certain issues. For a more readable explanation of basic Christian beliefs, check out Grudem's "Christian Beliefs" which he co-wrote with his son.

In conclusion, there is an old saying from church history that goes like this: 

"In the essentials, unity; in the non-essentials, diversity. But in all things, charity (love)."

The End of Twitter (Or The Art of Artificial Relationships)

My friend, Cameron, is an early adopter. He has a nose for what trends are going to be huge. He told me about Fallout Boy long before “Dance, Dance” was heard everywhere. He’s on to gadgets and widgets before they’re featured in “Wired” magazine. Most recently, Cameron was the one most instrumental in getting me to blog. Because of him I know what “Stumble Upon” and “del.icio.us tags” mean. Cameron is also responsible for my participation in Twitter. Though Cameron is an early adopter, I am an obsessive implementer.  I blog once a week, check my Facebook several times a day, and twitter as often as I think about it.

But my wife and I have been wondering lately if all this online tagging and tweeting  is such a good thing. I’m a firm believer in the moral neutrality of technology. It is all simply a tool. In the wrong hands it does harm, in the right hands it can do good. But this is not a discussion about good and evil, right or wrong. And for all my readers who have followed the last two posts, this is not an issue of doctrine. This—like most of my posts--  is mere opinion.

Here is the question: for all our Facebook social life and Twitter updates, are we really just perfecting the art of artificial relationships and losing the craft of cultivating deep friendships?

Really, there is no right or wrong answer here. Every person has to decide for themselves if their electronic life is a substitute for real relationships or simply a supplement to it. Real life, face-to-face relationships have fights and resolutions, hugs and facial expressions and tone of voice. There is a genuine connection and a history of relationship and a commitment to each other. It’s built on trust and vulnerability. A Facebook friendship and a Twitter-follower relationship can have all those things as well, but usually when there is an additional non-digital dimension to it.

Maybe our online relationships and social networks are like frosting and an actual friendship is like the cake. Cameron is one of my best friends. I was the best man in his wedding (Mainly because two others couldn’t make it, but still!).  We had a friendship long before Facebook, Twitter, and cell phones (Just kidding about the cell phones bit—we’re not that old!). But now that Cameron lives in another state, all these social networking tools help our connection. But they are not the totality of our connection. Not every relationship needs to be deep; some will be somewhat superficial. We have acquaintances and casual friends. But if we become a generation that believes that you never need to actually know any of your friends, that’s it good enough just to IM them or keep up with their status updates and news feeds and tweets, we will keep our souls shallow, our lives unchallenged, and our hearts unloved. Eating frosting with cake is delicious. But a steady diet of frosting will make you sick.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go check my friend requests. But don’t worry, I’ll be back to read your comments!

Soft Superheroes (Or Why Jesus Is Better Than Batman)

I saw Batman about a week ago.

Don’t worry. I’m not going to give anything away. I’m really not going to comment on the movie at all except to say this: Batman doesn’t kill the Joker. More accurately, Batman refuses to kill the Joker. It’s against his code.

Batman is not alone in this Superhero Code of Ethics. To my best recollection, Superman, Spiderman and even Hancock refuse to kill a person, even a villain. I’ve noticed this before, but I don’t think it ever bothered me like it did in the Dark Knight. That’s probably because there has never been a villain quite so evil, so demented, so fiendishly terryfying as Heath Ledger’s Joker.

What is with our Superheroes? Why do they refuse to kill the bad guy?

The heroes of the Bible had no such problem. Young David runs to the battle with a sling in his hand and five smooth stones in his pouch, ready to take down the evil giant who has blasphemed the God of Israel. As if death were not enough, David lops Goliath’s head off in a display of triumph. Long before David’s day, Joshua led the nation of Israel in complete and utter destruction of the pagan nations that opposed them. And before Joshua, Moses led Israel through the Red Sea on dry land only to have the waters come rushing back in over the Egyptians, drowning their army. In the Bible, the bad guys don’t just get caught; they get killed.

These passages make the modern man squeamish. We don’t like violence and we find it hard to believe in a God who employs such tactics, even against His enemies. We reference Jesus and his “love your enemies, turn the other cheek” speech as grounds for a new, non-violent faith.

There is truth here: we no longer execute judgment against our own enemies.  Human violence is not a means to righteousness, or as James wrote, “The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:20). Yes, there is a civic system for meting out justice to the offender, and we ought to use such a system. Government, according to Romans 13, bears the sword for a reason, and those who do wrong should rightly fear the sword-bearer. (For example, if a person is raped, they ought not just forgive and let go, but forgive and report the person so the civil justice can be served and the community can be preserved.)

But here is where many wrongfully make the leap of assuming that since Christianity advocates non-violence against humans, then the Christian God must not be a violent God.

What then are we to make of the image of Jesus in the Book of Revelation, a Jesus with fire in His eyes and a sword coming from his mouth, a Jesus who comes in justice “to judge and make war”, a Jesus who comes to “strike down the nations” (Rev. 19: 11-16)? Jesus is no longer the Galilean peasant wandering the countryside. When we see Him next, He will come as King and Conqueror, the One who has vanquished sin and death and comes to bring justice to the earth. Heaven and earth will be remade and His Kingdom will come in totality. This is not a passive, non-violent Jesus.

Miroslav Volf, a Yale theologian from Croatia who has witnessed the horrific violence in the Balkans has an interesting perspective:

“If God were not angry at injustice and deception and did not make a final end to violence—that God would not be worthy of worship…The only means of prohibiting all recourse to violence by ourselves is to insist that violence is legitimate only when it comes from God…My thesis that the practice of non-violence requires a belief in divine vengeance will be unpopular with many in the West…[But] it takes the quiet of a suburban home for the birth of the thesis that human non-violence [results from the belief in] God’s refusal to judge. In a sun-scorched land, soaked in the blood of the innocent, it will invariably die…”

The reality of a world suffocating with evil is that the only way humans can refrain from executing their own vigilante, violent justice and instead, truly love their enemies is by believing that there is a supremely powerful and personal God who is moved by our suffering and intends to act on our behalf by bringing an ultimate end to evil and evildoers one day.

God through both Old and New Testaments reveals Himself as a God of mercy AND justice. In the Old Testament, the justice is revealed through physical judgment in this life. But it is only a foreshadowing of Final Judgment, where the Real Enemy—Satan—is punished forever along with those who have insisted on having it their way. Final judgment, then, is our hope. Because we believe in a God of justice who will act to punish evil and evildoers, we can refrain from taking matters into our own hands. Because God—unlike Batman—is not too soft to kill the villain, we can devote our attention to forgiveness and mercy.

[Note to all you Marvel-Comic book Junkies: I am aware that Batman refuses to kill the bad guys so as not to let his vigilante acts run totally amuck. He wants justice to be dished out by Gotham’s cops and lawyers. To this I would reply, “What’s the point of a superhero, then? Isn’t Batman then just a glorified version of a man who fishes in a trout hatchery, catching only to release again?”] 

10 Books You Should Read

Every now and then I revisit my mental list of my ten favorite books of all time. Sometimes, I kick a book out from that list because I no longer feel it deserves that place, indicating that in my life it obviously did not stand the test of time. Other times, something I've recently read has made such an impression on me that I simply have to include it in the list regardless of what other book gets pushed out as a result. All to say, this list changes as I change. So, here is the latest permutation of the 10 Books (I Think) You Should Read (If You Haven't Already).

1. The Bible 

I know this one sounds trite, but it is remarkable how many Christians don't actually read their Bibles. I understand. The Bible can be hard to understand. I recommend getting a great study Bible in a readable translation so you can take advantage of introductory notes to each book, maps, timelines, and notes that help you see principles and application. My favorite is the Life Application Study Bible in the New Living Translation.

2. Mere Christianity 

This might be a little weighty for those accustomed to reading Joel Osteen, but, friends, this is a classic. I can't tell you the number of books that refer back to this one or try to write new versions of it. It is well worth the effort. Read it slowly, have a pen in your hand, and maybe an Oxford dictionary nearby.

3. The Pursuit of God 

Another classic. It's a little book jammed with insight into life with God. It will make you uncomfortable with your walk with God as it currently is. And that's a good thing.

4. The Jesus I Never Knew 

Maybe the best book on the life of Christ ever. Yancey shows more than just good writing; it is incredibly well-researched and holds up the best, most orthodox take on the Gospels. Scholars approve, and common-folk benefit.

5. A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

Some have called this the best book on discipleship. It is a study of the Psalms of Ascent, with incredible insight into the journey of becoming more like Jesus. This is Eugene Peterson at his finest. 

6. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader 

I'm not a big fiction reader. But I recently devoured the Chronicles of Narnia and found myself tearing up at the end of this one. Fans will tell you this is one of the two best books of the whole series. For all you non-fiction bookheads-- I used to be like you. This book will single-handedly return the childlike wonder of following Jesus to your heart.

7. The Last Battle

And here is what Lewis fans call the best of the Chronicles. The characters are robust and believable. The imagery of heaven is incredible moving, and Lewis' fanciful imagining of the end of the world will make your heart race for the day when our world is made new. It will make death be a thing not to be feared.

8. Anna Karenina 

This is considered to be one of the greatest novels of all time. The insight into the human soul is breathtaking. You will find yourself lost in the culture of old Russia, dancing at balls, riding horses, farming with peasants. It is an unbelievable ride. And it's long. This took me a good 5 or 6 months to finish, but it was well worth it. A good translation is key, and this one is the best.

9. The Tipping Point 

This is a fascinating read. The stories will keep you on the edge of your seat, and Gladwell's gift for pattern-recognition makes him a delightful guide. The theory is a little simplistic and sweeping, but contains enough truth to be required reading for anyone who ever wants to make a difference or change a culture or set a trend.

10. The World Is Flat 

This is rich with insight and application. Friedman has a gift for absorbing the world in complexity yet communication it with such accessible simplicity. The technical explanation of the history of the internet is at times laborious, and his conclusions can seem repetitive by the time he gets there. But this is a must-read for anyone who wants to think beyond the town he grew up in. It's a wide-angle lens view of the world with real practical actionable ideas for here and now.

And if you've read all these and want to dig into something fresh-- and support a young author (wink, wink)-- then check out this book....I've heard it's pretty decent. 

Farewell, Desperation Band

It's hard to believe I'm writing this. 

Tonight, I will get on stage with the Desperation Band for the last time. The band isn't breaking up. This isn't a VH1 "Behind the Music" thing about secret conflict or scandal. It's just that after this conference, my involvement with the band will officially be over. A season is coming to an end.

It was 6 years ago that we had the very first Desperation Conference in the World Prayer Center at New Life Church. I was walking in the chapel there yesterday, remembering how it felt. We were younger, full of passion and nervous energy. David Perkins had a vision burning in his heart for a generation to live in desperate pursuit of God. Jared, Jon and I had been friends all through college. By some work of divine providence, we all ended out here together. I had graduated two years before them and had been out at New Life for a year longer. 

As the first conference in the summer of 2002 approached, David and I thought it would be cool to round up all the folks that played for our different youth and college services and form a team that would lead worship for the conference, and record an album. As Jared, Jon, and I started to throw out some songs we'd been writing, we thought we might have enough for an album, though we weren't sure that they were any good. Nevertheless, we decided to roll tape on the worship that weekend, and with the help and amazing talent of producer, Don Harris, the first Desperation Band album emerged. Integrity Music was impressed enough with a few of the songs-- most notably, "Rescue"-- to take a risk on us and release it. 

Fast forward. This will be our 7th summer of doing the Desperation Student conference. I turned 30 this past February. These are both factors that made the wheels start turning in my heart. I love leading worship. But there is a passion that pre-dates that one. It is speaking, teaching, writing. I have long known that the long-term direction of my life does not lie with music. This step-- the step out of the Desperation Band-- is not yet the end of music or worship for me. It is just the first, risky leap of faith toward what I know God has placed in my heart.

But there is another element at work. I have watched Jon Egan and Jared Anderson over the last 10 years of our friendship. I have seen the mantle of leadership and anointing on their lives increase and the focus for their long-term directions crystalize. It is clear to all of us as leaders of this thing that the leadership of the Band for the next season is with Jon. This makes my heart leap. I know all that God has placed in Jon, and I know the time has come for him to run.  

Nevertheless, mingled with peace and excitement is sadness and gratitude. I am so grateful for the chance I've had to impact a portion of my generation through worship. I have loved every moment of this ride. 

To my band mates, my brothers: 

Thank you for teaching me, being patient with me, bearing with my lame jokes, intense debates, and the early morning flight I booked us on so I could get home to work on my landscaping. I have loved being in rehearsals, airport terminals, dodgy hotels, stuffy vans, and suffocating festival tents with you. We have seen much and learned much. I couldn't have picked better companions. This is not the end of our friendship. This is just the end of a season, the close of one chapter in a very long story that we are all a part of, and will be part of for a long time. 

Farewell, Desperation Band. I will miss this deeply.

The Arrogance of Pluralism

Whenever the subject of Christianity comes up, at some point, some angry bloke will eventually say, "Man, Christians are so arrogant. I mean, how can you believe that there is only one way to God or heaven? How can you be so sure that you guys are right? That is so arrogant and judgmental."

The Christian, ruffled by the sudden demise of his popularity, bites his tongue and goes home discouraged. Left to his own thoughts, he ponders some potential contradictions: 

Didn't Jesus say "Judge not lest you be judged"?

Aren't Christians supposed to be loving and humble?

Maybe I don't have any right to say that Jesus is the ONLY way.

For anyone who has ever wrestled with such thoughts or suffered through such accusations, here are two simple things to consider:

• No Major Religion in the World Would Claim that All Religions Are Equally Valid

Growing up in a Malaysia, I was surrounded by friends who believed differently than I did. My classmates were Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims-- and a handful of Christians. In my younger years, there were precious few conversations that remotely resembled a discourse in comparative religions. But when friends had to miss a party to burn incense at an ancestor's grave, or skip food because it was Ramadan, or come to school with white, ashy powder on their foreheads, we all understood. We had different beliefs. Moreover, these beliefs were deeply held, and a significant part of our heritage.

As I got older, I found the courage to occasionally try to witness to a cab driver. I remember one occasion when a Buddhist man argued that his religion was far older than mine and therefore more superior. These conversations were friendly-- for the most part-- and all ended the same way: each leaving the other completely unconvinced.

But to my best recollection, not once in a conversation with a devout follower of another religion did a person ever say that all religions are the same.

There are fundamental differences that neither party are willing to ignore. A Muslim's god is not characterized by love and could not have come to earth. A Buddhist god is not personal. A Hindu's god...well, there are millions to choose from.

The claim of exclusivity is not unique to Christianity; it is common among the major religions of the world.

So, the belief that all religions are the same is itself a new kind of religion. A religion, after all, is a belief system that provides a framework for life and its meaning or lack of. From what source does this person derive his belief that all religions are the same? Certainly not from the religions themselves. On what basis can he defend it? None, except that it is the popular worldview of his day. (Let's see, we're standing on a long-held, historic belief, and he on a modern one...hmmm.) Unless, of course, he thinks that he sees more than you do. Read on.

• The Belief That All Religions Have Some Truth But Not the Whole Truth Means That You Think You Have the Whole Truth 

People like to say that there are good things to glean from every religion, that each contains a morsel of truth, but is inaccurate on its own. Their favorite analogy is the blind men grasping different parts of an elephant, each describing his experience as the ultimate truth. The one who has the tail says an elephant is like a snake; the one who has the trunk says that an elephant is sturdy as a pipe; the one who has the tusk says an elephant is like a smooth horn with a sharp point, etc. The problem-- as Timothy Keller in The Reason For God so eloquently points out-- is that this story is told from the perception of one who is not blind, one who sees what an elephant really looks like.

In other words, to say that all religions are only partially right, that truth unfolds progressively through the eras of each religion's birth, is to say that you are the apex of religious history. You are now more enlightened than Confucious, Buddha, Mohammed, or Jesus. What they saw in part, you see in totality. Now, no peace-loving, Oprah-watching, politically-correct hipster is going to admit to that, but that is essentially what they are saying.

So, the question is not how arrogant Christianity is to make exclusive claims-- and, by the way, it does (read John 14 for a refresher course). The question is really how arrogant is Eckhart Tolle or Oprah or anyone else who tries to say that all religions are the same and taken together give us the full spiritual truth?

After all, isn't it arrogant to look at thousands of years of belief and practice by the major religions of the world, and dismissively say they are all the same? Isn't it arrogant to show up in 21st Century America and claim something none of these ancient, non-Western religions have ever claimed?

As it turns out, pluralism is the arrogant belief system-- not to mention one full of horse crap.

Leadership and Authority: Why We May Have It All Wrong

What gives you the authority to lead others?

Whether you're a CEO or a middle manager, your perceived source of authority is crucial. Anyone who has ever read anything on leadership understands that there are basically two sources of leadership authority: positional authority and relational authority. 

Positional authority is the authority we gain because of the position we hold. It is a delegated authority. It comes from the top down. The boss says you're in charge of all marketing decisions, so you're in charge of all marketing decisions. Whether the people under you in the marketing department like you or not, they know you're in charge. But, of course, since you're not a Neanderthal, you know that to be effective and productive you need to have your team on board; you need them to buy in; you need the chemistry to be strong. You know positional authority is not enough; you have to win their relational authority. 

Relational authority is the authority you earn from individuals because of their trust in you.(That explains why Michael Scott from "The Office" tries so hard to impress his subordinates, win their admiration, and gain their friendship.) Nevertheless, in almost every corporate environment, positional authority is granted first; relational authority is earned later. 

We learn early on that positional authority precedes relational authority.

And without even questioning this, we take it as a law of life, a veritable "irrefutable law of leadership." In the Church world, we apply it to our leaders, citing Jesus' declaration that "all authority in heaven and on earth" had been given to him, and therefore our authority as leaders comes from God. In essence, we are making the "positional authority" argument with God as the ultimate authority who delegates his authority down to certain leaders. 

This is harmless enough, until you start to probe the issue further. A whole host of questions arise:

Who says YOU are God's delegated authority? What gives YOU the right to be called "God's mouthpiece"? 

For a church leader, our opening question is more critical and maybe more complex: 

What gives you the authority to lead others?

The platform you stand on? The microphone in your hand? The title on your business card that says "pastor"?

Most in positions of ecclesiastic power will eventually get around to telling you that their authority comes from...GOD...(gasp!). Then they likely will proceed to defend it with stories of the tragic deaths and diseases that befell those who questioned Moses' authority so long ago. They might gently remind you how young David the refugee refused to "touch the Lord's anointed", and that we would be wise to heed his example. Strangely, all their examples will have one thing in common, the same glaring flaw: they are an Old Testament model of leadership. 

Not everything from the Old Testament is different in the New, but leadership underwent a severe overhaul. My leadership mentor, Paul Stanley, insightfully points out that in the Old Testament the man of God went up to the mountain of God to get the word of God and then came down and told the people of God what to do. But in the New Testament, we are all a Kingdom of Priests, each with individual access to God. This was God's original intent. It was the people of Israel who were afraid and refused, begging Moses to go for them. This inclination to have someone else in charge surfaces generations later when they plead with God, "Give us a king!" God wanted to be their King, to have each of them follow Him. But they refused. Strong human leadership is easier; it's more convenient, and far more efficient. Just put someone in charge and let him delegate authority down.

1 Timothy 3 contains the New Testament guidelines for elders and deacons. Here is just one line from the long list of qualifications, and this is one for deacons:

"A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and household well." (1 Tim. 3:12, NIV)

Who was the best and greatest king of Israel? No brainer-- David. Every other king is measured against David. For God's love for David, He wouldn't punish Solomon for his sins during his own lifetime. Even the best of the kings of Judah that followed couldn't hold a candle to David. He was the greatest.

Yet David would not meet this New Testament qualification to deaconship. 

What did deacons in the New Testament church do? Remember in Acts 6? Deacons were appointed to wait on tables to help with the care of the widows. Wait a minute. You mean David would not have been allowed to wait on tables in the New Testament church? Yup.

The greatest leader in the Old Testament would not have qualified for the lowest position of leadership in the New Testament.

Why? Because in the Old Testament, leaders got their authority to rule from "divine right"; in the New Testament, people get their authority to lead from earned trust. Every one of the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 and even in Acts 6 when they chose the first 7 deacons has to do with trust. What kind of reputation do they have? Are they known for servanthood? Are they known for being people of wisdom, full of Spirit of God? Have they been tested? Do they have the abilities necessary? (Paul says specifically, "able to teach".) He doesn't ask if they've been prophesied over as children or if they have a calling on their lives or if they believe they are called to be a prophet to the nations or even if they're anointed. He asks what sort of reputation they have. In essence, can they be trusted? 

Trust is the currency of leadership in the New Testament era. And trust is earned by serving.

Jesus turned old notions of leadership on its head when he arrived on the scene. If anyone could have cited God as the source of his authority, Jesus could have. He could have repeatedly coerced people to follow or believe by dazzling them with divine power. Yes, Jesus does say that He only does what He sees the Father doing-- i.e., His boss is God. But He doesn't use that line to get people to follow; He uses it as an explanation for his decisions and as the source of His miracles and ability to forgive sins. Furthermore, every time Jesus appeals to God as the source of His authority, He's talking about an authority over demons or over their souls-- a spiritual authority. Likewise, when Jesus in Matthew 28 says that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him therefore, go, He's not saying, "Tell everyone that you're in charge because I said so." The authority He's talking about is an authority over hell and demons. It's the authority to heal and disciple and rescue people from destruction. It's a spiritual authority not a governmental or organizational one.

How do I know? Because in Matthew 20, He specifically tells His disciples not to lead like the Gentiles, exercising "authority" over them. Spiritual authority from God is not enough to be the basis for our authority over others. Just because a person can prophesy or preach doesn't mean they should be in a position of leadership. In John 13, Jesus shows us the most dramatic display of how a leader should use his spiritual authority.

"Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him." (John 13: 3-5, NIV, emphasis mine)

We learn a few things from that passage: All authority comes from God. Romans 13 confirms this. Jesus had all authority. Jesus chose to serve his disciples by washing their feet instead of using authority over them. It is a model of a new kind of leader. It shows how we use authority, but also how we earn it with others. OK, so you believe that God has given you authority. What then? You don't demonstrate it or make it public and actually earn authority with others by declaring that God has set you up as an authority in their life. You display it by washing their feet.

There are authority structures even in the New Testament church. It's not spiritual anarchy. The church in Jerusalem was led by a council of elders, the head of which appears to be James. Authority is not a bad word. Furthermore, all authority ultimately comes from God. The question is how God wants to establish that authority publicly in His domain, the Church. It seems that in God's Kingdom, you gain authority by serving-- the last shall be first, the least shall be the greatest. From the examples in Acts and from Paul's writings, the process seems to be as follows:

1. God works in an individual's life, giving him gifts and the desire for leadership.     


2. The individual gains the people's trust by his servant's heart and solid character.


3. He then earns the people's trust in his giftings by his faithful and skilled service  


4. The established leaders (who've already been through this process) lay hands on him in front of the people, confirming his calling and setting him in office  

So, by the New Testament pattern, relational authority-- gained by earning trust because of a servant's heart, solid character, and strong skill-- leads to positional authority.

This is a new kind of a leader. Technically, it's 2000 years old. But it's ironic that the Church, of all places, so often resorts to an Old Testament leadership model and process and not the one they pioneered back in Jerusalem in the 1st century. Maybe we can be the generation of leaders that revolts against our culture of business leadership models and return the original counter-cultural leader. 

A leader is one who demonstrates God-given authority by serving others and earning their trust. 

Your authority comes from God; your leadership comes from trust.

5 Burning Questions on Miracles

Every once in awhile, I’m going to attempt to tackle a tough topic and provide Biblically-based answers to “Five Burning Questions” on that issue. Keep in mind that even though I will do my best to use the whole canon of Scripture, these answers still reflect my interpretation, and to a lesser degree, my opinion. So, let’s talk about miracles.

 

1. Are Miracles for Today?

Miracles are found throughout the Bible, often as signs of God’s favor and deliverance. The vast majority of miracles occur in the events related to Israel’s deliverance from the Egyptians, their survival in the desert, and their entrance into the Promise Land. Once they get into the Promise Land, miracles greatly diminish. They make a brief but dramatic reappearance in the ministries of Elijah and Elisha, but after that, miracles are few and far between.

 

Until Jesus shows up. From turning water into wine to opening deaf ears and blind eyes, raising the dead, making the lame walk, multiplying loaves and fish, walking on water, and casting out demons, Jesus’ ministry is laced with the miraculous. The disciples continue this trend with more of the same (healing the cripple), but also some “new” miracles: miraculous teleportation, speaking in languages they had never learned, and opening prison cells.

 

There is no indication that miracles were only for an age. Some make a case from Paul’s words about the imperfect passing when the perfect arrives to say that since the written Word of God is here, miracles are unnecessary. The problem is that the “Word” in Paul’s day was the Old Testament, which had already come, and was largely memorized by almost every good Jewish boy. Furthermore, it’s unlikely that Paul was referencing the New Testament, 2/3rds of which he wrote. Imagine referring to his writings as the “perfect”. Doubtful.

 

More likely, Paul was referring to the day that we are made perfect—the day that according to Phil. 1:6 comes when Christ returns. Until then, let there be miracles!

 

2. Why Don’t More Miracles Occur?

There is no easy answer to this. There were some towns where Jesus “could not” perform many miracles because of their unbelief. There are other occasions where Jesus says to the one in need of a miracle that their faith has made them whole. In some instances, it’s their friends’ faith, or even, as in Mark 9, the individual’s partial faith. So, we know that faith has some part to play. By James’ words, we also know that sometimes we “have not because we ask not”.

 

But this is not the whole story. The book of Job is a compelling case that life with God does not easily fit in formulas and patterns. There is always more to every story that what we know. In Job’s case, the lack of miraculous protection, prevention or healing was not due to a weak faith; it was actually the proof of his strong faith. God knew that Job’s faith could be tested and that he would pass. (Satan asks God if Job “serves God for nothing”. The rest of the story is proof that Job does.)

 

We are simply told to ask, pray, and believe. What results is God’s to decide. The object of our faith is not an outcome; it’s a Person. And He is totally trustworthy.

 

3. Will a Miracle Settle the Issue?

When I was in college, our university president/healing evangelist used to always say that a “miracle settles the issue”. The trouble is, that is rarely the case, both in Scripture and in real life. Consider that the same people who saw food fall from the sky, water gush from a rock, a huge sea part for them only to close moments later over their enemy, and 10 dramatic and terrible plagues befall the mighty Egyptians—these same people—murmured, grumbled, and worshipped a golden calf. The generation that saw arguably the most dramatic miracles—and the greatest volume of them—was the generation that died in the desert, forbidden to enter the Promise Land because of their hard hearts. Miracles did not “settle the issue” for them.

 

In Jesus’ ministry, the same crowds who witnessed his miraculous displays turned their back on him in a short span of time when he didn’t fit their other expectations of him (restore the kingdom to Israel). Remember, in the garden as Jesus is being arrested, he heals a man’s ear—which Peter had just cutoff—but they proceeded with the arrest. The miracle didn’t make them flinch.

 

From the overwhelming evidence of Scripture, miracles don’t automatically soften hearts, create faith, and convict the sinner.

 

4. Are Miracles Our Right Because of the Cross?

“By his stripes, we are healed.” The context of Isaiah’s original proclamation implied reconciliation, but the Gospel writers do apply them to the physical healings Jesus performed.

 

But if the best result of the cross apart from the salvation of our souls is physical healing on earth, we’ve been kind of ripped off. After all, as C. S. Lewis pointed out, Lazarus was raised from the dead only to die again. What good is it if life on earth was extended as a result of the cross, but that’s as good as it gets?

 

The cross and the resurrection introduced an invasion of heaven into earth. Jesus announced that the Kingdom of God had come, not that we could now escape to heaven. The good news is that there is a “good infection” that is now at work in us; the “cure” has begun. Death has been swallowed up by life. We are being made new. One day, there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Everything miraculous now is a foretaste of what is to come. As Yancey wrote, it is a signpost for those who believe that they are on the right road.

 

So, are miracles our right, right now? Yes and no. Jesus’ work on the cross opened the way for the miraculous to be part of our lives. But it ultimately made the restoration of all creation an inevitable reality. The best is yet to come.

 

We are people of a Kingdom come, but not yet.

 

5. How Did Jesus Use Miracles?

We are familiar with the many miracles Jesus performed. What is more interesting to note are all the miracles Jesus did not do. For instance, Yancey raises the question: if Jesus could heal the leper, why not heal leprosy, as in eradicate it from the earth? Why were some crowds of sick ignored while an individual was singled out to be healed? Even for all the miracles Jesus did, it was still limited to one relatively small geographic region of the world.

 

Jesus’ most stunning refusal to do miracles came in the desert, when Satan tempted him to turn stones to bread, or to throw himself down from the temple mount. The remarkable statement Jesus made by refusing to do miracles in the desert is that he would not use miracles as a shortcut for transformation. Dostoevsky insightfully observes that God would not use miracles to force a person’s hand, to override their freewill. He would not grow his Kingdom by a circus act.

 

In fact, at the height of Jesus’ popularity—ironically, after he multiplied bread for the masses—Jesus withdrew. He knew they wanted to make him king on earth. He retreated, they found him on the other side of the lake. So what does he do? He delivers his harshest, most offensive and obscure sermon—the “eat my flesh and drink my blood” talk. At this, the crowd quickly dissipates, and Jesus asks if his disciples will do the same. They don’t. But now, Jesus has his true followers, not the crowds who were after displays of power. (John 6)

 

In short, Jesus never used miracles a gimmick or a means to keep a crowd; he did miracles out of compassion and out of what he “saw the Father do”. In other words, love and sovereignty factored into Jesus’ choice of which miracles to do.

What I Learned About Manhood and Fatherhood From My Dad

It’s Father’s Day. It’s my third Father’s Day since becoming a dad, and there are so many wonderful things I love about being a dad, too many to name. This year, I am reflecting on what I’ve learned from my own father.

Some men don’t like the word “father” because it conjures up some pretty awful memories. They think of stern, tough men who scolded them when they failed and picked at the flaws of their adolescent attempts at life. Some have had abusive fathers, workaholic or alcoholic dads. Some had dads that were emotionally absent, some who were actually absent, men who bailed on their families when they needed them most. It’s hard to blame those dads. They most likely had poor examples in their childhood of what it meant to be a man. But along the way, the tradition of weak men and dysfunctional dads has been handed down like an heirloom no one cares to own.

I have become more aware of just how blessed I am to have the dad that I have. He turns 63 this summer and has been a dad for 33 years. Since fatherhood and manhood in general has become a lost art, I decided to put to words just a few of the things I’ve learned from my dad about what it means to be a man.

1. Love God passionately

My strongest memories of my dad as I was growing up are of him kneeling in our living in the dark hours of the morning praying. My dad is a man of prayer. I’ve seen him consistently spend time with God, fervently devouring the Bible. I’ve watched him strum the same few chords on his guitar and pour his heart out to God. I’ve seen him weep in prayer, laugh in God’s presence, and dance like a child in worship. He has never been afraid to show emotion in his relationship with God. God was not impersonal or distant. He was near and actual. God was a person he wrestled with, pleaded with, trusted, and obeyed.

2. Obey God at all costs

Out of this living relationship with God came a devotion I have never seen paralleled by another man. My dad, at the peak of his career in a top-class advertising agency, quit his job and, with my mom, my sister, and me, left for America to go to Bible college. He wasn’t chasing a dream. He was following Christ. Years later, he resigned his influential position at the largest church in Malaysia to pioneer a church on the outskirts of a developing town. Time and time again, he has laid down his own interests, ambitions, and agendas.

Is there anything that runs more counter to our culture’s vision of a man? We think a man is one who generates a clear plan for his own life and then marches doggedly toward it, mowing over the weak souls who stand in his way. We imagine a man as being strong and powerful, whose own self-confidence carries the day and creates a way. My father showed me that a real man is one who has laid down his ego, died to himself, and given all to follow Christ.

3. Lay down your life to love and serve your wife and children

When some people hear that according the Scripture a man is supposed to be the head of his household, they think of pot-bellied hot heads commanding their wives to bring them another beer. Thanks to my father, I don’t.

I see a man who did the dishes almost every night after dinner. I see a man who spent the weekends not golfing with the fellas or lounging on the couch watching game after game, but helping my mother with the laundry, and going with her to the market to buy fresh meat and produce for the family. My parents took my sister and I out for a family fun day almost every weekend—and this was during his stressful life as a big-time account executive. Yet almost every Saturday, we went swimming as a family, or played tennis or went to the library or something that created memories and bonds for our family.

4. Be humble enough to apologize

My father wasn’t a perfect dad. He didn’t always make the right calls. Sometimes he got upset when he shouldn’t have. Sometimes he was too harsh. But what made him different that any other of my friends’ dad’s was that he would always come to us—often that night before we went to sleep—and apologize. He would tell us how much he loved us. He would affirm the good things he saw in us and say how he was wrong. I don’t know if my mother prompted him (I suspect that at many times she probably did), but I know how difficult it is for man to admit he was wrong to the people whom he is supposed to be leading. (When was the last time a male boss said that you were right and he was wrong?)

My father showed me that humility and masculinity are not mutually exclusive qualities.

5. Show affection

Maybe it’s the result of an overdose of John Wayne movies. Maybe it’s the fear of being too effeminate. Whatever the reason, men are paranoid about hugs.

Not my dad. I’ve seen grown men break into sobs as soon as my dad hugged them. When my dad became a pastor, his single greatest counseling weapon was his hug. So many young men grew up with dads who never did anything to communicate value or acceptance, fathers who instead of validating the men coming of age under their roof found ways to alienate them. My dad’s hugs were like the breaking of walls built as a defense mechanism, the unleashing of a torrent of damned up emotion. I remember being amazed at the sight of sobbing men collapsing as they began to experience for the first time the Father heart of God through my own dad.

My father has never been afraid to show affection—to my mom, to my sister, and to me. It was never girlish or weird. It was strong yet tender. It showed that he was our father but also that he was leaning on another Father.

This Father’s Day, I am grateful to my father, David Packiam, for showing me what it means to be a dad and to be a man. I love you, Dad. Happy Father’s Day.

New Song: "For Love I Sing"

OK...so I may have had a little too much fun on Garage Band with this one! I made this demo by "playing" on the Mac's keyboard, and singing into the built-in Mac mic...Man, I love my new MacBook!

Download for_love_i_sing.m4a.zip

For Love I Sing

Words and Music by Glenn Packiam

© Vertical Worship Songs, March 2008

Verse 1

G                  (D/C C)

I was stuck in my way

G                  (D/C C)

So in need of saving

G                                (D/C C)

You looked down from Heaven

G                          (D/C C)

And You heard me calling

(Am7     G)              D/F#                          (G     G/B) C

You laid down Your crown and carried the cross for me

(Am7      G)          D/F#                            (G       G/B) C

You gave up Your throne and took all my shame for love

      D

For love I sing

Chorus

            G              D               Em7

            Praise the Lord, O my soul

                          C                  G

            Bless His name forevermore

                         D               Em7

            Sing for joy, all you saints

                       C                       G

            All our sins, they are no more

Verse 2

G                     (D/C C)

I will bless You always

G                           (D/C C)

Remember all your goodness

G                           (D/C    C)

For You healed my brokenness

G                    (D/C C)

And forgave all my sins                    

(Am7     G)              D/F#                          (G     G/B) C

You laid down Your crown and carried the cross for me

(Am7      G)          D/F#                            (G       G/B) C

You gave up Your throne and took all my shame, for love

      D

For love I sing

[Chorus]

Bridge

(G      D)   C

Praise the Lord, all together

(G     D)  C

Bless His name, sing forever

(G      D)   C

Praise the Lord, all together

(G     D)  C

Bless His name, sing forever

(G      D)   C

Praise the Lord, all together

(G     D)  C                          (G     D)  C

Bless His name, sing forevermore

                  (G    D) C

Sing forevermore

[Chorus]

syncretism

Welcome to my first video blog!

Can a person be a Muslim follower of Jesus? In an attempt to make Christianity appealing to the world, the Church has lost its distinctive. The triumph of ambiguous spirituality might not be a victory worth celebrating. Press "play" to hear me out.