July 9, 2007

When I peeked out of our balcony into the early morning light, I noticed there wasn’t much… light, that is. By the time I hit the stairs to descend our five flights, I could sense this was another “iffy” blustery day that potentially was a wash. I took my beach chairs, umbrella, and black bag to the beach with great resiliency and hope. There wasn’t too many others on the beach with my flavor of optimistic hope. I pressed on.
Instead of walking or running, I decided to stay in my chair to soak in a somewhat private screening of an incredible heavenly premiere. The ocean was in spectacular form. I spotted some dolphin… or porpoises… I’m not really sure of the difference. Nobody seemed to see these creatures of grace but me. I knew they weren’t sharks because they kept surfacing in a rhythmic and mesmerizing circular motion. God, did you provide this just for me?
I had Chris Tomlin’s “See You In The Morning” CD playing brilliantly and loudly on my Ipod. “How can I keep from singing Your Praise… I am loved by the King… I am loved by the King, and it makes my heart want to sing.”
I read Psalms 59-69… and found myself praying pieces of these incredible worship songs back to God. “Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer… lead me to the Rock that is higher than I… my soul finds rest in God alone … You, O God, are strong… You, O Lord, are loving…may God be gracious to us and bless us, and shine his face upon us… Your love is better than life.”
I have been so refreshed to find myself in the middle of David’s Psalms… in the good, during a fight, with deep tears, through sin, through regret, and engulfed in necessary praise.
Then the rain drops started popping on the flimsy white pages of my Bible. I grabbed my umbrella, and cranked it down around me with only my feet exposed to the elements. My initial resolve was to bravely wait the storm out… these things usually only last a few minutes in the Carolinas. After riding out a 45-minute rain delay, I decided to pack it all up and head for the condo. When I finally shook off the sand and rain and walked through the door, my obnoxiously-dry family amusingly guessed that I had been sitting snuggly and stubbornly underneath a half-way opened umbrella like a kid in his first homemade fort. I wanted to lie as if to say, “You don’t know me,” but simultaneously remembered the ultimate demise of liars. Sherry and the kids proceeded to inform me about the Weather Channel’s bleak forecast for a wash out. So… someone said “mall,” and off we went.
I now understand why I needed to camp out at Starbucks for several hours today. While the family shopped, I read through George Barna’s “Revolution” with speed, intrigue, and anxiousness. One tall Cinnamon Latte (non-fat, decaf, whipped), several bitten nails, and hours later, I had devoured 144 pages of dynamite. This really was an amazing read. Alongside of “Simple Church” and “Blue Like Jazz”, there are many things within me that are being confirmed and highlighted. Things only felt before this study break are now becoming attached to words, definitions, and labels.
Something is happening within people’s hearts. There is a hunger for God. Buildings, empires, programs, capital campaigns, classes, worship bands, sermons, and carefully orchestrated Sunday services are leaving many people feeling unconnected from the very God they want to know. People are becoming weary of the church trying to help them fit God into their already packed schedule. There is a new and growing sense that people’s schedule, perhaps, need to be built around God. Because of this, many are becoming revolutionaries in how they are living out their walk with Jesus.
For some time now and before reading this book, I have been questioning if church (small “c”) should be essential to someone’s walk with Jesus or if it should be supplemental. Should someone’s life revolve around church (little “c”), or should church supplement someone’s life so they can BE the Church (big “c”)? I think Erwin McManus was the first to help me get my brain wrapped around this.
BEING the Church (big “c”) is the very heart of what Barna’s book is shouting. It’s notable to mention that Barna wrote the groundbreaking and best-selling “Frog In The Kettle” many years ago. This particular book helped the Church to understand undercurrents, trends and culture… in order to make necessary adjustments. Most of the ideas lurking on the horizon in “Frog In The Kettle” came to pass with amazing and almost prophetic accuracy. Geroge Barna is very good, and knows his stuff.
With “Revolution”, Barna is predicting seismic shifts in how people approach faith --- unlike anything we’ve seen in this young century or the previous.
Statistically, George Barna cites how the church isn’t working… mega or otherwise. We are not producing disciples who are statistically different from the world. Maybe the way the church currently works was never how it was intended to work in the first place. Maybe.
Many, including myself, have been schooled and “conferenced” on the idea that the local church is the hope of the world. Is it? Or is Jesus the real hope, and the church (little “c”) is one supplemental way of pointing to Jesus? Isn’t God’s plan to work through the church? Yes… but is that with a little “c” or a big “c”?
In 2000, 70% of Americans experienced faith and spirituality in a local church. By the year 2025… according to Barna’s research… only 30% will continue to look to local churches (little “c”) for expressions of faith. The hunger for God will increase, but our buildings and institutions and programs will be in serious trouble.
Many will argue and preach that we should not “forsake the meeting together as some are in the habit of doing…” However, as Barna argues, our current brand of church is neither Biblical or unbiblical… it is a-biblical. Our method of church (little “c”) was developed many, many years after the New Testament was written. The essentials of New Testament Church (big “c”) were: Jesus, love, the Word, worship, community, giving, and serving. Many want to get back to these simple essentials, and are finding ways other than through the local church.
Just to underscore the gravity of “Revolution,” listen to these bold-faced words found on page 102: “The Revolution of faith that is swelling within the soul of America is no different in scope. It will affect you and everything you know. Every social institution will be affected. This is not simply a movement, it is a full-scale reengineering of the role of faith in personal lives, the religious community, and society at large.”
And if your love for the institution of church (little “c”) is greater than the influence it was supposed to exude… don’t even think about reading page 107. Oh my.
So what will we do? What will I do? Should I stop reading and run towards the fuzzy-but-comfortable light of ignorance? Maybe I should consider fighting against this revolution for the sake of job security? I (we) could co-exist with such a revolution, or just wait and see how it all pans out.
There is one other option. Maybe I should admit my own frustrations and seek to satisfy deeper hungers… and become a revolutionary myself. This could get me fired.
There seems to be an opportunity at hand perhaps greater than any of us have ever seen. What if we all jumped into something we see God’s hand at work in? Instead of asking Him to bless our ideas, maybe we should ask if we could join something that He is already stirring and accomplishing in the hearts of people everywhere.
It’s the old and new wineskins thing. Here we go again… I thought I was part of a great and bold generation who had brought new wine and wineskins to the church with rock and roll worship and un-tucked shirts. Now I’m discovering all the progress I worked so hard at for so many years is becoming old, stale, useless wine.
God, if this IS Your new wine being poured out, help me to embrace new wineskins in my life and in my church. Like a kid defending his homemade fort, I pray I won’t hide beneath a half-cranked umbrella of fear or stubbornness.

BTW... there's truth to be found on Starbucks cups. "The most relevant pieces of advice I received regarding marriage: You can only be as happy as the least happy person in the house, and two bathrooms are mandatory."

The family is doing great. Everyone is happy and enjoying this study break, and we have two bathrooms!