the postmodern pop pastor

Spent the week on holiday. Had a good time with the family and these friends.







Ruthless Trust, Brennan Manning
You have to love Brennan Manning, he talks about Jesus. This b0ok is no different. It was my nighttime treat to my soul. It challenges and encourages with the same words. Brilliant.

Leaders That Last: How Covenant Friendships Can Help Pastors Thrive, Gary Kinneman
Good book on the topic of pastoral friendships. It is a challenge to professional pastors. Well written and put together. It focuses on peer relationships with other pastors but at leasts gives the nod to the need to have real relationships with those among whom you minister. As with most books on this topic, if written by someone over 40, it focuses on pragmatics.

Be a People Person, John Mawell
A rather impersonal book on being a people person. Good suggestions for running a company. A church? It will take some work to apply these ideas to the pastorate. Maxwell is always good on "leadership," a term that in my thinking fits more and more in the organization and less and less in the church. Though it is good when the church becomes large enough to be an organization. But the church is always primarily the body of Christ, it is an organization only to the degree that it supports its mission as a living body indwelt by the third person of the Trinity.

Connecting, Larry Crabb
I've had a difficult relationship with the writing of Larry Crabb. Part of that is because of my theological education. Part of that is because he was wrong about the healing abilities of Spirit filled believers in each other's lives and begins to repent with this book (and in The Safest Place on Earth). The other part is that I was wrong and have begun to repent also. This is a very good book. It is filled with hope and hope for our Christian communities.

Searching for God Knows What : Reflections on the Gospel of Jesus, Donald Miller
The scribe of my generation. While I dont always agree with Miller or the way that he says it, man do I resonate with the questions and the reflections. Searching drives home the relational context of the Christian gospel. He makes it about Jesus and and about Jesus and about Jesus.

Face to Face: Meditations on Friendship and Hospitality, Steve Wilkins
There is nothing fair about my reading of this book. I tried to approach it with an open mind. Wilkins pastors at Aubrun Avenue Presbyterian Church known as the headquarters forthe controversial Federal Vision. It is published by Canon Press which is the home of Doug Wilson, whom I enjoy in many ways and feel is amazingly narrow in others. The main unfairness in my reading of this book is that I read it after Searching for God Knows What. Miller writes so that you feel like he's talking to you. Wilkins writes about friendship and i feel like I would be irrelavent in the friendship! It all seemed so utilitarian. If a friendship promotes holiness, keep it, if it doesnt, dump it. What about the human? Like I said, totally unfair.

Labels: books, friends, friendship, hospitality, leadership, trust

The BBC podcasts the Welsh program All Things Considered where you will find conversations on spiritual and ethical topics far more substantial than you usually find in the U.S. They recently hosted poet Grahame Davies.

Villanelle y Cymoedd
'Rwy'n gweld mai teithio ydy pwrpas taith;
'rwy'n dechrau deall castiau ysbryd Duw,
a gweld mai ennill ffydd yw colli'r ffaith.

'Rwy'n gweld brawdgarwch dyddiol bro ddi-waith,
y hiwmor du a'r jocian yn y ciw,
'rwy'n gweld mai teithio ydy pwrpas taith.

Gweld plant y dôl yn gweithio dros yr iaith,
y Cymoedd yn pleidleisio 'Ie' yn driw,
a gweld mai ennill ffydd yw colli'r ffaith.

Tro ar y mynydd wedi diwrnod gwaith;
y fam yn cario'i babi 'lan y rhiw,
'rwy'n gweld mai teithio ydy pwrpas taith.

'Rwy'n dechrau deall gras sy'n diodde'r graith,
a deall fel mae marw er mwyn byw;
a gweld mai ennill ffydd yw colli'r ffaith.

'Rwy'n teimlo'r gwynfyd yn y gwacter maith
a bendith llosg yr halen ar y briw.
'Rwy'n gweld mai teithio ydy pwrpas taith,
a gweld mai ennill ffydd yw colli'r ffaith.

...or for those who dont read Welsh...

Valley Villanelle
I see that it's to journey that we go;
I'm starting to discern the spirit's way,
I see it's only faith if you don't know.

The daily comradeship of men brought low,
the dole-queue jokes while waiting for your pay,
I see that it's to journey that we go.

The jobless kids who help the language grow,
the Valleys voting 'Yes' to have their say,
I see it's only faith if you don't know.

A walk up to the mountain for a blow:
the mother takes the baby out to play;
I see that it's to journey that we go.

I see, through grief, the grace that lies below,
and how, to live, you give your life away;
I see it's only faith if you don't know.

The burning blessing when the answer's no;
the stinging balm of silence when I pray.
I see that it's to journey that we go.
I see it's only faith if you don't know.
translated by the author

Labels: audio, doubt, faith, podcast, poetry, radio

I don't know what to do with this. Anthony Bradley writes a very convicting blog post over at the resurgence.

America has nearly 115,000 orphaned kids in foster care waiting to be adopted. Some wonder how this is possible in a country with Christian families. Surely, there are 115,000 missional families in America, right? Missional families, for example, embrace the redemptive mission of God and practice "true religion" in their local communities (James 1:27). Missional Christians in America could eliminate the foster care system tomorrow if we would stop "shootin' up" with the American Dream (heroine) in order to get high on a lame life lived for the sake of comfort and ease.

Read the rest

Labels: children, church, family, missional, social action, spirituality

I just finished the essay by Wendell Berry with the above title. It was perhaps the best thing I have ever read. The content was brilliant and the writing artistic. There were moments that I had to put the book down in awe of the beauty of a turned phrase. Isn't that the way it should be? Shouldn't beautiful truths be told in beautiful words?

A community identifies itself by an understood mutuality of interests. But it lives and acts by the common virtues of trust, goodwill, forbearance, self-restraint, compassion and forgiveness.

Labels: community, economy, freedom, money, sex, writing

Still working on this. Any suggestions?

Labels: photos

Ed was great when he was with us in May. He spoke to us about being missional in our Southern California Suburban context. Thanks Ed.


Had a conversation this week with a guy at Starbucks who talked about visiting a local church as a trip back in church history. We all have a style in the way we do church. Its not possible to be otherwise. How 'bout having the style of the place where we live? Just a thought.

Labels: church, church planting, missional

Copied this straight off of Drew Goodmanson's blog. I think it is a fascinating story of Web 2.0 authorship.

A new book is coming out entitled, Voices of the Virtual World: Participative Technology and the Ecclesial Revolution. This book is a collection of over 40 writers, many well known bloggers, authors, missional thinkers and pastors. The Wikiklesia Project has announced July 23, 2007, as the release date for this first volume which explores “spirituality contextualized within a culture of increasingly immersive technology.” All proceeds from the sale of the Wikiklesia e-book, audio book, and print version will go to the Not For Sale campaign.

Check out The Wikiklesia Project press release for more details.

Labels: books, web, writing

Time magazine published a few pictures of factory workers in China. Human rights advocates have always been concerned about factories. The inhumanity and the low pay. I have no solutions immediately. But I do know that if I had to walk into the factory and look at these human beings in order to get the products, I couldn't do it. So why am I ok with buying the same products from a discount store? This is a hard one for me. These pictures are something out of a bad anti-communist propaganda movie.

Labels: money, morality, social action, stewardship

I finally got the note I've been waiting for from the Doctor of Ministry dissertation committee.


I am confirming that the DMN Committee received your DMN Proposal, reviewed it and have approved it.

The working title is, "Leading from the Middle: Pastors as participants in their own spiritual communities."

The essential question of the study is, "Why do pastors under 40 report better relationships within their congregations than those over 40."

Now, to write it...

Labels: leadership, pastor, school, writing

More from Ryle...

If you desire salvation, and want to know what to do, I advise you to go this very day to the Lord Jesus Christ, in the first private place you can find, and earnestly and heartily entreat him in prayer to save your soul.Tell him that you have heard that he receives sinners, and has said, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out."

Tell him that you are a poor vile sinner, and that you come to him on the faith of his own invitation. Tell him you put yourself wholly and entirely in his hands; that you feel vile and helpless, and hopeless in yourself: and that except he saves you, you have no hope of being saved at all. Beseech him to deliver you from the guilt, the power, and the consequences of sin. Beseech him to pardon you, and wash you in his own blood. Beseech him to give you a new heart, and plant the Holy Spirit in Your Soul. Beseech him to give you grace and faith and will and power to be his disciple and servant from this day forever. Oh, reader, go this very day, and tell these things to the Lord Jesus Christ, if you really are in earnest about your soul.

Tell him in your own way, and your own words.

Labels: prayer

I am a minister in the EFCA. I have been for nearly 13 years as an associate pastor, lead pastor and church planter. I am also member of an EFCA congregation. More particularly, I am a member of the church I minister to. I call this leading from the middle. It’s the ministerial equivalent of our historic call that the church is made up of believers only, but all believers. Sometimes, we forget that we are neither above nor below our congregations, don’t we?

I have to be both minister and member because of the social relationships modeled by our Trinitarian God and by the example of the church. God has modeled this kind of relationship and our ecclesiology demands it.

My friends and fellow workers, we must always remember to be both. Actually participating in our congregations will be spiritually formative for us, it will have divine effects upon our people and it will reliably demonstrate the love of Jesus to our neighbors who see the way that we relate to one another as a reflection of our God in the world.

God leads from the middle
God is an eternal community. Our God eternally exists in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and yet we believe in only one God. Relationality has always been seen as the core of God’s being. The relationships modeled in God are essential, equal and economic. They are essential in that one divine person does not exist without the others. We know the Son according to His identity with the Father, for example, we call Him “Son.” They are ontologically equal. All that the Father is, the Spirit and the Son are also. It has been said that the Son is everything that the Father is, except the Father. They are distinguished only by personhood. Lastly, their relationships are economic. In relation to creation and to the world, the Father acts by means of the Son through the power of the Spirit. Towards this end, the Son submits to the Father and the Spirit submits to both the Father and the Son. Their roles are subordinate in economy but never in essence. In God we have a model of unity in diversity. In God we have a model of authority and submission with equality.

The Church is to be lead from the middle
The community of the people of God is first and foremost a relational community that is formed to reflect God in the world. The church is a living body grounded in the redemptive work of Christ and the gospel mission of God. Before there is an organization, there is an organism. Organization always serves the organism.

The church community to which I belong, Northpoint Evangelical Free Church in Corona California, uses Paul’s admonition in Colossians 1:28 to state its particular role in that universal mission. “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.” Taking this verse as our mission statement focuses our communal efforts on the proclamation of Christ and the completeness of all people in him.

Each church’s direction or mission also possesses a strategy of how that mission will be achieved within the loving community organism. At Northpoint, the real people that make up the church organism aid one another in the hard task of connecting to the whole and then maintain the necessary relationships that are spiritual formative. Connected relationships are the place in which learning, loving and living can take place naturally.

How do I as a pastor participate in the mission of the congregation I work to shepherd? I am a member of the body before having a role in that body. I am a live participant in the organism that precedes the organization.

First of all, I must participate in the process that everyone else participates in. There is a terrible double standard followed by many pastors when they act as if they have nothing to learn or no area of life where they need to change. A higher crime, still yet, is when a pastor believes and/ or acts as if there is no one in the congregation of Spirit filled believers who are mature enough to speak into his personal spiritual life. For a pastor not to participate in the same discipleship process with the congregants is the pastoral equivalent of “do as I say and not as I do.” It provides a model of disbelief in the process. At Northpoint Church, I take part in a Connect Group. I can lead the group, which I usually do, or at times sit under the leadership of another. We believe that the Spirit of God uses the Word of God in the mouths of the people of God, even mouths other than that of the pastor.

Participation in the same process also allows me to engage in the ministry of presence. When we participate through presence as well as work and word, the shape of real people is formed by our living faith in addition to organizational prowess.

Organization is the natural outworking of a large organism. A gathering of Christian people may feel very organic when it numbers ten to fifteen, but in reality, there is already organization happening. Someone is facilitating discussion and another is planning the time and place for meeting. Soon, a group of Spirit filled believers find that the living room they met in no longer accommodates their gatherings and begin to plan for what’s next.

In a medium to large church, the organizational task of the pastor closely resembles those of any middle manager. Pastors create budgets, plan events and lead assistants, secretaries and other church staff. These dynamics create the same kind of relationship difficulties that any boss would find in fraternizing with employees. While it may seem mundane, the normal organizational tasks of the pastoral leader are missionally valuable. Because of these efforts, the gathered people are facilitated well in the worship of God each week. Oversight happens, which enables the people of God to forward together on the mission God has given them, according to the strategy or process to which they have committed themselves.

Some leaders will never be hyped about the business aspect of church ministry. We, for I am one, need to remember efficient structure does aid the going of the gospel. On the other hand, when structure begets structure, the going of the gospel is in jeopardy. And when the called and gifted shepherds of the church spend their time and energy planning, strategizing and voting - the people of God suffer loss. Leaders who lead from the middle structure sufficiently for the going of the gospel in their context and then stop. When things grow or change so that the structure no longer fits, reform it and then stop. When business leads, the gospel loses.

We pastors do a good work. And sometimes, it’s just a job like any other member of our church commutes to on Monday morning. But if we lead from the middle, we will do well. We will see both our co-participation in the community of believers and our ministerial task in the organization as consistently true in our lives. A pastor who leads from the middle by living, working and worshipping as one of the congregation will be a healthier spiritual person and will lead a healthier church into the future for the good of the world.

Labels: church, community, friends, leadership, pastor, vocation

I have a question to offer you. It is contained in three words, Do you pray?

The question is one that none but you can answer. Whether you attend public worship or not, your minister knows. Whether you have family prayers in your house or not, your relations know. But whether you pray in private or not, is a matter between yourself and God.

I beseech you in all affection to attend to the subject I bring before you. Do not say that my question is too close. If your heart is right in the sight of God, there is nothing in it to make you afraid. Do not turn off my question by replying that you say your prayers. It is one thing to say your prayers and another to pray. Do not tell me that my question is unnecessary. Listen to me for a few minutes, and I will show you good reasons for asking it.

I ask whether you pray, because prayer is absolutely needful to a man's salvation.
I say, absolutely needful, and I say so advisedly. I am not speaking now of infants or idiots. I am not settling the state of the heathen. I know that where little is given, there little will be required. I speak especially of those who call themselves Christians, in a land like our own. And of such I say, no man or woman can expect to be saved who does not pray.

I hold salvation by grace as strongly as any one. I would gladly offer a free and full pardon to the greatest sinner that ever lived. I would not hesitate to stand by his dying bed, and say, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ even now, and you shall be saved." But that a man can have salvation without asking for it, I cannot see in the Bible. That a man will receive pardon of his sins, who will not so much as lift up his heart inwardly, and say, "Lord Jesus, give it to me," this I cannot find. I can find that nobody will be saved by his prayers, but I cannot find that without prayer anybody will be saved.

It is not absolutely needful to salvation that a man should read the Bible. A man may have no learning, or be blind, and yet have Christ in his heart. It is not absolutely needful that a man should hear public preaching of the gospel. He may live where the gospel is not preached, or he may be bedridden, or deaf. But the same thing cannot be said about prayer. It is absolutely needful to salvation that a man should pray.

There is no royal road either to health or learning. Princes and kings, poor men and peasants, all alike must attend to the wants of their own bodies and their own minds. No man can eat, drink, or sleep by proxy. No man can get the alphabet learned for him by another. All these are things which everybody must do for himself, or they will not be done at all.

Just as it is with the mind and body, so it is with the soul. There are certain things absolutely needful to the soul's health and well-being. Each must attend to these things for himself. Each must repent for himself. Each must apply to Christ for himself. And for himself each must speak to God and pray. You must do it for yourself, for by nobody else can it be done.

To be prayerless is to be without God, without Christ, without grace, without hope, and without heaven. It is to be on the road to hell. Now can you wonder that I ask the question, Do you pray?

A Call to Prayer, J.C. Ryle. Read more.

Ryle has been one of my soul's dearest friends.

Labels: prayer