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Atheist Church Launches in UK

January 11, 2013 in Articles, culture, Current Affairs, movements, Religion, The Church with 10 Comments

The Huffington Post ran a fascinating article a couple days ago about the launch of Britain’s first atheist church. Yes, you read that right. This past Sunday a couple hundred atheists gathered together in a former church turned performance space in London to gather as Britain’s first atheist church. They gathered together, sang some songs, spent some time reflecting, and even had a message. As you can about imagine, the event has sparked a lot of attention and has both the Christian community and the global atheist community grappling with how to appropriately respond.

I have to admit that a part of me loves that this is happening. Honestly, I would love to be able to visit sometime. Now that might throw some Christians for a loop who might feel uneasy about the idea of an atheist church. And I will admit it is much easier to look with fascination or amusement at something when it is happening on the other side of the Atlantic,

but let me share a few reasons I think this could be a good thing:

Continue Reading…

A Pastor’s Response to Healthcare Reform

June 29, 2012 in Articles, Current Affairs, Leadership, politics, Religion with 21 Comments

After this week’s Supreme Court decision to uphold Obama’s healthcare law and the ensuing reaction on social media, I thought it might helpful to repost this article I wrote on March 22, 2010 just after the health care bill originally passed.

Like many Americans, I anxiously watched last night as Congress officially passed a bill that will overhaul the American health care system and cost an estimated $1 trillion dollars over the next ten years. As someone who is neither Republican nor Democrat, I found myself wrestling with a number of mixed feelings about this monumental event and naturally wondered what it might mean for my wife and I and our two girls in the future. I even wondered what it would mean for their kids someday.

I was unprepared, however, for the cyber onslaught that has since been unleashed by so many well intentioned, but justifiably angry republican Christians. I understand why many are upset. I share many of their concerns. But what struck me most was not their feelings of frustration or their disagreement with this huge decision that will directly affect most of our lives, but their use of spiritual and even Christian language to support and defend their political position.

That bothers me. Continue Reading…

Exciting Times For Lincolnites

June 24, 2012 in Creativity, Current Affairs, Lincoln with 3 Comments

I love my city. Anyone who knows me will tell you this is true. That is why I am stoked about some things that are happening in Lincoln.

For some time now, Clint Runge of Archrival has publicly bemoaned the sad perception of the city (and state) in the eyes of outsiders. In his words, “we are a flyover state - a place you travel through to get to where you’re going, not a place you decide to stick around.” To those outside of the state, we are known for little more than corn fields and college football. It’s sad, but it’s true. (If you don’t believe me, just Google “Lincoln, Nebraska” and you will see what I mean. It’s not pretty.)

But what is really sad, Clint argues (and I would agree), is:

The city has only reinforced this perception in the way it has marketed itself. And
It is not an accurate reflection of the city and its emerging creative community. Continue Reading…

Francis Chan Apologies for Rob Bell Comment

April 30, 2011 in confessions, Current Affairs with 2 Comments

This past week I had the privelege of attending the Exponential church planting conference with my wife, Megan, down in Orlando. During the first main session, Francis Chan apparently made some comments about Rob Bell that were pointed and of a personal nature. (Unfortunately, I wasn't there to hear it since I had unknowingly led my wife to slaughter that morning as we sat through high pressure sales pitch for a time share. After saying "no" no fewer than 12 times to 4 reps over the course of 3+ hours, we both agreed it was not nearly worth the $100 off universal studios tickets. You live, your learn.)

But by the time Megan and I made it to the conference site, the place was already buzzing about Francis' talk. He had struck a chord. By mid afternoon, Francis Chan was a trending topic on Twitter. But those who only sat through the main session or followed the twitter frenzy missed the best part: it wasn't Francis' comment, it was his response to making it. Immediately afterwards, I attended a breakout session with Francis that was supposed to be about prayer and leadership. Instead, a visibly distrought Francis Chan sat down and told us that he didn't have it in him to get up and give another message. What followed was a humble and painful apology for his "flippant comment" he had made about Rob Bell. He went on to explain that although he passoinately disagreed with Rob on some things, and although Rob knows that and the two have been corresponding and will be getting together soon, it was not fair of him to make a comment like that.

Finally.

I have been a fan of Francis Chan's for a while. I continue to learn from him as a man, as a Christian, and as a pastor. I can certainly say the same thing about Rob Bell. And so I can't tell you how encouraged I was to finally see a Christian, and an influential Christian leader no less, apolgoize for letting his emotions get the best of him and making unfair, personal attacking comments about Rob. Listen, it is okay to judge a man's conclusions. In fact, it is wise to do so. But it is not okay to judge a man's motives for reaching those conclusions. That is God's job. Francis Chan modeled humility and repentance by owning his mistake and asking for forgiveness.

He went first. Is it your turn?

Letters to my Future Self

May 24, 2009 in Current Affairs, letters with 0 Comments

Dear Aaron,

At the time this letter was written to you, a lot was going
on in your life. You were in your first year of seminary, weeks away from
finally finishing up that pesky undergrad work, wrapping up your first year interning
with Mosaic in L.A., trying for child number two, excited for your brother
Jake’s little one due in a few months, and just coming off an incredible
experience in CO with your newfound brothers of RhythmInTwenty.

Undoubtedly much has happened since. It is likely that you are
now a father of at least two, perhaps more. You have probably been back in
Lincoln, NE for some time now, started a new work there, moved back into your
little house on Everett Street and enjoyed a few thunderstorms on your back
deck. Who knows, maybe you even finally got that rusty orange Jeep Wrangler
you’ve wanted for so long.

Aaron, I need you to hear me. A time will come, perhaps it
already has, when you are going to get to a point where you begin to look for
greener grass again. It is in your nature. Perhaps the slow pace of Lincoln
life has you once more itching for the opportunities and excitement of a big
city. Perhaps the grind of ministry has you longing to escape to the mountains
of Colorado so you can finally work on the river. Or perhaps you are slowly
realizing that your life will never quite be able to keep up with your dreams.
Whatever the case, you need to stop whatever you are doing right now, shut off
the music, power down your smart phone, put the laptop away and remember for a few moments.

You need to remember
that God has called you in no uncertain terms to pursue the young adults of
Lincoln, NE with the reckless grace of Jesus Christ. You need to remember the calling given you in the
green hills of Scotland to speak; no matter how inept or insecure you might
feel. You need to remember that which
led you to plant Kineo – a work intercepted, but a calling that never changed. You
need to remember that night in
February of 2009 when you came to understand what that ancient passage in Joel was referring to. You need to remember
the visions you saw of the "contagious" movement that would saturate the dark spaces and
holes of Lincoln, NE. You need to remember
what it was like to fight tears through nearly every session at Catalyst West
Coast as God affirmed your call to Lincoln over and over again and
as He urged you to finally own that calling and begin praying for the city.

Aaron, you must REMEMBER! You have been called, not
requested. Your ambitions are not your own. Your dreams are not your own. Your
vision is not your own. Your LIFE is not your own. Your days were ordained for
you before one of them came to be. Do not question your call. Do not question
your commitment. Own it. Embrace it. Live it.

Leading Alone?

February 7, 2009 in Articles, Church Planting, Current Affairs, Leadership, The Church with 5 Comments

The resurgence of Ted Haggard (and his epic failings) into the public spotlight has got me thinking a lot about leadership. Namely, I have been thinking about why highly successful and influential men like Haggard continue to fall morally only to lose everything – their job, their influence, their families and any hope of vocational ministry in the future. I wonder, why does this keep happening and how can it be avoided?

Can I admit something on the front end? My heart breaks for
Ted. I know he messed up and that he messed up big time. I know that he caused
a horrendous amount of emotional, psychological and spiritual damage to
thousands of people, including friends of mine. And I know he is reaping what
he has sown. But as someone who tends to err on the side of grace, my heart
breaks for Ted. Consider this:

How alone do you think someone has to be when
they can carry a secret like this – one that draws into question everything they stand for – and no one – not friends, not colleagues, not
even family – has even the slightest idea?

I think most of us recognize the inherent danger in
putting one man on such a large pedestal, but I don’t think the pedestal is the
problem. History has taught us that people always push for influential men and
women to be put into positions of power. This is one of the reasons Jesus had
to work so hard to stay underground for as long as he could. When the word got
out about him, what did the people want to do? Crown him king. When the
powers-that-be found out, they recognized a legitimate threat and had him
crucified. It’s a wonder that his public ministry lasted a full three years.

You see, we will always look to those who capture our hearts and
imaginations for inspiration, direction and leadership. This kind of influence
is a gift. And like any ability, it can be used for good or it can be used for
evil. I think Ted set out with the genuine desire to use his influence for
good. But somewhere along the way he got lost. Terribly lost. Over time, he stopped quieting
himself long enough to hear the gentle whisper of the Spirit and started
listening to the voices blaring in his ears. In the end, his influence was used
to inflict horrendous damage on those who trusted him.

I don’t think the problem was that Ted had great influence. I
don’t think the problem was that people had put him on a pedestal. I think the
problem was that Ted stood on that pedestal completely alone.

I wonder if Jesus ever meant for his followers to venture
into positions of influence (or to venture anywhere, for that matter) alone. I
wonder how many times he had to warn his ragtag group of followers about the alluring
nature of power over a pint at the local watering hole. I’d venture to guess it
was a popular topic of conversation. After all, the very reason Jesus had come
was to fix what the human desire to play God had broken. This is why we hear
Jesus continually teaching about things like humility, generosity, serving and
forgiveness. This is why we find Jesus apparently unsurprised by an argument
over which of his disciples was the greatest; to which he responded by teaching
them to become everyone else’s servant. And I think this is also why Jesus
chose not to send his disciples out to do ministry alone.

We find a great example of this in Luke 10:1. It reads:

“After this Jesus appointed seventy-two others and sent them
two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.”

I wonder what would happen if today’s leaders approached ministry in the same way. I wonder how many churches would benefit from having two pastors of the same authority, of equal power, and of mutual accountability leading the way. I wonder how much more effective our church planting would be if we stopped sending our planters out alone. I wonder how much more healthy our churches would be if we resisted the tendency to build around a single personality by diluting the spotlight. I wonder how many of our pastors would benefit from giving lead pastorship back to Jesus and sharing the rest of the responsibilities and burdens with a plurality of equal leaders.

I wonder if Jesus wasn’t on to something.

Haggard: When A Leader Falls

January 25, 2009 in Articles, Current Affairs, Leadership, Reflection, The Church with 2 Comments

In case you haven’t heard, this Thursday HBO will air a special
documentary entitled “The Trials of Ted Haggard.” The documentary was shot by
Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and includes home
footage shot during some of Ted’s lowest moments since the scandal originally
broke out in 2006.

For millions of Americans, the documentary will undoubtedly
evoke a wide range of emotions reminiscent of the ones they felt when the story
first unfolded just a couples years ago – feelings of anger, disbelief,
betrayal, sadness and devastation, among many others. For me, and probably for many Christian leaders across the globe, the documentary will force us
to revisit the horrendous moment we found out that yet another high
profile Christian leader had fallen. Painfully, we asked, How could this
happen? How does the pastor of a 12,000 member church, the leader of the 30
million member National Association of Evangelicals, a representative to the
White House, one who holds so much influence and voice in so many lives do
something like this? More than two years later, we are still trying to come up
with an answer.

Pelosi has said that she hopes the documentary will turn out
to be a story of forgiveness. I do too. I hope that the church, New Life and
the Capital “C”, responds by embracing Ted by showing him love and grace, by
apologizing for the things that were handled poorly, and by welcoming him back
into fellowship. But I fear that the documentary itself will reveal just the opposite.
I fear that it will reveal an all too familiar story in which a once beloved
and admired man makes some poor choices, embarrassing himself and the church,
and is then abandoned by those who so often talk about “forgiveness,” left to
try to pick up the pieces himself.

Why is the church so
quick to shoot their wounded?

I will readily admit that I am thankful I was not one of the
elders at New Life when this all came out. I am thankful I did not have to
decide how to try to handle such a difficult, painful, embarrassing and complex
situation under the scrutinous spotlight of the American media. I am thankful
that I did not have to try to faithfully handle and lead through the emotional
and spiritual fallout that continued in Colorado Springs long after the
journalists and news crews had moved on to the next big story.

But I think most would agree – if not now, certainly after
the documentary airs – that the church (New Life and the Capital “C”)
essentially abandoned Haggard in his darkest hour. Sure, they gave him a
generous severance package, but throwing money at a problem never solved
anything. Even in the business world that is considered only professional, not
especially gracious. And when you consider that New Life demanded Haggard not
speak publically about the issue and that
he move out of state, it just doesn’t look good. Even those far from the
church perceive this to be inconsistent with the person and message of
Jesus.

And to make matters worse, I have recently found out that a
former staff member of New Life – a childhood friend of mine – is responding to
the documentary by bringing further allegations against Haggard and the church
in a coming interview with ABC. This time, however, the allegations include things that reportedly happened that were not consensual. In other words, this thing will get worse
before it gets better.

But here is the deal: we understand that moral failure
always has devastating repercussions. And when it is a leader, the fallout is
exponentially worse because it affects the lives of so many others. This is
true regardless of the circumstances. But I have to believe
that this could have been a different story – one of tremendous grace and
forgiveness.

Can you imagine what might have happened if New Life would
have responded by coming around the Haggard family and embracing them? Can you
imagine what might have happened if instead of requiring that they move out of
state, New Life had urged them to stay in Colorado Springs as a part of the
church where they could be loved, served and provided for? What if the New Life
staff had resolved to encourage those in their church to extend grace to the
Haggard family and to personally come around them when they needed support the
most? What if, instead of releasing official statements to the press, Pastor
Brady and the rest of the New Life leadership were able to respond to these new
allegations alongside Ted and his wife, as friends, admitting mistakes wherever
needed but doing so in the context of friendship and a mutual commitment to get
through it together? And then what if, instead of demanding that Ted not speak
publically about the issue, He was encouraged to share about his restorative journey after
a period of time, if he desired to and when he was ready as an example of how a
community of Christ followers can come alongside those who fall with grace and
love in order to see them restored?

Imagine the kind of message that would have communicated. Imagine the kind of impact that might have had. Imagine
what could have been if only we had responded differently. I do hope that this
story turns out to be one of forgiveness. And I hope and pray that we, the church, get
better at loving those who need it most in the times to come.

Flakey Bloggers Unite

January 12, 2009 in Current Affairs, Daily Musings, Photo Blogs, Travel with 0 Comments

**Has it really been 9 weeks since my last post?! Something tells me that isn't too good for one's readership (my statcounter, for one). My apologies. These last couple months of silence have been busy and have involved a lot of inner turmoil. I have been wrestling with expectations, confronting some of my own shortcomings, questioning whether or not I desire to be in vocational ministry again someday, (and just in case the answer to that question turns out to be "no") playing with some other possibilities, trying to figure out how to be a better husband, and engaging the age old practice of having fun. But all that to say that I think I have finally come out the other end – in a much better place than where I started – and ready to get back in the blogging saddle again.**

And just what would a triumphant re-entry into bloggerdome be without some snapshots of my last couple months? If you answered "lame", you'd be exactly right. So here goes…

In mid November we headed back to Lincoln for my brother Jake's wedding. The first order of business was the bachelor party. We rented a limo, dressed up in our finest pirate garb and headed out on the town for a night of pillaging and rock'n roll. For anyone looking for bachelor party ideas, I highly recommend this one. From the impromptu sidewalk sword fights, to the epic limo gun battles, to the autographs and stares at Yia Yia's downtown, this was one for the ages. (I am not liable for expletive gestures.)

The next night was the night of the rehearsal dinner. We didn't really have any ideas for an after party. Then we found out that the State Theater was at our disposal, if we wanted it. After a quick brainstorming session, we ran out and got a dozen assorted nerf guns and headed to the theater for an epic nerf battle. No would could have guessed this night would turn out to be even better than the previous one. Perhaps it was the drunk pub patrons pasionately cheering us on through the windows, the incredible layout of twisted hallways and bases, or the opportunity for all of us to be 12 again, but whatever the case, most of us agree it was one of the funnest nights of our lives.

The following day was the big one. It was a beautiful wedding filled with both moving and hilarious moments (the hilarious ones I can't really share on here, so you'll have to use your imagination).

After the ceremony, the wedding party hopped on a party bus to celebrate before rejoining everyone at the Lodge at Wilderness Ridge for the dance party to end all dance parties. We figuratively and literally tore the dance floor up!

It was a fitting way to celebrate Jake & Allie's new marriage and
it wrapped up what was easily one of the funnest three days stretches
of my life.

I spent most of the last week of November at beautiful Point Loma in San Diego for Strengths Coach training with Gallup. All I gotta say is that it is a good thing I didn't visit this school while I was in high school because it just might have inspired me to become a Nazarene. It also turned out that my good buddy Derick was in town celebrating his birthday, so I got to crash with him in a suite at the Hard Rock Hotel (easily the coolest hotel I've ever stayed at) and hang with some of his fellow firefighters (great guys) in SD's gas lamp district (which absolutely shames downtown L.A.) The training? Oh yea, that was good too. Really.

Last month I had the wonderful opportunity of spending some time with Dan Kimball while he was in town. He and his lead pastor, Josh (great guy!), met with us to talk about the protege program. (For anyone interested, they will be launching their own protege program at Vintage Faith in Santa Cruz this fall!) Dan has been an instrumental and influential voice of clarity in the emerging church movement for some time now. His Emerging Worship was one of my favorite resources for ideas and discussion when I served as a worship pastor. I have to say that I was so impressed and encouraged by Dan's kind and humble spirit, his hunger for understanding, and his interest in little people (like myself). Although he is a bonafide rock star in many circles, he still comes off as someone who is genuinely accessible and endlessly loyal. Spending time with him was truly an honor.

Since Megan is relatively new to her job and we just took time off for the wedding in November, we spent Christmas here in L.A. with my sister-in-law's family. It was a really good time and very relaxing. (Notice picture of me toting the video camera like a good dad.) Also, just in case you were wondering, Amy Grant was right: Christmas in L.A. does make for a warm holiday.

We had roughly a dozen people staying in our apartment for New Year's. It was filled with much dancing, rocking out, cranium (guy's won), and shouting at the church group camping underneath our balcony. The next morning we got up, watched the Rose Bowl Parade from our balcony (very cool), and then cheered on our Husker's as they beat out Clemson in the Gator Bowl! It was a great way to ring in the new year!!

Alright, I think I am finally caught up! Now, lets move on to some substance…

but let me share a few reasons I think this could be a good thing:

@mosaicpastor

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