God working in Spite of Me... Or was He?

This past Saturday, an event took place at our church (where I am the youth pastor). It was an event that I really wasn't excited about and didn't want to be a part of. But, being the youth pastor, I was sort of forced into it. Let me explain.

A few months ago, a lady in the church came up to me telling me that she really wanted to get Jami Smith to come to our church and do an event for the youth. Jami leads a worship band that goes around the country leading worship at youth camps, retreats, conferences, etc. She's quite talented and I love her songs and have no problem with her and the career that she has. My problem aat first was twofold: 1.) I had been at the church for about a month and didn't know if this was a good idea because I didn't know the students yet, and 2.) I am highly against putting on an event just because someone plays the guitar well, sings great, and writes good songs. I have some theological misgivings about building an event around a person, no matter who they are. So, I told the lady that I'd think about it, but there's no way we could do it in the very near future. I didn't hear from her for a while and thought she had forgotten about it.

Then a few months later, she came and talked to the pastor about it and told him how much it would cost. He said there was no way that the church would be able to cover close to the cost of the event. If it was going to happen, she was going to need to find individual donors to cover the cost. I didn't think anything of it. But apparently this lady took that as a green light to go out and get donations and book the event.

I found out around the very end of July that this lady had booked Jami Smith, paid the deposit, and that she was going to be here on August 27th. Less than a month away. And we had no reason for any event to take place and other than this lady liked Jami Smith. We got together and had a meeting and I was expected to do pretty much the rest of the planning for the actual event. I was not happy about this. If an event like this was going to take place, I would have wanted at least a few months notice so that I could try and get other youth groups on board and make this a multi-church, interdenominational event. But with less than a month to go from absolutely no idea this event was going to happen to Jami Smith being here on the 27th, I was skeptical. So, I called up a speaker to come and speak at the event, came up with a theme, etc. The event was only going to be 2 hours long, which I also didn't like because I feel like you can't do much with only 2 hours with a group of total strangers.

Anyways, to make a long story short, the event went off pretty well, there were 190 people here, and it seemed like there were some "decisions" made. So, I got the feeling that maybe God used this event in spite of my skepticism and lack of enthusiasm for this event.

And then I read Tim Challies post on pragmatism this morning. Now, I don't agree with Tim on a lot of things, but pragmatism is one area where I feel like Christians are missing the point (However, I am a little stumped about the whole "bearing fruit" thing that scripture talks about. Sounds at times like pragmatism to me). Just to do things because they "work" has in my opinion taken then church to the sorry state that it finds itself in today. We cannot be happy just because things were a "success."

And I realized that I did become happy with the event Saturday night because it seemed "sucessful." Even though I didn't like the reason behind the event. Even though I had some theological problems with what I knew was going to happen and how people were going to be asked to make a decision.

So now I am rethinking about how I feel about Saturday night's event. Maybe it wasn't as successful as I thought. Maybe it doesn't matter. Or maybe God did use it in spite of me. I don't know.

The problem is, if I'm not pragmatic, I'll probably lose my job. So what do I do?

On Being Post-________

The next book I hope to read for my own personal pleasure and edification (read: not for class) is Stan Grenz' Primer on Postmodernism. I was flipping through the pages today and noticed that in chapter 7, "The Gospel and the Postmodern Context,"Grenz has subtitles describing post-individualism, post-rationalism, post-dualism, and post-noeticentricism (is that a word?) as they pertain to the gospel.

As I read through many emergent-type blogs I see the phrase post-_____ (fill in the black) quite often. Post-liberal, post-conservative, post-evangelical, etc. Seldom do I see the four "posts-" that Grenz has listed in his book, which I find mildly surprising considering Grenz was always considered one of the theological friends of the emerging church.

I don't know why I am writing this. I guess I am wondering if Grenz started the "post-" trend or if it can be found elsewhere. And why are we no longer claiming to be "post-" as Grenz lays out in his book? Was he wrong? Are we going somewhere else with ourselves? Is postmodernism different that Grenz understood it?

When I read the book I'll find out more.

Tags: postmodern, postmodernism, emergent, emerging church

Oh Miroslav

So, it seems like I’ve been reading a lot about people’s praise for Miroslav Volf’s Exclusion and Embrace, so I decided to check it out for myself. I’m only about 65 pages into it, but so far it is, as Tony Jones calls it, “mind-bendingly good theology.” A few quotes that struck me:

His explanation of Paul’s reconciliation of the universality of God's being with the cultural particularity of his revelation (to specifically the Jewish people):

Paul’s solution to the tension between universality and particularity is ingenious. Its logic is simple: the oneness of God requires God’s universality; God’s universality entails human equality; human equality implies equal access by all to the blessings of the one God; equal access is incompatible with ascription of religious significance to genealogy; Christ, the seed of Abraham, is both the fulfillment of the genealogical promise of Abraham and the end of genealogy as a privileged locus of access to God; faith in Christ replaces birth into a people.(Exclusion and Embrace, 45)

Volf’s addition to the Barmen Declaration:

“You were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9). “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer males and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

All the churches of Jesus Christ, scattered in diverse cultures, have been redeemed for God by the blood of the Lamb to form one multicultural community of faith. The “blood” that binds them as brothers and sisters is more precious than the “blood,” the language, the customs, political allegiances, or economic interests that may separate them.

We reject the false doctrine, as though a church should place allegiance to the culture it inhabits and the nation to which it belongs above the commitment to brothers and sisters from other cultures and nations, servants of the one Jesus Christ, their common Lord, and members of God’s new community. (Exclusion and Embrace, 54)

It seems that Volf's book has vast implications for missions, American Christians (or any Christian for that matter), and hopefully will offer some practical insights into how to deal with the "ethnic cleansing" going on around the world that he speaks about so often in the book. I'm looking forward to the rest.


Tags: Exclusion and Embrace, Miroslav Volf, Barmen Declaration

Blue Like Jazz

I just finished reading Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. It was a refreshing read. I didn't know what to expect and read it on a recommendation from Rusty, who said it was a good, and easy, read. He was right about it being an easy read. It's one of those books where you read it and you look down and say, "wow, I've read 30 pages already" when you think it's been like 10. I guess that's a good thing.

It was essentially a spiritual autobiography that was surprisingly orthodox. After seeing it was highly endorsed by Brian McLaren, I thought it might be a little more "cutting-edge" or Emergent theologically, but it didn't seem to be. It was very orthodox when it came to theology, just unorthodox in his mode of presentation, which is what made it a fun and refreshing read. I seemed to identify a lot with Miller as I read it as well, which made it all the more enjoyable. I guess you could call it a sort of modern-day Confessions. Just a lot lighter.

Anyhow, I took some things away form it and liked a lot of his insight into the human condition and the fact that when it comes down to it, we're all just flat-out selfish. I also enjoyed his epiphanies about things like thinking we are better than close-minded fundamentalists because we are willing to think liberally and intellectually, when actually we are no better off than the fundamentalist by thinking ourselves better than them (wow, does that make sense?). He wrote with a very high degree of humility and authenticity. I recommend it.

Up next: Exclusion and Embrace by Miroslav Volf

Tags: emergent, Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller

It's a good day...

I get to see Noah today. I'm in Siloam on "business" and so we're meeting up for a bit. Should be exciting.

Honeymoon Pics are up

Honeymoon pictures and other week-of-wedding pictures are here.