Jack’s Buzz

I’m starting an occasional series “Postcards from the Xn Subculture” to highlight the many little odditities I notice from Jesus’ disciples. X is Greek Chi, the first letter in Xristos, meaning “Christ.” I’m using it for brevity. I do not hope to explain this again, but somehow know I will need to do so.

This morning, I noticed a pickup with the following Scripture verse tattooed on the front windshield: “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” I wonder what the driver in front of him thinks.

Comments welcome, as are your postcards.

This might make more sense if you read Ed’s latest research on the past-prime reality (and possibly imminent decline) of the Southern Baptist Convention: Breaking News EdStetzer.com

My comment is in there, but so are about 14,000 others–almost all of them interesting, valid, and documented. If you find mine, you’ll see a reference to Ed’s phone call to me one early Thursday morning in 2004.  He asked me to consider becoming the Nehemiah Professor at NOBTS.

Whenever we see each other, Ed consistently asks me two questions. First, “Hugs?” Ed is a hugger. I am too. We may have been hug-deprived as children. That or we became addicted. Either way, we fully intend to load up this side of heaven, and do our best to make others feel the love. Since Ed is made for luxury cruise liners, and I am made for Southwest Airlines, so our hugs probably look funny to others. Like Dom Deluise hugging Sammy David, only I’m white and sober.

Second, Ed asks, “Are you having fun? Do you still like it? Are you mad at me?” These are not–despite the rules of English grammar–three questions. Ed is from New York. I am from Texas. Oddly enough, he is from the part of New York and I am from the pat of Texas that innately understands these to be one question asked very thoroughly. I have always answered, “Yeah. Dude, yeah. No–not really. Got any money?”

The second comment: “Thanks also for raising the bar last week at Expo. You’re the Baptist Bono, and we should all be proud of how God is using you” refers to Ed’s excellent presentation at the Exponential ‘08 Conference in Orlando. The “Bono” thing is that Ed has become famous. He has a lot of friends, make speeches at cool places, and gets into the best clubs without waiting in line. He’s earned it, believe me. Courageous blogging costs him plenty. Pray for him. I fully expect a movement to begin any minute that is aimed at preaching Ed into the PCA.  As for Exponential ‘08 . . . great blog with video links here. Ed’s Exponential ‘08 stuff (PowerPoints, and coupons to Sea World) here.
NOW . . . my thoughts on the LifeWay research

I thought it might be helpful to reprint my comment from Ed’s blog. Here you go:

This [research] is making me think two big thoughts. Perhaps others will find them helpful.

1. Tipping Point. While some have tried to disprove  Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point theory, I’ve been wondering aloud if we (the SBC) are about to give it a big fat boost of credibility. What happens when the Builder Generation who faithfully support the Cooperative Program, faithfully attend traditional SBC churches, faithfully vote at the SBC, and whose children and grandchildren are just as faithfully unchurched, die? Dead people do not tithe. Their kids do not attend church very often (and when they do, they do not generally tithe). Here we go: Tipping point. No money, no missions. No seminaries. No Associations. No state conventions. None. Dead. OK< maybe Texas will survive by the shear weight of it’s inertia. Maybe Georgia. It’ll be like what is likely to survive a nuclear winter. No money means not much ministry–at least not in the name of the denomination.
That point is coming unless we change and begin reaching this generation with the Gospel. The sad part is that it will be very hard to reach the nations both here and internationally, with the Gospel without the structure of the SBC missionary agencies and the Cooperative Program. Not impossible, just hard–God can do anything and the young Christ-followers will keep the Kingdom advancing. Just hard to win the ethne man. Add to that the vast army of social ministries funded by Southern Baptists (think food banks, clothes closets, homeless shelters, medical clinics, AIDS hospices?).

2. Any Hope? Is the increasing and painfully obvious exodus and apathy of young talent from the SBC reversable? I really want to hear a well-documented, “Yes.” Especially given my love of employment at a Southern Baptist young leader training center in a certain hurricane ravaged city. You may think I am selfish, and you are probably right. I have that tendency. I also love working with the next generation of leaders.

I had a lot of help coming up. A lot of help from old guys with gray hair who taught me to think, to pray, to make decisions, to trust God, to get things done–things that last. I needed older heads to help me learn. The next generation may need my old head and will certainly need a lot of others’.

Perhaps the most inane, undiscussed scandal of all in this day of uncompromising ridiculousness is how few wise Southern Baptist men are training young men and women to lead the future from a foundation built on biblical wisdom. That may be a self-explanatory statement–one cannot teach what one does not know.

3. Repent. There’s only one godly way to clean up a mess. Repent and ask people to forgive us. Then move forward. Someone is sure to wonder “What do we need to repent of?”

How about meanness? Jesus told us that “they will know you are my disciples by your love for one another” (John 13:34-35) and we’ve broken that commandment like a politician caught stuffing money in the freezer. We are a preaching bunch, a Bible-loving bunch, a soul-winning bunch. But we’re not known for being a loving bunch. Baby, that’s a sin. Repent. It’s easy, I do it all the time.

You want to hear a great sermon on repentance? This link will give a close .pdf version of one Tim Keller preached at breakfast last Thursday–it’s real short. He said that people who have been with God (like Jacob) limp around and repent easily because they know they got nothing without God’s blessing. He said that the difference between a Pharisee and a Christian is that a Pharisee repents for his unrighteousness, but a Christian repents for his righteousness. I mess up a lot, mostly when I get a smug idea that I’m right about something. Right as in righteous, and I have the gift of prophesy–woopee!

I’m not righteous. I’m dead before God. I live by God’s grace. I’m righteous because a righteous man–Jesus–died for me. I got nothing. No game. No smack. No cool idea. No better hermeneutics. No power play. No well-dressed, well-rehearsed lines. I got a Savior. That’s it.

That’s enough. And, no, it does not stop me from being sarcastic, but that’s just to get a laugh because I need a hug.

Nix and Truitt are newborn twins. They showed up and started breathing Wednesday, which was a month early. Their dad Billy is a former student. He and Ellie are planting Whispering Pines Church in Port St. Lucie, Fla. They need to get strong fast. Their parents need help with medical bills that would scare normal people.

When your kids are sick, your world gets real flat, real quick. I know; I’ve been there. You’ll take help from anyone. Your prayer life improves immediately. Nothing seems out of bounds if you think it will help.

Cadence, another preemie, blogs from her mother’s womb. I am not kidding. She’s really tiny, not as healthy as we hoped, and due to take her first breath today (week or two early).

Her dad and mom are planting Iron City Church in Pittsburgh. Jeff is also a former student. That he and his wife set up a prenatal blog for Cadence is way beyond cool. They’ve asked for a song list to greet the baby and, I assume, educate her properly. You may see my contribution at cadenceolivia.wordpress.com. Please comment.

Before you click over, join me. Father, Cadence and the Mitchell boys need your hand. Please show us your power. They need to grow strong quickly. They need to breathe and eat and function to be a light for you. Give them life–buckets and buckets of life. Your life. Give their parents and grandparents courage and wisdom. Give their doctors and nurses skill.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

What a week. Keller, Stetzer, Stanley, Hirsch, Warren, and sixteen to twenty other gifted church planting leaders filling 2600 heads with vision, grace, truth, laughter, prayer, and mission. The Exponential ‘08 Conference flat rocked.

This weekend I’ll gather my notes and thoughts. Next week I’ll have several posts on lessons learned, and (maybe) an announcement on something new. For today, two thoughts:

1. When God gives you a vision, it’s like seeing something in the dark. It startled. It’s colorless, blurry, unclear, and a little frightening. You wonder, “what is that?” You hesitate, moving toward it cautiously. It attracts all your attention. It sharpens. Colors beautify it. Magnetism pushes fear aside. Everything else dims. Regular Scripture reading starts to confirm what you think you see. Wise believers add encouragement. Partners come alongside.

It’s not bad to have a vision from God. Not bad at all.

2. Vision often shapes out of darkness. It comes in the place where we try hardest to see. Where we need to see, and cannot see without God lighting our way. The dark place is not necessarily a bad place.

I attend a church often, but not often the same church. Church hopping makes it more difficult to settle in and worship God. My job demands that I attend many different churches–hopping is not, therefore, some sort of weird protest.

I find one thing that really helps me get into the worship in a place to which I am not accustomed is to write down what I like. Here are a few notes–maybe they’ll help your church to do what people like when they show up next Sunday.

I like it when…

• people care that I showed up. Not just the paid staff, but regular folks, and they’re not needy about it–they just seem to care that I made an effort to worship God with them this morning.
• the coffee is really good and the cups are not foam. I have a Utopian idea that there’s a church out there somewhere with a magnificent collection of coffee mugs from every business and cheesy Cracker Barrel in America–no two alike–and I get to meet the two senior saints and a teenage kid who wash them every Sunday. After church, they let me dry.
• we’re not in a beautiful, spotless, state-of-the-art building. The best places are rough, like most of us. It’s warm and not the least bit intimidating, like people who walk with Jesus. Like I want to be.
• the crowd is diverse. Not everyone looks, talks, or dresses like me; and no one cares that I do not look, talk, or dress like them.
• people from other denominations come wondering what a Baptist church is like. I like it when some of the members are from a non-Baptist background too–somehow that makes me feel better about the place (Episcopalians make very good Baptists, by the way).
• the musicians and stage singers aren’t perfect, but a couple of them are really good.
• people share hymn books.
• the guy on the stage accepts prayer requests from the congregation, and we think prayer is so important that we actually take time to do it. On Sunday. During the worship service.
• no one pretends that everything is OK. Rather, people seem to think that in spite of the reality that all is not “just fine,” God gives hope that things will get better. I also like it when no one wears his or her pain on his or her sleeve–faith reigns in those churches.
• the Pastor attempts to say something in French (or any language not his own), and butchers it, but at least he tries. Recently, I liked it more when a lady from France was in the audience (new believer by the way) and she corrected his pronunciation like a French teacher. Classic!
• the Pastor is honest about the source of his sermon and the reason he thinks his topic is important.
• the preaching is from the Bible. I get enough opinions about stuff during the week. I come to church for some of God’s truth.
• nobody asks me what I’m writing.
• leaders ask for honest feedback.
• the following Monday or Tuesday, somebody calls to thank me for visiting their church. Even though I rarely get to go back, it’s nice to talk to a Christian who actually wants his or her church to grow. I like it better when the call comes from someone who is a volunteer. One more?–I love it when they ask me if I know Jesus.

God is served in many ways, and it seems that professionalism is rarely the best. It also seems that churches who try so hard to make everything perfect not only fail, but also don’t make the kind of disciples that attract the kind of folks who are looking for a Savior.

Tim Wolfe and two of his “residents” just instructed my class. Tim planted a church in Atlanta called 1027. The name was taken from the address of the building or the name of a bar, I forget which. I think Tim chose it to make it easy for him to figure out if new people were hopping over from another church or from among his church-challenged neighbors. Church people immediately ask him if 1027 refers to a Bible verse. Other people–the ones Tim wants to reach–know that 1027 is either the address of the building where the church started, the name of that old bar, or they don’t really care. I thought it was the time they gather on Sunday (10:27), but what do I know?

Anyway, Tim is one of those guys who is cool without trying to be cool. He is also a very good strategist–one of the best I’ve heard. Because 1027 is his third church plant, Tim may be as close as us Baptists get to an apostle (I mean that in the Greek sense of “one sent” to spread the Gospel and start churches).

1027’s residency program is an idea that I hope replicates in New Orleans. Guys come to the urban area of the city, get a secular job, and spend a year or so learning from Tim how to do evangelism and become indigenous church planters. He partners with his local Baptist Association, Georgia Baptist Convention, and NAMB. Some of the residency work is skill-based; think about how one might share his or her faith, how to develop leaders, that kind of thing. Most of the work, however, focuses on the development of Christ-like character and spiritual discipline. Residents learn to fast and pray, to apologize, to live honestly, to act justly and humbly, to avoid gossip or going behind someone’s back, and generally act like Jesus. At the end of the year, Tim and Jesus develop the kind of guys I want to trust with Christ’s Gospel and my money. So I am sending him some–not much, but some.

Tim delivered five points:

1. Know the people you’re trying to reach before you attempt an attractional outreach tactic. Listening to God and people is the starting point for all successful strategy.
2. Start multiplying early. One of Tim’s churches started another church when the first church had 17 people. That early, multiplying church continues to grow and the church they started made about 40 disciples during its first year.
3. Focus on character development and people will do the right things.
4. Adopt a missional attitude about work and housing. Get a job in the city, and live in the city on what you make.
5. Learn to get over some stuff. Your lost neighbor may be a homosexual couple, and your kid and his grandparents may struggle with that. You still have to love your neighbor, and you do not get to run home to mama.

See why I like this guy? The wolfe is huntin’ sheep baby! But he’s the good wolfe.

Thursday, Liz Stewart, head of our Office of Cool Stuff to Build Community, will host a crawfish boil. I cannot help but wonder who will get a descendant of Pierre the Dancing Crawfish on his or her plate.

Pierre the crawfish was in a ditch near Mamou, dancing. He loved to dance and the other crawfish loved to watch him. Suddenly, out of the sky, fell a big net. Because Pierre was a well-educated crawfish, he realized this meant one thing.

He was going to Hollywood! All it really meant was that Sammy was out crawfishing, and scooped up Pierre and about 200 of his neighbors.

Sammy took his sack of crawfish home and starting a big pot of water to boil. Then he threw in spices. Then he threw in more spices. When the water was right, he threw in some crawfish. That’s when Pierre realized this was not Hollywood–this was hot water!

So Pierre started dancing. The other crawfish, being generally polite, moved out the way so Pierre could get more room to entertain Mr. Sammy.

You can imagine Sammy’s astonishment when he realized what he had found. “Mama!,” he cried. “Turn up that radio. We got us a dancing crawfish!”

Mrs. Sammy, who was unusually quick for her disposition, stood at the kitchen door amazed. “Oh Sammy, a dancin’ crawfish–he’s a gift from God! Children! Get in here right now. Your Papa found us a dancing crawfish!”

Sammy’s beautiful children fell all over each other getting through the back screen and into the kitchen. All four stood in wonder and amazement. The family watched as Pierre kept perfect rhythm to the Zydeco beat.

After four songs, poor Pierre was worn out. He tried to keep up with the fifth tune, but he was failing.

Sammy picked him up off the table and tossed him in the pot. The kids ran back outside, and eight minutes later, Pierre looked just like all the other crawfish.

My students are terrific. Last month, I assigned them the task of planning and implementing a large event to increase the awareness of church planting on our campus. It coincided with a visit by Dr. Geoff Hammond, President of the North American Mission Board.

I do not think any of them had ever planned anything larger than a youth lock-in before this. They worked together and did a fantastic job–the best! They had flyers, signs, handouts, and hosted a forum where students could talk to Dr. Hammond about becoming missionaries to North America.

I do not know how it could have gone better. As a result of their work, 38 people signed a card stating that they feel a significant level of interest in learning more about mission work in the US and Canada. We’re at a seminary with around 800 full-time students at our main campus, so that’s a very significant number. (We have around 2,000 spread out at our 16 Extension Centers and a large number of part-time students as well.)

Two points seem important as I look back on the event. First, before the event, none of the 38 seemed to have a clue about what they could do for Christ in North America. Someone had to not only tell them the possibilities, but ask them to join the work. Someone has to ask!

Second, something special happens when you let people be creative. I guarantee you that if I try to recruit students to become missionaries, I will get about 5-6. I know because I do it all the time and every semester I get 5-6. But my students found 38 in four weeks. That’s a better return on investment, don’t you agree?

They did that well because they had a clear objective (get contact information from interested people), a good plan that was checked along the way by someone with experience (me), the means to see the plan through (a specific event and $500.00 to spend on it), a way to measure success (feedback from me along the way and contact cards afterwards), and an incentive to do well (a grade).

Those are the elements of a successful event. Try it.

Ed Stetzer has more Facebook friend requests than I do (probably because he is nicer than me), but he also has a dilemma. He wonders if responding to all those (100!) requests will open him up to all kinds of crazy stuff. Ed is from NYC, and he says that makes him wary. Will people try to rob him, steal his car, trick him into selling Amway? It’s a funny post, found at EdStetzer.com.

First, to answer the pressing question: “Will people misuse this information I put on Facebook.” The answer is, “Yes.” If you put those pictures of yourself hanging off the bow of a cruise ship, holding an empty hurricane glass, wearing nothing but your skivvies, screaming “I’m the king of the world!,” your Mom will find them. If you post the smiling photo of your best three buddies and you skipping work at the Cubs game, your boss will see them because, despite what your three stupid friends told you, you are NOT Ferris Buellar. People WILL try to rob you (they do that now, they’re called IRS agents), they will try to steal your car (they do that now, they’re called insurance agents), and trick you into selling Amway (they do that now, they’re called…, come on Ed, we know who we’re talking about now don’t we? [fist bump]). But the real questions Ed smartly asks are much deeper.

Let’s look at the deeper questions Ed raises, which are very good ones. First, I have a mess to clean up. Ed says I mocked him. Eww, mocking. Sorry about that. Ed brings up some interesting thoughts:
Q1. “What’s the point of social networking?
Q2. “Is it worth my time to join the conversation?,” and
Q3. (if so) “How to I use it?”

Social networking is something most of us never imagined. I liken it to the thought that one day we would have pens that do not require an inkwell. The point seems to be to stay in touch, which seems good. Of course, staying in touch does not mean poking me. I don’t like to be poked. It’s rude. Now that I wrote that down, I expect 17,000 pokes this week.

I do, very much, like to see pictures of peoples’ latest adventures (clean adventures, thank you), children, and ruminations about life and work. Many of us have been close to someone only to move away and lose touch and wonder what ever happened to him or her. Social Networking caught fire, I think, because there’s something inside us that does not want to lose touch.

My first week on Facebook, I also had more friend requests than I had friends. I hit “Ignore” a lot. Then I found out (from USA Today, or The National Equirer–I get those two mixed up sometimes) that people actually try to send you a friend request who never met you in their lives. They just saw your luggage tag or read something you wrote or you spoke at their church or they found your card in your publisher’s wastebasket, and whammo! they look you up on Facebook and send a request. I got one request from a pair of Russian twins claiming they were looking for American husbands. Since I am married and follow Jesus, I knew they must have me confused with another Jack Allen. Their post said, “click yes to see how cute we are.” I clicked “Ignore.” Sometimes “Ignore” is the nicest thing you can do for someone (especially if she’s a Russian, mail-order bride).

So, social networking is good like other networking is good, but it carries the potential for misuse like any network carries that potential. NOTE THE CONNECTION you house church and discipleship group leaders. All forms of networking can turn sour, but that does not mean we should ignore everything. Some people need to be counted as friends.

Second, is it worth your time to join a social network? Yes. You need friends and your friends need you. Everything is not about “what’s in it for me,” but I get a lot more from reading my friends’ Facebook status posts than they will ever know. Some cause me to pray, some to wince, many to laugh.

There’s a limit here, of course. It ceases to be good when it interferes with your job. Facebook makes money off of you, you don’t make money off of it unless you use it very smartly, which leads to answer 3.

How do I use it? Use it first to stay close to your friends, but don’t stop there. Build your brand. Connect your blog to your Facebook notes. Let people know your thoughts, your dreams, your prayer needs, your vision. Need a job–network it out. Have a book idea–test it. One of my students is developing his new church’s prayer network as a Facebook group. Smart guy–I like that!

Offer good, positive stuff that people find helpful. Let your friends know about it. If it’s good, you’ll find out soon enough. If it’s like Ed’s, you’ll help a lot of people and get invited to preach at the SBC! If it’s like mine, you’ll get cheap therapy. Either way, YOU WIN!

Hey, you winner, have I told about how you can millions of dollars in your spare time?

Since learning to use my iPhone, I find myself measurably more productive. It has buttons that connect me to Facebook in 2-5 seconds so status updates are easy and I can stay connected to friends very easily. I can check the stock market, weather, or take a good photo in 2 seconds. I get the latest news in less than 10 minutes, and rarely spend money on newspapers. Need to drive somewhere? GPS connected to Google Maps gives me the route in less than 1 minute (assuming I type in the right city). Quiet time with God? I open devotionals or a Bible in seconds. My prayer list is instantly in the palm of my hand and easily updated. This new stuff in addition to the stuff I’ve had for years (calendar, to do list, contacts & phone in one device). This little machine actually improves my relationships with people and God by making them easier to maintain.

The iPhone MORE than keeps its promise. Think about that next time you and your leadership team are trying to decide direction, vision, strategy, or events for your church. Can you design a simple, reliable system that makes it easier for people to start and maintain a relationship with Christ and other Christ-followers? Can you exceed your promises?