GlocalNet

I am passionate about Jesus Christ and my personal relationship with him.  I am passionate about the Kingdom of God and how that moves us from action to transformation.  I am passionate about NorthWoodchurch.org as a place that is making disciples and engaging the world and creating a model.  I am passionate about young pastors planting new churches.  I am passionate about the world getting to hear the Good News of Jesus.  I am passionate about people from other religions or no religion, and becoming their friends and working together side by side with them in their societies serving them and learning from them.  I am passionate about building friendships where one on one we talk about our views of God and faith.  I am passionate about the world and how it operates and how we heal it from injustice and poverty.  I am passionate about releasing disciples on the grid of society, where they can be salt and light.  I am passionate about people to people relationships of different faiths/governments/races., etc.  . . .  . .

I could go on and on and on - but I won’t I’ll stop there.  How can we start so many churches this year, send so many people to Vietnam, engage different religions around the world, work with mosques and synagogues in DFW and be effective?  I would say we are effective and have an impact precisely because we are involved in all those things and because we are connected it informs all the other things we are involved in and prevents any of our work from being done in silos.  Thus, church planters are taught to relate directly with religious leaders of different faiths from their cities in our church planting which has a direct impact on how they engage the other side of the world. 

Not everyone does everything - but everything matters to someone and it all fits in the big picture.  This is what the body of Christ or the church is supposed to be about.  It is not a matter of global or spiritual ADHD - but it is a matter of “connected states” of being and them all fitting together.  You cannot look at things as independent entities in their own rights - they are all connected and there are strands that hold them together.  Pull things out from their context and it becomes a “one thing” response and a “one thing” lens through which you see everything.  That does not work in the 21st century.  For me the lens of the Kingdom of God is flowing in our hearts and in our lives and is being opened to respond to the doors God opens. 

The reason churches focus so narrowly on “one” thing and are known for that “one” thing is because there are very few disciples and the leadership of the church is often tied to just “one” person or just a few.  When the body of Christ is released and the template is the Kingdom of God and the grid is the society - then God has a call for every single person and it fits. 

Segmented or specialized thinking doesn’t necessarily make you an expert on something.  If anything, it can in all actuality be disconnected and non-aligned. 

The world is now connected, our thinking and our responses are not.  Whether it’s the church, the university, diplomacy, governments, it’s as if we are living in the 21st century but operating in an 18th century mindset and it’s killing us. 

NEVER, in a million years would have I thought I would be a friend and involved with Muslims and Jews like I am!  But when we see the world as it is, and we love Jesus and we want transformation and we see challenges - how can we not be involved?  I can just hear Jesus, “Sorry guys, ain’t raising Lazarus, healing someone else.”  His response, “I’m coming” though it would take time because other things had to be done, he did get there, and Lazarus had died, but that didn’t stop things.  Being God in the flesh has its advantages.  He raises Lazarus from the dead.  The grid we all operate on is the society and the values are truth and justice. 

Knowledge and activity cannot be done in silos and survive.  To thrive in the 21st century means that critical thinking and how things fit and the puzzle is put together is no longer an option.  The day of focusing on one piece of the puzzle is over.  See the big picture.  THUS, we are all explorers, adventurers, learners, and what a rich life that brings.  I love my “rabbi” and my “imam” and love hanging out with them.  I have come to love people and view life in ways as a result of that.  That literally affects my personal walk with Jesus.  How dry my life would be if I lived in a silo.  It’s time for the church to get outside her walls, for people to get outside their race, knock down the walls, see what’s out there, and have some fun   . . . . .  . God is OK with it, he created it.