A while ago, I posted a great video as pt. 1 of a Missional Conversation between Ed Stetzer and David Fitch, but I never saw the follow up videos.

I found them today and wanted to share, so here are all of them:

Ed Stetzer & David Fitch – a missional conversation from Missional Tribe on Vimeo.

Pt 2:

Pt. 3

Enjoy!!!

I’m really excited about Doug Baker coming to Oklahoma and manning the helm of our state’s Baptist Paper.  Once disregarded by me as a “newsletter” full of the latest “get on the bus” propaganda, Baker brings credibility and an unflinching resolve to The Baptist Messenger, allowing him to take on the real issues facing churches.

Exemplifying that, The Messenger has launched a podcast and from Union University’s conference on the future of denominationalism from earlier this month, Baker takes on understanding the Emergent/Emerging church in his second podcast – Emerging Southern Baptists: The ECM comes to Nashville.

Excellent voices in an exceptional forum.

In speaking of Missional churches, Dr. Mark Devine cuts through to the heart of much that we are working through at Skelly:

Increasingly we live in a nation that is made up of multiple subcultures, and that matters because culture affects meaning.  Now if you pick me up and you drop me into Bangkok, Thailand, you don’t have to tell me that culture matters in the conveyance of meaning, but lesser cultural discontinuities can be traversed here in our own world: crossing the street, crossing town.

And they matter because it changes – it undercuts our ability to anticipate the meaning that will be conveyed when we speak and when we act in certain ways.  And so given that, any who want to see the Gospel advanced must take that into consideration and begin thinking like missionaries here at home (emphasis mine) in ways that, for example, Southern Baptists have been thinking for decades overseas.

Yes, churches are not – they may not behave in a Missional way if they do not realize that this changing cultural context is part of the explanation for why they’re having difficulty growing why they’re having difficulty retaining their own children when they turn 17, 18 years of age.

Because these subcultures we’re dealing with are not just geographical.  There are subcultures that involve communities and networks that people can inhabit.  It causes the generational friction and difficulties to come upon us quicker and with more tangible results in terms of just communicating what we mean to people.

In a followup question asking Dr. Devine to differentiate between Missional and Attractional churches, he had this to say:

Attractional churches focus disproportionate amount of their energies on what goes on inside their church buildings or on their campus – the programs, the worship services, the various groups that meet, recreation, sports, whatever it might be – and then they advertise using various means to woo people, both unchurched believers and unbelievers, into that realm.

And so once they cross the threshold of that ministry setting, that church, much of the work of church growth is done because those that they want to attract will find themselves being helped by these ministries and so forth, and they will stay and they will stick.

Part of what the Emerging Church is saying is that, increasingly, those that we want to reach cannot be reached that way.  They need to be reached where they work, where they play, where they study and where they live.  And they have to be reached by actual people in context where they can gain trust and communicate with each other.

Missional Churches will do a variety of things to shift much of their energies outside the worship service.  It’s not as though that’s not important or that does not mater to them, but it’s that to reach this new population that’s out there we have to start putting energy in those places.  So they may have house churches, they may have small groups within their neighborhoods – not just to penetrate those neighborhoods with the Gospel but to allow for community to develop there.

So, as you can imagine, this kind of understanding – it expects and requires that all believers know themselves to be Missionaries appointed by Jesus Christ and that involves a burden of a new kind of equipping for them to go out.  It also requires a greater or at least a different kind of investment in the evangelistic task.  Because now we know that in order to convey meanings, it often requires more time. … They don’t understand what we mean when we just whip out a tract and hit them with language that they really have no cultural linguistic worldview handles to use to make sense of what we’re saying.

Really good stuff here folks.  Go check it out.

I mentioned Friday that I was traveling to Jackson, TN for this conference and as you read this, I am on the road.

I mentioned that I would be blogging and twittering from there during the conference.  given that, you might want to check out my twitter feed: twitter.com/artrogers, or the missioscapes twitter feed: twitter.com/missioscapes, or even these guys, who will also be there: twitter.com/martyduren & twitter.com/micahfries.

My plan is to twitter live, either through my own feed or through the MissioScapes feed, or both.  Then I’ll recap thoughts in a blog post later.

Here is a schedule published by Union University that you might consider if you are looking to follow live tweets on particular issues:

*There is one caveat.  I am also dealing with a great many things personal and professional while on this trip.  I am not guaranteeing that I will be at every session to tweet/blog.  I fully intend to be at the ones I perceive as most relevant.  This is not to discount any of the speakers or their topics, but to simply let everyone know that other things may take precedence for me.

Most, not all, evangelicals I know are Republicans (I typically vote that way) and as such are duty bound to despise the welfare system.  Whatever good it may do could never outweigh the horrific and crippling results of people becoming dependent on handouts… or so the line goes.

Failure to work for oneself corrupts character and that internal collapse becomes the context and culture for generations, spreading like yeast through the dough… again, so the line goes.

Yet the same evangepublicans will consistently expect a centralized process for all things related to church.  Preschool Program, Children’s Progam, Youth Program, College Program, Music Program, Evangelism Program, Missions Program, Singles Program, Senior Adult Program, Benevolence Program… etc.  If it happens in the Christian life, the staff of the church should work it and drum up volunteers.

And I tell you that many of the things that can be said of the welfare system can be said of the program driven church.  The individuals of the church don’t have to do the work, so they don’t and they get used to it, come to expect it, pass those expectations on to their kids…

And the church in the West declines because the context and culture that we have bred is one of dependence. Laziness. Presumption.

And the best thing we can do for this church is to stop it.  Stop doing everything for them and put them into a situation where the expectations placed on the body of Christ are that these individual members must do it or it won’t get done.

Because, regardless of whether the church is centralized and program driven or decentralized and personal engagement driven… it’s not getting done without them doing it.

You buy that?

Amazing two minutes of video:

If we are to engage North America as missionaries, then we have got to deconstruct our own context and see it for what it is.  If culture is our god, then we are doomed, but if culture is our language, we can communicate.

“The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared?” [from Martin Luther, as read in Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer]

Completely ripped off from: Joe Kennedy

I remember, over 20 years ago, reading Charles M Sheldon’s book, “In His Steps.” In that book, feeling himself challenged by a vagrant who is marginalized by the people of “First Church,” a pastor challenges his congregation to ask themselves the question prior to choosing a behavior, “What Would Jesus Do?”

The book was old when I read it, set, I believe, at the turn of the last century.  Ancient by modern perspectives. Yet, it had proven powerful for many readers and was equally so for me while I muddled through making my faith my own during my college years.

I also remember the time when someone in Christian kitsch put the letters, “WWJD” on a fabric bracelet to symbolize the question, which might have been more appropriately translated, “What would Jesus have me do?” since I’m pretty sure Jesus was capable of more than any of us at any given moment.  I think I wore a WWJD bracelet for all of a couple of months, but then realized that it had become the “in” thing among, well, everyone.

Last month, I caught a modern narrative.  My wife loves all kinds of reality shows, from game shows to documentaries, the latter of which had her attention on this particular evening.  The affair is called, “Intervention.” Aptly named, the series records families in turmoil being coached through confrontation between loved ones in the throes of addiction.

In this episode, two brothers were being challenged for their lifestyle of using and selling drugs, a pattern of life that had invited their parents’ home to be invaded and ransacked.  As one of the two sat, head in hands, the camera focused on his fingers as they wove through his greasy hair only to have the letters, “WWJD” come into focus as they dangled from his wrist.

I looked down at my wrist.

Decades after I tossed WWJD in the drawer, a yellow rubber bracelet adorned my right arm, engraved with the letters, “LIVESTRONG.”

I don’t know what you know about Lance Armstrong.  You probably know that he survived cancer and won the Tour de France.

You may not know that he won 7 times. In a row. That he is the most tested (for performance enhancing drugs) athlete ever.  That he has never failed a drug test.

You may know that he has become a tremendous advocate for cancer research and treatment, setting up the Lance Armstrong Foundation and Livestrong.com.

You may not know that he curses like a sailor, when not on camera.

Not to belabor the point, Lance is not a representation of conservative evangelcalism. Not now. Not ever.

Yet, I wear a bracelet that represents values he promotes while discarding the representation of values promoted by Sheldon, et al.

Why?

Because conservative evangelicalism has come to present itself to the world as shallow, self righteous, disingenuous… meaningless… separatist… a kitsch based lifestyle that is show without substance in the world.

Meanwhile, when you first get diagnosed with cancer and call Livestrong, a counselor will talk to you about all things related to your disease, including treatment, side effects and what is going to happen to your family.  They are raising money and last week at the World Cancer Summit, Lance spoke and elicited commitments from several nations to increase their investment in finding cures for this disease.

They are actually trying to make life better on the world and everyone can see it, no matter what they believe.

Bottom line: It seems to me that when asked “What would You do?” Jesus would most likely answer, “get involved with the healing of the sick, the comforting of the wounded and the betterment of the world, of course.”

And, no.  I don’t think He would want us to stop without sharing the Gospel and calling these people to redemption, but I do think that they are more likely to actually hear that message from a person working alongside them to raise money for cancer research than from a person wearing WWJD apparel and sitting on the sidelines.

Right now, over at MissioScapes, you can read an article from Marty Duren that is the beginning of a series entitled, “If we were the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force.” It’s Marty being Marty on the SBC and I know some of you have missed that stuff. My article will be there in a few weeks.  There are a few scheduled to drop between now and then, but all will be worth your while, I think.

Oh, and please remember that the MissioScapes blog is ideological, not political, and not focused on the SBC.  Rather, since the SBC has made the move to further its ability to fulfill the Missio Dei, it seems that we are focused on the same things at the moment.  No, I don’t think we are always focused on the same things as the SBC, if that question crossed your mind.

Not to ignore my postings here at 12 Witnesses, I’ll be dropping an article this week about Christians intentionally partnering with the unholy.

I hope to pique your interest by saying that I think we should do it.  Alot.

So a few weeks ago, as I was at my in-law’s house about to head with them to a family reunion vacation for the week, I got a call from Alan Cross.

He started with the line, “I’m trying to get the band back together.”

Flattered that he thought me essential, but wary of being drawn back into a political melee, I was initially non-commital.  I told him I was happy trying to advance the Kingdom from my church and blogging my ideas of the Missio Dei (Mission of God) from 12 Witnesses.  I was not going back “there.”

It was a longer conversation than just that, but I ranted about the foolishness of some and the impure motives of others alongside the personal regrets that I had for my own follies.

Patiently allowing me to disgorge all my emotions, when I was done, Alan simply agreed and said that everyone pretty much felt the same way.

So I said I was “open” to the idea.

Shortly thereafter, during a video conference, Todd Littleton argued that we were Southern Baptists and that, unless we were willing to walk away completely from the SBC, then we had an obligation to stay engaged – at least ideologically.  After all, we are sending part of the tithes and offerings of our church members to the SBC.  We at least owe it to our churches to stay connected.

I had to agree.

Therefore, Paul and Todd Littleton, Marty Duren, David Phillips, John Elam, Alan Cross and I agreed to launch MissioScapes.com where we address the Missio Dei from a Southern Baptist context in several expressions (from rural to urban), but also with an eye toward things beyond our denomination.

It launched today, and we hope to bring you some great ideas alongside some that just won’t fly, but all of which we hope will spur you to think about fulfilling God’s mission to our world.  You’ll be reading interviews, book reviews and original articles from the the 7 editors and beyond.

Just for clarification, this effort is ideological and not political.  We will be addressing SBC related issues, among other things, but nobody needs or wants “a seat at the table” and we have no intention of sponsoring motions or resolutions.  Nor do we have any intent of being drawn into petty side discussions with those that do desire to dwell in the world of political mechanizations.

Oh, and 12 Witnesses is going nowhere.  I’ll still be posting here in the same vein that I have for the last couple of years and there may even be an occasion when I’ll post an article in both places.

I hope to see you around.