Charismergent

taking back the land

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:46:00 +0000

The other week I was at a big Christian music festival in our area. Between the artists they had different ads, prizes, etc. It was a hot summer day filled with all of the Christian marketing and materialism that I could handle... all those things that annoy me about the culture the western church has substituted for Christianity - but that’s another blog, so I’ll try to focus here.

“Let’s take this land back for Jesus!” I heard shouted after a state representative for Indiana was introduced. The representative then kept going on and on about voting and taking the land back for Jesus. She gave a rambling speech about how this is a Christian nation and by voting we could restore it to what it was supposed to be. “This is your nation so take it back,” she implored. I was confused - was it Jesus’ land or ours? In any case, I was unconvinced. She was obviously catering to the audience, but in her statements and in the indignant amens I heard in the crowd I heard something frighteningly familiar.

Jesus was often surrounded by a crowd of people who were shouting and trying to convince him to take the land of Israel. It was rightfully his, right? These lousy liberals....um I mean Romans, had taken over the land and it was the duty of the spiritual leaders to purge the country of the scourge of the foreign occupiers. The pagans.

But, Jesus didn’t do as they wished. In fact, he treated the Romans with respect and value just like everyone else. After he had resisted long enough, the people were willing to crucify him because he wasn’t fitting their understanding of the Messiah - both personally and politically.

Many of the Jews were so blinded by nationalism that they couldn’t accept the kingdom Jesus had come to usher and offer. A kingdom that wasn’t won with violence or furthered by exerting power over others. Jesus never forced his will on anyone. He taught that transformation in this kingdom didn’t come through external regulations and authority, but rather through an encounter with him that changes our hearts, and through his Spirit that gives us the ability to walk in his ways. The way of restoration and wholeness, of holiness and love. Humility and servanthood.

I think Jesus still resists cries to take over because it’s not in his nature. He is God. It is his world. But his ways don’t change, and his kingdom does not look like a kingdom of this world (no matter how great we think America is).

The kingdom of God always looks like Jesus. You can’t coerce it. You can’t vote it into power. It only comes in the way he came. It changes people the way he changed people, with power that no worldly government can wield and with humility, grace, and peace that no government wants.

If we say we follow him, then we need to be about the kingdom Jesus taught about.

alas poor blogger, i knew him well

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Thu, 17 May 2007 04:57:00 +0000

this will be the last post to my blogger account. i have moved my blog to:

web.mac.com/joshstevens79

hopefully the quality of my blog will improve with the new site. :-)

emerging youth ministry

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Tue, 15 May 2007 20:06:00 +0000

I've been witnessing a shift in youth ministry lately. nearly every youth pastor/worker that I've talked to claims that something is different. what worked 5, 10, or 15 years ago just isn't working anymore. it's interesting to watch youth pastors, who have been working with youth for years and years, suddenly realize that their ministries are almost entirely irrelevant to youth culture.

Some of them question their own abilities and calling, while others just get bitter at this new generation of youth who won't get on board with the program. All of that just leads to confusion and lack of direction.

I've found myself at all ends of the spectrum, but I'm discovering that the challenge that exists is causing me to rethink traditional youth ministry (which is actually a pretty young 'profession') and to rediscover what it means to be a follower of Jesus in the midst of it all.

I've watched as some ministries scramble to increase attendance, and others try to tweak what they've been doing to recapture some of the glory days of youth ministry (most of which took place in the late 80's and 90's). The problem is, those days aren't coming back. The youth culture is different today. We have to be savvy about what issues today's teens are facing, and their views on issues of faith and how their culture is influencing them. Modern, Post-Modern - call it what you will, the old 'big event' style of youth ministry is losing its effectiveness. Maybe it's a good thing, because honestly the results of those youth ministries has generally been disappointing.

Maybe it's time to re-imagine what it looks like for teens to live out the kingdom of God. Maybe it's time for people to take priority over programs. Nobody says that they use people to build their programs, but I think if you take an objective look at churches and youth groups it's pretty obvious that most things are done for the sake of the program.

I am not anti-program, as long as the programs are fluid and designed solely for the purpose of serving people, not the other way around. The old measuring stick of, "how many youth are in your group?" needs to be replaced with "how can we work together for the kingdom of God in our community?"

I feel that I'm at the very beginning of this journey, and I have so much more to learn. But, something is different and I can't go back to the old style of ministry. I can't in good conscience try to build my own empire (though having my own Death Star would be pretty cool). Anything less than truly making disciples - not just converts and numbers added to the group - is not what Jesus commanded us to do.

Jesus Vs. Christians

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Fri, 11 May 2007 03:32:00 +0000

a really powerful set of interviews with people from Chicago about what they think of Jesus and Christians. I saw this on Dan Kimball's blog: dankimball.com

spider-man 3

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Sat, 05 May 2007 12:36:00 +0000

Last night we went to see Spider-Man 3. It was a good movie - not quite as good as the second, but still a lot of fun. They probably tried to do too much with the story line, and in doing so they didn't have a chance to develop the characters as much as they did in the previous films.

One of the things I have loved about the Spider-Man movies is the fantastic moral message that each of them has. "With great power comes great responsibility", etc. This film continues in that vein with the theme of choices - we are who we choose to be, and in a really cool twist at the end, forgiveness trumps all.

The action scenes are bigger, and the villains are more spectacular - a good movie by any standards. So I was pleased with the movie. It stayed somewhat true to the comic books, and was a lot of fun. I just wish they hadn't tried to do so much with it. It goes by like a rollercoaster and you walk out having had a fun experience, but it went too fast to take it all in.

tomorrow's the big day

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Fri, 04 May 2007 02:21:00 +0000

well, i'm going to have a hard time sleeping tonight. tomorrow is the big day when spider-man 3 comes out. i thought about going to a midnight showing tonight, but erica said she couldn't pull off watching a 2 1/2 hour movie that late.

we did go and see the final star wars movie at the midnight showing, which was the most fun i've ever had in a movie theatre. tons of people were dressed up as various characters and random light sabre fights broke out in the hallways... often between people that didn't even know each other. i must say that it was probably one of the most communal experiences i've ever had (and i'm not even that big of a fan of star wars).

i think church should be more of a 'together' experience than a star wars movie, but i have rarely experienced anything close to that in the christian circles i've been in. these are things i'll probably have to think more deeply on later, but for now i'm brimming with excitement about the movie i've been anticipating for what seems like ages. i don't know what it is about me and super heroes (spider-man being my all time favorite), but it definitely causes some part of me to come to life.

i already got tickets - we're going to a 7 p.m. showing.

one view of heaven...

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Wed, 02 May 2007 14:58:00 +0000

Today I saw perhaps the weirdest video clip I have ever seen. I think parts of it come off as more of a time-share commercial than an evangelistic tool. I had to watch it a few times just to see if these people are for real. Keep an eye on the kid's face at 2:50. His face says it all - there really aren't words for this.

Here is a link to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1paYhEDFQIw

Emergent Church

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Wed, 02 May 2007 01:15:00 +0000

I thought this was an interesting piece on Nighline about the the emerging church. It definitely wasn't comprehensive, but it's fascinating that Nightline did an article on it.

a weird dilemna

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 17:06:00 +0000

so, last week i let our youth decide what they wanted to do this summer. we had planned on going to a week-long event called merge that is about connecting our stories to God's. there wasn't much excitement generated in the group about it - mostly because it would "take a whole week out of our summer". so, i gave the choice of going to merge or another event - 'the call' in nashville. the call is something that many people from the church are planning on going to, and it's been advertised frequently.

internally, i struggle with that decision. i don't know if it's all the books i've been reading or what, but something about the call just feels off to me. probably because of this line taken from the call's website: "The Church and the nation are in a crisis! In no uncertain terms, the elections of 2006 showed us that there is no clear moral foundation upon which the nation votes. In this present historic moment, the Church was paralyzed. Tens-of-thousands stayed home and could not vote as if they were drunk with disillusionment."

the implication seems to be that since democrats won, we obviously have lost our moral foundation. to be fair, they do go on to say that God is neither democrat or republican (which i agree with wholeheartedly). however, throughout the website there seems to be this idea that the church should have total influence and control of this political party, and that's how we will restore the moral foundation of the country. i might be reading more into it than there really is, i dont' know.

anyhow, it really highlights the struggle that i've been having for a while, and i think it's probably somewhat due to the fact that i'm almost entirely influenced by emerging and missional church books. i've decided that for one week i will put those books down and focus primarily on the Bible and a christian classic: the practice of the presence of God, by brother lawrence. i'm hoping to bring a little balance to myself spiritually, because all of the emerging stuff tends to get me critical and cynical for some reason.

maybe it will help shed light on 'the call' for me too. i want to be open, but i also want to be faithful to Jesus.

time to refocus?

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:11:00 +0000

I initially came to our church with the intent of working with youth. I still love working with teenagers, but I haven’t given it as much of my time as I’d like. During the course of my two years here, I’ve added worship, graphic design, and Momentum to my plate, along with starting up a middle school group (which I would consider part of the youth). Momentum, although not fully operational by any means, has seemed to take up a huge portion of my thought, study, and energy - and I won’t even begin to go into my frustrations with ‘worship’.

Due to financial issues at the church, I’m wondering if it’s time to reconsider my priorities. It seems that to some extent, youth ministry has been left by the wayside. Truthfully, I don’t think I’ve been completely faithful to my primary job because of all the other stuff I’ve added in. It bothers me that the youth have suffered for it, and in some ways the church has probably suffered for it as well.

There has been some heavy discussion as to what exactly the role or purpose of Momentum should be. Mostly, I have considered it as more of its own thing rather than a real part of the church. However, the other thought has been that it could be a catalyst for change within the church. I’m not entirely convinced that would work, but I could see the benefit to that approach. The challenge for me is that a missional movement seems nearly polar opposite from institutional church, and my ecclesiology is very much rooted in the missional movement. That makes it difficult to work just to keep the institution alive, and inside I feel conflicted - not because I don’t want to see our church succeed, but because my definition of success is so much different.

Overall, to me it still feels that Momentum really has no momentum. Perhaps at this point it would be best just to focus on youth and helping them be missional. Maybe it’s just not time for Momentum yet. I don’t know.. those are the things going through my mind today. It might be different tomorrow.

The results of my APEST test

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 03:50:00 +0000

I took a spiritual gifts test on www.theforgottenways.org that ranked me in terms of Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd, and Teacher. It wasn't the greatest test I've ever taken, and it cost me $10, but I think it seemed pretty accurate.

Here are the results:
1. Apostolic
2. Teaching
3. Prophetic
4. Evangelistic
5. Shepherding

It kind of surprised me that Shepherding was dead last, but I guess I can see that in myself.

Hallelujah Nuns

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 11:47:00 +0000

A good way to start out Sunday morning.

really bored

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 13:10:00 +0000

ok. so i blogged a little about being bored in a previous post. as it turns out - just sitting around and doing nothing because of illness is even worse. i can only handle so much t.v. and reading in a day.

I'm going in for a CT scan today to see what's going on with my body. Hopefully they figure out what the problem is so I can get back to having somewhat productive days. I have always been somewhat hyperactive, and this has been a frustrating experience.

Gary the Southern Painted Turtle

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 22:56:00 +0000

Here is the newest addition to our family. He's tiny, and pretty shy, but once he gets used to his new environment and to us, it will be fun. This breed is supposed to be one of the most friendly kinds of turtles.

stupid phone...

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 02:17:00 +0000

well, today was a disappointing day. nothing major i suppose, but apple delayed their next operating system until october. i had hoped they would release it soon - not that the current operating system is bad, it's just that there was seemingly a big build up for it being released this spring. that was, until the iphone needed more resources to finish on time. so they pulled developers from their OS to work on the iphone.

it does present an interesting thought about what exactly the priorities of apple are - their computers or consumer 'gadgets'? I for one am not interested in the iphone. it looks cool, and i hope the touch screen technology eventually finds its way to an ipod, but i've never been crazy about an all-in-one device, because it always seems like products that do one or two things extremely well are always far superior to the all-in-ones. plus i typically despise talking on the phone, and usually it's more of a distraction than anything - so i would hate to associate my precious ipod with a phone. it's like blessing and cursing rolled up into one.

oddly enough, i kind of hope the iphone flops so apple gets back to focusing on its computers.

Ice Age

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:10:00 +0000

I'm not so sure that the polar ice caps are melting as much as just relocating to northern Indiana. This is the view outside my office - on April 11. Days like today make me wonder why Erica and I didn't move to Texas and start a youth center like we had planned.

bored

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 19:46:00 +0000

lately i've been bored with life in general, but mostly with church. it just doesn't get me excited to do church services anymore. no matter what is added into them, i just can't get interested. so, i don't know if it's just me or if it's where we are at as a church.

regardless, it doesn't make it much fun for me - and i can't seem to muster much energy or creativity to give for a church service. i guess a lot of what i'm feeling is "been there, done that". even the idea of doing a church service aimed at people my own age and more "relevant" doesn't have much appeal.

i can't tell if the pendulum swung so far for me on the missional stuff that it ruined me for "church" or if this is something that God is doing in me to get me to a new place...

Worst CGI Ever

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 14:12:00 +0000

I love special effects in movies... especially when they look like they're done by a five year old.

add another year, a couple of inches of snow, and a turtle

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 04:25:00 +0000

so, it's officially my 28th birthday now. ten years since i was in high school... weird. anyhow, it also snowed for the occassion. there are 2-3 inches of it outside. if this is some sort of weird effect of global warming, i'm buying a toyota prius and putting solar panels on my laptop.

in other news... yesterday (april 6) i ordered a southern painted turtle. it will stay small enough for the big aquarium i have in my basement. i'm still trying to think up a name. i like simple, non-animal feeling names. The top contenders at the moment are: Gary, Jason, or Clark Kent.

Evan Almighty

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 05:44:00 +0000

Here's a "sequel" to Bruce Almighty. It looks like a play on Noah's life... only with a conservationist spin (I'm guessing because of a link I found on the web site). Anyhow, I liked Bruce Almighty, and Steve Carell is one of my favorite actors... I'm a huge fan of The Office.

Here's a link to the movie's web site:

http://www.evanalmighty.com/

too many things to buy... too little money

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:09:00 +0000

ok, so my techno materialism is nearly at an all-time high. the adobe cs3 premium design suite is almost out - the upgrade will cost me $599. apple dropped the price on their 20" display: $599 (not a necessity by any means, but still very nice), and the next apple operating system could come out at any time: $???.??

i really wish i was getting more back on tax returns. oh well. it's all just stuff, i know. but it's cool stuff. i can usually turn down stuff and not get too wrapped up in it. it's the cool stuff that gets me.

sometimes i wish i was back in mexico, where i only had clothes and a bible. not a lot to worry about...

bloody weather..

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:02:00 +0000

yes, that is a quote from monty python. it's april 4th, and i'm watching it snow outside. it was in the mid 70's yesterday. there should be some sort of law of nature that it can't snow and be 70 or above in the same week... let alone the next day.

a few fun homer simpson quotes...

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 04:43:00 +0000

"Hey, what's the big deal about going to some building every Sunday? I mean, isn't God everywhere?"

"I believe children are the future... which is why they must be stopped now!"

"I'm not a bad guy! I work hard, and I love my kids. So why should I spend half my Sunday hearing about how I'm going to Hell?"

New look

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 03:08:00 +0000

In preparation for Spider-Man 3, I decided to go with a new look for my blog. There are 46 days left until the movie comes out. My anticipation level is pretty high. There aren't many movies that get me particularly excited, but anything to do with Spider-Man will get me out to the midnight showing. Yes, I am a nerd.

MadTV - iRack

noreply@blogger.com (joshua) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 16:55:00 +0000

Wow... politcal commentary and making fun of Steve Jobs. Brilliant!