GlocalNet

Anyone who says postmodernity isn’t the driving force in the West is outright living in the past. Anyone postmodern who says the whole world is postmodern hasn’t seen that much of the world. Sure, there are pockets everywhere, but it’s not the prevailing global philosophy. You have to separate the materialism and styles of the west that do spread globally from the philosophy that’s global. I think postmodernity is the philosophy of an affluent society that has become disillusioned with it’s own failed promises from modernity. Most the world just isn’t that affluent.

Center shift #1 the church in Jerusalem is a gathering place for all the followers of Jesus to hang on. Antioch takes the role as the center of the church driven more by laymen in vocations engaging society, thereby bringing transformation.

Center shift #2 in the church took place when the church split from Constantinople, the edge of the Middle East, to Rome, the center of Europe. Transportation drove it. Communication and culture also drove it. You wind up with a theological debate between the East and West over icons—but, it was really about how the cultures in which faith was emerging had different lenses in how they saw life.

Center shift #3 in the church took place during the reformation in Europe. Between Columbus opening a connected global world through ships that led to trade and colonization and the Gutenberg press, travel and communication team up to give a totally different global view and reality. The result—the church splits.  The old stays there, but the new paradigms are not just theological they are also the impact of technology upon thought.

Center shift #4 Peter Jenkins has aptly shown us, though we’ve been feeling it, that the West is no longer the base of Christianity. We speak of church planting movements as if we have them in the States. Hello China! We want Eastern results in our Western churches using Western templates—not sure it will work. So, while the West is defining the whole world as postmodern, a tendency we will no longer be able to do,  how will the East define the rest of the world? It’s time for new theologians.  We need some new Luthers and Calvins and Zwingliis. Their names will probably be Lukito Sumatra, Phuc Dang, Akmed Mohammed, and others. They see the world through a different lense. How will they define theology and the church? What an incredibly exciting thing to think about. But, how will the Western church respond to them? Ignore them? Or, perhaps as in other center shifts, split from them? I want to move into the future with them. I think postmodernism is good for the Western church, because we don’t know what is, yet. God has us in the lurch and our tongues tied, so theirs can be loosed! We’re just too loud—even when we’re wrong.

While I was running this morning, I was thinking about this. It’s true. All maps are flat.  Yet, the world is round. All universes are linear and circular at the same time. Following God is the same. We move forward and sometimes we think we’re moving backwards. We aren’t. We’re moving in a loop because we hit something that didn’t work like it should. We don’t go in reverse because we have knowledge of the obstacle, so we loop working our way around the obstacle. What looks like a reversal is a loop that allows us to master the next level. Just a thought

I think, to a large degree, the church today wants to be heard in society without earning the right. We think just because “we’re the church” we have the right—not so. Jesus had to earn the right in the eyes of men before they listened. He was already who He was—with or without humanities’ acknowledgment. BUT, people listened to Him and followed Him because of the life He lived and the way He served others. It took the service of the cross for Him to speak beyond the time He walked physically on the earth. The same will be true of us. If we truly loved people and were going to serve them and wanted to see the press get off the back of the church—it wouldn’t be that hard. Aggressively serve the poorest of the poor, the least of the least, the farthest, and then speak in love from service in the arena wherein you want a voice—without judgment.

Jesus said, “Greater joy has no man than this—that a man would lay down his life for his friends.” My son Ben graduated from NYU Monday. I’m so so proud of him. My daughter Jill graduates from High School the end of this month and starts Baylor in the fall. Ti (my exchange student son) did a presentation at TCU for his engineering class as he graduates from TCU.

Life is going to be so different for Nikki and me now. In some ways good—I hear in all ways good, but right now it’s kind of hard to see. I tried to talk Nikki into adopting a Vietnamese baby—no luck. She says, “Oh yeah, you adopt a kid for me to raise—no way, buster!” She’s right. She has been traveling with me some and we’ve been partying together like never before—it’s like before we were married and right after we were married being together. When I look at Ben, Jill, and Ti, our Vietnamese son—exchange student from a few years ago—I think it will be ok.

I’m just grateful that God has given us children that love Him and us. Kids with a focus. As I was looking at pictures of my kids, I thought to myself, “Greater joy has no Father—that his children walk with God.” I can’t say that Ti is a Christian, but he’s still a part of my family. Neither can I say I’ve given up on the idea that one day he may be.

Thank you Father for the 3 lives you placed in our care for a few short years—it’s given us far more than we ever dreamed.

I just watched the movie The Postman from beginning to end. I’d been watching bits and pieces of it over the years, but never the whole thing. It’s utterly incredible. What stood out was how relevant it is to today. It’s an old movie, but very prophetic to some degree as to what we face today and the challenges we see. Thirty years from now, I wonder which movies will be reality and which will still be just movies.

Little men who have little jobs with no passion or future and no way to channel their energy wind up becoming tyrants waiting for a war to unleash the fury they have. When they do, it’s all about intimidation. They create a language that supports their “idealism” that gives them permission to destroy others. That was Col. Bethlehem.

Running men—who just want peace and to be left alone—if their energy is channeled they “give out hope like candy in the pocket.” Nobility lies in most of us—we just don’t have a place to let it run wild. Unless you’re a follower of Christ and then, of course, if you believe all Jesus says, your life is consumed in Him and others. Not a bad place to find meaning.

Every man longs for hope—something of significance. Any man can matter. Meaning is found in how we connect—the mail, the Internet, and most important, a cup of Joe at Starbucks. It’s true, every thing in our West is unraveling and being redefined—but I love the ending of that movie. The end of post-modernism or whatever philosophy you believe has to give a man some sort of hope and meaning—or what’s the purpose?

The Great Commission will not be fulfilled by any one person—any one group—it will be all of us or none of us. You are being affected by globalization in your faith at this very conference. We’ve all read Phillip Jenkins and know that there is no center of Christianity—if anything it’s East. The fastest growing church today is in China. We are talking about multiplication and movements—but the whole language that we are using talking about cpm’s didn’t originate from how the church was operating in the West but from how the church is exploding in the East. For the first time, we are desperate for a result that the East is experiencing. Sadly, most of you here today think this is the idea of some Western guy or that one of the US networks like Glocalnet, Acts 29, or Organic Church came up with. We do not have any legitimate cpm’s in the US. The closest we come to it is Neil Cole.

At the same time we are seeing more mega-churches planted than ever before. We are also seeing a decline of people in church. Has anyone thought what that means? To get to a cpm, we desperately need a different kind of disciple. Without it, it will never happen. But that isn’t what I’ve been asked to speak on here and I will deal with this some in my breakout. It’s not the preachers we’re producing but the disciples that will lead to a movement.

I will both excite you and frustrate you in the next few minutes. I am a sailor— explorer—driven by a love of life and the thrill of adventure. I come from having been in distant places with fascinating people and having seen many wonders of the world. Sadly though, I am not an engineer and am not as articulate as I need to be. I can tell you it’s there—I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I can point you—I can challenge you to go—I can give you a “pirates map” — but that’s it. If you need a precise map with a gps, you’re in trouble. Part of the trouble is that it’s not mapped, yet.

The writing isn’t on the wall—it’s on the earth for those who will see it.

Margaret Meade said that impact and change truly happen slowly and it comes from the masses and just a few …

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Last night you could hear the thunder and see the lightening. In Texas, we have extremes in weather. Either it’s too hot, too dry, or too flooded—no wonder Texans are so wild—our weather makes us extremist in whatever we do! There is no gentle breeze here. There is no slow rain. There are extremes. I wonder if, in reality, weather impacts us and, if so, how? I hear in Seattle there are more suicides there because of the overcast which leads to depression. It’s been proven that when the butterflies flap their wings in the rain forest in the Amazon, it affects the weather in Chicago. Jordan, NorthWood’s Worship Pastor, and I have talked about creating an atmosphere for worship in our services and how to read the “spiritual barometer” and know where we’re heading to get there. We really do create climates more than we think. We are affected by atmospheres and, at the same time, create atmospheres.

Father, help me this day to recognize, and not resist, the weather fronts you send my way. Also, help me recognize when a cold front comes that You didn’t send. Help me do a good rain-dance on people whose lives are dry and parched who need You.

If my parents had felt good, they were coming to see me Easter. It’s been a few years since they have, so I went out and did a ton of stuff to my yard, painted, etc.—things I knew my Dad would examine upon arrival.  I spent a couple of days in the yard and loved it.  I had no projects in front of me—just working hard and thinking while I worked. My parents didn’t say which service they’d attend, so Saturday night I was the only one in a suit for two services.

I got somewhat sad knowing I wouldn’t see my son—knowing my daughter was headed off for college in the fall and we would have an empty nest. I’ve enjoyed being a husband and father—it hasn’t been this huge sacrifice—so I’m sad they’re gone—but happy they’re all doing so good. I don’t feel old enough to have college kids, but I guess I am.

The yard was finished. It was 2:30 and I heard the door unlock. I was in the kitchen putting on my running shoes. I yelled, “Jill — you home?” No response. “Jill?” No response. “Nik?” No response. I stuck my head around the corner—it was Ben. I grinned from ear to ear. Then I wept and embraced him. “What’s wrong dad?” “Son, it’s fine—we don’t have cancer—I’ve just been thinking about you and am happy for your future—that’s all.”

In our 5 Easter services, I preached on the prodigal returning home. It’s awesome—but you know—the non-prodigal returning home I believe is even better.

The other night I had a blast! About a year ago, we had a guy find Christ in a very powerful way. He is a referee for professional wrestling—the kind you see on TV. He got started by Fritz Von Eric and Fritz was his hero. He has been after me a long time to go with him and I’ve not been able to. But, I did the other night. I went with him to a wrestling thing in Denton.

I had a blast!!!! It was some of the best entertainment I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m going back. I think Jesus would be there—and hope he remains a referee for a long time to come—what an awesome place of ministry. Cussing, beer drinkin, along with lots of other kinds of drinkin, wild looking, out of control people all over the place. Some things struck out to me as I watched this all unfold:

First, I was an old man at this thing. No one was in their 40’s. This is a very, very young sport. Everyone was in their late teen’s to late 20’s. I felt bad about the fact there were many young children and even a couple of babies there. I had figured everybody was older at this stuff—man was I wrong.

Second, I saw some of the edgiest and wildest looking people on the face of the earth here. I listened to how they referred to one another — “Goth” “white-trash” “——” and other assorted things! This crowd—they were beyond some of the wildest post-moderns I’ve ever seen—in language, dress, you name it.

Third, I was where I’m convinced Jesus would be. Who starts churches for these people? Who cares about these people? Many of them are the left-behinds and forgotten of society. I began to talk to a lot of them and ask them questions. I liked them a lot—they were really cool people—just trying to find a place of community. When you got past their façade — they were like anyone else. Many of them very kind, many of them hurting, many of them having been hurt—all of them looking for community.

Fourth, those wrestlers—they’re real athletes. I’ve never seen guys flip in the air and land on canvass like they did. People talk about what is fake and real at wrestling—it doesn’t matter. There is enough “real” stuff they have to do …

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