First, no women on the panel. I don’t think that this is a good idea, anymore. It might not get Driscoll to get involved, but the church, in general, has moved on from this.

Session 1

Is there a future with denominations?

James McDonald fake bakes…

Jack Graham vs Mark Driscoll-
I appreciate Jack Graham’s overview. Driscoll says use denominations for the money. I think Driscoll’s point of “primary allegiance” is a good question.

Accountability and stewardship is important. Can if also translate into control and no room for creativity?

Planting churches discussion is interesting. I think we can assume what McDonald and Driscoll thinks a church is (reformation definition). JG finds value in seed throwing, even without firm strategy.

Networks are tribes. I think that it is true, but is it good for ecclesiology? Leaders are followers first, in the kingdom. (hat tip, Len Sweet)

Furtick- give respect to those who fought hard in the past. Good point. Nice deep V-Neck, also.

Prediction- Acts 29 will unite the impulse of evangelicalism that is doctrine-first based, reformation-oriented. There will probably be another unifier of evangelicalism under another moniker that emphasizes the piety and transformative experienced first-based. Hopefully they will get along.

Conversation #2- Gospel presented in its fullness

Crawford vs Steven

How would MacDonald define the gospel? I can probably guess it is something short of Scot McKnight’s idea of it.

Crawford- I like his thoughts on the gospel and how it is shared (Scot McKnight’s treatment is good for this discussion, also)

River with 2 banks- what the Bible says the gospel is and what is the anointed approach to share it

Heresy- edit the content around the presentation

Definition of gospel is too broad. Gospel should be entrance into the kingdom of God.

Steven- his atonement is Substitutionary… he really is a SBC.

Crawford- tension, give people a chance to respond and not make them choose to respond. Scot McKnight- the gospel is proclamation not liminality.

Front-loading the gospel- point people to Jesus, not to a brand of theology. Don’t crowd the cross. Good idea.

In my humble opinion, the bulk of “gospel” shared so far is reductionist, it is plan of salvation “soterian” not the whole story.

McDonald’s idea of preaching the gospel in new ways is great.

TD Jakes- don’t solve the mystery by the recipe and science. Cross is beyond formula.

Jack Graham’s baptism is probably important, but it comes off as magisterial.

Would’ve loved for the guys to answer this question, “Did Jesus preach Paul’s gospel?”

McDonald’s book has “True” in it, as does Driscoll’s new book… interesting…

Conversation #3- Pastors juggling ministry and avoiding burnout

Cordeiro- what runs you inside can destroy you in the process of burnout.

Pastors sin on the top-side, using spirituality and ministry tasks (outside of God’s true call).

Cordeiro is a sage. Dropping Christlike health knowledge.

This conversation is bringing the best of all three of these guys.

Have friendships that complete, not compete against you.(TD Jakes)

Good thought from Driscoll, have spouse ask “How are you,” instead of “What are you up to?”

Crawford’s thoughts on leaders leading young leaders to a burnout trajectory is important. Identity is formed not in ministry but in relationship with God.

Conversation #4- Majors doctrines that we need to agree on (Driscoll and Jakes) The one I’ve been waiting for. Should be a good discussion.

There is plenty of discussion of Trinity… good discussion.

Discussion was different than I thought. I liked it. I felt that Mark’s list was more simple than I thought he would bring. However, I am not surprised that the origin of his center is congruent with Grudem and Conservative Evangelicals. Though the ancient ecumenical councils do not have a statement of scripture, they probably infer inspired and authoritative.

TD Jakes’ concern over communication is prophetic.

It’s been said, God takes words to flesh in Christ. Let’s not let our pursuit of doctrine take flesh back to words.

Conversation #5- Racially Diverse Churches

I think Jakes’ thoughts on the sliding of racial division with information age. Cross pollination is necessary. Night clubs are doing better at integration.

God challenges us to become uncomfortable. Comfort is the replacement of old time racism.

The integration now has to be intentional, the first integration was forced. (Industrial Revolution)

If our prayers, life does not reflect “every tribe and nation” then we do not have authentic Christianity. -Lorritts

Structure is needed when immaturity is lacking. When maturity increases, structure can as well.

Some of the greatest leaders in the Bible are multicultural, Moses, Paul, etc…

Conversation #6- What if a Pastor fails/Restoration (Cordeiro/Lorritts)

Remove the person, place them in isolation (check contrition, not just confession)

Ask, “Why did you not self-correction?” Look for the self-correction impulse in staff, one of the best attributes for one to have.

Too many people believe in us to fail. Be careful.

Conversation #7: Confrontation with pastors who disagree with one another

How big is your world? Is your state your nation? This discussion could be closely associated with the discussion between Driscoll and Jakes.

Affirm the center. This is a good discussion in Evangelicalism, are we center-set or bounded set?

Boldness is standing out with a brother when it costs me something. -Furtick

Love people and discover the principles as we go. -TD Jakes

We need to develop a new pathology; being identified for what we are for and not for what we are against. -TD Jakes

Conversation #8- Speed Round (Random Questions from the speakers)

It was good to hear these guys talk candidly.

The basic idea about the show is centered on a team of “Lie Detection Experts.” They are hired by the FBI to do special missions to see if someone is telling a lie or not. The main character, Dr. Cal Lightman, is an expert on studying people’s faces and non-verbal cues to tell what one is hiding behind their lies. He is training other agents to be able to grow in his knowledge, as well.

The pilot episode has a closing scene where the viewing audience is able to watch Dr. Cal as he passes through a crowd at the end of his day. Dr. Cal is so consumed with studying people that he cannot turn it off. The scene ends with the audience to attempt to evaluate this scenario. Does Dr. Cal have passion, or is it an obsession?

As God’s people, we have a deep capacity to be consumed by something. To view all of life through the lens of the kingdom, that people are deeply loved by God and that his mercy is making all things new.

This is our vocational hazard; a deep and contagious hope in the renewal of all things. What will apprehend you today?

There is an issue within current expressions of church to not have a constructed memory with enough power to inform our individual local stoies and to help indiviudals to find their place within God’s story. We have long-term memory loss. We can put together a few memories of our favorite times in church, but is that enough to empower faithfulness?

One way the Church has rehearsed the story is through Sacraments, or physical acts that communicate matchless grace to us. 

Though the Eastern and Roman Catholic churches have 7 sacraments, the Protestant world has 2: Baptism and Holy Communion. A peculiar thing happens when we scan the ideas that the NT writers had when they commented on these two observances. 

Holy Communion is mentioned at length from Paul in 1 Corinthians 11, including a “whoever” and a “whatever”. Here is how Paul describes it in 1 Corinthians 11:25:

“For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

Notice all three time zones mentioned in the act of communion:

The Lord’s death- Past tense
Until- Present
He comes-Future tense 

In the same way, Baptism creates this collision of time zones. Notice what Paul says in Romans 6:3-4:

“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him thorugh baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, through the glory of hte Father, we too may live a new life.”

Jesus burial and resurrection- Past tense
Our Baptism- Present
Our Future resurrection applied now- Future tense

In each of these sacramental rites, all of time collapses together and we commune with God in a redemptive time warp. For a brief moment, if we care to look, we experience time on God’s terms, no past, present, or future.

Churches that don’t share communion together, that don’t take the time to soak in the meaning of baptism, miss the time warp. Communion and Baptism simply become another “churchy” thing we do, or rush through, so seekers won’t be bothered by ritual.

Next time you see a Baptism or observe Communion at your local congregation, take a look around. For you might be standing on holy ground, and might come to know that there are angels all around.

Every individual and community must go through the process of constructing memory. A recent expression of this was when Microsoft announced that they had a placed Andrew Assad to serve as “Chief Storyteller”. What a job that would be?

Isn’t that the “true” role for those who serve as leaders and supporters in local congregations? Shouldn’t it be our business to construct the memories of the Living God and his profound activity among us?

This may not be the norm today. Ask the average church person to share what God has been up to in their own lives and in their community and it might be surprising what they might say. Perhaps it is the advent of structuring the whole worship gathering around a “3 part series” that has provoked us to shrink our memory-making capability. We have a hard time remembering what was presented last series, and if we were honest, one week ago. This is helpful for some pastors, who seem to preach the same thing each week and get away with it.

Ancient Israel (and correspondingly the first several centuries of the Church) had a method of keeping an active memory admist their worshipping community. They framed the whole yearly calendar in such a way that it had a way of rehearsing the story and empowering the community to continue to live in the flow of God’s ongoing narrative.

Much of the personal devotion movement might also perpetuate this long-term memory loss. We read isolated texts of Scripture, mining Scripture for a truth to inspire me today is an improper way to read Scripture. No wonder the average person believes the Bible is: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. 

The Bible is anything but Basic: it is God’s grand narrative of not only rising the dead, but rising the living. (Hat tip to Peter Rollins’ blog post yesterday)

The Bible is anything but Instructions: It is the grand narrative of God’s righteousness on display. (His never-ending, zestful passion to rescue lost humanity and to renew creation)

The Bible is anything but Before Leaving Earth: Jesus understands God’s dream quite clearly: “Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done, On Earth as it is in Heaven”.

Instead of trying to cram God’s word into our lives (and forgetting about it not long after) perhaps we should find ways to cram our lives into God’s story?

To do this, it takes the construction of memory. Reflecting on God’s magnificent grace found in Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Israel, Jesus, and the church age.

I’ve been amazed about the amount of times (and the oddest of places) I have conversations with people because I teach at Sterling College. Yesterday, while frantically grading papers at Starbucks, a lady on the way out of Starbucks (Note: she was in a hurry; it appeared as if she was with her mother-in-law, whom appeared to have the spiritual gift of driving her crazy) saw my Sterling College jacket and asked if I was a student at Sterling. (Note: my baby face is a hindrance now, but 15 years from now, I am going to reap the benefits)

I shared with her that I was a teacher at Sterling. She immediately asked me about the famous (and still mysterious) sword in the stone story that aired on TV news earlier this month. We had a brief laugh, then she proceeded to try to not be seen with her mother-in-law.

After she left, I rejoiced in the fact that I was able to have a brief conversation with someone about my school. I mean, how many times have graduates or faculty from major universities had a similar conversation when the were sporting their WSU jacket (that they purchased after the Shockers won the NIT last year)? Probably never.

There is a defense for micro church, for the little faith communities out there who probably can’t afford Children’s wings in their church building. (or the routine times when they hire Woo Shock to come into Sunday School to remind kids to not pick their nose or cheat on tests at school)

Living on the West side of Wichita, my wife and I normally get into conversations with folks about church and, when we ask where they attend (where they belong) we get an array of answers. We’ve discovered that when someone wants to admit that they don’t go regularly, they say they go to one of the larger churches in town. They probably do, once and awhile. And they probably go unnoticed. (Even when larger churches do all they can to try and connect)

Jesus challenges us to go further. He picked up those who were looked through, he restored the broken, he even called Zachaeus (a tax collector who worked for Rome and served as an employee of an Empire that was strangling the life out of the Jewish community) by his name. The first name someone gave God in the Bible was El Roi, “the God who sees me.”

Isn’t it interesting that one of the first impulses that we have as we enter into the family of God is to not learn the depth of doctrinal precision, nor learn all of the right answers, but it is to see the world differently, and by default, see those that we normally look past?

Who are we going to notice today that we missed yesterday?

He said that love letters always find their destination. A love letter isn’t so much written to another person, but to ourselves. When someone else receives a love letter from us, they are actually watching a conversation/a working out that is happening within ourselves. There are love letters that we never give to anyone, because they are not the primary audience.

Sermons, are the same way. At least in my experience. I feel that I am most energized in preaching when I am embodying my message, and not giving presentations from passages of the Bible.

Interesting thing to think about.

I’ve been to Panera Bread a couple of times in the past 2 days and have noticed something that is really cool.

If you look closely at the name tags of employees, they not only have their names, but there is also a space where they can fill in something that they are interested in. One person had “my bicycle” on her name tag. Another had “the environment”. 

The reason that I feel that this is cool is because it flies in the face of a deep issue in our culture framed within the concept of consumerism. It is rather quite normal for us not to even care about the name of the person who takes our order or who puts our food together. We simply want him/her to get our order right and to give it to us as quickly as possible.

In the process, we look through yet another person. We are satisfied with not truly encountering them as a human being, but rather a commodity form, a cog in the wheel of our next transaction.

So, Panera Bread says, “We actually want you to encounter a person. Her name is Anne and not only does she work for us and provide you with your order, she has a passion for the environment.”

This practice is encouraging to me and challenges me to not look through those who take food orders, who run the checkout at the grocery store or deliver a package to our front doorstep. Each person is a human being and have an existence that transcends the role they play in my daily life.

Three cheers for Panera Bread! Now, if they could only lower their prices a bit. [Insert Irony music here]

“Life is a battle between faith and reason in which each feeds upon the other, drawing sustenance from it and destroying it.” -Reinhold Niebuhr

“You call for faith: I show you doubt, to prove that faith exists. The more of doubt, the stronger the faith, I say, if faith o’ercomes doubt.” -Robert Browning

“The disbelief of Thomas has done more for our faith than the faith of the other disciples. As he touches Christ and is won over to belief, every doubt is cast aside and our faith is strengthened.” -Gregory the Great

Grandma usually gives everyone Christmas and birthday cards at Christmas, it’s a tough task to remember everyone’s birthday and send a card on time so Grandma works smarter, not harder, by giving everything at once.

Her card usually has a poem in it, which I always look forward to reading. This year, however, she issued a challenge instead,

“I want you to think about being kinder! Not that you are not already kind, just keep on!

I am having do much fun watching all of you, seeing what you are doing, praying for you, hoping you are praying for us, and praising God for all things.

I hope you all have a great 2012, in spite of the world’s problems. Be alert to do what you can do in the condition you find yourself. You never find your happiness in how much you have, or what you think you need. Learn to be content with where you are.”

Sounds like a couple paragraphs the Apostle Paul would write to his beloved congregations.

Love you, Grandma!

“Among other things, Jesus liberates by mediating God’s Presence to us. In the midst of our pains and prisons, Jesus liberates us through Presence. God’s Presence is a subtle, unique, and powerful kind of liberation. It does not promise to change our circumstance, instead it transforms the way we relate to our circumstance. It gives clarity, acceptance, and hope in the midst of the storm.”