Posted for the first time on December 19, 2011.

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It is interesting to note the growing phenomenon of this thing we call Global Warming.  The UN, in the recent past, has taken notice.  They put together a 10 day conference over the issues of: 1) a world-wide government and re-distribution of wealth; and 2) the issue of climate change and global warming.

People seem to be fascinated with this theory.  I say theory here because there seems to be a wide arrange of opinions and conclusions on if this is actually taking place to our planet.  Am I writing this to make a case for global warming being a facade?  Absolutely not!  This is not a persuasive article for or against global warming or climate change by any means, but it is an article that hopefully will point Christians toward a biblical understanding of our planet, and the cosmos for that matter, and the history of our planet as long as the LORD shall decide to keep it so.

First of all, as Bible believing Christians we must view all matters through the lens of Scripture.  This leads us even to view the question of climate change this way.  Throughout history as it has been revealed to us, Paul tells us in Romans 1 that people have continued to exchange the truth for a lie and exchanged their worship of the Creator with creation.

We saw this happen in the Garden with Adam; with the Israelites in the wilderness and throughout the time of the judges; in Acts 17 on Mars Hill; etc. etc. etc.  This reversal in worship is still happening today as we have seen this elevation of the planet/creation and its problems over a sovereign and good and powerful Creator.  We no longer trust in a God that has a sovereign plan for the world, as we find ourselves devising plans and setting up 10 day conferences to discuss the problems and solutions of this possible theoretical crisis.

Again, I use the word ‘theory’ because of the differing opinions in the scientific world.  Granted I am no scientist but I do believe in a mighty and powerful God!  I do believe that God has a plan and direction for history, as it has been revealed in Scripture.  I will err on the side of trusting in a sovereign and good God over getting caught up in creation-worship.

We do have a problem with this world, and it is called sin.  Sin has entangled itself into the minds and hearts of men and women to bring confusion and idolatry instead of true worship.  The Bible tells us of a man named Jesus who sacrificed himself for sin and became sin on our behalf.  The Bible goes on to tell the story of how the world will one day end.  It will not end by the omission of green house gasses into the atmosphere that tears apart our atmosphere… I can promise you that.  It will, however, end when that same man — Jesus Christ — who is also God, will come again and bring with him the New Heavens and New Earth.  It will end when he comes again to make all things new.

Which will it be?  Will it be creation-worship and the worry of global warming?  Or, will it be Creator-worship with the hope and longing for a New Creation?

Over the past couple of months, God has been teaching me several things about this up-and-coming generation.  Many of the things I am learning is simply having them — young people — as my teacher.  I am learning by talking with them.  I am learning by hanging out them.  I am learning by hearing their stories.  I am learning by watching what they do.  I am learning about their family backgrounds.  I am learning what it is they want to talk about, what they desire, and what types of questions they are asking.  Because of this, the pendulum swing in my philosophy of ministry has been tilting over to the relational side as of late.  And in all honesty, this is more of a let’s explore this idea together than for it to be a this is how it supposed to be type of post – RESOURCE: A helpful resource for finding classes that pertain to religion is Guide to Online Schools.

I have titled this post as Exploring the Relational Bandwagon because I want it to do just that — EXPLORE.   There is so much being said about relational evangelism and relational discipleship that many philosophies of ministry are changing to reflect this type of thinking.  I know mine has.  I definitely find myself leaning toward a relational and missional philosophy than a big program/event-driven and big evangelistic sermon type of philosophy.  The former reflects small groups in homes.  Authentic relational environments.  Using the word mission as adjective.  And probably wearing jeans on Sunday morning.  We use phrases like wanting to meet people where they are at and other phrases of the same nature.  The latter likes big programs, big events, big crowds, big heavy evangelistic sermons, alter calls, and probably Sunday School — that stuff.  I am not saying one is better than they other.  I am saying, however, that one definitely seems more effective than the other, especially as it relates to this generation.

In fact, the church I currently serve at as the Student Pastor and Missions Pastor heavily falls into the former category.  Our mission statement reflects this.  We desire to develop mature disciples of Christ in relational environments.  Obviously this type of mission statement champions relational evangelism and relational discipleship over the big events and programs, again, which I think is more effective for reaching this generation.  Why?  Because it is what they want.  It is what they crave.  It is how they operate.

I want to share two things that I think this generation is craving and one thing they don’t really want — with the purpose of exploring how we can best facilitate this as the church.  Remember, my purpose in this article isn’t to bash or be dogmatic.  If you think big programs and events are the way to go then I am happy to hear your reasons and I would love to learn from you as well.  But for the purpose of this article though, here are three thoughts I am currently having:

1.  This generation is craving real and authentic relationships.  

This concept, at first, seems to be mere common sense.  We know that young people desire to be in relational environments with other young people.  That is why ministries like Young Life here in East Tennessee are so big.  The weekday school experience is pretty much reduplicated into a Tuesday night hangout time with all of their friends.  As a student pastor, I constantly battling the non-profits who do well at recreating these weekday school types of relational environments.  There are 12+ schools that feed into my student ministry.  That means there are 12 FCAs, 12 Campaigners, and 12 Young Lifes that are taking our students time.  What’s more, that means there are 36+ ministries (not including other churches) outside of mine that are providing these relational environments as well.

HERE IS MY DILEMMA:  When it comes to a Wednesday night youth service, how are we creating a relational environment for them that is different from what they are getting at these 36+ ministries that they are getting throughout the week?  Are our Wednesday night programs merely functioning as programs?

HERE IS WHAT I AM LEARNING:  The Wednesday night experience for young people will only be a good experience if they have friends who already attend.  I could bring in David Platt or Mark Driscoll to preach the best sermon East Tennessee has ever heard but if that kid doesn’t have friends who already attend than they probably will not enjoy their time and they probably will not want to come back.

2.  This generation does not want to be around their parents.  

Yes, I am firm believer in family driven and family equipping philosophies of ministry.  I lean more toward a family equipping type of model myself; however, I am learning that no matter how you try to facilitate this, young people just don’t want to be around their parents in those types of environments.  Again, that is why these types of ministries — Young Life, FCA, Campaigners, YOKE, etc. — are all booming.  Now we can always ask how effective they are being once the students are actually there, however, we have to be honest with ourselves as well — they are doing a great job of providing these relational environments that kids want to be in.

HERE IS MY DILEMMA:  How do we couple relational environments that young people are craving and want to be a part of with intentional family equipping philosophies?  Are our philosophies of ministry actually driving students away?

HERE IS WHAT I AM LEARNING:  I am learning that you can equip the family without the student having to be a part of those family-equipping environments.  Think about it this way — you can be family driven or family equipping without having to take away relational environments for students.  You can have Wednesday night services, small groups in homes, camps and retreats, etc., all while equipping the family.

3.  This generation really wants to take part in loving their neighbor.

I am learning more and more everyday that this generation wants to be a part of change.  They want to make a difference in the world.  They want to be a part of something bigger than themselves.  In the analogy of the body of Christ, they want to be the hands and feet.  It is no different for middle school and high schoolers today.  They desire to take part in mercy ministries and things that allow them to love their neighbor.

HERE IS MY DILEMMA:  How do we begin to facilitate this for our students alongside of the relational and family driven stuff?  Do we maximize our efforts at all three or do we champion one over the other?

HERE IS WHAT I AM LEARNING:  I am learning to let students dream big.  I am asking thought-provoking questions, such as:  What do you want to do for Christ NOW?  If you could anything for Jesus right now then what would you do?  What are the top 3 things you want to do for Christ in your schools before you graduate high school?  And when they come to me with answers, I am learning to champion those dreams, help them think through them, equip them, and allow them to be the catalysts for making it happen.

One last thought…

I am sure that student pastors, much like myself, all over the country are asking some of these questions.  There has been so much stuff written on championing the family these days that stuff like relational environments and missional, love your neighbor stuff is kind of being put on the back burner.  Kids are desiring the relational and missional stuff more than ever today.  So, as we think through the development of youth culture and where it is continuing to evolve, let us not forsake what they are passionate about to the detriment of championing one philosophy of ministry over another.  Let us continue to explore, develop, and engage… for the gospel of Jesus Christ and his glory alone.

-GRG

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 @TrevinWax Trevin Wax
Worth a Look: Donald Miller on the best writing advice he ever received http://ow.ly/6zjJO
 

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@Jonathanakin Jonathan Akin
I was interviewed today by Fox News & @toddstarnes about the SBC name change. Read it here fxn.ws/noGbF5

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@drmoore Dr. Russell Moore
Moore to the Point: An End to Trickle-Down Worship bit.ly/pTfL8y
 

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 @washingtonpost The Washington Post
#Netflix erases 12 months of massive growth, opens at 52-week low wapo.st/qIuX7D
 

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@wired Wired
Google+ is now open for all. Let’s see if people still want inside the club when the velvet rope is gone. rww.to/nU4qVY

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@JohnPiper John Piper
Part one of a video conversation with Kevin DeYoung on gospel passion and a passion for godliness. dsr.gd/rk5DdG

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 @albertmohler Albert Mohler
New at Conventional Thinking: “Will the Southern Baptist Convention Change its Name?” Should it? http://ow.ly/6zabI

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About a week ago, I received the following email in my inbox.  It was a mass email sent by the reps at Starbucks from their CEO, Howard Schultz.  I read the email in astonishment.  Schultz encourages Americans to come together to challenge Washington to put their bipartisan stances behind them and finally come to terms on the debt-deficit package.  The challenge is well-written and I can see why people follow this guy.  His charisma comes out in his writing.  There is no question that he is a great leader.  – RESOURCE:  Even if you haven’t had an online accounting class, it is clear that there is a debt problem.

What are your thoughts on the following email though?  Should American business men like Schultz be getting involved in something like this?  Should Christian business men begin to get involved in having a voice on this platform?  And the big question:  Should we push this type of campaign for the benefit of this American Dream?  

I didn’t listen to the debate on September 6, but I can assure you that it was definitely interesting.

September 2011

Dear Starbucks Friend and Fellow Citizen:

I love our country. And I am a beneficiary of the promise of America. But today, I am very concerned that at times I do not recognize the America that I love.

Like so many of you, I am deeply disappointed by the pervasive failure of leadership in Washington. And also like you, I am frustrated by our political leaders’ steadfast refusal to recognize that, for every day they perpetuate partisan conflict and put ideology over country, America and Americans suffer from the combined effects of paralysis and uncertainty. Americans can’t find jobs. Small businesses can’t get credit. And the fracturing of consumer confidence continues.

We are better than this.

Three weeks ago, I asked fellow business leaders to join me in urging the President and the Congress to put an end to partisan gridlock and, in its place, to set in motion an upward spiral of confidence. More than 100 business leaders representing American companies – large and small – joined me in signing a two-part pledge:

First, to withhold political campaign contributions until a transparent, comprehensive, bipartisan debt-and-deficit package is reached that honestly, and fairly, sets America on a path to long-term financial health and security. Second, to do all we can to break the cycle of economic uncertainty that grips our country by committing to accelerate investment in jobs and hiring.

In the weeks since then, I have been overwhelmed by the heartfelt stories of Americans from across the country, sharing their anguish over losing hope in the strongest and most galvanizing force of all – the American Dream. Some feel they have no voice. Others feel they no longer matter. And many feel they have been left behind.

We cannot let this stand.

Please join other concerned Americans and me on a national call-in conversation on Tuesday September 6th hosted by “No Labels,” a nonpartisan organization dedicated to fostering cooperative and more effective government. To learn more about the forum and the pledges, visit www.upwardspiral2011.org

America is at a fragile and critical moment in its history. We must restore hope in the American Dream. We must celebrate all that America stands for around the world. And while our Founding Fathers recognized the constructive value of political debate, we must send the message to today’s elected officials in a civil, respectful voice they hear and understand, that the time to put citizenship ahead of partisanship is now.

Yours is the voice that can help ignite the contagious upward spiral of confidence that our country desperately needs.

With great respect,

chief executive officer, Starbucks Coffee Company

The days of reading on the beach are numbered, but here are two of my top recommendations from a great season. Both happen to be Pulitzer Prize-winning novels that I never had a chance to read in high school or college. But their messages are striking—and both are worthy to end up in your backpack for some leisure reading between classes or after work.

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

I had to put the “The Good Earth” down one evening because it made me furious. I couldn’t stand how apathetic, scornful, and ungrateful the main character was toward his wholly devoted, submissive, servant-like wife. I was angry at the social mores in pre-Revolution China when the book was written. I was angry at the idea of a loveless marriage.

But a great book can stir you up like that. Pearl S. Buck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning, 1931 novel set in the Chinese countryside starts with a simple premise, but ends up making some powerful statements about the deception of wealth and the consequences of letting lust guide your way.

The book starts out on the wedding day of Wang Lung, a Chinese peasant whose father arranges for him to marry a slave woman he’s never met. His wife, O-Lan, is plain and has big feet, but Wang Lung is just happy to be married. She’s an excellent cook, and makes his shoddy house a home without a word of complaint.

She soon becomes pregnant, and performs the astounding feat of giving birth to her child alone, then returning to the fields the same day to help her husband plow. O-Lan does everything else right—including bearing him several more children—and it prepares them better than others for years when famine comes.

Gradually, the family becomes very prosperous. And Wang Lung starts to look at his plain, quiet wife with contempt. He starts visiting a shady “tea house” (brothel) and starts a chain of events that promises to bring his family down from its pedestal of self-made success and into a destructive spiral of decadence.

The Good Earth is an underrated, moving classic that will have you rooting for an unloved underdog – and thinking about its unforgettable characters for weeks.

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The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novella tells the story of a poor, aging fisherman discouraged that he hasn’t made a catch for exactly 84 days. He musters his resolve and sets sail in the Gulf Stream alone, and he’s supremely lucky this time around—he hooks a marlin, and can tell by the tug and the pull of the line that it’s the catch of a lifetime.
Patiently, he waits for the fish to lose its strength and die so he can tow it up into his skiff. But minutes turn to hours, and hours turn to days, and the old man is still holding the line while the marlin tows the tiny boat further and further in the sea.

Thus ensues a life-and-death contest between man and marlin. The old man reveres the unearthly creature and considers the fish a worthy contender. He wrestles in his mind whether he has a right to take the life of such majestic animal, and he finally decides that after his days of near-starvation at sea and his sleepless nights holding the line, he must kill the fish in self-defense. “Everything kills everything else in some way,” he tells himself. “Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me alive.”

Hemingway’s parable ends with a twist, and asks the question, “What’s the point of trying anything in life if you know you’re going to die in the end?” The old fisherman’s response to his life-sapping battle with nature is one of great reverence and fear toward creation. In turn, it makes a statement on how we can both fear and love a Creator  who can—and often does—bring us to our knees.

A quick read of little more than 100 pages. Bring it on your next plane ride.

This is a great video.  WARNING:  I wouldn’t watch this unless you were old enough to stay up past midnight.

Living in the In-Between

As Christians we live in a vast in-between, living as natives of two worlds.  With the Apostle Paul we can affirm “our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil 3:20), and can affirm with (possibly) misty eyes that we are “kind of homesick for a country to which I have never been before.”  At the same time, however, this present world is where we work, raise families, have sex, and go on vacation.  Jesus himself said, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15), so we are intended to live and play and minister in this world (broken though it is).

This tension, seen and felt in the Bible as well as the Christian life, has been called “The Indigenizing Principle and The Pilgrim Principle.”  Stated simply, these two principles or inclinations are found both in the Bible and the human heart.  We are called to be separated from this present world (2 Corinthians 6:17-18), yet we are called live and rub shoulders with unbelievers in the world (1 Corinthians 5:9).  There is a balance to be found, but for most Christians we are inclined in one direction (extreme separateness) or another (extreme inclusiveness).  You can read about more about this tension and the balance here, here, and here.  The discussion of these two principles is fascinating, challenging, and helpful.

Finding the Balance

            But how are we to navigate between these two strong yet opposing principles or inclinations?  Are we forever doomed to bounce frantically between extreme conservatism and liberalism until Jesus returns?

The key to balancing these two inclinations is to see our greatest struggle and need as Christians: To view all things through the lens of Cross of Jesus Christ.

What we need is to see all aspects of life: money, sexuality, philosophy, entertainment, manhood and womanhood, missions, health, theology, and ten thousand other issues and topics in relation to the Cross of Christ.  In other words, what we need is to view all life through “the spectacles of Scripture” as Calvin once put it, or as my wife once said, “Cross-Colored Glasses.”

In this way, we will deeply, seriously, and biblically consider all things – not simply as they appear to us but as they truly are in God’s view.  Thus we will be able to demolish strongholds and take every thought captive for King Jesus (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).  The result will be a much more holy yet balanced and considered life.

A Confession and A Purpose

I have said all of this, but I must all confess: I struggle to wear these glasses.  I have by no means arrived at the ideal of Christian balance.  Sadly, I suspect that I will never fully attain it.

I do not count myself (nor aim to be) a great culture warrior or apologist.  I do not consider myself a great exegete or theologian. (I’m also really bad at minesweeper, but that’s beyond that point).

I am, however, a disciple of Jesus Christ.  This blog is my account of how I am everyday attempting to extend the sovereignty of my King over every area of life and culture.  Thus, I invite you, dear reader, to join me as I try to help us both look at all this life through Cross-Colored glasses.

I am at a loss as I write this article. I was planning to continue a series of articles entitled “What if we believed,” but I had to break my own series to get some help understanding a recent political/social network event. Wednesday marked what many news outlets are declaring an historic day. The first ever Twitter based Presidential Debate was held. I agree it was an historic day, but I rank this as an historic low.

In the late 1850’s Abraham Lincoln engaged in a series of debates with Stephen Douglas, discussing the expansion of slavery into newly settled territories. These debates consisted of one participant speaking for an hour, followed by an hour and a half presentation and response from the opponent, with a thirty minute rejoinder allowed for the participant who spoke first. These were not Presidential debates, nor were these Presidential candidates; they hoped to be, and the debates were seen as their hope for party backing. These were just two politicians hoping to be chosen by their party, and their method of self-promotion was protracted debate through multiple venues on a serious and weighty topic.

Today, our presidential candidates debate one another in 140 characters or less.

This is embarrassing. Not for the candidates. Politicians have always been committed to doing what it takes to reach whoever they can.

This is embarrassing for us, the American people, who decide the worth and value of the most powerful man in the world by how little he can say about his position. If you’re an American ally, you have to be scratching your head, thinking surely we have a better way of vetting our global leaders. I know I am.

There are numerous issues which could be addressed, but I would like to find out if I am the only one who finds this ridiculous.

Therefore, in the spirit of our modern effort to make every voice heard, I would love to hear your thoughts on Presidential hopefuls squaring off in the Twitter-verse.