Filed under: Leadership, faith | Tags: Acts, Christian, Jesus, morality, Penn
Recently, a Christian friend shared with me, “I don’t talk to people about my relationship with Jesus, but let them see how I live.”
And while I agree with Penn’s (of Penn & Teller fame) recent questioning of Christians who don’t “proselytize,” or specifically Penn’s statement of how much you hate somebody to believe there path is leading to eternal non-existence without your God, my friend makes a good point.
If Christians are living like Jesus, from the inside out truly set free, our lifestyles will reflect such a dramatic contrast to cultural norms that our friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family will see overwhelming external evidence leading them to actually accuse you of being a Christian….
A great example of this is in Acts 11:26, “The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” This is the first example of the word Christian being used. In Antioch, the people who followed Christ were first called Christians…. It was a derogatory term meant to imply being just like Jesus. They were called Christians based on the external evidence of living so counter to surrounding culture, and instead following the lifestyle of Jesus.
People who were first called Christians we’re so loving, so forgiving, so grace giving, so generous, so merciful, so surrendered to the Lord’s truth, so committed to people who shared the Christian lifestyle, and just as loving to people who didn’t that it led people around them to realize these people, “Christians” we’re exactly like the Jesus they had seen firsthand or heard about.
Reflecting on this begs many questions to be answered. You may call yourself a Christian, but what do other people call you? And in our culture, both secular and Christian, we have gotten confused about that we are supposed to live in a way that we will be accused of being Christians. Not accused of being church goers. Not accused of being religious. Not accused of being good moral people. Not accused of being political. And defintely not accused of being smug ***holes who act as if we died on the Cross for our own sins.
If you call yourself a Christian, is their consistent overwhelming external evidence which backs it up?
Is it so obvious that people actually accuse you of being just like Jesus (read this last question to yourself slowly for dramatic effect)?
This would be the spot for anyone who desires to share your revelation on baby names for our future girl! She is due to enter this earth on June 30th…. so names please!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Barton, Christmas, Indianapolis, Indy Metro Church, Jesus, justice, mercy
A couple weeks ago, Indy Metro Church, the Christian community of faith I’ve been involved in leading for the past 2 1/2 years hosted a year end Christmas party for our friends and neighbors in the Barton Tower & Annex. Though Indy Metro isn’t a traditional inner-city church, we are a church who embraces the important matters of justice, mercy, and faithfulness in serving our great community.
Though we are a group of dreamers and lovers of people and Jesus, no one could have imagined what happened!
It all culminated in our early December Christmas party hosted at the Barton Tower in downtown Indy. The impact was significant in both the lives of people being served and those who came to serve. It always seems to work out this way!
One amazing piece that happened was a partnership between IUPUI’s Bepko Learning Center, Car-X, and Indy Metro that provided close to 200 full bags of food. One young couple at Indy Metro we’re so moved they generously purchased groceries and supplies to fill 50 bags themselves! Wow! This is the type of Christian community I’m involved in!
This blog isn’t big enough to share all the stories, but one highlight comes from Reagan. She is a mother who was invited by her daughter to serve together at the Christmas party. Clearly impacted, she share what happened when engaging the story of a woman completely different than her. Mary, the woman she is referring to, has been a part of Indy Metro for the last two years and truly has experienced Jesus in a transformational way!
“I spoke with a woman named Mary who was taking care of Dwayne, a 17 year old, wheelchair bound boy who has cerebral palsy. Mary started taking care of Dwayne when he was 3 years old and didn’t want any money for her care from Dwayne’s mother. Dwayne’s mother couldn’t care for him anymore and Mary asked if she could take him to live with her. What strikes me the most about this is Mary has no job and is poor. She loves Dwayne like he is her very own flesh and blood. I went down to Mary’s apartment with her to carry some food back for her. Her apartment shocked me. It was so small and crammed with things. I couldn’t see how she could maneuver the large wheelchair and Dwayne around. But Mary would do anything for Dwayne. God is working wonders with these two individuals. Not only is Mary a blessing and God-send to Dwayne, but Dwayne is the same for Mary.
We complain so much about what we have or don’t have. They have so little. She has no transportation either. If she wants to go somewhere, she bundles Dwayne up in blankets and walks with him downtown or takes the city bus. What an inspiration they were to me. Jesus shines through these two individuals. True unconditional love.”
Filed under: Uncategorized
A friend shared this with me regarding our emphasis on Christmas so I want to help get the word out too! Just spreading some Christmas cheer!
Filed under: Community, DIY, Leadership, Serve, Uncategorized | Tags: Christian, creation, green, Spirit & Place
Doing some live blogging over at smallerindiana.com for our Spirit & Place festival event Imagining Creation. As part of the 13th annual Spirit & Place Festival, this has turned out to be quite a amazing experiential event!
Here are a couple live pics… visit smallerindiana.com to track it live.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Imagining Creation, Pickens Plan, SmallerIndiana
Some great conversation is ensuing at SmallerIndiana regarding the T. Boone Pickens plan to solve the energy crisis we are in. Take a look at this video and consider engaging the discussion too on November 9th at Imagining Creation.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: God, green, Indy Metro Church, Englewood Christian, Ragan Sutterfield, Imagining Creation
Powerful thinkers from around the country will gather at the American Cabaret Theatre from 6 to 9 p.m. on Sunday, November 9, 2008 for a spontaneous, on-stage dialogue on the theme titled, Imagining Creation: Exploring the Spiritual Mandate for Creation Care!
One of our panelists is Ragan Sutterfield. Ragan Sutterfield is a writer and farmer at home in the mountains of central Arkansas. He is the author of the Ekklesia Project booklet God’s Grandeur: The Church in the Economy of Creation. He is a blogger for the environmental magazine PLENTY (Click here to read his blog), and has written prolifically on farming, food, culture and the environment.
Ragan will also be in town for Godspeed the Plough the entire weekend engaging the topic of the redemptive practice of agriculture. Visit the site here for more info.
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Filed under: Community, Leadership, faith | Tags: emerging, Fringe, Indy, IndyFringe, Jesus, storytelling
During the month of August, Indy Metro Church hosted IndyFringe Festival. This annual Fringe Festival in heart of the arts district is fully loaded with a variety of performances. Each completely unique. Since our gallery, hosted FringeCentral the entire month I met all kinds of people and learned a great deal.
I had the opportunity to enjoy coffee and conversation with one of the young performers Croft. While here he performed a show, Stinky Flowers and the Bad Banana. The opportunity to visit with Croft was a learning opportunity for me in the art of telling stories. Because of the constant telling and retelling of stories we do at IMC, I leaped at the chance to learn from this amazing emerging storyteller.
I was veraciously journaling and interrupting him as we we’re chatting, and one of the most profound things (seemingly basic to him) was this concept of physical based comedy, acting, and performing. It’s the necessity of encountering only the immediate moment of interaction. Staying focused in the moment. Not even minutes ahead but engaging life, the situations, and relationships it brings only in the moment.
One of the performances I saw during IndyFringe was Clown at Work. It’s rare that one can sit in a room with children, young adults, and retirees and see belly laughing of the entire crowd for nearly an hour straight with clean humor. Nothing less than remarkable. What stood out to me most was an amazing example of being in the moment. His expression of physical based comedy, staying in the moment, was remarkable. For every life, face, individual response and expression were an opportunity he engaged fully, responding accordingly to only incite laughter and further response from his audience. His “performance” was fluid based on what each moment brought. He maintained openness to the “relationships” as he encountered them and wasn’t focused on maintaining his show plan or alleviating the moments. Amazing!
My mom has always said her verse for our family is Matthew 6:33-34. Not necessarily a passage I am living out well but a passage she desires our family to be known for.
Matthew 6:33-34- “But seek first his Kingdom, and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
And what is my biggest challenge in life? To live in the moment! It’s being committed to living out each day fully for Jesus Christ, and not getting lost in the plans, concerns, expectations, and dreams of tomorrow. Not insinuating Gnosticism but breathing, living, and focusing in each moment with Jesus Christ. Being in the moment as a follower of Christ allows me to encounter every relationship, opportunity, problem, and every moment with total commitment to the will of God.
When I focus on one day and seeking His plans for me in that day I remain open to being divinely used for the Most High God. Not alienating people who need encouraged, or stressed about my financial pressures of tomorrow, and even simply enjoying my children today. Staying in the moment with Jesus during every encounter, relationship, and circumstance.
I am not there yet, but found wisdom from some unsuspecting sources to spur me along.
Filed under: Leadership, Random, Uncategorized | Tags: Jung, leader, personality
Ok, this is random but I find these types of personality surveys affirming.
It’s amazing the uniqueness of personality and passion God gives to every person as completely unique and detailed in every way. As Jesus says in Luke 12:7, “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered…”
Jung Test Results
Your type is: ENFJ
Extroverted (E) 60% Introverted (I) 40%
Intuitive (N) 51.35% Sensing (S) 48.65%
Feeling (F) 56.76% Thinking (T) 43.24%
Judging (J) 61.76% Perceiving (P) 38.24%
“You are a “Persuader”. Outstanding leader of groups. Can be aggressive at helping others to be the best that they can be. 2.5% of total population.”
Check out the variety of free online personality tests at SimilarMinds.
Filed under: Community, DIY, Leadership, Love, Serve, faith | Tags: generosity, Jesus, Love, poor, rich, Serve
Sunday evening we helped lead a collision of the worlds. A collision of the rich and the poor; of different races; but most importantly a collision of love. One that I pray no one will recover from. An overabundance of love was poured out. I think Paul describes it best in the letter of Philippians, “Poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.”
This collision occured at the John J. Barton Annex. The John J. Barton Annex is a government housing facility managed by the Indianapolis Housing Authority. A very diverse crowd ethnically and nearly all of the residents fall beneath the “poverty line.” A group of Jesus followers from IMC and Heartland “poured an offering” of love and service into the lives of many friends and “strangers.” I’m pretty sure no one left the same.
One of the most consistent topics throughout all of Scripture is God’s heart for the poor. There is no way to escape that God desires for people whom proclaim to be active followers of Jesus Christ to be lovers of the poor and marginalized in our world. Whether it was through the breaking of bread together, handshakes, hugs, singing some music, sharing a message of hope available to everyone, Jesus uses it all to bring light into the darkness.
Proverbs 31:8-9, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.”
As disciples of Jesus Christ, our purpose or calling is to help people take steps closer to Him. For the addict to be freed; For the hungry to be fed; and the hopeless to hear about the hope we have in Jesus Christ.
I am tempted to be known for how many Bible verses I know, what my job is, or even what my possessions add up too but the reality is that, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” as Paul writes in Galatians.
Perhaps one of the most exciting things for me in the midst of this is having children participate in their own way. Having children playing and introducing childlike joy is beautiful. As a parent attempting to raise children that spit in the face of a culture that rejects people based on their position in society… its a joy of mine to engage our children in these collisions of the worlds.
Loving God. Loving people. Following Jesus.
