Organic Conference -- questions answered

Some have inquired for more details, mostly from where this blog feeds to. So, quickest to respond to them all from here.

First of all, how did I hear about it? I signed up on this website to find organic churches. Back in August, Milt Rodriguez, a partner to Frank Viola, contacted me about my interest and the potential of hosting a conference and help with local details. Couldn't help, but was interested in the conference.

Milt, Frank, and a couple of others in different parts of the country are looking to help hook up some interested in organic church in different parts of the country. Since starting that website linked to above and fueled by interest sparked by Frank Viola and George Barna's book Pagan Christianity?, they've had several thousand inquiries around the U.S. from folks looking to connect with others interested in organic Christianity. Colorado Springs had a pretty decent concentration, so it was picked for one of the early conferences.

So what happened? Well, we met with Milt from Friday night to Sunday morning in someone's home (thanks Edith for hosting!). Friday night was for two and half hours, and a bit more than half the time was spent on introductions and why the interest from everyone, while the second half Milt did some teaching on Christ and Christ in us. Milt on the weekend was trying to really drive home that it was about Christ, not church. A secondary theme was that he also heavily emphasized was that there is mystery to it all, and that God still uses revelation -- it is a spirit of wisdom and revelation.

Saturday morning continued in the teaching of mystery, more on Saturday with the emphasis on reconciliation - that fact of equality due to each of us having Christ in us so we each have valuable contributions -- we don't need the preacher to reveal God for us, we each have it in each other for that. He tied it back to Genesis 1 and 2. Great teaching (though a couple of the finer points I have a bit of an issue with -- but it was those finer points) about the work of Christ about restoring to the original intent of Genesis 1 and 2. I really liked it because too many preachers make it all too simple ... and trying to explain the points Milt made here in this short account won't do justice. It really is about being separate and joint at the same time, and the Trinity being one and three, et al.

So, anyway, setting a stage about Christ in us, we in Christ and how we are one and Christ is one ... Saturday afternoon was about answering questions. This was the open forum for Milt to answer questions about organic church. Interestingly, little was about practical matters as I suspected. I think most had read enough of the available books to get the practical matters, so we got to heart matters and brushed some theological matters about it. Saturday night was more of the teaching that draws us to Christ first, and a little instruction about how to spend the first few months together -- things like taking time to detox from traditional church, focusing on relationships with one another. That continued a bit Sunday morning, and we also got to the practical matters of organizing who goes where in our trial attempts at forming organic fellowships.

That is it in a nutshell, short of the time we spent just talking with one another over our long lunch and dinner breaks.

Milt's website is Rebuilders. That first link will take you to a joint resource with his allies around the country -- I'd advise that as a place to start unless you might be in Colorado or Utah (Milt's based in the Western Slope region of Colorado).

My reaction -- I'm diving into this. I've been to so many churches that promise "authentic" fellowship. I think organic type fellowship holds the best hope for that. I look forward to this attempt we're making, with some caution, but no plans to hold back.

Organic Conference

It has been more than a year since regularly "attending church" (if we are the church, how do we attend ourselves?). This past weekend I attended an organic church conference with a number of other folks interested in organic church here in Colorado Springs and along the Front Range. Looks like an outcome is two somewhat connected communities, one along the I-25 corridor of the town, one along Powers Blvd (for those not familiar with the Springs, the area is really stretched n/s, but it is typically quicker to go n/s than east-west because of I-25 on the west side and Powers on the east -- nothing really comparable to those two going east-west).

We've got an outside "consultant" -- a church planter if you will -- who is helping direct this from experience. He'll be back in a few months, but for now, we "detox" from institutional church and just gather and build relationships. Lots of things are banned for now that sounds almost heresy to do so -- no bible study, no theological discussions, no "prayer requests" at gatherings -- it's about relationship with one another and Jesus for now.

Excited, wary, and a number of other emotions. We'll see what happens.
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Reminder -- I'm out of town and away from a computer from Wednesday late until Sunday. So this will likely be the last post of the week unless I do one Wednesday for some odd reasons.

Boot Camp

Well, a week from today I'll be helping prepare Frontier Ranch to host another Ransomed Heart Wild At Heart Boot Camp.

For those unaware of what a Boot Camp is, I believe the best selling Christian book title this century outside of some Bible translations and Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life is probably John Eldredge's Wild At Heart. Years ago, John and his ministry, Ransomed Heart, started offering men's retreats in the mountains of Colorado to help men explore more deeply what it means to be a man and to become fully what God intended. These have helped hundreds if not thousands of men, and the impact of these men have improved the lives of thousands more. For example, if you read Donald Miller's To Own a Dragon (Miller's more famous books are Blue Like Jazz, Searching for God Knows What, and one of my favorites Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance), you see his journey in dealing with an absent father and realizing the impact of the lack of a male influence had on him. He specifically mentions Wild At Heart and his trip to a boot camp in that book and the impact it had in sorting out his journey.

I first made a boot camp in May 2004. Great time of listening to God, and unpacking who I am and how the events of life have shaped me. I went back in January 2005 and volunteered in a role for the October 2006 event, and a few weeks back got recruited to return as part of the work crew (the manual labor for the event).

The power of the event seems to vary for each man. I think the honesty of each man who speaks (John, Craig McConnell, Bart Hansen, and in the past Gary Barkalow) in their journey holds the greatest power to me. I've gained from each time I've gone, first with the teaching and stories, then as a volunteer with the interactions of others and their stories. This is a weekend into what the movement of Christ should be.

reduced load

Normally I post here on Sunday or Monday (as well as Wednesday or Thursday). My batteries for this kind of thinking and inputting are a bit drained right now, so I'm going to skip today's.

Lots going on right now, but honestly I think I will be able to post what is normally my second post of the week later, and hope to post the first one of next week as scheduled. The second post of next week will probably be skipped. This weekend I'm attending a conference on organic church (Friday-Sunday) that has the hoped for outcome of planting a couple of churches in the Colorado Springs area, and then the following weekend I've got a long weekend volunteering with Ransomed Heart for a Boot Camp (leaving Wednesday, back Sunday).

The trouble with words: "reforming" the church

"Reforming the church"

Isn't that more of the same of what's wrong? If the problem with the church is an inordinate focus on the church, rather than Jesus Christ, how is an additional focus on the church via "reformation" going to solve the problem?

I like Jesus' comment to Peter at the end of John's gospel where he essentially gives Peter the MYOB lecture, with, "What is that to you? You just follow me."

What is "reforming the church" to me? I think if we follow Jesus, imitate Jesus, emulate Jesus, etc. that the reformation will take care of itself one life at a time.

This was a comment to Monday's blogcast, and I thought I'd respond to it as the more I thought of it, the longer it got.

Reforming is a poor word that has gotten watered down in use. Reform is to "re-form", or rather, to form again. But how often is reformation a tearing down from the start? Luther certainly didn't "reform" the church. What he did was the equivalent of giving a car a tuneup. He may have changed some spark plugs, messed with the timing, but he didn't reform the car.

No, the last reforming that happened to the church was in the 4th century. We got the institutionalism of the sermon, we got the building formalized into the "traditions" category, we got the separation of clergy and laity - a step back to imitate the old covenant priest system that Jesus eliminated, and a bunch of other reformations. We went from participatory gatherings for the purpose of encouraging one another and spurring on to love and good deeds to the "Show" that gets labeled worship. Hmmm, worship in the new covenant was clearly described as service to God, not a service for God's entertainment.

Ok, I've ranted in this blog before about that. But the answer is not the MYOB, you follow God your way, I'll do it my way that so many are tempted to practice either. Scripture is clear that we are in this together. One does not journey alone. There are too many one anothers; there is mentions of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (and few who wear any of those titles are that in the biblical sense) given to the church; and much more.

What should the church look like? The problem with answering that is that Jesus did say he will build his church -- it isn't my job. So while recognizing "church" as it is isn't what God intended is one thing, to "cast a vision" of what it should be like is probably just as wrong. And what it looks for one set of people in one locale in one culture in one time in history is probably fairly unique. We get too much cookie-cutter in churches, which I believe feeds the largest reason 80% of church plants die in the first couple of years -- we follow someone else's pattern rather than listening to the Holy Spirit. Our churches are man-made, not God made. How many times did the Israelites use the "Jericho" method for conquering a portion of the land God told them to take? Once. What about that Gideon strategy that works so well, with the trumpets and the torches in jars? Wildly successful, used only once. Again and again, yet why do so many say "looked, God blessed it when they did that way, we'll do the same". Umm, would read your Bible? GOD DOESN'T DO THE SAME THINGS THE SAME WAY TWICE.

No, reformation of the church is less about structures and methods, and about process. We need to be communities that listen to God and let God form us. In the first century, those communities seem to be centered and organized geographically, but nothing in scripture seems to bind us to that. We have the benefit of faster transportation, so for one person their church may be organized by whose their neighbor, for another God leads them to community by common ministry passions, another is around a recreational passion. With phones and the internet, others may find their church almost virtually. The process, follow God, follow the Holy Spirit, and let Jesus form our churches.

Another thing on that process -- I don't believe God intends for one church to function independent of another -- not talking a hierarchy, but rather -- to use a modern concept reflected in the ancient -- a network. Evidence suggests that in the late 1st century to late 3rd century, there might be a church that meets in one home in one city, but the churches in the homes together were the church in that city. Somehow, they were interdependent -- the home church was a cell in the greater body of the church in that city. Again, should that be our model ... maybe not around geography again -- modern technology has allowed the geography barriers to fall, so we again need to listen to the Holy Spirit about what to do in this day and age and our cultures.

So, to return to Monday's "blogcast", IF God has placed a desire in my heart about "church reformation", it is about being a leadership role in this reformation of process of forming and being the church. To hell with those stodgy institutions whose purpose seems more tied in perpetuating themselves and "a system" than following God.

Dadgummit

The first weekend of October, I'm serving on the work crew for a Wild At Heart Boot Camp. A prep assignment was to become familiar with one the resources Ransomed Heart offers because part of the duty of the work crew is working the resource tables. I've got most (I don't have Raising Girls -- I have one child, a son, so I didn't think it necessary to have Raising Girls). I'm behind in listening though, as I don't commute to work anymore and find that a good time to listen for me.

So I was listening to a recording called Unveiling Your Purpose. Wonderful recording, most I had heard though at a Calling Intensive I went to. There was one statement though that I didn't like, though I know it likely true. The speaker spoke of desires, and how there is much good to do, and much that may catch our attention for a day and make us think we must do something, but what we need to pay attention to is what do we keep coming back to, what lingers with us.

Dadgummit.

That makes me face a hard one. For years a recurring theme has been church reformation. I was always attracted to the latest trends for awhile, though I realize most of those now was the "church growth" garbage -- which is so much about the ABCs -- attendance, building, and cash flow. I thought about a career switch to church planting at one point. But it has become refined, realizing that a driving force has been wanting to see people come fully alive. The last few years, a focus has been in development -- developing the heart, learning how people discover what makes them come alive, etc.

I thought this was all headed toward living my calling in an arena similar to a life coach. And being this is a kind of first cut of "history", maybe it still is. For my readers, I provide this kind of honesty in my journey so those looking back on the end story don't see it as "so simple" and wondering why it can't be so simple for them. It's not simple.

So, where is it heading? I don't know, but this recurring theme suggests something with church reformation to me. And that leads to the 'dadgummit'. Sure I'd like to see churches focusing on what I think they should be doing, which is encouraging and equipping the saints. Church has become too much about show, about numbers, about being a club, just about everything but body that helps people become fully what God intended them to be. That latter point is what I think the intended outcome of encouraging and equipping was supposed to be.

What would be nice would be that the whole "church" thing was about equipping me to help people hurt by church. That's simpler than church reformation. I can visualize how that would work. But visualizing church reformation ... how would that occur?

Maybe I'm wrong in interpreting the past -- that would be nice. And I'll be talking to others, of course. Maybe they can help me see another view on it. Or maybe that speaker is just wrong. (I hope he doesn't rid this blog ...)

Definitely, this will be continued.

The Noble Heart

I wanted to use today's blog entry to celebrate the "official" launch of Gary Barkalow's new ministry, The Noble Heart. Many may know Gary through his work with Ransomed Heart Ministries the last few years. Gary felt the call of his life at this time in his journey may be better served with a slightly different focus than Ransomed Heart would provide him to do, so he's stepped out to start The Noble Heart.

The description of The Noble Heart's ministry from the website:

The Noble Heart is a ministry helping men and women find this life, the life of their heart, in God. Its purpose is to help us understand and walk in God's process of restoring, revealing and releasing the heart. Each of us possesses a sacred destiny, an aspect of the glory of God, which is needed in the Larger Story we have been invited into. A Story in which there are no spectators, bystanders, benchwarmers, or civilians. We, through the work of Christ, are designed to have a powerful life.

Go with God, Gary. I look forward to the ever increasing glory of God that will shine through you.