“Notice God, Notice Others.”

This past Sunday was the seventh public weekend for Coastland. For those who follow such things as the trends of new launches, one wouldn’t expect much momentum on a traditionally churchy weekend at a newish church.  The fact is that it usually isn’t until the third year or beyond that a place experiences larger services on traditional weekends.

Surprisingly or not, we in fact had huge numbers.  People brought their friends, family, neighbors, etc. and a great time was had by all.

We finished up a series this past week dealing with overcoming the powers that keep us stuck… When we face shortages, or suspected shortages, we naturally hoard what little we have.  The way out of such a bind is give what we have in hand.

We pooled our funds, in a combined act of overcoming the fear of not enough, and gave strongly to a new outward-aimed church in the area: an Ethiopian church near downtown Tampa. I’m not clear on the amount that was given but it was significant in light of our typical weekly offering.  People love to be generous - as long as it really gets to where change is going to make a difference. 

There was a hush in the room as the offering was taken. It was a still but awesome moment.

One guy who was there for the first time told me he began to tear up as he drove near our location. He saw our signs pointing him toward our location and he began to grow in anticipation in a way that was unexplainable. He was more or less without words throughout the morning. 

Janie has just had surgery done on her hand to repair an injury that has developed over some time.  She is able to endure more pain than me. I am of the opinion that doctors are worth going to when pain becomes unbearable - (AFTER they are checked out and they are not incapacitated during a procedure.)

This is her fourth procedure in less than a year.  Prior to that, Janie has never had a surgery - ever. Think there might be a connection between these and the risk we are taking with this church launch?  Hmm.

When We Fake It We Look Goofy - Even Freakish

My grandma from Paris, Texas was full of colorful expressions.  She didn’t so much speak English - she communicated in one metaphor after another.  One of my favorites was:

Nana instilled in me a respect for authenticity and skepticism for the fake. 

There is a bit of fake in you, me, all of us (fake = aspiring to define ourselves by something / someone we are not). (Thus far, all the people I have met on the planet are of those offspring - if you meet someone beyond that please call me at once - I’ll figure out a way to get there immediately … I really need to interview them.) 

To be a ‘cat standing on its hind legs’ is a site to imagine. 

Mainly she told me this ditty was in reference to people trying to behave properly when they were not wired that way deep down.  That is, one way inside, but trying to behave the opposite on the outside.  Life just doesn’t swing that way - at least not for long, for any of us. 

The prayer of former walking cats:

"Here I am God. Love through me - the real me. Ignite me - the real me. Invite many through me - the real me. Thank you for your invitation to me that I am - as I am!"

Let the filters fall.

Notice what is going on through me … I cease hesitating, I engage with you - let the world change. 

Yes Gerald, it really is that untangled … thank you for asking!

Everywhere that I have had a bank account, the understanding is basically the same.

First you must make a deposit.  There is a period of waiting until the initial check clears.  Then if you choose, a withdrawal can be made.

I have never heard of a bank that allows a withdrawal before a deposit has been made. (If you know of such a bank, you really owe it to the rest of the planet to let us in on this amazing institution…  This deal must be advertised a bit.  How they would stay in business is not important to us - it’s just important that they allow people to withdraw from a nonexistent fund!)

This routine of “Deposit First - Withdraw Later” is violated continually, by regular church people - and without realizing what they are doing - church leaders-teachers-pastors are encouraging this pattern.  How so?

We model and strongly encourage people to approach virtual strangers with a call to a dramatic life change.  This is akin to not just a spiritual drive-by.  Think drive-by with a rapid fire bazooka and you are close to the reality here.

Am I suggesting one ought never to call a complete stranger to conversion?  Not in the least.  What I am saying is that a dramatic encounter such as this is the exception to the norm.  The norm is that we ‘bring’ the gospel.  We don’t ‘send’ the gospel.  To bring anything has everything to do with personal connections, relationship, a touch, and the word we love to use around Christmas - ‘Incarnation.’

It’s funny how we love to talk about ‘Incarnation’ around Christmas, but shun that word / concept after December 26th.  We bring the message of Jesus every time we connect with people.  If you continue to ‘send’ the message - well, you will continue to see lots of rejections. 

When those rejections come, do all of us a favor - for Pete’s sake, don’t sit back and glibly mutter something about the hard-heartedness of this generation.  You may be partly right.  Then again, you may be referring to your own hard-heartedness.

Valentines Day - the universal celebration of love.

Anyone keen on walking in, learning about, and speaking the fluent language of love will be electrified this day.   Get excited - spread some around.   You aren’t the source of it so take a risk here and love like there’s no tomorrow!   (I can tell you from experience, you may be right in that guess).

Problem is - many if not most who are purveyors of love as part of their role sketch - turns out they / we aren’t so great at it.   Not so great until the yogurt hits the fan anyway.  

Most pastors I know (myself included) deeply love people… in theory.   Hey, it’s in their job description.

“Humanity I love, its people I can’t stand…” - Charles Schultz

This line could well be the universal static cling window sticker of pastors.

Change usually happens in me when I get sick and tired of my own pathetic, lackluster, embarrassing ways. Strong change in me is almost always preceded by an emotional double slap to the face (after which the appropriate response is, “Thanks, I needed that.”)   Such encounters are usually delivered accidentally - in the category of ‘out of the mouth of babes’ communication. Nearly always the “Slap” that begins the needed change means nothing to the “slapper” but plenty to the “slapee” so long as they are paying just a bit of attention to life. 

A mega domino toppling began some years ago when driving with my daughter Laura. She is the quietest and greatest people noticer of the three in my quiver. We were on a “Date” to see a film.  On our way we had seen several people holding the pervasive ‘Will Work For Food’ signs.  In the space of a fifteen-minute drive we passed by three sign holders on various corners. She asked the obvious - ‘Dad, you talk about showing love to people all the time. Why don’t you show love to those people too?’

I began to give her my standard ‘Well dear, it’s complicated… addicts… systemic behaviors… ‘ After a few syllables of that nonsense I literally grew nauseous at myself. This was one heck of a slappish moment for me. If I live to be one hundred that moment will stand out as one of the great slaps of a lifetime for me! 

The notion of having a policy regarding how to respond to people in need, with signs, for example, seems absurd. ‘Policies’ about ‘love’ - someone please explain how those two words fit into the same sentence. I’m all ears on that one.   How about we join in what Jesus is up to in given situations. In short, ‘Go with God!’

A need is not an invitation to act upon. If that is confused we will need more therapy and an increase in our meds shortly.

Our invitation came that day.

Another sign holder crossed our path.  This time it was a couple.   They were low IQ people who had set up in front of a store in the downtown area. I had chatted with them previously … and walked past them. They sold chewing gum and mints to cover their expenses as they sat on a piece of cardboard on the sidewalk.

Laura got it first. (Dang it, why are kids so intuitive?)

I asked Laura to pick out her favorite flavor of chewing gum.   Our payment was made with the cash we had in pocket to pay for the film we were going to see on our ‘date.’ Don’t recall how much it was but it was all we had.   It was the most expensive chewing gum I have ever purchased!

As we continued to walk, Laura asked, “How are we going to see the movie now? That was all we had to go to the movies with.” With that she smiled!
This was a rhetorical question from Laura. The look she gave me was in Lauraish style - it was a huge ‘Attaboy Dad!   You’re catching on now!’
Oh yeah, we did end up going to the movies - our ‘movie’ was a couple of episodes of Scooby Doo. Well worth the investment.

“Love one another deeply… for love covers a multitude of sins!”
1 Peter 4:8

Thoughts along the outward journey from Janie Sjogren

Here’s a switcharoo as an entry for today.

My greatest asset on the planet is the lovely and talented Janie Sjogren - we just celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary. I wake up each morning now with two spontaneous thoughts - “Jesus, thank you I have one more day… thank you for the indescribable gift of Janie…”

As you read here you will see why I use some of these adjectives. My life has been immensely shaped by her heart. She is the most remarkable person I have met. (No kidding, many have told me the same thing!) Since she doesn’t have a blog (yet) here is some of her heart…

Have you noticed how often the ‘right now’ thing God is up to happens on the way to what we thought was the plan? If we are open to noticing what he is about, a steady stream of adventures cross our paths.

New Friend - James C., 75 Years Young

“So you can read better now?”

This was a rhetorical question. I was just making conversation during the long silence. His eyes lit up - his demeanor said the rest.

It isn’t ‘cool’ for men to tear up, but he got a little misty - kind of surprising even though we had just met a couple of minutes before.

This happened in the Ybor City section of Tampa - an older, gentrified area with nice restaurants. Several dozen friends from CoastlandTampa were together to give away a few thousand bottles of water at a half marathon. What better excuse to connect with people, both runners and the crowd, than walking out a practical expression of Jesus’ love through bottles of water! Sometimes Jesus ‘cup of water’ - Matt. 25 - is literally what is needed at the moment.

This elderly black man was reading his newspaper as we walked by. What was unusual about him - he held the paper so close that his nose nearly touched the print!

“You look like me when I don’t wear my glasses!”

He asked me to repeat myself so I did. With that we had a conversation going. I happened to have an extra pair of unisex reading glasses on me. As he slipped them on, I couldn’t help thinking that they looked pretty good on my new friend.

Who Gained The Most? Easy Answer

Not too long ago I was intimidated at the notion of approaching a stranger with what was probably an inspired ‘notice.’ Today I couldn’t walk past James without addressing his obvious need. Honestly, the thought that came to me was, “How badly can this go? At worst, I will never see him again! At best, this could be the beginning of the dominoes toppling in his life until he becomes a Jesus follower… if he isn’t already in love with Jesus.” Either way there is nothing to lose.

It wasn’t long ago that this encounter would have gone differently.

A. I would have not noticed him in the least, OR

B. I would have had no idea how to connect with him.

I now realize God does his noticing through me. I walk past lots of people with needs - the noticing is not occurring with all who have needs - it is just with those being pointed out by God. It’s very simple really.

This I know - the invitation from on high is being picked up on by me clearly now. I remember now how I started out noticing when I first began following Jesus, but somehow I lost my ‘glasses’ along the way. I convinced myself that it is complex and difficult to read God’s eye chart. Not true at all!

This noticing thing is contagious and ironic. The one who picks up on what Jesus is up to is always touched / blessed more than the receiver of ‘glasses’ of any sort being handed out. Yes, they begin to see, but more importantly, the glasses giver remember how it is to see and how to notice our way into the lives of those God so loves…

Those around me are gaining courage as they see how uncomplex this all is. Those previously fearful of noticing - noticing myths bite the dust.

This is downright viral!

“Do I just look dumb to you or what? You give me your little bottle of water then expect me to show up at your church a few days later.  How lame is that?!”

These are the words of someone I ran into not long ago as we distributed several thousand bottles of water at a busy corner in the Tampa area.  The approach is simple:

‘Light turns red - ask ‘Which would you prefer, this or this?’ (right hand water or left hand water - we don’t ask the closed ended ‘Would you like some water?’ - that is lame - people usually laugh when we offer the left or right handed water!)  After people receive water just once they begin to call us the “Water People!”  There are worse things to be known for.

This is all based on the simple observation that a deposit of credibility is necessary before we have any expectation whatsoever of having credibility with people in our city.  ‘Words of love’ are hollow, perhaps absurd, to the culture of today without preceding actions of love that connect with people.  Those actions vary from place to place.

“Don’t Shoot - I’m Just The Piano Player!”

Unfortunately, more than a few have picked up on the above observation and have attempted to influence others by serving - in inauthentic ways.  You ask, “Who says they are inauthentic?”

These are the observations of numerous national newspaper reports.  As well, these are the rumblings of not-yet believers who feel insulted at what they sense is an attempt to ‘sell them’ on something.  I make it a practice of connecting with not-yet believers pretty much every day - it isn’t that difficult.  Buy the coffee for the person behind you at Starbucks.  If you have five or ten minutes an automatic conversation ensues.  I hear a lot of chatter about “Marketing” by serving these days.  (NOTE: It is interesting to me that of the literally several thousand I have bought coffee for, not one has ever asked me what I was trying to push on them or any notion remotely in that direction… less than five have ultimately turned me down of that huge group - they all lived in Iowa for some reason!)

I have been around the block in the church world enough in recent years to know this observation is right on.  Marketing is death in any form it takes - this is exponentially true for the church scene.  Seth Godin said it well in his book title recently, All Marketers Are Liars!  It is one thing to inform people.  Any attempt to ‘persuade’ people regarding your church without a willingness to establish a relationship for the long haul - is futility.  

(The guy who uttered the words at the beginning? We spoke for about five minutes. I confessed, “There is a big difference between me handing out a bottle of water and Jesus touching people’s needs or pain.” The light went on. He began to tear up. He asked, “So what time do you meet? Do you have a children’s program? My wife and I have been talking about church lately - funny we would cross paths.” This was a 180-degree shift. It helped that I had this conversation a time or two before…)

Engage, Don’t Panic  

This desperation thinking troubles me greatly. This is not what Jesus had in mind when he charged the Apostles to freely give what they had experienced firsthand for three years, 24/7 - to bring the ‘Logos’ to the ends of the Earth.  

The Logos?  “In the beginning was the Word (logos)… and the Word (logos) was God…”  We bring Jesus - in word, in deed, in Spirit.  To be clever is okay.  To see God’s presence branded upon hearts - ah, that lasts a lifetime, no matter how long the initial encounter. 

The goal we aspire to at the end of these weeks - as I wrote on Monday - is to become fairly professional.

To be perfectly clear - we are not grasping to become excellent. 

To quote the mohawk wearing prophet of the 80s, Mr. T - “I pity the fool who is reaching for excellence.”

Some may naively think God is into excellence.  You couldn’t be further from the truth.  “I’ll do my best for God” is not what excellence is about in the least. 

The “I’ll do my best…” line is another topic to open up (which could be great / could be something else - we’ll save that for another time). 

Excellence was a short-lived trend Tom Peters started with his mega-selling book of the mid-80s In Search of Excellence.  In church world years, that means the most advanced echo-ish thinkers and writers picked up on Peters about 7.5 years later… with the rest of the church getting it 15 years later.

Jesus has never been about the message of excellence.

Quite the contrary in fact.  Jesus had a ministry to those who were wrecked by those who in God’s name forced excellence upon all around. 
The gospels do have a repeating story of people being called to matters of excellence.

It is the "You’re not quite good enough" message that is often repeated by Temple leaders on page after page of the gospel accounts.  Their line to those who came to make a sacrifice was “Your dove is not quite good enough sacrifice material.  However today we happen to have a special on sacrifice doves.  Tell you what we can do for you - I don’t know what I’m saying - I must be out of my mind to talk this way - if my boss heard this crazy talk I’d be canned in a second… Yes this dove is somewhat more expensive than what you can afford (ten times more), but hey, it is expensive in order to please God… You need to have a perfect sacrifice.  That’s what sacrifice is all about… We are building our empire here… someone has to foot the bills… Doves don’t grow on trees you know” (Yes they do sit on branches in trees but that’s not the same).

CoastlandTampa has now done a couple of ‘Pre-Launch’ weeks.

We met with leaders only for a few weeks in the upstairs Great Room of a home on the far east side of Tampa, outside of our focal area. Our strategy has been to move from being off the radar screen, not even findable, to very visible in the I-4/I-75 area of Tampa.

In our four-week ‘Pre-Launch’ phase we have been meeting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in our prime target area. This preparation has helped us to work through the bugs in our systems so that when we launch on February 10 we are ready for prime time. So far, so good!

It’s All Caught … Then Explained

Some think it’s clever to parrot, “That’s one of those things that is more ‘caught than taught.’” No longer funny nor clever. Please explain what isn’t caught. One thing - please. Somebody. ‘Bueller, Bueller, has anyone seen Ferris Bueller?’

When we serve others it is natural they ask, ‘So what’s this all about?’

Peter said, ‘Be ready to give an account of the hope that lies within you…’ Many have given their version of what Pete was alluding to. My shot in light of the context of his comments is this: His comments on this are located near the question of how to win a not-yet believing spouse. The answer is simple and by the way flies in the face of dozens of messages I have heard from well-intentioned teachers. Peter says, ‘Live a stellar life… be careful to not over-use words with those closest near you…’ That is a summary of course. You read it. If you hyperventilate I’m sorry but that’s is what Peter says. You may want to read it several times after breathing into a brown paper bag if the hyperventilation begins to occur.

Talk Less Or You Might Become Toxic

Peter is clarifying there comes a time when words can begin to cocoon people away from the message. “Uhh.” Words get in the way of the message? Absolutely. If you are an adult convert you understood this clearly once upon a time whether you can remember that now or not. In case you can’t remember that just spend half an hour at Starbucks and ask some friendly faces after you’ve paid for their venti sized coffee drinks. They will confirm Peter’s two thousand year old inspired insight.

“Might” become toxic - some have the learned skill of talking when its time to talk and listening in right proportions. Listening a lot is the way we earn the right to have the barest bit of integrity that allows us to become people who can connect with those around us who are in the funnel coming toward Christ.

Ever try to make a withdrawal without first a deposit in the account at your bank? You won’t get very far. I see people who are trying to ‘do evangelism’ (those two words are pregnant - “Can I do evangelism to you?”)

Deposits come in many ways.

Listening is one of the most profound ways.

Listening is perhaps most often done by us slowing down and literally using our ears - however, listening is a comprehensive activity. We listen with our entire being…

Body language communicates with our entirety that we are an audience to what the person in front of us is about - that what they are up to is IMPORTANT - to us… and guess what - to God.

No deposit. No right whatsoever to begin to make a penny’s worth of withdrawal.

Never again a conversation that has been memorized…

Hi, my name is uh… (now quickly glance at cue card in left, no, right hand) uh, Steve…
May I share something with you that is very, very important to me…?

The above actually does ‘work’ with those on the east side of town in Lemming, Iowa and Syracuse, East Virginia. But since 1974 no reports of church growth have been reported that are deemed credible.