loren Eric Swanson: September 2005

Thursday, September 29, 2005

An evening with Libby Crafton

Tonight Libby Crafton came over for dinner. The dinner was great. Liz made a grilled chicken salad but the best part of the evening was Libby's passion for what she sensed God is doing in the world...and in the lives of college students. For Libby much of what she is feeling and sensing is the culmination of three months she spent in China working in an orphanage while she was a college student. Amidst all that she saw, she kept thinking, "College students need to be here...working among the people with the greatest need in China."

Tonight she shared her vision to see college students launching movements everywhere by bringing the good news and good deeds of the gospel. Recently she met with Ben Homan, President of Food for the Hungry, and was instrumental in initiating the possibility of a Memorandum of Understanding between Crusade and Food for the Hungry (FH). Libby's dream is to be in Chengdu, partnering with FH to create a model for students to follow--a model that can be replicated around the world. She is part of a growing movement that is sensing that a gospel that flies on only one wing is less than the gospel that Jesus lived and breathed.

We also talked about what we have seen in the launching of the church and college students in relieving the suffering of Katrina along with Saddleback launching PEACE initiative. Now...could you imagine a partnership between Crusade and Saddleback?
Planting movements everywhere (Is this not our future and our mandate?)
Equipping leaders (I think we've done some of this)
Assisting the poor (Think what this would do for the souls of students?)
Caring for the sick (We could invite all students to be part of this initiative)
Educating the next generation.

Woah! I think this will preach.

Monday, September 26, 2005

Jeff back to Iraq


Saturday, September 24, 2005

Five Steps to Starting Reproducible Campus Churches

There are a lot of good gems on this site--www.campuschurch.net

5 Steps to Starting Campus Churches that Reproduce (Adapted from Neil Cole):

1. Practice of Prayer:The first step to planting a campus church is to start on our knees. We must see what the Father is doing and simply join Him. Before we send out any campus church planter they are to seek the Lord in prayer and fasting for His direction. Prayer must precede planning. Practically, pray for God to bring you a team. You can begin to talk to other believers you know who can join you on or near campus or even flyer bulletin boards that there is a new church starting on campus. (Campus Church networks can connect you with a CCN coach to equip and mentor your team in the church planting process.)

Shortly after, start a prayer chain or begin prayer walks over an area of students the Lord is leading your team to start a campus church in. Begin to ask the Lord for the harvest and to raise up student workers from within it. Ask the Lord what are the spiritual strongholds of and in the different areas of the campus? Then pray for God to destroy the strongholds. "For our battle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph 6:12)." We must pray it out before we walk it out!

Campus Crusade the world largest Christian organization was started by a 24-hour prayer vigil on the UCLA campus. Founder Bill Bright decided before he would try to plan, strategize or reach out to the students, he would first pray for them. He formed a 24-hour prayer chain with college students from his local church asking God to open a door at UCLA to preach the Gospel. A short while after this prayer vigil God opened a door for Bill to preach to a sorority house where half the students gave their life to Jesus and in the following weeks 250 students on campus were saved including the Student Body President, Top Athletes, and Yearbook Editor!

2. Pockets of People:The second step is to look for "pockets of people", who are un-reached with the Gospel. In Luke 10 Jesus sent out the 70 to towns and villages (specifically the lost sheep of Israel). We are to look for the lost sheep, not those who are well, but those that are in need of a physician. Jesus came to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

As a campus church planting movement we are specifically targeting pockets of students normally un-touched by other fellowships on campus. Don't try to recruit and win believers, but always focus and start with unbelievers. Go to the campus hang outs, cafes, bowling allies, fraternities, sororities, sports teams, campus clubs/organizations, local clubs, downtown, movie theaters, parks etc. Our goal is not to bring the students to the church, but the church to the students.

At San Jose State University a student from a campus fellowship began to feel God's burden for the lost young women in the sororities. So instead of trying to invite them to a campus fellowship she acted like a missionary and brought the fellowship to them by joining the sorority! She is now a leader in the sorority and leading her sorority sisters to Christ!

3. Power of Presence: The third step is to simply "show up." Jesus commanded His disciples to "Go" and make disciples, not wait for them to come to a church building. As we pray and are led by the Holy Spirit to pockets of un-reached students, we are to then show up and befriend those lost groups of students. The most effective way of befriending a lost group of students is by serving and caring for their needs. We do this before we share with them the Gospel, by finding out their needs and meeting them. For example, college students are hungry for a good meal, so hold free dinners. If the international students want to practice their English, hang out and talk English with them. Whatever it may be, meet the students felt needs. So we pray for them, we then care for them & when the door of opportunity opens we share with them the Good News of Jesus Christ!

Jesus sent out the 70 telling them to take nothing with them. We should not be hindered in our church planting and evangelism because we don't have a facility, staff or finances. The resources are in the harvest field, our job is to show up, preach the Kingdom, pray for the sick, deliver the oppressed and expect God to open a dorm, apartments, classroom, caf鬠or home etc for us to start a campus church.

In Cal State Long Beach a campus church planter started praying for students near the school art building. Pretty soon he developed friendships with students in the art department and eventually led them to Christ on the front lawn of the Art Department. They ended up meeting each week on the front lawn for church! That campus church ended up planting 8 more churches at Cal State Long Beach University.

4. Person of Peace: The fourth step is to find the person of peace or the student of peace within the pocket of students. Jesus said to his disciples to go into the town and villages looking for the person who would welcome the gospel and open up their home. The student of peace is critical, because they will be the indigenous leader to win that community of lost students. They become the conduit for passing the kingdom message to the entire community of friends. Could you imagine if you won the leader of the fraternity to Christ, the whole frat could follow & come to Christ!
A person of peace is?(student of peace)
--Receptive: They are open to the message of the person and peace of Christ.
--Relational Connections: They know lots of students on campus and in the community
--Reputation: They are people of reputation good or bad (Cornelius/Samaritan Women)
--Reborn: They are normally a seeker whom you win to the Lord and are born again.

In San Francisco State University a campus fellowship led a star-wrestling player to Christ and very soon the same star wrestler led almost the entire SFSU wrestling team to Christ also! Look for the natural student leaders who already have influence with other students on campus.

5. People of Purpose:The fifth step is as the student of peace brings his/her friends and family to Christ a church is born. The uniqueness of this birth is the church was born out of the harvest and is found among the harvest and is bent on a mission to continue to reach the lost as its main purpose. The student of peace could have the new church meet in his/her home, apartment, dorm or wherever is convenient on or near campus and may be even the new leader of the emerging church.

The key is once the new church is born on campus it is imperative for the campus church planter to work his/her way out of the new church plant by modeling & training the new emerging student leader to lead & pastor the new campus church. In this way, the new campus church will not be dependent on the church planter to pastor them, but they will indigenously take responsibility to lead themselves and reproduce leaders of their own kind naturally.

This kind of a church is not hindered by cultural Christianity (where it becomes a social club) or a church that is dependent on a full time pastor/staff, because the students from the start learn how to reach their friends, depend on God, each other and don't know any better than to follow Jesus and expect Him to save their friends, family and ultimately the nations!

In Los Angeles a major campus ministry realized their full time campus staff members did not have enough capacity to manage 8-10 campuses by themselves. In order to remedy this problem they took the above "student of peace" approach and started campus fellowships by winning students of peace & empowering them to win their lost friends immediately. Once a fellowship was formed the campus staff would model for the new student leader how to lead the campus ministry. After a short while the staff member would coach the student of peace from a distance so they would lead or pastor the new campus fellowship and reproduce likewise. This approach worked so well this ministry has since adopted this model and growth has exploded exponentially on different campuses. If they were still relying on full time campus staff workers to manage & lead all the different campus ministries they would never have the capacity to reach so many campuses with such effectiveness.

Evangelistic Tools:
There are many tools for evangelism that have proven effective in church history. Our philosophy is to not choose anyone over another, but to work with what works. We may use a variety of methods to win the person of peace on campus and his/her networks of friends and family. Possible methods to be used are:
--Prayer evangelism: Prayer, Care, Share
--Power evangelism: Praying for signs, wonders and miracles
--Persuasion evangelism: Handing out tracks, 4 spiritual laws or other creative Gospel materials --Proclamation evangelism: Holding evangelistic rallies, open air preaching during school
--Personal evangelism: Befriending them, inviting unbelievers to, free dinner, coffee, cell meeting etc
--Pasta evangelism: AKA: Alpha dinners 10 week intro to Christianity, seeker Bible study / forum, etc.
--Prophetic evangelism: dream & vision interpretation, word of knowledge or prophetic booths on campus at Starbucks.
--Present evangelism: Use whatever present creative means to be culturally relevant in sharing the gospel in a way they can understand.

Jason Ma's Story of Campus Church Networks

Campus Church Networks started in 1998 on the campus of San Jose State University. Jason Ma was then a college freshmen in his philosophy 101 class when the professor asked, "Who here believes Jesus Christ is the Son of God?" In that class of a hundred more Jason and one other friend were the only students to raise their hands. After that day, Jason became distressed with the realization that most of his college campus did not know the love of Jesus Christ. He began to prayer walk the San Jose State campus asking God to save the student body of more than 28,0000 students. Before he knew it, God began to open doors for him to minister to the associated student body officers. God began to grant Jason and his campus ministry team so much favor with the San Jose State student government that they actually sponsored him to put on major evangelistic rallies on campus. Through these major outreaches hundreds of students were touched and saved. Yet, Jason realized many made decisions for Christ, but not many were integrated into a healthy local church family. In fact, most of the churches around the college campus did not have anything to offer college students such as a college ministry or had no clue of what to do with college students. Although, some of the Christians on campus could attend a campus fellowship while in school, sooner or later they would graduate and find the same problem of not fitting into traditional churches.

As Jason spoke to students at other universities up and down California he realized the same problems were on virtually every college campus. The reality was a majority of college students on most campuses did not have or care to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Many thought of Church as boring, irrelevant, and hypocritical. At the same time Jason saw the emptiness, brokenness and pain of so many students who were searching for real love through drugs, parties, sex and getting good grades, yet these all left so many students depressed and some even suicidal. This broke his heart because he knew the college students of today were going to be the leaders of tomorrow. He knew if we could first reach college students with the message of Gospel then these would be the future leaders of society who would change and transform their communities, cities and world for Christ.

Through these experiences Jason began to pray about how he could start churches on campuses that would bring the church to the students instead of the students to the church. After much study in missionary church planting models such as the underground house churches in China, Jason was convinced that simple relationship-based churches would meet the most practical needs of college students, which is feeling cared for. In his studies he read how 18-year-old Chinese girls were planting over 100 churches in China a year after only being a born again Christian for a few years. Many were uneducated, but relied on the power of the Holy Spirit and on-the-job training from other seasoned pastors. The churches he studied in China were networks of small churches maybe 15-30 members meeting in homes or storefronts sharing life together day to day under the Lordship of Christ.

This kind of simple relationship based church excited Jason so much he began to wonder, "If an 18 year old Chinese girl can plant 100 churches in a year in China, why can?t a college freshman plant a few churches on a college campus?" He then realized that a church could be planted on a college campus if a trained missionary could pray and win a student of peace or natural leader for Christ. The missionary would then teach the student leader to win his network of friends and from that network of friends start a small church. Once started, the missionary would then model for and disciple the natural student leader of the group on how to pastor the church with the goal of one day releasing him/her to actually be the pastor and train him/her to raise up their own student leaders to start other churches.

Jason realized student leaders would need to train other students to start more churches on campus because one church on a campus would not be enough. Since, there were so many different kinds of student clusters on campus no one church could ever reach every student segment. There are sports students, engineering students, international students, fraternity and sorority students, and the list goes on. Jason began to look at each student segment like they were un-reached people groups. The best way in his mind was to plant a unique church for each of these un-reached student groups. So instead of just focusing on having one campus church on campus, the goal would be to start as many campus churches to reach every kind of student on campus.

Now these churches would normally be about 15-20 students meeting anywhere on or near campus. Once the church on campus would outgrow its meeting place, instead of going to look for a bigger meeting place to rent, the church would just multiply and train up another student leader to start another church somewhere else on campus! These relationship based churches would never be hindered in getting started by needing to pay for a church building because they could meet anywhere like a dorm, apartment, student union, classroom, business office or even Starbucks! Pretty soon, the whole college community could be saturated with churches and every student would be reached for Christ.

Jason became so excited with this new way of doing church he started one- where else but San Jose State University. Since starting the first campus church his team has sent out other missionaries to other university campuses to do the same. Now the campus church planting movement is beginning to unfold. Jason and the CCN team are continuing to reach out to the campuses with the dream to one-day see every campus in all the world saturated with campus churches that are engaging lost students, equipping students and empowering students to fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission in this generation! Start a Revolution! Start a Campus Church!

How we change the 80/20 factor in the American Church Today
From 20% of the people doing ministry... to 80% of the people doing ministry

The message of the Gospel will always remain the same, but the methods of communicating it will always change. New churches need to be raised up for this new generation and Campus Church Networks has the platform to do it. In Matthew 16:18 "And I also say to you, that you are Peter and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." It is the church?s purpose to expand God?s kingdom rule on earth. The church means the "called out ones" the "community of faith" in Christ. It is called out to fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Yet, churches are closing everyday in America at an unprecedented rate. American church statistics show:


--Churches lose estimated 2,765,000 people each year to nominalism and secularism.
--Between 3,500 to 4,000 churches close their doors each year in America.
--Last 10 years, the combined communicant membership of all Protestant denominations has declined by 9.5% (4,498,242), while national population has increased by 11% (24,253,000).
--Half of all churches last year did not add one new member through "conversion growth"
(American Society for Church Growth (ASCG), "Enlarging our Borders," Report presented to the Executive Presbytery, January 1999.)

In recent polls, young adults between the ages of 18-25 are the most unlikely age group to attend a church. Barna research group shows a majority of all students who attend church after high school do not return (Barna Research Group). What we need are new churches for a new generation because the current method of church is not working effectively in America. Below is statistics of average attendance of twenty something year olds in the United States compared to that of other age brackets by percentage. Twenty somethings are the least likely to attend church. The study was conducted by Barna Research Group 9/23/2003 over five years.


Consider what Religion Today published in an article entitled, "Look Out, Here Comes the Gen-X Church." Generation X Christians are radically changing the church. The generation of 18-35 year olds, less concerned about structure and hierarchy, are disconnected from traditional churches and starting small, informal fellowships?The churches meet in homes, coffee shops, warehouses, fast-food restaurants, industrial complexes, parks, and other unconventional places. Relationships are the key? Generations Xers are loyal to each other over and above anything else. (Religion Today, Look Out, Here Comes the Gen-X Church)

The modern era's intellectualization of faith is no longer valued by the culture of today's youth seeking spiritual answers to their problems. We are living in a postmodern era where young people have no standards, believe all things, and are desiring to experience God. This generation doesn't want to sit on pews and merely listen to a preacher convince them of Christ's existence. Instead, this generation wants to live out their faith by doing something about it. God's kingdom will not be extended in this generation unless we realize the methods and traditions of the past modern era are no longer relevant to reach today's postmodern youth.We must also understand in order to expand God?s kingdom in this generation we have to focus on the young people. This is because todays Gen X & Y is tomorrows mainstream society. A youth pastor in Germany named Karsten Wolf believes the youth culture churches of today will define the church of the future. Consider that:


--Generation X & Y is the largest single generation in the history of mankind, numbering in the region of a couple billion.
--With the global media beaming the same message to the same generation worldwide, young people (aged 18-35) are more the same in their thinking today than ever before.
--As this generation ages and-within the next decade-becomes the prevailing society, they will bring their changes with them. Whatever Gen X & Y has done to the church will be the lasting normative. "The young people of today, in 10 years or less, will be the society of the nations.

That's why, if we shape new models of church today, we are shaping the church of the future. Youth culture churches may well revolutionize what church becomes in the future. We could be looking at an absolutely new form of church. I think we will need this new form of church to reach the nations," says Wolf. (House that Change the World, Wolfgang Simson) By planting new churches that are more community and experience based, while at the same time adhering to the foundational pillars of our Christian heritage we can bring God?s kingdom to a lost and hopeless generation. These new kinds of churches must look, value and operate in things much different than the church of the past two centuries in North America. If we don't figure out new ways to reach this MTV generation, we will lose them to the persuasion of the enemy's devices. Let us prayerfully consider how we be and do church differently to reach the emerging generation on campuses all over the world.

Yours for the Great Commandment and the Great Commission,


Jason Ma

Campus Church Network--MUST READ

Last night John Lamb (JL) came over frothing with excitement. He had just returned from a meeting in LA with Jason Ma, the founder of Campus Church Networks (CCN). All the talk and discussions of "launching movements everywhere so that everyone knows someone who truly follows Jesus" is being lived out by CCN. You can read the history of how the thing got started in the next posting or you can poke around their site...from which this information was taken... at www.campuschurch.net. This could have been written by Bill Bright. It is the direction of campus ministry ("movements everywhere") So start the conversation and help lead the revolution.

The Gospel Challenge
"Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore GO and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20

"THE 13/30 WINDOW"
Missiologoists have coined the term "the 10/40 Window," defining the geographical region 10 degrees to 40 degrees north of the Equator, an area of the globe considered by many to be the most unreached and unevangelized region of the world. But what is more crucial for us to consider is not "the 10/40 Window" but "the 13/30 Window." This defines the age group of people between 13 to 30 years old, which is really the greatest harvest field in the world today. First of all, this age group is most open to the gospel. Secondly, it is the most important group because they are the future of the Church and the world. As such, when you reach the youth (who are located on campuses), you affect the future of Christianity and the whole world. Just look at the facts according to the UN Population Division and the Population Reference Bureau (2000):


--60 percent of the whole world are aged 24 and under.
--30 percent (or 1.7 billion) are aged between 10 to 24 years old. This age group is the greatest harvest field because they are the most likely to become followers of Christ.

Surveys say, 90% of all people become Christians before the age of 25. (Barna Research) But who is going to reach them? "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field." Matthew 9:37-38

The Calling

First you have to seriously pray and ask God if you are called to start Campus Churches. Your calling has nothing to do with your ability, but everything to do with your availability. Starting a church on campus means you are willing to lay down your life for your campus and commit to ministering to the students of that campus long term if this is what God is calling you to. It means taking up your cross and pouring out your life as an offering for your generation. It means after graduating you are willing to do whatever it takes to continue to live near the campus you are called to in order to continue God's work on that campus.

This is the challenge. God is raising up a nameless and faceless generation of wholehearted lovers who are willing to pay the price in order to see their generation saved. It is not about what you can do, but what Jesus Christ can do through you. Prayerfully consider if God is calling you to help start a campus church planting movement on your campus. Two ways to take the call:


1. Become a full-time CCN church planter by raising support
2. Become a student church planter on your campus


The Responsibility

With great calling comes great responsibility. Therefore, all campus church planters or student-leaders must have certain leadership qualities and characteristics to oversee a campus church. In 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 the Bible clearly describes what kind of qualities and responsibilities a spiritual leader must have and continue to grow in to lead God's people. These godly attributes include godly character, maturity and faithfulness to God's leadership standards. As we read these two chapters we have a clear picture of what a campus church leader is to be and not to be.

The following list describes different characteristics a campus church planter or student-leader is to have and be developing in? A Campus Church Planter needs to be growing into a person of F.A.I.T.H. ---

Faithful: responsible, reliable, keeps promises and commitments, has a good attitude in serving and exhibits the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 25:21, Galatians 5).

Available: it isn't about your ability, but your availability, a person who is willing and available to do God's will no matter what the cost. Has a servants heart like Christ this person says, "not my will but God's will be done." (Isaiah 6:8, Matthew 26:39)

Integrity: holiness inside and out, transparent and not living in deceit or hidden sin, trustworthy, held accountable to others and is responsible with his/her finances, relationships and personal holiness. (Psalm 41:12, Titus 1)

Teachable: a disciple, one who is constantly learning, in studying the Word, in prayer, in receiving constructive criticism and is open to new ideas. (Matthew 28:18, Prov 1:7)

Holy Spirit Filled: a spirit-filled believer, full of the Holy Spirit and power. For it is not by strength, not by might, but by His Spirit. (Zechariah 4:6, Acts 1:8, 6)

The Strategy

At Campus Church Networks we desire to coach and help you become a great church planter on the campus the Lord has called you to. If you desire to become a Campus Church Network full-time church planter on a particular campus you can download the following online application to start the process. Once you have filled out the application and sent in your references our Campus Church Networks staff will prayerfully look over your application and contact you with our decision and advice for next steps. If you are a student and desire to simply start a church planting movement on your campus with yourself or with your existing campus ministry and would like advice and coaching we at CCN are more than available to help you in the process & develop a networking relationship. Please email us at coach@campuschurch.net. Continue on to "How to Start a Campus Church Network" to learn about starting a Campus Church for full-time & student church planters who have been approved, coached, and equipped to start a new campus church movement.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Prayer of Obscurity

“Lord, make my life obscure. May I be less well known tomorrow than I am today. May I come to the place where my most intimate of companions, out of ignorance, might address me simply as “Bro." In my quest for obscurity, as I travail the depths of anonymity, may I one day be known to Thee alone.”

Saint Anonymous--the Unknown Christian

Quotes from September 2005

"A man that can shoot his grandmother at 500 yards might be considered a good shot but I'd hardly consider him a good man." John Lamb expounding on the difference between skills and character.

"You're looking at the calendar. I'm looking at my watch." Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, 1st Army Comander in charge of New Orleans cleanup after Katrina. USA Today, 9/13/05, p. 5A
From a Katrina victim who is starting over in Denver:
"She lost it all to Katrina But as she looked out at the Rocky Mountains, Keyon Ford said she was starting to see the destruction of her old life as a blessing....'We take it day by day,' Ford said. 'I know there is a God and he has something in store for me.'

Her voice-mail message relects her determination to make the most of her fresh start. 'Ive made some changes in my life,' she tells callers. 'If I don't call you back, you're one of those changes.'
LA Times, September 17, 2005, p. A18

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent but the ones most responsive to change." Charles Darwin

"The normal Christian life has become so sub-normal that the normal Christian looks abnormal." Vance Havner

"Service has always been the DNA of Christianity but for most, it is a recessive gene in the gene pool." Monty Schmidt, Rolling Hills Community Church, Tualatin, OR

"In crossing cultures, the missionary teacher becomes a learner, the one who is in posession of divine revelation discovers new truth, and he who seeks the salvation of others finds himself converted all over again." David Smith, Missions After Christendom, p. 78

Hypnogogic images--pictures that appear at the threshold of sleep. Keith Johnstone, Impro, p. 13

"There are people who prefer to say 'Yes' and there are people who prefer to say 'No.' Those who say 'Yes' are rewarded by the adventures they have and those who say 'No' are rewarded by the safety they attain. There are far more no-sayers around than yes-sayers." Keith Johnstone, Impro, p. 92

"I don't have anything against Jesus...it's his wife I can't stand." Denny Bellesi quoting a friend's distain for believers.

"Their gain shall be in the knowledge of our faith and ours such riches as their country hath." Sir Francis Drake

"In a comparison of two things, according to the rule of grammar, it can be said that only one is better than the other. In a comparison of more things only one will be best." Dan Moyer HBR, March 2005, p. 152

Pleasure brings fleeting happiness that lessens in intensity over time. Gratification is a longer lasting joy that requires skill and effort and "can only be had by activity consonant withy noble purposes." To achieve happiness you musht enjoy doing your best while contributingg to something beyond yourself. Martin Seligman, "Authentic Happiness" in INC, March, 2005

"A dollar spent in China buys almost five times more goods and services than a dollar spent in a typical American City." The "China price" is the lowest price possible. More than 80% of suppliers in Walmart have their data base in China. 85% of Walmart's merchandise comes from China. INC, March 2005.

From Leadership Journal, Winter 2005, p. 9
43% of "born-agains" made professions of faith before age 13
13% received Chrsit between 18-21
64% received Christ before age 18
23% received Christ after age 21
1/10 receive Christ in church setting.

"Why don't we have a prison ministry? Because we don't have any prison ministers."

PEACE Plan--Inaugural Service

While at the Family Fix-it Day I read in the Orange County Register that Rick Warren was going to "ask his congregation to get behind his global PEACE Plan, an ambitious aagenda of worldwide missionary work that includes sending hundreds--potentially thousands of Orange County residents to the Third World." Donny and I caught the 4:30 service and it was incredible! In the courtyard people were lining up for a large boxes with PEACE printed on the side. These were to be filled with suggested items for Katrina victims. Another major section was filled with boxes that were the small group leader's kit containing the DVD, devotionals, etc for "40 Days of Peace." After a couple of songs Rick gave the introductory talk of on the PEACE initiative. His outline was very simple:
I. The Basis
II. The Barriers
III. The Benefits

He closed his message by saying, "I often have asked God, "Why us?" and I am yet to hear an answer. But I do know that we are here to make a difference. I invite you to not watch history happen but to make history happen. My job, as your pastor, is to help you become what you don't think you can become but God wants you to become. When I shared this plan with Billy Graham, he told me it was the 'best plan I have ever heard. I just wish I could be around to see it.' But you will be around.

I was pretty much blown away by the potential of PEACE. This will be VERY big! It will affect thousands of churches and millions of believers. It will take externally focused from the fringe to the center of what churches are about. The wave has turned out to be a coming tsunami. Can't wait to be a part of all God does.

Family Fix-it in Fullerton

Yesterday my friend Don Wilcox and I joined a great team at EvFree Fullerton (What does the "v" stand for again!?!?) to join a small team of people doing "Family Fix-it Day"-- (from the Website) "A church-wide service ministry to seniors, single parents, and others in need. Work teams are formed to serve needs within the church, once a month on a prearranged Saturday morning. Teams are made up of professional and nonprofessionals who give of their time and services to volunteer to do services such as yard work, house cleaning, window washing, home repairs, etc. all these services are done with the desire to take care of members of the family who can no longer keep up with these responsibilities due to failing health." We worked with a dear couple in their 80s with cleaning and yardwork--uprooting a large Juniper bush planted 40 years ago......ooooooh....my back! The couple was very sweet! After working they commented that apart from all the work we got done the thing that meant the most was the fellowship we shared...Hey the bearclaws and coffee were not bad either.

Friday, September 16, 2005

Casey Yorman--Northcoast Community Church

I was in Costa Mesa today to meet with some of the best thinkers and practitioners of externally focused ministry--Started at Starbuck's with Casey Yorman. Casey's doing a great job at Northcoast Community Church in Vista in mobilizing small groups into community ministry. Casey's job is to mobilize small groups in externally focused ministry...starting with attractive and compelling service opportunities. Casey says, "You've got to get them to to it once if you want them to do it twice." They partner with 13 community partners...everything from the Bread of Life Rescue Mission to Green Oak Ranch--a residential Christian drug and alcohol recovery center that also provides emergency foster care, to The Michaelle House--a home for disabled HIV/AIDS patients. Casey finds that human service agencies are great ministry partners. "We don't form a permanent relationship with an organization without a person who wants to run point with that organization." For small groups that want to go beyond their partner ministries, Casey encourages them to come up with their own service projects. Last year 70% of the 200 small groups engaged in some type of service beyond the walls of Northcoast. 800 Katrina victims have come into San Diego area. Casey is asking growth groups to adopt a family to provide the relational support and resources these displaced families will need.

Casey has a knack for linking a person's passions with God's purposes. When we sat down at Starbuck's he was just getting off the phone with Clayton. Clayton is a building contractor who has a passion for...chain saws. And someone in Louisianna had contacted Casey with a need to cut fallen trees. "And if the chainsaw breaks, we'll have another one ready for you." The last time Clayton cut trees, he worked 18 hours straight with only a 10 minute lunch break. The man is passionate about chain saws...and God is using him. To Casey, Clayton is "the man" that folks are following in the chainsaw ministry!

To facilitate small groups engaging with opportunities outside the wall, Casey and a volunteer built a Website that connects small groups with partner organizations. It's a great picture of market efficiencies at work. After meeting with other pastors I dropped by Northcoast for their kickoff event for small group leaders--500 leaders, representing 250 small groups came together around a baseball theme (complete with 3 batting cages, peanuts, Cracker Jacks and the Padres game being played live over the sound system) to be challenged and oriented to this year's small group ministries. Among those present at the kickoff event were eight of their partner ministries.

One person suggested that human service agencies are really "life-change centers." Peter Drucker reminds us that every non-profit exists for one "bottom line"--changed lives. If human service agencies, like the kind Casey is partering with, are "life-change centers, believers make great partners. You can learn more from Casey by contacting him at cyorman@northcoastchurch.com

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Los Angeles with Ray Bakke

Today I was in the historic Angeles Temple, founded by Aimee Semple McPherson in the 1920's, for a city consultation planning session with Ray Bakke. Ray is most likely the best urban missiologist and is the acting dean of Bakke Graduate School. For the past three years I have been in BGU's DMin program--just one class and a dissertation to go. Ray was in classic form. 'We come to the city to learn...not to teach. Cities are on the heart of God. The virgin birth is mentioned twice in the Scriptures, the phrase "born-again" was said only once and was only heard by one person. It was so unimportant that the other gospel writers failed to record the phrase. By contrast the Jesus' invitation to "Follow me" was recorded 30 times, the kingdom 120 times and the city, 1250 times!

When I was in Chicago and all the churches fled the Catholic Church did not flee. I read the Black Rage literature and Catholic literature. The contribution of the Old Testament was that God lives in community. The New Testament's gift is the doctine of the individual. We need both. (I have better relationships with dead peope than live people)

Chicago has enough streets that if they wer made into one long street they would stretch from Boston to San Diego. To know the city, Ray took a different route around the city. Ray visited Catholic priests and other ministry leaders and said "I'm a new pastor in town. Can you please tell me the most important lesson you've learned in the city?" You can learn a lot when you don't have to run a program. During Ray's time in Chicago all the "Billys" came to enlist the leaders of Chicago--Billy Graham, Billy Bright, Billy Gothard and Billy McCartney each wanting to bring their program to Chicago. How different it would have been to come and say, "What do you know? versus "Would you support our campaign?"

The nations are in the neighborhoods. We need to recognize that 87% of the world is non-white. The greatest bargain in missions is they came here! There are 439 cities over one million people. It's not just what you are doing but what you are learning from what you're doing. I want to turn cities into laboratories and practitioners into professors.

Crusades are event-driven
Conferences are product-driven
Consultations are process-driven--What, how, and why we are doing what we do.

Philippians and Colossians Models
The Colossian model presents Jesus as lifted up to take on the principalities and powers. Jesus is Lord of the city. In the Philippian's model Jesus takes up residence in the human heart. Which model is right? The church split over this--private Christianity versus public Christianity. We need a vision not just of the city but for the city.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Movements Everywhere and Church Multiplication

This morning I opened my email to find my electronic copy of Advance--Leadership Network's e-publication on innovative ideas and practices that will shape the future of the church. This issue features Neil Cole. Neil is a prolific in church multiplication. I'm delighted to see that his much-awaited Organic Church is now released. This is a "must read" for those who want insight from the church multiplication sector on "launching movements everywhere." The following is the experpt from Advance.

Neil Cole (Long Beach, CA) is a church starter and pastor, and founder and executive director of Church Multiplication Associates, which has helped start more than 500 churches in 16 states and 12 nations in six years. Neil is an international speaker and also the author of Cultivating a Life for God. His latest book, Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens, is one of the newest books in the Leadership Network Publications series, produced with Jossey-Bass.

ADVANCE: What is the big idea--the basic message--of Organic Church?I want to see us lower the bar on how we do church, and raise the bar on what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. If we can do that, the Kingdom of God will not only be changed, it will be a change agent. Ordinary people will be involved in extraordinary works of God.

ADVANCE: What new ideas are you putting out there for church leaders to consider?
The idea that church can grow out of the harvest of lost souls and find its expression in common places where people live and work and play is new in some respects. The drive in our movement of churches for true, spontaneous multiplication has led us to many of the simple ideas expressed in the book. The DNA of the living church is a new concept that has huge ramifications for a movement.

ADVANCE: What do you mean by the "DNA of the living church"?Our hope is to see the value of DNA--Divine Truth, Nurturing Relationships and Apostolic Mission--intact at the smallest, most basic unit of church life. An organism is only as healthy as its smallest cell, and a church is only as healthy as its disciples. The true test of spiritual health is our disciples--not our preaching, our music, or our programs. The solution to health in a complex organic creature is to bring health to every cell of the body. If my church is spiritually healthy at its smallest unit--one disciple in relationship with one or two others with the DNA intact--and all of those units are healthy, we will have a spiritually healthy church. We view it from micro to macro.

ADVANCE: What one or two lessons inherent in the concept of simple, organic ministry would you most like to see people apply?
First, I would like to see church leaders begin to change their thinking from an attractional mindset to a more missional one--where we see the Kingdom of God infiltrate the places we live and work and conduct our social lives, and turn the church inside out. Second, I think it would make all the difference in the world if we focused on the health of our disciples in relationship to each other, rather than on the health of the organization from the top level.

ADVANCE: As you talk to church leaders about organic ministry, what seems to be most helpful or challenging for them? A lot of church leaders easily recall the first time they felt God's call. They remember the excitement of that moment when they gave themselves to something very significant. Then they wake up 10 or 15 years later, look at their job descriptions and their performance reviews, and realize they are pushing a lot of paper and counting nickels and noses. In many ways, organic ministry is a call to that primal urge they first heard into ministry that will personally transform people's lives.

ADVANCE: What do you hope the reader takes away from your book?I hope that this book awakens people to the idea that ordinary people can do extraordinary things for the sake for God's Kingdom. I also hope that we will see movements of healthy and reproductive churches spring up all over the world. This book will challenge people to live a life of greater meaning in and among the darkness of this world, for the sake of Christ. It presents practical ways this can be done, and real life stories of how this has worked. To order a copy of Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens, Click here. For more resources on organic church and articles from Neil Cole, check out http://www.cmaresources.org/

Thursday, September 08, 2005

We're Grandparents!


Liz, Kacey and I drove down to New Mexico at 6:30 this morning and arrived in Roswell just in time to see our new grandson, Gentry David Swanson (7 lbs, 9 oz, 20.5") wheeled out by his father Jeff to be weighed in and washed up. What an exciting time for all of us. This is especially exciting because we also got to see Jeff, who is in NM for two week leave after serving in Iraq the past six months. Ashlie and Gentry are doing great. We are all very thankful. If you know Jeff and Ashlie and want to drop them a line, their email is losswanson@msn.com.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

PEACE plan

During the 25th anniversary celebration of Saddleback Community Church, Pastor Rick Warren laid out his much awaited PEACE plan. This is a very significant initiative for those churches that are seeking to be more externally focused. It's like my friend Rick Rusaw says, "This wave (to be externally focused) is caused by God that we are riding or started by men that God is blessing...but either way the wave is here." Here is the essense of the plan...

He then went on to unveil and outline the PEACE Plan, his aggressive and progressive vision to mobilize the American church to help churches in the developing world take on problems so big that no government - not even the United Nations -- can tackle what he called “these giants” alone."Our goal will be to enlist 'one billion foot soldiers for the Kingdom of God,' who will permanently change the face of international missions to take on these five "global giants" for which the church can become the ultimate distribution and change agent to overcome Spiritual Emptiness, Self-serving Leadership, Poverty, Disease and ignorance (or illiteracy)," he said.Warren further explained that through the PEACE plan, small groups from hundreds of thousands of churches will attack these giants, armed with "five smooth stones" of
(P) - Planting Churches,
(E) - Equipping Leaders,
(A) - Assisting the Poor,
(G) - Caring for the Sick and
(E) - Educating the Next Generation.

The special Sunday afternoon service celebrated the 25th Anniversary of Saddleback Church and the founding of the Purpose Driven Movement, which has transformed millions of lives through tens of thousands of churches in 150 countries. The church has grown to 20,000 members since the humble beginnings of the ministry with seven people meeting in Pastor Rick and Kay Warren’s apartment in 1980.Since the Purpose Driven Movement began, millions of lives have been transformed through tens of thousands of churches in 150 countries. Over 350,000 pastors and leaders in 120 countries have been trained in Purpose Driven Seminars, and over 20,000 churches in 28 countries have completed 40 Days of Purpose.

Here are Jay Lorenzen's comments upon hearing the PEACE PLAN
I’ve been at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit all day. Refreshing and challenging as always. Rick Warren referred to his vision for how a network of millions of churches could tackle “problems so big no government can solve them . . . ” He’s launched what he calls a global P.E.A.C.E. initiative. I’m including it here because I think the church of Jesus Christ is seriously coming together to wed “word and deed.” As my buddy Chip says, “I see it everywhere. God is moving the church to a new level of commitment beyond merely sharing the gospel with the lost. The church of Jesus Christ is seriously going after injustice.” I think he’s right. And, if “ministry to the poor” is common to all movements, then these commitments bode well for the church.
P.E.A.C.E. is an acronym that stands for:Plant ChurchesEquip Servant LeadersAssist the PoorCare for the SickEducate the Next Generation

US Christian Commission


Since I had lots of spare time during the Fantasy Football Draft (Why are we drafting 14 players!?! I thought we were through after 11 rounds!), I perused Jay Lorenzen's blog (probably my favorite) and downloaded his blog on the US Christian Commission. Anytime we can learn from people who had the ability to mobilize multitudes for a noble cause, we need to pay attention.

During the course of the Civil War over 5,000 delegates of the U.S Christian Commission volunteered to serve the soldiers of the Union army on the battlefields and hospitals. When the opportunity arose they served the soldiers in grey as well. In addition to raising money and volunteers to serve soldiers in the name of Christ, they shared the gospel message boldly, distributing over:
1.46 million bibles39 million pages of bible tracts8.9 million religious knapsack books18 million christian newspapers1.4 million hymn books and psalm booksover 7 million pages of stationary and envelopes for letter writing$4 million worth of stores including food, medical aid and clothing
The Christian Commission was organized around eight general principles which might be instructive to us as we build movements everywhere:
1. Catholicity–the universal church of various names united in behalf of men of every state
2. Nationality–ensure that there is “freedom from sectionalism or favoritism in the distribution of stores…give breadth to the resources of supply and practice equality in application of those resources
3. Voluntariness–everyone gives their services…”freely received, freely given.”
4. Combination of Benefits for Body and Soul–John Wesley’s followers in the British Army had only served the souls of men; Other agencies focused just on the body. “The Christian Commission alone, and first since the world began, was a national agency embracing man as mortal yet immortal. . .”
5. Reliance upon Unpaid Delegates–The Commission’s delegates worked in an apostolic spirit, for apostolic pay. They were armed, not with power of miracles for all maladies, but with both stores and publications for all wants of the body and mind.
6. Personsal Distribution with Personal Ministrations–All stores (bibles, medical aid) were distributed personally, if possible, by delegates to the soldier. The personal touch added greatly to the value of the gift.
7. Principle of Co-Operation–Delegates were to cooperate under all circumstances with chaplains, surgeons and army officers.
8. Respect for Authority–Delegates were strictly enjoined, in the prosecutions of their religious duties, to offer every possible assistance to chaplains, but never to intrude uninvited into their domain.

Fantasy Football Draft


Just finishing up an evening of Fantasy Football draft. I seem to be in over my head with the league I am a part of. These guys showed up this evening w/ magazines, cheat-sheets and actually know the first names of these players. I just picked players whose names reminded me of people I knew and liked or sounded like the name of an exotic food--"Could I have a side of Dante Culpepper please?" Last year I actually won the league proving the theorum that even a broken clock is right twice a day.

The highlight of the evening is the diminishing bowl of peanut M&Ms in front of me. Mmmmmmm! Sacrilicious!

Jack Jezreel--Day 2

I will end with some practical strategies to address some of the themes I brought up yesterday. I am going to start with two scripture passages. They take the themes and they give us an exhibit A and an exhibit B. Luke gives us two examples of how Jesus invites people into this possible relationship. It is the same story, but one ends up in a disappointing way while the other ends with an incredible response. In order to set the context for these two meetings I am going to give a bit of history.
Israel at the time of Jesus was occupied by Rome. Rome owned the smaller countries to “c. pillage.” Rome got rich through cheap land, goods and labor. The way Rome did this was through a strategy of taxation. Taxes are not like they are today. . Roman taxes: Roman tax collectors good get rich. These positions were auctioned to the highest bidder. The only people allowed in the door were not Romans but Jewish. How do you conquered people conquered? “Divide and Conquer.” Rome drove Jews against Jews and was associated with such things as poverty, division and destruction.
The other thing Rome would do is to sit down with the conquered elite and say, “If you want to keep your positions, there is one condition - you get along with us.” Two thirds of the people were now land-less. God had the great covenant with Israel in which all the people would participate in the economy by owning land. Deuteronomy 15:4 says, “There are to be no poor people among you.” You are to organize yourself in a way that everyone is taken care of. Jesus said that He did not come to break the covenant but to fulfill it. Jesus is speaking to a divided community. There are economic and political implications of a relationship with God. Note: Jesus response to John the Baptist’s question. There is a large crowd following him. The people did not have much to drop.
Two The Biblical prophets preached powerfully against sin. We Catholics do this as well, but not in the same way. We have defined what we call a “serious sin”. The conditions of a serious sin are first, it must be a serious matter. Second, it must have been done with sufficient reflection. Third, it was done with the full consent of the will. Basically it had to be nasty and when you were done, you clicked your heels.
The prophets used the word, sin it was about what a people do. It was not associated with malice, but with blindness. They didn’t even see that what they were doing was wrong.
This is much of what we are trying to accomplish. We are trying to help people see what is currently unseen. Often people’s sensate systems are shut down. Slavery in our nation’s history was a good example of this. You can read in the journals of Christian slave owners. They record things like this, “I sometimes wonder if the black man with shackles around his neck is really a human being. Others in town say that it is acceptable to own slaves, so I guess I can too.”
Between the slave master and the slave, who is blind? Obviously it’s the slave master. It is not an utter and complete blindness though. There is an obvious economic benefit for the one who is blind. His blindness helps him get rich. John Newton, the famous slave trader who after coming to Christ spent his life putting an end to slave trading, penned these words in his song, Amazing Grace, “I once was lost and now am found, was blind but now I see.”
Our task in social ministry with those who come to church week after week is to help them see what has been previously unnoticed by them. We just can’t tell them, “Feed the hungry or go to hell!” How do we do this? By getting them near the people in the margins.
What is a church for? It is a place where people’s hearts can be enlarged over and over and over again. It’s a place where I can love people bigger today than I could a year ago. I can love people I was previously unable to love. I am capable of a love I have not known before. If that isn’t happening to our people who come week after week to church, then they aren’t truly converted. Conversion is not a static thing, it is a process defined by an enlarging capacity to love.
Spiritual VenturesFormation
Exhibit A Luke 18:18-23
A rich young man asks Jesus, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” You need to know that two-thirds of the land in Galilee had been dispossessed in the time of Jesus’ ministry by the Romans and those who collaborated with them. The rich got along with Rome. Jesus responded, “Go and sell all you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. (To the poor in the crowd, this is good news.) Then, come and follow me.” The man went away sad, because he had many possessions.
The venture Jesus invites the rich young man to is a venture of giving away. Jesus is referring to two kinds of spiritual ventures. I am going to use gestures. The first is the reign of God. It is a life characterized by compassion, generosity, sacrifice, justice, charity, etc. This is the great venture of self give-away. God needs us to love each other.
(The rich young ruler asked what he must do to inherit eternal life. Eternal life in the Greek is really a life lived in the here and now which is lived so well that it intersects with God’s life which is unbounded by time and place. It is as good as life can be lived! It is so rich with passion and satisfaction that death doesn’t bring it to an end. The paradox of such a life is that true satisfaction is not found in stuff. It is found in relationships and that which brings true life to people.)
The second spiritual venture looks like this gesture. Jesus does not recommend it, but it is the only other possibility. It is characterized by three words, me, my, and mine. Physically, you can’t do both at the same time. This is a venture of hoarding, grabbing, keeping and collecting. We are either looking out or looking in. You cannot give up and hoard at the same time. Those who lose their lives and those hold on to them will lose them. On a given day we will be given multiple invitations to hoard and very few to give away.
The rich young ruler was a hoarder and he went away grieved, because he did not want to give away what he had. How hard it is for the rich to enter in the same sense as “entering” a conversation the reign of God. When you are rich In the gospels there is only one reason for the rich, so they are to be holy distribution centers. There are to make sure wealth goes where it is supposed to go. (Example of Blasphemy) Stunning text, Acts 4:32ff. With power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection. “I surrender all.” It is not just about stuff, but it is about stuff. The only things we take the heaven are the things we gave away. Comparison of funerals - When I go to the funeral of a holy “generous” person it “rocks.” My uncle was a man like that. I have never been to a funeral – where large IRA or expensive antiques are acknowledged – nobody cares. The whole culture is consumed by hoarding and protecting.
How many times does Jesus use the word church in the 4 gospels? 2 times. The reign of God? – 92. The reign of God in the gospels generally? - 142. The church is not the goal. The reign of God is the goal and the church is the tool to the see the “reign of God.” The church is at the call of the reign of God. Without the call the church can become self-absorbed.
Exhibit B The problem with transformation in the church is that we simply cannot do it. Only God can. I cannot say to you, “be changed!” God alone can change people. We cannot do transformation in others if we could our kids would be different! We can’t even think of changing ourselves.
Though we cannot do transformation, we presume to do what we Catholics call “formation.” This would be discipleship, spiritual growth, etc. in your churches. We do formation with a view towards transformation. But it is more than education. There are things we do to promote personal growth in our members to make them true disciples of Jesus.
There is an obvious relationship between the transformation we cannot do and the formation which we can do. I want to use and agricultural image—that of a farmer. A farmer can drop seeds into a carpet, a gravel parking lot, the dirt in a subdivision, and in good, rich soil. If the farmer does that and returns in a month, what will he find? He will most likely find that there is nothing to find in the first three places, but he will probably find healthy growth from the seed sown in the rich soil.
The key implication for us from this story is deciding what kind of soil we are going to invite people into. In the right contexts, seeds sprout up heartily when sown in good soil. The same is true with people.
What are some good examples of good formation? St. Francis of Assisi lived an extraordinary life. Does anybody know when St. Francis began his conversion experience? It was the first time he kissed, embraced a leper. What had previously been unthinkable to him became what he described as “sweetness and light.” Francis encounters the very presence of God.
through which you realized that there is a wonderful new part of life to experience there. How many of you came back unchanged? My daughter went to Haiti to work in an orphanage full of terminally ill orphans. Most of what she did while there was hold and care for and love on little babies who were dying. She came back a changed person. She learned to understand Jesus through the eyes of dying children. Abundant life is drawn into a person who extends his life to others who are suffering. How many of you have had an experience that took you “across the tracks” “The poor are not lazy.” Kneeled to look someone in eye. Being with them was osmotic. I begin to understand why? I care about the person.
The challenge of the North American church is that we are rich. Rich does not worry about whether we were eat the next day. The poor don’t know. (Story of the church library.) Jesus says don’t waste your time. Don’t get preoccupied with stuff. We don’t see others.
Two spiritual ventures
Luke 18:18-23 Exhibit A
Rich young man asks Jesus, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” You need to know that two-thirds of the land in Galilee had been dispossessed in the time of Jesus’ ministry by the Romans and those who collaborated with them. Jesus responded, “Go and sell all you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then, come and follow me.” The man went away sad, because he had many possessions.
Jesus is referring to two kinds of spiritual journeys. The first spiritual journey God does not need our love He needs us to love each other.
The venture Jesus invites the rich young man to is a venture of giving away. It is a life characterized by compassion, generosity, sacrifice, justice, charity, etc. This is the great venture.
The other is a journey of greed and selfishness - of hoarding, grabbing, keeping and collecting. It is characterized by three words, me, my, and mine. We are either looking out (Matt: Make this a live link to Amazon and externally focused church) or looking in. You cannot give up and hoard at the same time.
The rich young ruler was a hoarder and he went away grieved, because he did not want to give away what he had. How hard it is for the rich to enter the reign of God. (In the same sense as “entering” a conversation).
On a given day we will be given multiple invitations to hoard and very few to give up.
Those who give their lives will find them those who hold on to them will lose them
How hard is it for the rich to participate in the kingdom of God? In the gospels, there is only one reason for wealth that is to see that everyone has what they need. Acts 4:32ff With power There is very compelling about surrendering all Even if you earned it, it is not yours. When I go to the funeral of a holy “generous” person it “rocks.” My uncle was a man like that. I have never been to a funeral – large IRA expensive antiques – nobody cares. The whole culture is consumed by hoarding and protecting.
How many times is the church mentioned 2 The kingdom of God - 92 “the reign of God” - 142the church is not the goal the church is the tool to the “reign of God.”
Luke 19:1-10 Exhibit B
Fourteen verses later in Luke 18 you find the story of Zacchaeus. This is the same story with a different ending. He was the moral equivalent of the Grand Dragon of the KKK. Sinner because he was a tax collector. Jesus responded by saying that salvation had come to his house
He was rich from the pillaging and the dispossessing of people. He responded to meeting Jesus by giving generously to the poor and by paying back the people he cheated with interest. His wallet was a symptom of his growth. It was really about the growth of his heart…increasing his capacity to love. Any authentic conversion capacity to love bigger than we could before.
This is a classic example of what it means to be a true follower of Jesus. (Insert the drawing of the enlarging hearts.) Jesus responded by saying that salvation had come to his house.
(What is a church for? It is a place where people’s hearts can be enlarged over and over and over again. It’s a place where I can love people bigger today than I could a year ago. I can love people I was previously unable to love. I am capable of a love I have not known before. If that isn’t happening to our people who come week after week to church, then they aren’t truly converted. Conversion is not a static thing, it is a process defined by an enlarging capacity to love. We need to invite people into an across-the-tracks experience. It is the only way they will ever grow their hearts. The true test of agape love is this; can I love someone who cannot love me back? Do I find myself spending more and more time with these kinds of people? )
This is a classic example of what it means to be a true follower of Jesus. It means that your heart grows and your arms grow to embrace new people and new geography. This is the movement to be converted…towards transformation and spiritual maturity. This is a picture of true conversion. It is demonstrated in the growing size of a person’s heart. It can be seen in a person who has a greater capacity to love today that he did a year ago. His or her love just gets bigger and bigger. This kind of love takes us to the broken places. Talking the talk is only important to the extent of your walking the walk…period. To what extent am I just using Jesus words? Those who lose their lives gain them. Those who keep their lives lose them. It means that as your heart grows and your arms grow to embrace new people and new geography. If I plot where my life was lived home, school and tennis club and there were trips to Hawaii. What happens is the The “push pins” of my life would change. “I followed someone there.” I want to follow Jesus, look where Jesus went. The trips became different.
Spiritual Transformation
The problem with transformation in the church is that we simply cannot do it. Only God can. I cannot say to you, “be changed!” God alone can change people. We cannot do transformation in others if we could our kids would be different! We can’t even think of changing ourselves. For twenty years I have prayed the same pray, to become more patient.
Though we cannot do transformation, weThis is the movement to be converted…towards transformation and spiritual maturity. We can’t change anybody. Who changes us? God, The Holy Spirit. I cannot change ourselves – I am going to become a more patient person – and we become. Don’t have a minister of transformation. Christian education – called “formation.” Church does presume to do what we Catholics call “formation.” This would be discipleship, spiritual growth, etc. in your churches. Weand can do formation with a view towards transformation. But it is more than education. There are things we do to promote personal growth in our members to make them true disciples of Jesus.
There is an obvious relationship between the transformation we cannot do and the formation which we. What can the church do to give people an experience with God. Formation can do. I want to use and agricultural image—that of a farmer. You can’t make seeds grow by yelling at them. You must but them in something. I can drop seeds into a carpet, a gravel parking lot, the dirt in a subdivision, and in good, rich soil. If I return in a month, what will he find? He will most likely find that there is nothing to find in the first three places, but he will probably find healthy growth from the seed sown in the rich soil.
The relationship between transformation and formation is the same as the seed and the soil. We but people in “graces way.” The key implication for us from this story is deciding what kind of soil we are going to invite people into. In the right contexts, seeds sprout up heartily when sown in good soil. The same is true with people. What are the best soils that lead others to an expanding capacity to love?
What are some good examples of good formation? St. Francis of Assisi lived an extraordinary life. Does anybody know when St. Francis began his transformation experience? He was a rich Italian. It was the first time he kissed, embraced a leper. What had previously been unthinkable to him became what he described as “sweetness and light.” Francis encounters the very presence of God. Seeds can be planted in different soils and wait a few months and see different results. Relationship between formation and transformation is the same between soil and growth. We put people in grace’s way and the What are the best soils that leads them to an expanding capacity to love.
How many of you have made the choice to be with the poor in that place. How many of you came back unchanged? How many were raised in a rich home. The rich does not worry if they will eat the next day. About half of the world lives that way. How many of you have had an experience that took you “across the tracks” through which you realized that there is a wonderful new part of life to experience there. Jack kneeled to look someone in eye. Being with them was osmotic. “The poor are not lazy.” I begin to understand why? I care about the person.
There are more texts that warn about the dangers of wealth than about prayer. The challenge of the North American church is that we are rich. Rich does not worry about whether we were eat the next day. The poor don’t know. (Story of the church library sections on prayer and dangers of wealth.) Jesus says, “Please don’t waste your time. Don’t get preoccupied with stuff. It will not satisfy.” Luke 12 - build bigger barns grows rich for himself. We don’t see others.
Early church councils dealt with the question, “Can rich people be saved?” The answer was yes but if they give most of it away. Why? Because this is world where 40,000 will die today of starvation (¾ are children). (John the Baptist’s instructions.)
The obstacle of embracing the life Jesus asks of us is the same old justifications for why I will not “cross the tracks.” I say I believe in Jesus but I am not willing to go where Jesus has gone. Does Jesus talk with rich people and pay attention to rich people? Yes. Great love tilts to those in needs. The Holy Spirit calls those who have to give to those who are in need.
The story of Francis has to do with journeys. The gospels, Jesus is sending people out, sending them on a journey. The Bible is a map. You have to step into its pages. Not just read, but follow. 87 times Jesus says follow me. Go where I go. See what I do. Do as I do.
Jack’s daughter’s experience in Haiti – My daughter went to Haiti to work in an orphanage full of terminally ill orphans because of chronic malnutrition. Most of what she did while there was hold and care for and love on little babies who were dying. There were 40 cribs and in each crib 2 or 3 babies. She held a baby boy for 45 minutes. She was to move on to other babies. She came back a changed person. She learned to understand Jesus through the eyes of dying children. We see the eyes of Jesus in the eyes of the poor. If we see the world through the eyes of the poor we see how the world is structured against them.Luke 12 Build bigger barns grows rich for himself
Early church council dealt with the question, “Can rich people be saved?” The answer was yes but if they give most of it away This world 40,000 will die today of starvation (¾ are children).
Same old justifications for why I will not “cross the tracks.” Does Jesus talk with rich people and pay attention to rich people? Yes. Great love tilts to those in needs. The Holy Spirit calls those who have to give to those who are in need.
The gospels are sending people out, sending them on a journey. Not just read, but follow. 87 times Jesus says follow me. Go where I go
Jack’s daughter’s experience in Haiti – We see the eyes of Jesus in the eyes of the poor. If we see the world through the eyes of the poor we see the world is structured against them.
Here is (for what it’s worth) the gospel according to Jack. Every single person in a church ought to have a relationship with someone across the tracks—with marginalized people. Our church bulletins should have at least 25 opportunities to love others who do not have the capacity to love them back. We don’t do this stuff to prove that we are holy. We do it to put ourselves in grace’s way to allow the poor to teach us what love is all about. (Putting oneself in grace’s way is akin to putting oneself in harm’s way. To put oneself in grace’s way is putting ourselves in positions where God will intersect our lives). In the process we will end up getting more than we are giving, and we are changed in the process. What the vulnerable teach us is that we too are human, and that we all desperately need God. When we do youth ministry in Jesus words and trips to the beach we tell them that church is about. We need to . What will give them experience with the mission.
Charity and Justice
The great love expresses itself in many ways – charity and justice. Jack explained the difference between charity and justice with the following story.
A man was weeding in his garden one day. He noticed in the creek behind the field what appeared to be a body. He ran to the creek and discovered that in fact it was the body of a woman. He pulled her out of the water barely alive. He carried her to her home. He nursed her back to health and a month later sent her on her way.
The next month while he was again weeding in his garden, he noticed what looked like 2 bodies floating down the creek. He ran to the creek and pulled two men near the point of death to the bank and called for help. He took care of the two until they were healthy enough to go on their way.
The next month, while weeding in his garden, he saw three bodies floating down the creek. Again he did the same, but this time he realized that there is a problem up the stream that needs to be fixed. The movement from charity to justice begins when we start walking upstream. The gardener brought mercy to the immediate situation, but mercy though good, was not enough. Fixing whatever the problem was upstream is a picture of justice
The point of the story is that sometimes when you are doing social outreach, you must realize that you can deal with symptoms (mercy) without dealing with the causes (justice). Both are important, but they must often function together
One question, “Why are 2/3 of the people Vietnam Veterans? Why are people with full-time jobs going to soup kitchen? We become Involved in “living wage campaigns.” When you move from charity to justice it becomes more controversial. It affects the wallet or the pocketbook.
Q and A
Generosity without sacrifice – There are different ways to do charity – from distance to along side. The problem is that privilege never recognizes itself. Jack gave the example of political history of Africa.
How do you deal with justice and politics? Jesus saw faith, economics and politics as all interconnected. God wants to redeem the whole world, individuals, communities, economics, and politics.
Question about Justfaith – It is a religious non-profit – it is a thirty week program. It is an intensive program. Tyranny of small expectations – people are busy – It is a matter of priorities. The average American watching 14 hours of TV a week. In the fall of 2006 we will offer a Christian ecumenical version.
Liz presented a toy truck to describe a model. She dismissed the group to a working lunch to create their dream models of what a wildly successful externally focused ministry would look like.
Report Outs on Dream Models
Jack’s Encore
When I was 25 I joined a Catholic Workers Community. I quit my job, sold my house and my car and moved in with the poor to live and work among them. I worked in a soup kitchen. I said to myself, “I’m pretty holy for doing this.” The rich kid had given it all up to go and work with the poor. After two weeks of peeling potatoes in the soup kitchen, I simply felt like I was the same person I was before, except for not having a home and a car.
After two years of working there serving people I really did feel different. What characterized the way I felt was that I had really come to love the people I was with. The broken, wounded and vulnerable had taught me so much about love and my own humanity. So much of who they were flowed into me.
I fast one day a week, and there are two significant things that happen to me when I fast. The first is that I get really hungry. The second is that I become more spiritually attentive. I’m reminded of how it must feel for half of the people in the world who worry every day about where they are going to get their next meal.
We need to invite people into an across-the-tracks experience. It is the only way they will ever grow their hearts. The true test of agape love is this; can I love someone who cannot love me back? Do I find myself spending more and more time with these kinds of people?
The test of my growth is this: Is my heart larger today, with an increased capacity to love, than I was twelve months ago?
The great love expresses itself in many ways – charity and justice
Story of caring for woman. Two bodies and caring for them. Three bodies What is going on upriver logic of love moves us from charity to justice. One question, “Why are 2/3 of the people Vietnam Veterans? Why are people with full-time jobs going to soup kitchen? When you move from charity to justice it becomes more controversial. It affects the wallet.
Q and A
Different ways to do charity – from distance to along side. Privilege never recognizes itself. Example of going to Africa. How do you deal with justice and politics? Jesus wants to redeem the whole world.
Justfaith – religious non-profit –thirty week program. Tyranny of small expectations – people are busy – watching 14 hours a week of t.v. Fall of 2006 christian exumenical version jack@justfaith.org
Liz presented a toy truck to describe a model. She dismissed the group to working lunch to create their dream models of what a wildly successful externally focused ministry would look like.
Report Outs on Dream Models
Jack’s Encore
The rich young ruler asked what he must do to inherit eternal life. Eternal life in the Greek is really a life lived in the here and now which is lived so well that it intersects with God’s life which is unbounded by time and place. It is as good as life can be lived! It is so rich with passion and satisfaction that death doesn’t bring it to an end. The paradox of such a life is that true satisfaction is not found in stuff. It is found in relationships and that which brings true life to people. There is an experience so rich that it would cause us to conclude that we could not imagine ourselves doing anything else. Giving ones life away results in sacrifice, but people describe it paradoxically in terms of abundance.
Every single person in a church ought to have a relationship with someone across the tracks—with marginalized people. Our church bulletins should have at least 25 opportunities to love others who do not have the capacity to love them back. We don’t do this stuff to prove that we are holy. We do it to put ourselves in grace’s way to allow the poor to teach us what love is all about. (Putting oneself in grace’s way is akin to putting oneself in harm’s way. To put oneself in grace’s way is putting ourselves in positions where God will intersect our lives). In the process we will end up getting more than we are giving, and we are changed in the process. What the vulnerable teach us is that we too are human, and that we all desperately need God.
We so frequently think of social ministry as twisting someone’s arm behind their backs to do something they don’t really want to do. People who actually give their lives away for others say, “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” You can’t look at it

Jack Jezreel--Day 1

During our Leadership Community in Omaha we heard from Jack Jezreel. Jack has a passionate and prophetic message for followers of Jesus. The following is a rough transcript by Rich Lotterhos on his fist message...

Jack started Just Faith (http://www.justfaith.org/) in 1989 while he was the minister of social responsibility at the Church of the Epiphany in Louisville, Kentucky. JustFaithJustfaith is a program designed to empower and expand parish and church commitment to social ministry. This year, almost 300 parishes and churches and 3000 people across the country are participating in this rapidly expanding program.

JustFaith provides an opportunity for members of ayour parish to study the Church's commitment to the poor and vulnerable in a lively, challenging, multi-faceted process that is experienced in the context of a small community of faith. In less than three years, JustFaith has established itself as a highly respected and successful model of justice formation, evangelization and conversion.

Jack Jezreel
Preface: The hope is to encounter stuff that puts you off balance or makes you think, or that puts you off balance. My work is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. I want people to feel provoked rather than anesthetized. Even in my own tradition people scratch their heads. I am here to stir up the pot. I want to talk about what it means to do the work of social mission in the world. I will be using the language of charity and justice, which may be unfamiliar in the vocabulary of today’s Christian people. I want to speak about what I feel is at the core of being a disciple of Jesus. This may be like preaching to the choir. I am not here to change your mind or turn you into Catholics. I am notMy hope is to be helpful. Not interested in engaging in a theological debate. My hope is to be helpful.
Start with a story because it seems to me that it so helpfully names the challenge that is in front ofbefore us. I first heard the name as the parable of the “parish,” but it could easily be named the parable of the “church.”

THE LIFE SAVING STATION
On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude life saving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but a few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves, they went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Many lives were saved by this wonderful and little station, so that it became famous. Some of those who were saved and various others in the surrounding area wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought, and new crews were trained. The little life saving station grew.
Some of the new members of the life saving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and so poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. So they replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in an enlarged building. Now the life saving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they redecorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely because they used it as a sort of club. Less of the members were interested in going to sea on life saving missions, so they hired life-boat crews to do this work. The life saving motif still prevailed in the club decorations, however, and there was a liturgical life-boat in the room where club initiations were held.
About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast and the hired crews brought in boat loads of cold, wet, half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick and some of them had black skin and some had yellow skin. The beautiful new club was considerably messed up, so the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwrecks could be cleaned up before coming inside.
At the next meeting there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club's life saving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted on life saving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a "life saving station." But they were finally voted down and told that if thy wanted to save the lives of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own life saving station down on the coast. They did.
As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another life saving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that seacoast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along the shore. Shipwrecks are still frequent in those waters, but today must of the people drown.


Any kind of movement, organization, or institution that has at it’s founding some kind of original generosity, service, sacrifice or mission can over time find itself at some distance from that original mission that they found so compelling. The author of the parable speaks to the possibility of good movements with a great original mission of compassion and love can find themselves so cold and indifferent years down the road.

(There is a restoration happening in churches today. People are for each other. They are for the common good, and everybody matters. In Catholic liturgy we have a very sublime word, “Go in peace to love and serve the world.” Go to a world of family, neighborhoods, economics and enormous suffering. Unfortunately there is such a propensity to just go to church and stay there. There is too much time and energy focused on the church itself.)
The stuff we are talking about – social ministry is a non-optional component of what it means to be baptized. It is not peripheral. Social mission needs to be at the core “constitutional” of what we do as a church. If someone were to show up at the door of your church and ask, “What time is worship start this morning?” and you were to respond, “We don’t do that here.” It would seem odd to that person. It ought to be just as odd if someone were to ask, “How can I meet some basic human needs of the poor in the community?” Many churches would in fact respond by saying, “We don’t do that around here.” What then makes you Christian? Social ministry needs to be at the core of what we do.

(Many years ago I worked in a parish that was located near a homeless shelter. The shelter was finding that 6 of 10 of the homeless there were women and children. Not having adequate facilities to accommodate them, our parish was asked if we could take on some of the overflow. I took it before the parish council, and they weren’t very excited at all about this. One of the women even asked, “How do you know that they even want to be indoors at night?” What she was really saying was “I don’t want these people in our church.” This is a very common response of people in our churches. They are either oblivious to the problem or totally disinterested in doing any thing about it.

Our job is about moving people from disinterest to excited involvement. Just Faith has developed a strategy for empowering and expanding the work of social ministry. We use the term, “work of social mission” in Dioceses all over the country. We have a catholic teaching that we call solidarity, which means basically that we, the human race are all connected to each other.

I worked for 6 years in a soup kitchen. Let me tell you a story about two Catholics who were working together in a soup kitchen. One had done it for a while, the other was pretty new. The new guy turned one day to the other and asked him, “How do you know that all these people are Catholics?” The point of this story is that we don’t feed these people because they are Catholics, we feed these people because we are Catholics.)

I want to share from a couple of texts today. The first text is a single paragraph - Matthew 5:43. This text is practical and easy to understand and challenging and potent. I used to be a farmer. Farmers don’t like flowery language, like someone from Missouri,. “Show me.” ” This text is potent in that regard.

Jack read the text: (Tax collectorscollector’s were hated. Pagans were not familiar with the covenant.) What is going on in this text? The English word love here in the Greek is “Agape”. The word means unconditional love. God’s love is “not discriminating.” It is a love that needs no preceding context. It is love that goes out freely to the just and the unjust, to the good and to the bad. God’s love is unbounded.

There is another Greek word that is translated love. It is the word, “Philia” (Like the city Philadelphia) which means a love of your own. It is the love of your own group, gang, and tribe. It is often called the love of family and friends. Jesus had a very low regard for this kind of love. He said that even the tax gatherers loved others in this way. The mafia and even terrorists love each other in this way. Richard Roar – He has no unpublished thoughts – “Love is one piece. You either love the whole or you just prefer.” We are all trained in this tradition. We all know where the rich live, where the middle class live, and where the poor and marginalized live. We tell our kids “Don’t go to that neighborhood.” We define who our people are and who they are not.

I grew up in Natchez, Mississippi. In school I played football with African Americans. Though I was from a wealthy home and didn’t live around any, I found myself on the same football team with some who became very close friends. That is what happens when just put yourself close to people who are different than you. You begin to love them. I remember the day when I thought my daddy was wrong.

A journey of faith involves a movement from a small love that is called “Philia” to the great love “Agape”. When we talk about a spiritual journey we are talking about how we move toward greater intimacy with God? It is all about communion with God. This is the great love. God is the great love. The journey is a movement from conditional love to unconditional love. John uses this language, “God is love.” What kind of love was he talking about? Agape love. Our journey is to a “BIG LOVE.” It is the kind of love that is expansive, big, and all inclusive. It recognizes that every human being is precious, and is worthy of our love.
A third Greek word for kind of love is “Eros” which is sensual love. This is best described by youth ministers know about. There is no suggestion in the gospels that love of family and friends is a sin. When you have Philia without Agape is the love of the Hatfields for the Hatfields, and the love of the McCoys for the McCoys. Philia without Agape This kind of love creates a context for war. Thus you have the story of the Hatfields and the McCoys.
Similarly, Eros without Agape is a kind of objectification of the other. It turns a person into “body parts” into a thing. Not unbridled love loved it is utterly bridled love. It is so narrow. But in context of Agape both Philia and Eros are wonderful – they come alive. Our church is the world. Who are our people? Who is the church for? – Everyone. – everyone. The churches work is to move members into a step by step journey from a small love to a great love. How do we make it happen?

Translation issue - These are three words in the Greek but they are translated into English as one word. So what happens when I hearhere God’s love, I can think it means I can simply love my family and friends better. Then I did not get it. Agape blasts through boundaries and transforms. . Holiness means different. How are they different? Agape sets us apart. (My daughter….he just goes to churches and he yells.)
The second text – When love gets big, where does that great love go? What does it do? Matthew 25:31ff. This is the longest clearest description of who is with God and who is not with God in the great hereafter. (Read the text)
A couple of summaries: Whatever our relationship is with our brothers and sisters who are in harm’s way that it is descriptive of our relationship with God… with those who are on the margins, with those who are wounded Which means that is descriptive of our relationship with God. Every everyone of us all have two spiritual journals. One is the “Day timer” - our calendar. How we use up our time. Conversely and a lot of activities but none with those in need that vacuum is also with those who are on the margins, wounded is descriptive of our relationship with God.

The other spiritual journal is our checkbook ledger - a description. A journal of where our treasure is. It is revealing for those who have enough to eat that tells the world what is dear to us. We don’t share them with others, unless we have nothing to hide. These two journals tell the world what’s really important to us.
The second summary as a “tendency could well be based on this passage to tell people, Cliff” note version, “Feed the hungry or go to hell.” Jesus serves the role of a prophet “grab people by the shirt collar and shake them out of their spiritual coma, the coma of me, my and mine. You are so preoccupied with your stuff that you don’t see the call of God to meet the needs of others. Time magazine recently about three years ago tracked the charitable giving of the 50 top CEO’s in the country over a ten year period. On average as As their incomessalaries increased ten timestenfold, the actual amount of money they gave dropped in real dollars. It is so easy to get preoccupied with the world’s stuff.

In Hebrew one word that describes sin is blindness. He wanted them to recognize the importance of loving the vulnerable, the hurting, and the poor. He wasn’t painting a picture of where heaven and hell are, but he was trying to get them to see what they needed to see. Best definition of hell – we come face to face with God and find we have nothing in common….There can’t be communion or intimacy.

The reason I brought up this text is to share a phrase . Phrase “the option for the poor.” The phrase observes this, God keeps showing up in the same place.
Have you noticed throughout the Bible that God’s love always shows up and flourish in the midst of very desperate situations? Through Moses, God shows up in a flourish in the midst of slavery. God intervenes. Where does Jesus show up? Jesus shows up under Roman occupation. Jesus spent an inordinate amount of time in broken and wounded places. There is very little drama taking place with Jesus in the country clubs. (Mary)Jesus spent an inordinate amount of time in broken and wounded places. We need to craft our economics and our politics personally so that all humans can live a dignified life. That’s precisely what Jesus did. God inclines to those who are poor?

I speak about “Catholic social teaching” which is basically our way of understanding – What is our the church’s response to----? This teaching tries to create touchstones, one of which is called “the“The option for the poor.” Does God love poor people more than rich people? God’s love is Agape and unconditional how can you saycould God inclines to those who are poor? How do you get these two concepts together? Here’s how. (Example of a . (Examples of dad and three daughtersdaughter’s going to the Zoo. One daughter is sick. Dad’s attention is immediately drawn to the sick. Does he love his other two daughters any less?) The shepherd has 100 sheep and one which is lost. Where does the shepherd turn his attention? How does God respond when He finds one of his own in distress?
Another experience I had was to be present when each daughter was born. Hold a-holding tiny little girl at her birth, and pull her to my chest, and in that moment experience the – power of connection. Here is the good news..) God loves each one of us a million times this. Part of our spiritual journeyThat is accepting God’s love. Here is another part of thatthe good news. What is God’s response when one of us for example, a 14 year girl in Haiti wanders through a garbage dump to find her breakfast, a homeless elderly man wonders streets of Omaha, a young mother with children at her side wondering if a bomb will fall? Sudan? What would I do? If that was my daughter, parent, sister, I would do anything I could to help the one in need. What is God’s response? God is especially attentive to those broken places. That’s what we believe.
The question is, “So so what’s the proof?” The bombs are still falling, elderly men in large cities in this country die of neglect, and 14 year old girls in Haiti die of hunger or preventable diseases. “So what’s the proof?” We don’t presume to know it all, but this we do know -it all but this we do know every single day there are men and women are working to meet these needs. The evidence that God is attentive is the body of Christ, it’s us, it’s the Holy Spirit that fills the church to demonstrate the presence of God. The body of Christ – the community is working to meet these needs. When love gets big, it inclines in the direction of those at the bottom.the greatest need. Like water seeking out the very lowest level, when love is big, it will seek out those in the greatest need, the . The widows, the orphans, etc. When we are made new in Christ, Chirst that love expresses itself to those inbe inclined to the need.
Aristotle and Aquinas agreed on three components to enduring friendships:
1. You justJust like each other
2. Utility
3. The real glue – “a shoulder to shoulder common gaze beyond each other ourselves to the greater good. “

One of the best ways to To prepare for marriage is to send them to the soup kitchen. Can we love when there is no payback? The true test of the capacity to stay married. My wife and I met in the context of serving the homeless. My(Story – wife got a job not as an art teacher, but as a tutor for a little boy with Lesch-Nyhan syndrome. A striking feature of LNS is self-mutilating behaviors – characterized by lip and finger biting. Maggie decided to be his“less neians? Needed a tutor. I feel so deeply in love with my wife again..) Some one who loves bigis a Great lover makes a good friend.

As love gets big we will find ourselves drawn to broken places. In the book of In all situations we are to recognize the primacy of justice. Distributive justice is given by God to all. God didn’t intend for anybody to starve to death. God has written his law in the hearts of men and women. All the great saints of Catholicism - one in One thing you will notice is that they all hung out in the broken places. None of them were upwardly mobile. They had a common lack of interest in accumulating things. It is an invitation into the Great Love; of God it is just where love goes, it’s just where the Spirit leads us.

Conclusion: The reason weWe are drawn to the poor is not to prove we are holy. It is to put ourselves in grace’s way where God can teach us.anything. I have come to build a relationship. In the context of relationships I can be changed, and this so the world can be changed and we can do it together as friends side by side.

Questions-
Comment - Prayer of Mother Teresa’s: “May God break my heart so completely that the whole world follows you. The object of this life is to . To die with your heart too big for your body.
My experience houses that raise kids for this are very strong houses.Not substitute one for another. The most powerful religious education happens at the home not by what the parents say but throughis in the actions of the parents.
The needs are so great how do we deal with that? The writer of the book. Writer, The Holy Longing, Ronald R,, wrote One of the ways we protect ourselves from utter deal with the despair you have to have community, community, we enjoy their company. Gandhi said, Ghandi “Whatever we do will seem small but it is very important that we have to do it.” There is no such thing as love lost in the universe. What is eternal is love.