Thursday, June 28, 2012

Cultural Diversity at Kidz Gig

Both city campuses at North Way Christian Community have teamed up for an amazing week of Kidz Gig. As I was standing with a whole bunch of kids worshipping God this morning, I was struck by the diversity of the people in the room. I noticed strong representation from African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Caucasians. We had Christians and nonChristians in the room, and people from many different socioeconomic backgrounds and various neighborhoods.


The cultural diversity at North Way is not an accident. Too often, churches in America represent some of the most segregated social institutions. As a pastor in the city, I am committed to leading a church that represents the racial and socioeconomic diversity that is so prevelant in our neighborhoods. I am committed to moving beyond paying lip service to the issue and just hoping that it happens. At North Way East End, we are working hard to develop cross-cultural leaders and cross-cultural styles of worship. We are working to build meaningful, authentic relationships with each other while trying to learn from each other. After all, our eternal destiny, the kingdom of God, is going to be extremely diverse. Modern Christians should be setting the tone for what the kingdom of God looks like now. That's why we are so intentional about engaging people across cultures. We have a long way to go in this area at North Way! Still, this week of Kidz Gig has been greatly encouraging to me. We are starting to make progress.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Back in Action

I had a great time of relaxation while I was on vacation at the beach with my family. Every time I get away like that I am reminded of the power of rest and reflection. I love my time serving the Lord in Pittsburgh, but getting away from everything helps me to gain perspective. Urban ministry is intense, and it definitely requires periodic rest. So... I'm rested and ready to jump back into the amazing calling that God has given me! I've only been back for one day, but it feels great to be doing something that I am so passionate about with my life.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Vacation

I'm headed to Florida for a vacation with the family this week. I'm looking forward to resting and reconnecting with my girls. It's been a while since I've taken a trip without having to worry about reading or writing anything for a doctoral deadline. I may get to do some writing for fun on some topics that I've been waiting to write on for a while. It's going to be a great week!

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Reflecting on Three Years of Living in Homewood

About three years ago my family made a big move from an affluent neighborhood in the suburbs to a neighborhood in the inner city where the average family income is $18,000 per year. At the time of the move, my wife and I had never lived in a city before let alone a place where the average daily experience of my neighbors seemed to be defined by the struggles of poverty. My family walked away from the traditional comforts of the upwardly mobile American Dream in order to pursue to calling that God gave our family to become downwardly mobile. We have experienced more joy in life and closeness to God over the past few years than ever before. As I reflect on the past three years, I have learned that it is important to share about my family's journey because many people are curious about our lifestyle. The American Dream seems promising with all of its promises of comfort, safety, and security, but, as with all narratives that the world offers up, the American Dream ends up leading to struggles and emptiness. That is because I believe that most aspects of the American Dream are unbiblical and far removed from what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Don't get me wrong... I love America and I love being an American. I am thankful to be living in a country where I am free, and I know that freedom has come with a great cost. As as pastor, however, I spend a lot of time helping people unpack what goes wrong when the full embrace of the American Dream narrative leads to destruction. Americans are more depressed than any other people group in the world. We have, by far, the highest incarceration rate of any country. More importantly, the pillars of the American Dream actually keep us from possibly living out the lifestyle that Jesus set forth for us. The following are some examples of the staples of the American Dream that I believe keep many American Christians from experiencing the full joys of following Jesus:

Bigger homes: Three years ago I bought a home in Homewood where the average home value is $22,000. My wife and I joyfully invested our life savings into a neighborhood that may never experience any property value growth during our lifetime. It was a scandalous investment. It made no sense by any upwardly mobile standards. Yet, it was the best investment we've ever made because it was a kingdom of God investment. It was an eternal investment with our life savings. We are blessed to be living in Homewood. We have neighbors who stop by our house all the time. Our home has become a refuge for some of the most vulnerable people in our city. We've welcomed homeless people into our home to feed them and offer them shelter. The goal of the American Dream is to start out by buying a starter home, and then over the course of our lifetimes continue to buy bigger and bigger houses in more affluent neighborhoods so that we can be sitting on a bunch of home equity when we're older. One major flaw with that philosophy is that living in big homes in affluent neighborhoods separates us from the poor. When we intentionally distance ourselves from the poor, we miss out on the joys of being in relationships with people in need as a natural part of our lives. Also, us humans are always trying to get back to the garden of Eden. We try to build paradise for ourselves during our short lifetimes, but I don't think that God wants us to build paradise with our homes. A huge home in an affluent neighborhood may seem like a good goal, but in the end that goal may actually distance us from the mission that God has for all of us Christians to advance the kingdom of God and eternal purposes.

Financial Security:  The goal of the American Dream seems to be to save up as much money for ourselves as we can, but only after we've bought as much as we possibly can to make ourselves look better, feel better, and be safer. Americans seem to be obsessed with safety, security, and comfort. The gospel of Jesus Christ runs counter to the concepts of spending a bunch of money on ourselves or saving up a bunch of money for ourselves. The gospel of Jesus Christ is scandalous. Jesus was crucified. Ten of his closest followers, his disciples, lived in poverty and died violently simply for following the downwardly mobile ways of Jesus. Followers of Jesus during the first few centuries after Jesus' life experienced extreme persecution and many were martyred, yet Christianity grew faster than at any other time since then. When we put our focus on ourselves and our comforts, then we lose sight of what life is all about... God's mission to redeem the world. God wants to work through us, and that means that we sacrifice all. We should give time and money away to other Christians and to our neighbors freely, whenever God prompts us to do so. The gospel of Jesus runs counter to the world. I am constantly wrestling through this concept with Julie. Our goal is to give away more money to God's mission. Even the concept of retirement, or saving up a bunch of money to live on later in life, is unbiblical. The goal of life is not to live a comfortable lifestyle. The goal is to be obedient to Christ, and Christ may call us to give everything away... even our lives if we are called to do so. My goal in life is not to leave a bunch of money for my children to spend after I die and after I have lived comfortably in my golden years. For the rest of my life, no matter how old I am, I hope to be right out on the front lines advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ in dangerous places. I experience profound community and meaning in life when I live and minister in places of poverty. Modeling for my children about how to really live out the gospel in a world that desperately needs Christians to be authentic and credible is much, much more important to me than leaving money to my children when I die. This is all about making an eternal investment, not an earthly investment. I think God is big enough to figure out how to take care of my family members after I die, so there's no sense in me losing any sleep over something like that.

Prosperity Christianity:  Prosperity doctrine is heresy. The self help gospel is heresy. These movements have no place in the church. American Christians are desperately trying to integrate the gospel message of Jesus Christ with affluence and power, and that is simply not possible. God often calls me to enter into other people's pain and suffering in order to bring about his purposes. Sometimes God calls me to go pray with people after a shooting happens in my neighborhood. That is holy ground. Sometimes God calls me to sit with homeless people or struggling, single moms in order to share the good news of Christ. Just like everyone else I could lose my life at any time, so I don't want to waste any time trying to get rich or trying to make myself feel better about myself. I am confident enough in who I am through Christ. I don't need marketers of the American Dream to tell me who I am. I don't need a self help guru to tell me who I am. I am a son of the Most High God, a co-heir of the kingdom of God because of what Jesus did for me. As a result, I've given up trying to be prosperous in this short life in exchange for being obedient to God's ways. I have experienced profound joy through being made uncomfortable in my calling from God.

The great mystery here is that tremendous joy is found in the downward mobility of the cross of Jesus Christ. Around the world, Christianity is experiencing explosive growth amongst people groups living in poverty. Christianity is rapidly declining in areas of the world like Europe and America where well-intentioned people are trying to integrate Christianity with health, wealth, and success. 100 years ago 80 percent of the world's Christians lived in the West. Today, we represent only 20 percent of the world's Christians even though the percentage of overall Christians in the world has stayed about the same (around 34 percent). I believe that God can bring about revival in America, and that we can once again experience a profound movement of God throughout the country. For that to happen, I really believe that we will need to let go of the comforts of this world being offered up by the American Dream in order to embrace the radical, countercultural, and downwardly mobile lifestyle of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

From Presentation to Reality

Tomorrow morning I'm giving a presentation at a university on how society can reach social orphans living in complex urban environments. Ironically, as I was about to sit down tonight to go over my presentation, a "social orphan" from my neighborhood called me because he was in crisis and he was suddenly homeless and in need of a place to stay. I am thankful in moments like this that I chose to move to Homewood because he was just able to walk over to my house and tonight he's spending the night with our family. He'll be with us for a few days until we can help to stabilize his situation. God's timing is so amazing. God often teaches me that theory and academic presentations have their place, but implementation and actually living out what I challenge other people to do is very important. The streets of the inner city are a classroom for life, and I get an education every single day.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Transformation in Pittsburgh

It's hard to believe that I'm all done with higher education. People have been asking me what I plan to do next, and I have been answering that God has already given me an amazing calling in Pittsburgh. I'm looking forward to serving the East End of the city as a pastor, and I'm looking forward to being a good mentor to the at-risk youth that God has brought into my life. I'm looking forward to being a better husband and father.

The biggest thing I'm looking forward to is continuing to grow as a radical follower of Jesus Christ. God continues to call me to serve him by serving others. With the rest of my life I am planning to give myself away to others for the sake of advancing the kingdom of God. Every day I hope to die to myself in order to gain Christ. The more I do that, the less I care about making my life more comfortable or somehow trying to live out the American Dream.

God continues to lead me into complex urban environments, and I am dedicated to sensing the Spirit's leading in these environments in order to live in the stream of God's mission to redeem every part of my city. The goal is transformation... for myself, for the people attending North Way East End, for the many people living throughout the East End who do not know God, and for the entire city in general. God is doing big things in Pittsburgh.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Time to Celebrate

For those who have been following along in my doctoral journey... this is the big weekend! I arrived in Seattle yesterday for graduation from Bakke Graduate University. The main ceremony is Saturday at 3pm. Today Julie and I will explore the city of Seattle with my parents and our good friends, Aaron and Mandy Feleay, who flew up to Seattle from California. I am really looking forward to this time of celebration. This program was a lot of hard work! The adventure was all worth it, though. It's always good to celebrate at the end of an epic adventure!