Okay, which is it? Up or down?

If you walk through the news and the blogs you have wonder what is the future of the church-at-large? One the one side you have the major story of the Pew study about the migration of people from their faith. It has been the story in the faith world, and it was picked by TIME magazine, USAToday, CNN and others as well. There is leak in the boat and we are going down. But wait, then you have the other side with a report of what is going on this megachurch or that significant church, we have conferences and conventions which harken to the health and the vitality if the church. Oh wait again, people are not leaving church, they are leaving the traditional established church and heading to toward house churches. Well then that is different. But then again you have David Olson's book on how we are losing ground and we not planting churches fast enough to keep up with the population growth and that people are leaving the church and only a few churches are even holdiong their own. So the picture is bleak.

Has there ever been an age when the church has so dissected and analyzed? We have figures and graphs and statistics which we can spin and twist and examine and say almost anything we want them to. We know more about the attendance trends in the USA that we do about the Bible. We know what ages are and are not attending, what economic demographics are more like to respond to our message, what works better with men than women, how this plays in the western states over against the southeast. Is so much navel gazing healthy? So we have this warehouse of information, what are we supposed to do with it? it is often confusing and conflictual. There is no silver bullet, there never has been.

We are the church, we are the Body of Christ. Christ is the head of all we do, even when we fail to recognize that fact. Regardless of what Barna or McLaren or the Pew Institute or whoever says we will stand and we will continue. Should we not question our methods and scrutinize our behavior? Absolutely, but the down fall of the church is not in our hands, it never has been. If those first 12 guys didn't drive it into the ground we won't either. If it didn't die of toxic poisoning in the middle ages we won't kill it either. I don't know the exact figures of church attendance in the 1700's were but they weren't high. In fact I believe they were far lower than what we experience. The gates of hell haven't gotten any stronger.

We make mistakes, we depend too much on our strength and wisdom. Our best practices often turn out to be the worst, but the Church stands on Jesus Christ and he has yet to get it wrong. He still places the task in our hands. He still guides and empowers. Enough with the navel gazing, it is time return to the task at hand, bringing forth the kingdom of God. Take what we have learned and get back to work.

he turns 25 today

My oldest son turns 25 years old today. I don't have a picture of him in my computer files but this graphic shows many Erik Anderson's are distributed throughout the USA. Not surprising but Minnesota has more than their fair share.

I have been a father for 25 years. Erik was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa - the closest hospital to Harcourt, the metropolis of 350 people we lived and served in. He has bounced around with us from Iowa to Michigan to Illinois, and now he has made his own move to California. Yup he is smarter than his Dad. He now is making his own way, getting married in two months exactly.

When I think of him the words of God come to mind unbiddened. "This is my son in whom I am well pleased." I think that is the natural reaction of a Father. To be honest my path with Erik has not been always easy or smooth. Some how I got conned in driving him to school each day when it was less than 5 blocks. We butted heads over about anything. He has tenacity, which I saw as just stubbornness. He is a fierce friend and has a quick wit. He also loves Jesus and loves teenagers. And when I stand back I see a good man. That is an amazingly wonderful thing, to stand back see that your son is good man. Jesus was far easier to raise I believe, but my reaction parallels God's when lookling at our sons. Well pleased. I think that is the way it is supposed to be.

Happy Birthday Erik.

Tiger, Tiger, Tiger

Yesterday belonged to Tiger Woods. Oscars, schmoscars. Tiger. Biggest winning margin in the event's history, the World Golf Accenture Match Play Championship. Walked away with $1.35 million. Now has 63 victories on tour. Better than Arnie, one behind Hogan. He has won 29 percent of the tournaments he has entered. That is insane. Jack only won 16%, Arnie won 13%. Depth of field has increased.

Of these World Golf Championships, bringing the top 50 players from around the world, he owns 15 of the 26 events played in the last 10 years.

What is next for this young man, 32 years old, just entering the prime of his career? He just might do the unthinkable - the Grand Slam.

We need more of this!

Today was spend attending a seminar put on by four of the largerst churches in Naperville. Community Christian Church, one of the leaders in the mulit-site movement, Wheatland Salem UMC a truly great church, Good Shepherd Church - an ELCA church who is as close to the cutting edge as any church I know, and Crossroads a non-denominational church making a big impact in our area. They have come together for the past three years to put on this seminar/conference for the churches in western suburbs of Chicago. About 300+ people attended. The price is right - $20.00. Randy Freeze from Willow Creek was there as the primary presenter. The focal point was on how to do life in the suburbs and how to combat the toxic nature of suburban life. It is always one of those events I look forward to. These four lead pastors are creative and generous with their time and ideas.

But the question I come away with is why don't we see more of this? Why don't the churches of the Covenant west suburban district get together and put one of these one day seminars on, and invite all the area churches for reasonable fee. Not to make money but to build bridges to the other churches in the area. Pull in someone who can add value to the lives of the leaders of these churches and get together. I understand that we often function as lone rangers, I know we are busy and have too many items on our plates. But...but isn't this very thing that we ought to encourage? Isn't this the very thing that might inject some life, some support and mutual ministry among congregations?

I am not competition with these 4 churches, nor with any of the other 48 churches in Naperville. I stand with them, work along side them and pray for them. Only 19% of the population attend churches in our area. We are not winning, we aren't even staying even, we are falling behind. How can spur one another on? How can we build strong connections with the other churches in our communities. One way may be to offer insightful and encouraging events. You never know what you might invited to next year!

Not Volunteers - Talent

Yesterday I pointed to Seth Godin. In his last post he makes a point which I believe is ciritical for churches. He says: Like it or not, in most organizations HR has grown up with a forms/clerical/factory focus. Which was fine, I guess, unless your goal was to do something amazing, something that had nothing to do with a factory, something that required amazing programmers, remarkable marketers or insanely talented strategy people. The same thing can be said about churches and volunteers. We grind through volunteers at a pace that says that there are plenty of others waiting in line. We expect people to volunteer for events or positons at church, and amazing enough they do. Oh sure we hold a little coffee for them now and then to say thank you, but how often do we go out of our way to treat them like high value talent?

We want our churches to offer the best we can. Not over engineered or over produced events, but we want to make a significant impact for Christ and the kingdom. We want to have the best people where they belong, in the right seats on the bus (ala Collins). We want them serving in the places that God has "SHAPED" (thank you Rick Warren) them for. We want to do something amazing! What if we saw volunteers in a new light, as amazing talent. What if we began to treat them in a way that demonstrated that we really wanted them and we would do anything we could to get them? Pamper them? Support them? How? Get rid the annoying parts of the position. Take away paper work or do it for them, make sure they have supplies they need in the quantities they need. make the recongnition and thank you's something meaningful and not last minute. Make them the stars of the church.

Can you go too far? Absolutely. But I am sure we have gone to far in the other direction. We have long way to go before we become excessive in our care for those who make the church function. They are our talent.

Have you met Seth?

I like people who make me think. This guy makes me think all the time. When I go online in the morning to check out blogs I have a two tier approach. There are the ones I check out first daily without fail and then if there is time I will go back check out some of the others. Seth is in my first tier. I check him out daily and probably pass along something he has written to my leadership circle a couple of times a month.

I have not read his books yet, but I do not miss his blog site. His posts are not long but they hit the mark. You can check him out at: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

If you look at his last four posts he touches on how do we communicate and if something goes wrong whose responsibility is it? He focuses on how we look at those people we are trying reach with our marketing (aka outreach) efforts. Today's was how we look at those people who work with us. They aren't human resources, they are the talent. They deserve to be treated better. They are not disposable, they are indespensible.

So let me introduce to Seth Godin, he is someone I think you ought to know.

Okay here is a question for you...

Jack Cafferty at CNN.com asks this question: If you could choose any former U.S president to lead this country now, who would it be and why?

So who do you choose? Millard Fillmore? On the CNN site many of the people said JFK. I do not know. I have a conviction that had he lived he would not have been remembered as a great president. Nixon, Johnson, Ford? Ford might actually have been interesting. He understood pressure and was no stranger to trials. Lincoln? Washington or Jefferson or Adams? I do not know. Eisenhower? FRD or his cousin Teddy? Hey how about Andrew Jackson or Ulysses Grant?

So who would you choose? Who has your confidence?

500

We are in the midst of orienting our new leadership team for the next 18 months. Most will stay for longer than that giving us much needed continuity. But in the discussion one concept has risen repeatedly – that we would function like a church twice our size – or a church around 500. Which then gives rise to the question of how does a church of 500 function? And how is it different from the way we function? I have musing over those questions for a while now.

Well for one thing our coffee would better. I am serious. We would make sure the grounds are better and fresher, that the dispensers are nicer, that cups are improved and the condiments are upgraded. Another change would be that when a direction is set the complaints of one or three people would not cause us to hesitate in executing the decisions. The contrarian voice is not as influential. Events would scheduled and jostled around because personal calendar issues. If a rehearsal for the worship band is set for Thursday at 7:00pm that is the day and time, no alterations because one member cannot make it. Everything would be well rehearsed and prepared, from the video presentations to the music for Sunday to the service flow. Not micro-managed but prepared and worked out. Child care at every event. Our planning would be telescoped out to at least 6 months. We would be planning for fall right now and the planning would be coordinated and integrated across the ministry spectrum. I am not sure we would have more programs, but the programs we have would align and give a sense of movement towards maturity in the faith. There would be an agreed upon destination. These are just few of the ideas and concepts we are dealing.

I like the idea of functioning at the level you want to achieve. It is not as if we sloppy or lazy now, but we are not as intentional we could be. I have no desire to become over engineered as a church family, just tighten up those areas that hurt us. To plan ahead, to be more structured in our scheduling, to make how we communication internally and to the community more effective are necessary improvements we need to make. God has invested in us in order that we would serve the kingdom. It is time to move ahead in this work.

What in the world...

Now it is 18 students shot at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, which is 45 minutes west from our church. 18 Students!! A gunman walked into a lecture hall and opened fire. He has been arrested or killed, either way he is no longer a threat. But the campus is closed, classes cancelled, and people are told to stay away. Details are still coming in.

How many deaths from shootings have occurred this young year, 08, so far. In our area of Chicagoland it has been horrendous. There was shooting in Lane Bryant store southeast of here and now this. You have to begin to wonder what is going on, what makes people believe this is how problems are solved?

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy. For in you is our only hope.

Winner or Loser?

Did he or didn’t he? His trainer says he did, one of his closest friends said he did. He said he didn’t. He is going to Congress today to tell his side of the story. Thus goes the saga of Roger Clemens, one of the best, if not the best pitcher in baseball. Did he cheat? Was using Human Growth Hormone cheating in 1998? Yeah, maybe, no one really knows. Did it give him an edge? Probably. Was it wrong? Probably, but in a world where we are pushed to have success with seemingly effortless ability it is very tempting.

Was it worth it? That is a harder question. Short term, the answer would be yes, long term the answer is no. If it is proven that he did lie and he did take HGH, then his reputation is irrevocably damaged. He will be seen as a cheater and the American public is not very forgiving of cheaters. Just ask Barry Bonds. This has cost him his friendship with Andy Pettitte, who was closer to him than any other player. Everything he has done will be under suspicion, right or wrong. All his accomplishments and records will be tainted.

Jesus asks a very powerful question: What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? (Matthew 16:26) Toss that one at Roger and see what comes back. Or toss it at Barack or Hillary or John or Michael and see how they respond. The bigger the prize the more tempting it is to forfeit the soul. Or ask the pastor, any pastor what price success or growth? At one of our meetings we were challenged to have strong numeric goal for the year, to have attendance be at, oh say 350 by the end of the year! Give me enough money, enough dogs and ponies I bet you I could do it. We want to be successful. We want to excel and achieve more than those around us thought we could. But at what price, not just for now but later? What am I willing to risk or forfeit or sell?

Jesus goes on to ask what can someone give in exchange for his or her soul? In our culture the word is win. We love to win, win the election, win the game, win the deal and win the race. Very rarely do we understand that we can win and lose at the same time. How much did Roger lose in winning? Too much, for me, too much.

The High Price of Fame

I have a fascination with the entertainment industry. I love movies, I watch TV and once in while I will grab one of those guilty pleasure magazines like the... heaven help me... Star to see what obsessions are taking us over. But lately it is a dark disturbing picture that keeps emerging.

Heath Ledger, Kursten Dunst, Lindsay Lohan and the perennial champion of problems Brittany Spears are a parade of self-destructive behavior. My question is this, isn't there some sane voice of reason in these people lives? Isn't there someone who walks with them and lets them know they are heading for ditch? Isn't there someone they will listen to or trust? These aren't caricatures, these are people who seem to be lost in the worst way. There has to be someone whose insterest isn't driven by the dollars these young people generate. May be not. May be at this point in our culture fame is that toxic.

Who walks with you that you will listen to or trust, who care enough about you to say something before you or I end up in the ditch? Isn't that the great thing about the local church? For all its problems and foibles the local church has people who genuinely care about us. Who will contront and try to correct and who will not walk away from us when we hit the skids.

Pray for these young people, pray that God will provide for them people who will love them enough to tell then to stop. Pray for them. They already have enough people devouring them.

Do you know TED?

" TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). "

This is from one of my favorite sites. These are vidoes from a conference held each year in Monterrey California. The conference costs $6000 to attend but they make the presentations available for free at their website - www.ted.com. Seriously this is mind candy. They get the most extraordinary people to speak and it stretches your imagination and thinking. I use it as a reward twice a week to just soak up something new. Check it out.

You gotta wonder

If you have watched the news at all you know we in Chicagoland are getting clobbered again. It started this this morning as rain and then it turned to freezing rain and sleet and now it is wet snow. We are going to get around 6 - 7 inches of sloppy schmutz in this part of the area. We have cancelled all evening activities. Even the Ash Wednesday services. The local Lutheran Churches are going ahead with their Ash Wednesday services, they are made of sterner stuff than we are. Yes, we are weather wussies - and I am okay with that.

You gotta wonder though when we will learn that Garrison Keillor is right, weather is not our friend, it is down right hostile. I look out my window, this is not pretty it is malignant. Driving in this stuff isn't adventurous, it is crazy. Sure it isn't as cold as it gets in Canada, so what I don't live there - living there was never an option. When will we learn? Winter is not for the faint of heart. What are we doing here? I watch the snow fall, there is no romance in this stuff. Yeah yeah yeah, it is only 30 degrees. So it is just bone numbing raw instead of fridged.

This is not going to stop until this evening, and then it may start up again tomorrow. Oh great just what we need. I quote King David in Psalms 6 - How long O Lord, how long?

Yes - I am cranky.

The Kairos of Lent

If you have any awareness of the Christian faith you know that today is the beginning of Lent. Even if you are completely outside of the church, you might be know about it because it was a topic of discussion on the Mike & Mike show on ESPN radio. They were debating what Mike Golic was going to give up for Lent. Listeners were encouraged to send in suggestions.

If the weather cooperates we are going to have an Ash Wednesday service this evening, and in the past we have Lenten services throughout the season, but to be honest the level of awareness in my congregation is fairly low. We know it is Lent, but beyond that it gets a little sketchy. Yes it is time of preparation for Easter; it is time of repentance and discipleship. But the actual practice of Lent is left in the dust. We might give some things, trivial or significant, but the daily rhythm doesn’t change. There are trains to catch, jobs to fulfill, games to attend, events to plan, lives to live. Lent is a small cul-de-sac we pull off to from time to time when our schedule permits.

And it is not just Lent, it is Easter, Pentecost, Advent, Epiphany, it is whole rhythm of God’s timing that falls to the wayside. We have a calendar and it is kept nicely on our Outlook or on our BlackBerry’s. Our calendar supersedes everything else. We check it religiously. We are solidly in Chronos time, locked into the moments we string together because they are so important: the appointments to be kept, the deals to be finished, presentations to be made, the lunches to meet people over. We have lost sight of the timing of God, the Kairos moments that define our lives as being more. Those moments where time seems to stand still. Jesus nailed it when he said come here if you are tired and weary and I will give you rest. Jesus understood that the tyranny of Chronos timing exhausts us.

I know that Lent didn’t originate with Jesus, but Lent might be one of the times when we slow down and pay attention to Jesus, and in doing so find rest. Restoration might just come from sacrificing something, letting go and finding space. Kairos moments refresh and revive, they energize rather than drain. The biggest part of Lent is simply meditating, pondering what Jesus did and why. It has little with doing; it is more oriented to being. Lent gives the opportunity to align our lives around God’s timing. This might mean we are anomaly. That is okay, even preferred.

Today is the beginning of Lent. Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.

The Amercian Church in Crisis

Every year we gather a Covenant Pastors for what we call the Midwinter Conference. Midst the speakers and voluminous capacity for coffee there are the books. We are gracious given books to futher our understanding. One of the books is by David T. Olson who spear heads our church planting efforts. He also the director of the American Church Research Project.

The book is titled The American Church in Crisis, because it points to the myth of church attendance. For far too long we in the church have held the church attendance figures from Barna as gospel, that 35% of the population in the USA actually show each Sunday morning. By actually researching the attendance figures of over 200,000 churches Olson demonstrates that that figure is wishful thinking. The actually numbers are closer to 19% over all and less depending on what region you are looking at. The number get worse when you discover that we are losing ground because we are not keeping pace with population growth. The "we" in this are eight major church tribal families. And when you look at the numbers and the rates of decline it is not just disturbing, it is alarming.

This book is chock full of numbers which I love, but they are numbers which tell a story and paint a picture. There are more graphs than I have ever seen in a book on the church. I am not done reading this book, but it is one I would without hesitation recommend. David Olson has given to us mirror to see what really look like, not what we hope we look like.

Were You Watching?

"The New York Giants' thrilling win over the New England Patriots was the most-watched Super Bowl ever, with 97.5 million viewers, Nielsen Media Research said Monday. More people watched Sunday's game than all but one American television broadcast ever, the "M-A-S-H" finale in 1983, which was seen by 106 million viewers." from CNN.com

I was watching, not all that enthusiasitically but I was watching. The numbers are stunning. 97.5 million people tuned for this game. That is just in the USA market. I have no idea what the world wide viewship was. I know that some people tune in for a while or for just the commercials which went at a rate of $2.7 million for 30 seconds of air time. Some of the commercials were good, other okay. And yes I do want to see Ironman. Same with Prince Caspian. The whole unibrow woman with the cashews thing was fairly disturbing.

Here is my question why aren't there any commercials from the church on the Super Bowl? I know that there are congregations that can pony up the $2.7 million. Surely we can put a memorable ad on the Super Bowl that has people talking the next day, one that captures the imagination. More people watched that game than attended church yesterday. If David Olson is right around 61 million attended churches yesterday in the USA. 36 million less than those who watched the game. If $2.7 million is worth it to lift up chips and beer, why not the geratest message we have?

How do we gain a hearing in this culture? There has to be a multitude of pathways, and surely one could be the creative use of media during mass cultural experiences. It is just a thought.

Check Up

How do you monitor your spiritual condition? How do you know when all is not well in your soul. I can tell that lately I am not running at top form spiritually. There are little signs that I use in an internal check up to see where I am. These might not work for you but they are dead on for me.

Driving, or accurately my attitude in driving. lately it has been the pits. It really fell off the table last week when recevied 6 inches. We are in Chicago, snow is not a surprise at the end of Janaury. But there more than frew people who drove as if they had never seen the stuff before and rather than extend patience and grace to them, I extended my horn and verbal abuse. I didn't cuss at them but I didn't bless them either.

People in general, and how I am with them is another sign. I am normally a people person but when I am dry spiritually or low I find myself just as happy to be alone. They, the people, take too much energy and there is not enough to pass along.

I find doing basic spiritually activities take greater intention and will. They are not as "natural" as they are in other moments. Reading the Bible and praying require deliberate action. Being quiet before the Lord suddenly become a competition with every noise in the universe.

What causes this drain in my soul? Can it be February in Chicago? More likely it is due to the fact that there has been an increase in the demands I face both at home and at work. I have been also been trying carry the load alone. I have been a little sloppy in my disciplines too. And sometimes it just happens.

How do I get out? For me, and I do not know about too many others, it is not an over night thing. it will take awhile and it will take some diligence, but it will happen. Prayer is essential as spending time reading the Bible. But what really helps is observing life around me and seeing how God is act work. Intentionally being grateful is for me the most restorative.