The video below won't speak to everyone who follows my blog, but if you are in vocational, pastoral ministry, you must watch this. Be challenged.
A Week of Celebrations
Marie and I and the kids had quite a week. A week where we were able to detach from the normal routine of life and enjoy some days of rest. It all began 2 weeks ago when we celebrated my 35th birthday in Palm Springs. Palm Springs was 115 degrees at 7pm at night, but it didn't faze us as we secured a resort hotel room with the kids for the Summer special rate of $79 (regularly $225, I love good deals!). We swam our hearts out and had a great time as a family.
Over that weekend, we joined our Calvary Church family for Beach Baptisms. It was an awesome time of watching 64 people from our Church make a public stand for Jesus Christ. Check out the video highlights of the day below:
Marie hosted a luncheon that following day for the nurses at Birth Choice Health Clinics, while I joined a fellow Pastor from Calvary as we suffered for the Lord by taking in the Angels/Ray afternoon baseball game at Anaheim Stadium. That evening, Marie and I, packed the kids and suitcases and headed up to the 5 Freeway to Aptos, California to visit my parents for the weekend. My parents even watched the kids for a night as Marie and I headed up to Half Moon Bay for an anniversary celebration, part II.
It was a great week of rest, family bonding and reflection. We really needed it after a busy summer season. I feel spiritually and emotionally ready to begin another season of ministry.
Here is a prayer I have for the Fall:
Over that weekend, we joined our Calvary Church family for Beach Baptisms. It was an awesome time of watching 64 people from our Church make a public stand for Jesus Christ. Check out the video highlights of the day below:
Calvary Church Beach Baptisms 10 from Calvary Arts & Media on Vimeo.
Then the following Tuesday, Marie and I celebrated 8 years of marriage by going to dinner at Andrea's, an Italian restaurant located within the Pelican Hill Resort on the Newport Coast. It was our first time there and while on the pricey side, the atmosphere was stellar. We spent the evening talking about all of the ways God has been kind and good to us throughout our marriage. I love my wife! I feel so grateful.Marie hosted a luncheon that following day for the nurses at Birth Choice Health Clinics, while I joined a fellow Pastor from Calvary as we suffered for the Lord by taking in the Angels/Ray afternoon baseball game at Anaheim Stadium. That evening, Marie and I, packed the kids and suitcases and headed up to the 5 Freeway to Aptos, California to visit my parents for the weekend. My parents even watched the kids for a night as Marie and I headed up to Half Moon Bay for an anniversary celebration, part II.
It was a great week of rest, family bonding and reflection. We really needed it after a busy summer season. I feel spiritually and emotionally ready to begin another season of ministry.
Here is a prayer I have for the Fall:
"Heavenly Father, thank you for times of rest and fun.
Thank your for your faithfulness and kindness to us.
Lord, I don't want to take your blessings and turn them inward, trying to build my little empire, my little kingdom. May you stop me in my tracks anytime I am tempted to do this. Instead, take my life God and use it for your Glory, for your Name, for your purposes. I submit myself to your mighty hand, Lord Jesus."
"I Am" the Movie
There is a interesting movie coming out across the Country in October called, "I Am."
Here is how the makers of the movie describe it,
"I AM offers an insight into the true nature of our God, and fights the damaging stereotypes of His character through a gritty, non-linear drama with a plot weaving around average people violating the Ten Commandments -- one by one. We see that these commandments were not edicts from a jealous God, but a love letter to humanity -- a warning to those who don't understand the massive consequences of even the smallest sins upon ourselves and the world around us."
Check out the official movie website here.
Watch the trailer below:
"I Am is an intriguing movie with interwoven stories that can engage both the true believer and spiritual skeptic. For those who question the relevance of the Bible, and especially the 10 Commandments, this movie will show the high impact and cost when those truths are disregarded. I recommend this film for any who are honest and willing to seek answers to those moral and timeless questions of life."
-Rev. David Mitchell Senior Pastor, Calvary Church of Santa Ana, CA
Here is how the makers of the movie describe it,
"I AM offers an insight into the true nature of our God, and fights the damaging stereotypes of His character through a gritty, non-linear drama with a plot weaving around average people violating the Ten Commandments -- one by one. We see that these commandments were not edicts from a jealous God, but a love letter to humanity -- a warning to those who don't understand the massive consequences of even the smallest sins upon ourselves and the world around us."
Check out the official movie website here.
Watch the trailer below:
I AM - The Movie - Trailer from Marcus Inc on Vimeo.
Here is an endorsement from our Senior Pastor at Calvary:"I Am is an intriguing movie with interwoven stories that can engage both the true believer and spiritual skeptic. For those who question the relevance of the Bible, and especially the 10 Commandments, this movie will show the high impact and cost when those truths are disregarded. I recommend this film for any who are honest and willing to seek answers to those moral and timeless questions of life."
-Rev. David Mitchell Senior Pastor, Calvary Church of Santa Ana, CA
Revelation 19
If you need to be inspired in your journey with Christ, go pick up your Bible and read and dwell on Revelation 19. I have spent tonight reading this amazing Chapter of the Bible and listening to Hillsong United's 'Beautiful Exchange (Live)' album at full blast on the i-pod. What an amazing God we live for!
Revelation 19:1-9
1After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, 2for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants." 3Once more they cried out,
"Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever." 4And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, "Amen. Hallelujah!" 5And from the throne came a voice saying, "Praise our God,
all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great."
Revelation 19:1-9
1After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, 2for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants." 3Once more they cried out,
"Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever." 4And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, "Amen. Hallelujah!" 5And from the throne came a voice saying, "Praise our God,
all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great."
6Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
"Hallelujah!For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. 7Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure"— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
9 And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God."
"Hallelujah!For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. 7Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure"— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
9 And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God."
God is Greater than Self
When you get a chance, listen to my sermon from last Sunday at Calvary Church.
We went over Genesis 32 and the amazing yet crazy story of Jacob wrestling God.
Check it out here.
We went over Genesis 32 and the amazing yet crazy story of Jacob wrestling God.
Check it out here.
Mustache Attempt #1
I have been working with the city police on a new Community/Church Homeless Initiative and I think the meetings with the PD are beginning to have an influence on me.Wrestling with God and Being Transformed - Liz's Story
This Sunday, as I mentioned early in the week, I am speaking on Genesis 32 and Jacob's wrestling with God. In this wrestling match, Jacob truly becomes broken and surrenders his life to God. It is an amazing, amazing story.
As part of the response after the message on Sunday, we are asking people to write down on a piece of paper, a short story of how they have been transformed by God. We plan to use some of these stories later on in the year. Here is my friend Liz's story that we will show on Sunday to get people thinking about what they want to write.
As part of the response after the message on Sunday, we are asking people to write down on a piece of paper, a short story of how they have been transformed by God. We plan to use some of these stories later on in the year. Here is my friend Liz's story that we will show on Sunday to get people thinking about what they want to write.
My Story from Calvary Arts & Media on Vimeo.
Mark Driscoll Responds to Anne Rice
Last week, I posted about Anne Rice's announcement that she was leaving "Christianity." One of my favorite Pastors (and Facebook Friend..hahaha) Mark Driscoll wrote a great response to Rice's announcement in the Washington Post this week. Read it below...
By Mark Driscoll August 11, 2010; 12:52 AM ET
"Anne Rice is in a season that many, if not all, Christians experience: the great joy of coming to personally embrace the love, forgiveness, and new life that Jesus offers is then followed by the troubles and trials of learning the teachings of the Bible and living with fellow Christians. Truthfully, both are difficult.
Every Christian struggles, to varying degrees, with different parts of the Bible because they call us to repent of beliefs we formerly held and ways in which we formerly behaved. Anne Rice struggles with the Bible's opposition to homosexuality and its teachings on gender roles. She also struggles with the teachings of the Catholic Church on birth control and politics, and many Protestants would likely agree with her in principle.
Additionally, every Christian has seasons in which he or she struggles to lovingly live in community with fellow Christians as the church. This is because some Christians are so self-righteous, mean spirited, and just plain annoying that even their pastors are occasionally tempted to preach in one of those "Jesus, Please Save Me from Your Followers" T-shirts.
The problem for Anne Rice is that, unlike other Christians who get to work out their faith struggles in private, she is a public figure who decided to write, "In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian" on her Facebook page, which only invites the kind of vicious online responses that pushed her to make the statement in the first place. To her credit, though, she was clear that she still loves Jesus Christ as her God and wants an ongoing relationship with him.
Her Facebook post led to the very important questions I was asked to answer for this blog, "Can you leave Christianity and keep Christ? Can you be spiritual without being religious?"
The answer is yes and no. Yes, you can leave Christianity for a while and still be a true Christian. However, you cannot stay away from church and community with fellow Christians forever.
The Bible speaks to this very issue. The apostle John wrote the book of 1 John specifically so that people might know whether they are truly Christians and have eternal life with God (5:13). To serve that purpose, John describes numerous evidences of change in someone's life that indicate he or she has become a Christian. For example, 1 John 3:14 says, "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers."
Rice would admittedly like to have an ongoing relationship with Jesus, but not with his people. Yet this sort of relationship is one that is simply unacceptable, for "whoever loves God must also love his brother" (1 John 4:21). To use an illustration, imagine a single woman falling in love with an amazingly wonderful single man who happened to have a lot of children, some of whom were rotten kids that he adopted in an effort to transform them. Now, imagine that woman wanting to be married to the man but have nothing to do with any of his children. That kind of relationship is devastating, but it is the kind of relationship Rice wants with Jesus and without his spiritual children in the church.
My guess is that she will eventually return to church. In time, she will realize that she is being judgmental, self-righteous, and intolerant, just like the people she is stereotyping. If she is a true Christian, God will lovingly, graciously, and patiently help her to see not only how others have treated her, but also how she has responded to them.
In the meantime, Christians should not be offended by her rejection of Christianity. We should instead use it as an opportunity to search our own lives to see how we have been vicious, cruel, mean, unloving, and difficult to others, and repent of our own sin without fixating on what we think are her sins.
We should also pray for her. My guess is that she's simply struggling with what it means to be a Christian while hurting. She lost her daughter Michele to leukemia in 1972, buried her gay best friend John Preston, who died of AIDS in 1994, and in 2002 she buried her husband of forty-one years, Stan Rice. Her son, bestselling author Christopher Rice, is a gay rights activist whom she loves even while she reads the Bible's denial of his lifestyle as a God-honoring one. So, let her fellow Christians pray, love, and wait for Jesus to keep working on her as he is on us, thanking him that at least our struggles are not as publicly scrutinized as hers.
By Mark Driscoll August 11, 2010; 12:52 AM ET
"Anne Rice is in a season that many, if not all, Christians experience: the great joy of coming to personally embrace the love, forgiveness, and new life that Jesus offers is then followed by the troubles and trials of learning the teachings of the Bible and living with fellow Christians. Truthfully, both are difficult.
Every Christian struggles, to varying degrees, with different parts of the Bible because they call us to repent of beliefs we formerly held and ways in which we formerly behaved. Anne Rice struggles with the Bible's opposition to homosexuality and its teachings on gender roles. She also struggles with the teachings of the Catholic Church on birth control and politics, and many Protestants would likely agree with her in principle.
Additionally, every Christian has seasons in which he or she struggles to lovingly live in community with fellow Christians as the church. This is because some Christians are so self-righteous, mean spirited, and just plain annoying that even their pastors are occasionally tempted to preach in one of those "Jesus, Please Save Me from Your Followers" T-shirts.
The problem for Anne Rice is that, unlike other Christians who get to work out their faith struggles in private, she is a public figure who decided to write, "In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian" on her Facebook page, which only invites the kind of vicious online responses that pushed her to make the statement in the first place. To her credit, though, she was clear that she still loves Jesus Christ as her God and wants an ongoing relationship with him.
Her Facebook post led to the very important questions I was asked to answer for this blog, "Can you leave Christianity and keep Christ? Can you be spiritual without being religious?"
The answer is yes and no. Yes, you can leave Christianity for a while and still be a true Christian. However, you cannot stay away from church and community with fellow Christians forever.
The Bible speaks to this very issue. The apostle John wrote the book of 1 John specifically so that people might know whether they are truly Christians and have eternal life with God (5:13). To serve that purpose, John describes numerous evidences of change in someone's life that indicate he or she has become a Christian. For example, 1 John 3:14 says, "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers."
Rice would admittedly like to have an ongoing relationship with Jesus, but not with his people. Yet this sort of relationship is one that is simply unacceptable, for "whoever loves God must also love his brother" (1 John 4:21). To use an illustration, imagine a single woman falling in love with an amazingly wonderful single man who happened to have a lot of children, some of whom were rotten kids that he adopted in an effort to transform them. Now, imagine that woman wanting to be married to the man but have nothing to do with any of his children. That kind of relationship is devastating, but it is the kind of relationship Rice wants with Jesus and without his spiritual children in the church.
My guess is that she will eventually return to church. In time, she will realize that she is being judgmental, self-righteous, and intolerant, just like the people she is stereotyping. If she is a true Christian, God will lovingly, graciously, and patiently help her to see not only how others have treated her, but also how she has responded to them.
In the meantime, Christians should not be offended by her rejection of Christianity. We should instead use it as an opportunity to search our own lives to see how we have been vicious, cruel, mean, unloving, and difficult to others, and repent of our own sin without fixating on what we think are her sins.
We should also pray for her. My guess is that she's simply struggling with what it means to be a Christian while hurting. She lost her daughter Michele to leukemia in 1972, buried her gay best friend John Preston, who died of AIDS in 1994, and in 2002 she buried her husband of forty-one years, Stan Rice. Her son, bestselling author Christopher Rice, is a gay rights activist whom she loves even while she reads the Bible's denial of his lifestyle as a God-honoring one. So, let her fellow Christians pray, love, and wait for Jesus to keep working on her as he is on us, thanking him that at least our struggles are not as publicly scrutinized as hers.
Prepping for Sunday Sermon
I am in the midst of a busy week of sermon prep for this week's sermon on Genesis 32.
I have spent at least 20 hours on this sermon already with most likely about 10 to 15 hours ahead. It hasn't been a easy one to break down. I guess that is why many call preaching "sweet agony." It is so sweet to teach God's word, yet so full of agony as you wrestle with the text and prepare.
Here are my 3 main points so far (this is the passage where Jacob wrestles God!)
God is > self
Genesis 32:1-32
I have spent at least 20 hours on this sermon already with most likely about 10 to 15 hours ahead. It hasn't been a easy one to break down. I guess that is why many call preaching "sweet agony." It is so sweet to teach God's word, yet so full of agony as you wrestle with the text and prepare.
Here are my 3 main points so far (this is the passage where Jacob wrestles God!)
God is > self
Genesis 32:1-32
I. We are not alone (God’s Presence in our World) (Genesis 32:1-2)
II. We are tempted to cover our sin with self sufficiency and self effort(Genesis 32:3-21)
III. In Brokenness, We Become Dependent on God (Genesis 32:22-32)
Each week the teaching pastor at Calvary creates a "Digging Deeper" for people who are interested in studying the passage further during the following week. Here is my Digging Deeper for Genesis 32.
Day 1: Today, read the account of “Jacob’s Ladder” in Genesis 28:10-22 as Jacob leaves the land of the covenant. Then go to Genesis 32:1-2 and read where 20 years later, Jacob enters back into the land of the covenant. Why did God reveal himself so clearly to Jacob as he left and then re-entered the land? How does God reveal Himself to you today as you enter uncharted, unknown territory? Read Psalm 91:11-12 and Romans 8:35-39 for further study and encouragement.
Day 2: Read Genesis 32:9-12 today. In this passage, Jacob prays the longest recorded prayer in book of Genesis up to this point. Take the structure of this prayer and make it your prayer for today:
#1 {Genesis 32:9} Invocation: Tell God how awesome He is
#2 {Genesis 32:10} Confession: Confess your unworthiness and sin to God
#3 {Genesis 32:11} Petition: Ask God to meet your needs
#4 {Genesis 32:12} Trust: Ask God to give you strength to trust His promises
Day 3: Read Genesis 32:13-21 today. Jacob sent gifts to Esau in an attempt to make up for his past wrong doings. We often attempt to do the same thing with God, presenting our gifts and works to Him in an attempt to make up for our past wrong doings. Read Ephesians 2:1-10 to understand why this is a mistake.
Day 4: Read Genesis 32:24-25 today. Jacob wrestles a mysterious stranger, who turns out to be God in the flesh (the pre-incarnate Jesus!). God shows a small glimpse of His restrained power by wounding Jacob’s hip. In Jacob’s physical and spiritual “brokenness”, he finally (after 97 years), surrenders to God. Reflect back on a time in your life when you felt spiritually, physically or emotionally “broken.” Was it easier in this time to surrender to God? Ask God today, to allow you to remain “broken” and desperate for God in your normal daily life.
Day 5: Read Genesis 32:26-32. Jacob’s name and identity are changed by God. When you make Jesus Christ your Savior and Lord, your identity is changed as well. Read and spend time reflecting on 2 Corinthians 5:17
Day 6: Read Genesis 33:18 thru Genesis 34:31 in preparation for this Sunday’s message, “God is Greater than Revenge.”
Author Anne Rice Walks Away from the Catholic Church
Author Anne Rice, recently made headlines when she announced on her facebook page that she was walking away from the Catholic Church and from the label of being a Christian.
Here is a CNN Video interview she gave talking about the decision.
If you could sit down for a cup of coffee at your local coffee shop with Anne Rice, what would you ask her? What would you say to her?
Here is a CNN Video interview she gave talking about the decision.
If you could sit down for a cup of coffee at your local coffee shop with Anne Rice, what would you ask her? What would you say to her?
Noah's Fine Art
My neighbor and fellow Christian brother, Noah Elias recently went before the camera's and shared a little bit of his life as an artist. I am really proud of Noah's heart for God and his passion to use his art as a platform to tell everyone from taxi drivers to art dealers about the love of Jesus.
American Artist ™ Noah Video Biography from Noah Fine Art on Vimeo.
VBS at Calvary - Day 1
Vacation Bible School is happening this week at our Church.
Today on day 1, we hosted 1193 kids, 525 volunteers and had 58 1st time decisions for Christ. Wow! The whole Church really gets involved in helping with our VBS. My wife is a teacher for the kindergarden class. My in-laws are volunteering as prayer counselors. Our college Pastor Jon Eshlemen and I are the MC's for the Global Missions Rotation of the morning. Here is the video we presented in Global missions today from of our missionaries in residence for the week, the Yabuki family.
Today on day 1, we hosted 1193 kids, 525 volunteers and had 58 1st time decisions for Christ. Wow! The whole Church really gets involved in helping with our VBS. My wife is a teacher for the kindergarden class. My in-laws are volunteering as prayer counselors. Our college Pastor Jon Eshlemen and I are the MC's for the Global Missions Rotation of the morning. Here is the video we presented in Global missions today from of our missionaries in residence for the week, the Yabuki family.
Future Trends in Evangelicalism by Ed Stetzer
One of my favorite bloggers/thought provokers to read is Ed Stetzer. Ed is the president of LifeWay Research and missiologist in residence for LifeWay Christian Resources. The following is an article he recently wrote for Patheos.com
By Ed Stetzer
"It's hard to believe that we're almost a decade into the new millennium. Ten years ago, churches were busy preparing for Y2K, communicating with a hot new tool known as "Instant Messaging," and talking more and more about postmodernism. Evangelicals and their churches that have been successful in the ten years since have been able to anticipate and recognize trends quickly, and subsequently find effective ways to communicate the gospel in a meaningful manner to the culture in which they live. For that to continue in the next decade, several issues will need to be discussed and resolved.
First, evangelicals must learn to navigate what I call a "post-seeker context. When I use this term, I do not mean that seekers no longer exist. Rather, churches that once targeted seekers from the Boomer generation are finding that large portions of subsequent generations do not have the same religious memory. "Seeker churches" thrived when they could create new expressions of church that related to a population with at least some Christian memory.
I believe that all seeking is in response to the work of the Holy Spirit. In practical means, then, I believe the Spirit often uses the religious memory latent within a culture to pique the interest of the unchurched. For evangelicals to reach seekers in the decade ahead, they will need to develop new models and other means of communication to deliver our message into the cultural destination of an increasingly post-seeker context. When religious memory is gone, we can no longer rely on those outside of the faith to be interested in what it means to be inside of the faith.
Secondly, evangelicals need to regain a confidence in the gospel.
Why? It appears to me that evangelicals are considering what it is, how it should be lived, and how it is best proclaimed. Even Christianity Today entered the fray by doing a series entitled, "Is Our Gospel Too Small?" Their articles addressed the question of how we might best consider the gospel.
I find it interesting that two of the most newsworthy movements in the church from this first decade of the millennium were the emerging church movement and the new Reformed movement. While they had plenty of differences between them, one thing they shared in common was this: they were both seeking a better gospel. The emerging church wanted a broader gospel (more holistic) while the new Reformed movement wanted a bloodier gospel (more cross-centered). The successful post-2010 church will have worked through the confusion and set a stake in the ground for a more robust, biblically discerning gospel.
Thirdly, in the next decade, we will need to address the definition of evangelicalism.
Right now, people often define evangelicals as anyone from Joel Osteen to Brian McLaren to John MacArthur. That's a pretty broad spectrum. The church must navigate through the evangelical malaise and work through the confusion of what they believe. There is work underway currently to make this happen. Movements like The Gospel Coalition, An Evangelical Manifesto, and This We Believe are all attempting to offer definitions of what an evangelical church is so that this identity can be lived out faithfully. But care needs to be taken. To paraphrase a friend, if the term evangelicalism is applied to everything, then it will mean nothing.
Fourth, evangelicals must address our shallow definition of discipleship.
LifeWay Research published a book called The Shape of Faith to Come by Brad Waggoner. Based on a study of 2,500 regular Protestant church-goers, we found the statistics revealing. Only 16 percent of participants said that they read their Bible daily, and another 20 percent said they read the Bible a few times a week. Only 23 percent agreed strongly with the statement, "When I come to realize that an aspect of my life is not right in God's eyes, I make necessary changes." In the past six months, only 29 percent said that they had shared with someone how to become a Christian twice or more, and 57 percent said they had not done so at all.
Perhaps most disappointing, however, was what had happened when they were surveyed again a year later. There was very little change in the actual data, but over 55 percent indicated that they had grown spiritually in the past year. The area of discipleship is definitely the elephant in the room for evangelicals and must be addressed going forward. Beliefs must become practice in order for evangelicalism to thrive in future decades.
A decade from now, the issues I've mentioned above may be a long-past memory, like Y2K. Hopefully many churches will have addressed these issues, however, so that it is the issues and not the individual churches themselves that are long forgotten.
Ed Stetzer is the president of LifeWay Research and missiologist in residence for LifeWay Christian Resources. He has both planted and revitalized churches. Ed is a frequent speaker on the issues of leadership, culture, and faith, and his research blog is a center of innovative thought on church life and mission. He has written numerous books including Transformational Church (with Thom Rainer), Planting Missional Churches, and Viral Churches (with Warren Bird).
By Ed Stetzer
"It's hard to believe that we're almost a decade into the new millennium. Ten years ago, churches were busy preparing for Y2K, communicating with a hot new tool known as "Instant Messaging," and talking more and more about postmodernism. Evangelicals and their churches that have been successful in the ten years since have been able to anticipate and recognize trends quickly, and subsequently find effective ways to communicate the gospel in a meaningful manner to the culture in which they live. For that to continue in the next decade, several issues will need to be discussed and resolved.
First, evangelicals must learn to navigate what I call a "post-seeker context. When I use this term, I do not mean that seekers no longer exist. Rather, churches that once targeted seekers from the Boomer generation are finding that large portions of subsequent generations do not have the same religious memory. "Seeker churches" thrived when they could create new expressions of church that related to a population with at least some Christian memory.
I believe that all seeking is in response to the work of the Holy Spirit. In practical means, then, I believe the Spirit often uses the religious memory latent within a culture to pique the interest of the unchurched. For evangelicals to reach seekers in the decade ahead, they will need to develop new models and other means of communication to deliver our message into the cultural destination of an increasingly post-seeker context. When religious memory is gone, we can no longer rely on those outside of the faith to be interested in what it means to be inside of the faith.
Secondly, evangelicals need to regain a confidence in the gospel.
Why? It appears to me that evangelicals are considering what it is, how it should be lived, and how it is best proclaimed. Even Christianity Today entered the fray by doing a series entitled, "Is Our Gospel Too Small?" Their articles addressed the question of how we might best consider the gospel.
I find it interesting that two of the most newsworthy movements in the church from this first decade of the millennium were the emerging church movement and the new Reformed movement. While they had plenty of differences between them, one thing they shared in common was this: they were both seeking a better gospel. The emerging church wanted a broader gospel (more holistic) while the new Reformed movement wanted a bloodier gospel (more cross-centered). The successful post-2010 church will have worked through the confusion and set a stake in the ground for a more robust, biblically discerning gospel.
Thirdly, in the next decade, we will need to address the definition of evangelicalism.
Right now, people often define evangelicals as anyone from Joel Osteen to Brian McLaren to John MacArthur. That's a pretty broad spectrum. The church must navigate through the evangelical malaise and work through the confusion of what they believe. There is work underway currently to make this happen. Movements like The Gospel Coalition, An Evangelical Manifesto, and This We Believe are all attempting to offer definitions of what an evangelical church is so that this identity can be lived out faithfully. But care needs to be taken. To paraphrase a friend, if the term evangelicalism is applied to everything, then it will mean nothing.
Fourth, evangelicals must address our shallow definition of discipleship.
LifeWay Research published a book called The Shape of Faith to Come by Brad Waggoner. Based on a study of 2,500 regular Protestant church-goers, we found the statistics revealing. Only 16 percent of participants said that they read their Bible daily, and another 20 percent said they read the Bible a few times a week. Only 23 percent agreed strongly with the statement, "When I come to realize that an aspect of my life is not right in God's eyes, I make necessary changes." In the past six months, only 29 percent said that they had shared with someone how to become a Christian twice or more, and 57 percent said they had not done so at all.
Perhaps most disappointing, however, was what had happened when they were surveyed again a year later. There was very little change in the actual data, but over 55 percent indicated that they had grown spiritually in the past year. The area of discipleship is definitely the elephant in the room for evangelicals and must be addressed going forward. Beliefs must become practice in order for evangelicalism to thrive in future decades.
A decade from now, the issues I've mentioned above may be a long-past memory, like Y2K. Hopefully many churches will have addressed these issues, however, so that it is the issues and not the individual churches themselves that are long forgotten.
Ed Stetzer is the president of LifeWay Research and missiologist in residence for LifeWay Christian Resources. He has both planted and revitalized churches. Ed is a frequent speaker on the issues of leadership, culture, and faith, and his research blog is a center of innovative thought on church life and mission. He has written numerous books including Transformational Church (with Thom Rainer), Planting Missional Churches, and Viral Churches (with Warren Bird).
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