Jack’s Buzz

The Holy Spirit Facilitates Engagement

Jesus engages people by connecting his eternal, Holy Spirit to their limited spiritual nature. The Holy Spirit is God personally engaging us. He helps, comforts, reveals truth, and crosses barriers (Jn 14:17, 26).

John records Jesus breathing on the apostles, telling them to receive his Spirit as though he were something they could refuse. Perhaps he is. Paul tells believers not to quench the Spirit (1Th 5:19).

At Pentecost, we observe the Spirit coming in power as fulfillment of Christ’s promise to engage humanity with his Spirit. The Spirit engages all the disciples first, and the men and women in the city next. He overwhelms their senses with the sound of rushing wind and the appearance of fire from the air. He overcomes their cultural moorings by breaking the language barrier (Ac 2:2-12).

The text makes it clear that the miraculous gift of instantly speaking a foreign language is under the Spirit’s power and direction. Moreover, the words spoken are the Gospel. The Spirit gave believers the gift of languages to enable them to engage nonbelievers with the Gospel in a way that invited people to listen. Tongues of fire, rushing wind, foreign languages; I would think one’s response to be akin to shock. Would you not wonder what was going on?

Throughout Acts, whenever God engages humans, he uses powerful events that run against most peoples’ view of how things work. Pentecost offers the prime example. Tongues of fire from the air—was anyone expecting that? I think I might want to run away from that. Shocking, redefinitions of reality are nothing new for God. Nor is it new for God to invite his children to follow a miraculous sign with an engaging explanation to people who need to believe in his power.

God troubled a Pharaoh’s dreams and Joseph explained the meaning (Gen 41:1-36). God shocked another Pharaoh with all manner of plagues, and Moses explained (Ex 7-12). God shocked the people of Nineveh when a fish tossed up a man, and Jonah read the news from God (Jnh 2:10-3:3).

Jesus was the most shocking man who ever lived. He explained the reality of a new day, the good news day of the Lord’s favor (Lk 4:19). He gave dignity to the poor. He fed hungry crowds with fish and chips from air and baskets (Mt 14:21, 15:38). He risked his life to confront religious and political oppressors. He completed the Law, turning it from a punitive list into marks of grace (Lk 24:44, Col 2). He healed people of fevers, skin diseases, crumpled legs, blind eyes, deaf ears, and tormenting demons. He walked on water. He freed dead people from the final captivity. Then (as if all that were not enough), he took a ride with death and came out the winner. He walked through walls, offered peace that lasts, and lifted off to heaven. His final instruction to those watching was to tell others about what he did—to be his witness (Ac 1:8). With those experiences, how could they not be engaging?

One might easily interpret Christ’s statement as an instruction for us to engage others with the Good News when their lives do not make sense. Witnesses engage the poor with the riches of heaven, a slice of bread, a coat, and maybe a job. Witnesses offer the crowds something beyond a free show. Witnesses risk their status to push back on bullying oppressors whether political or religious. Have you done any of these things recently? Witnesses offer grace, healing, deliverance now, and the hope of heaven for tomorrow.

God’s Spirit engages people by shocking them. He leaves it to us—his witnesses—to explain what just happened.

Jesus Demonstrates Engagement

God created us in his image and gave us status as stewards of the rest of creation. Humanity is the keeper of God’s work. We engage the ground, the plants, the animals, the minerals, the water, for good or bad. Not only does our status as made in God’s image create our need to engage, God models engagement in a tangible way that leaves little confusion. He came to us as the person Jesus (Lk 2).

God made Adam aware of his presence and Eve painfully aware. He engaged Noah with boat plans when no one knew what a boat was. He burned a flameproof tree to engage Moses (try that one sometime). He engaged prophets with revelation, lepers with healing, and delivered those tormented by unclean spirits. Without God engaging us specifically, we stand wondering if he exists beyond the stars or within the intricacies of plants (Ps 19, Ro 1:19-20). The zenith of God’s engagement of humanity is Jesus Christ: God becoming human.

God engages us generally in nature, which, by the way, gives us an engagement point with naturalists, and specifically in Christ. God engages us in our experiences—an engagement point with people in other or no religious groups; everyone talks of unexplainable experiences with the spiritual realm. God engages us in the words, pronouncements, commands, propositions, narratives, songs, and poetry of the Bible—an engagement point with our spiritual parents the Jews, with other Christians, and with anyone interested in fine literature. God engages us in art, music, poetry, architecture, literature, nature, children, old folks, wisdom, foolishness, politics, government, community, kindness, evil, and even in the air with radio, television, and the Internet.

God loves to engage people, and he loves us to engage each other. He sent us his Son as a perfect model of engagement.

In Jesus, God is with us. His incarnation objectifies God’s engagement with humanity (Jn 3:31-36). When his disciples saw Jesus, they engaged the Father. He and the Father are one (Jn 10:30). When Jesus breathed on the apostles, he engaged them with his Holy Spirit, the same Spirit with whom he fills us (Jn 20:22, Ac 13:52, Eph 5:18). Jesus sets the standard for engagement with love that never manipulates, lies, keeps a record of wrongs, or tries to control others (1Co 13). Jesus’ love engaged—why else would so many people have followed him around?

I wonder, and perhaps you wonder, if Jesus’ command to love others is not just another way of telling us to be engaging? Why else would he have told us to love people (engage them) as he loved them? He set himself as the standard. His old command to “love others as you love yourself” allows one to set oneself as the standard for love (Mt 22:39). The new command to “love one another as I have loved you” sets the bar higher—so high that I confess I cannot reach it without a boost (Jn 13:34). I need the Holy Spirit to give me a lift over the love bar. 

Humans Carry the Engagement Gene

God’s nature engages in relationships. He engages himself in the Trinity. He created humanity in his image to be engaging, and he engages us through his Holy Spirit. Our secularist, humanist, atheist, and naturalist friends might disagree with my contention. They will say that the human drive to engage evolved to insure the continuance of social structures. Marriage and religion, they may add, bring order and comfort to peoples’ lives, and unite groups of people through ceremonies, rituals, and practices. History demonstrates pre-humanoid animals pairing off to mate, running in packs to hunt, and flocking and herding together for protection. The urge to engage extends back millennia, they will tell us.

Ah, but our God painted us an older picture. God’s engagement begins far, far before humans or animals. God’s Trinitarian engagement is eternal. God engages in three persons with perfect, non-hierarchical, non-modal, inseparable relationships with no beginning or end. Engagement is not only part of God’s nature, it is the essence of his image. God is love and love engages—it is just who he is. He cannot help but engage and he cannot help but create engaging people.

God made us in his image to be able to engage him and each other. We are built to relate. Our nature carries some of his nature—much of it actually. We humans are, by nature free beings. We have the ability to make our own choices. We can choose to engage or disengage; we can even choose to engage or disengage from God. Interesting, is it not, that when a human being chooses disengagement, people call him or her odd? We tend to judge a disengaged person as somehow off the mark, mentally unstable at least, and outright insane at worst. Some people disengage for religious reasons, of course, but a disengaged person—a hermit—is one generally considered abnormal. People naturally engage other people. We cannot help it; to engage others is in our nature, inherited from our Creator.

Can we mess that up, or what? People constantly engage others for all the wrong reasons. People engage to get something out of the other person. People—even those who confess Jesus as Lord—frequently lie to each other. They engage others to manipulate them or to try to control them. Humans are consistent in our ability to make a mess of our relationships. We engage people, hurt them, and then disengage and act as if the other person caused the problem.

We engage God when we need help, and then we try to tell him how to act, how to interpret right from wrong, or we set terms under which we will continue to engage him as his friend. We actually seem to think that God needs us more than we need him. God put it in our nature to be engaging, but we use it for selfish gain.

Despite all this, God draws us in, redeems our selfishness, and gives us the ability to become selflessly engaging. He does all this through the person of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. God sent us a perfect model for engagement: Jesus.

Engagement: what a wonderful word. Last week, one of my students announced his engagement on Facebook. Within a few hours, he received dozens of best wishes, virtual verbal roses for him and his fiancé. If you or I walked around downtown and asked passersby, “Have you been engaged,” we would have a wonderful time. Of course, some people might answer gruffly, and others might just say, “No,” but as we pressed on, we would certainly hear some engaging stories. Perhaps you agree that most people would look at us with a smile and talk about a love, peace, happiness, and how he asked or she responded, or perhaps, given the times, she asked and he responded, not to mention him asking and him responding; well, you get the idea. We have no idea what we would hear if we asked people about engagement, but it sounds like fun, yes?

We might see a tear of joy and hear a touching story. We might also see tears of sadness, revelations of love lost. We might see faces stuck on what could have or should have been.

Ask the same question of a crowd of business professionals and they might begin discussing marketing concepts for engaging their customers. Evidently, the Internet enables soaring opportunities for companies to engage more people with their products. Ironically, all this virtual engagement results in a new emphasis on personal engagement. As Ecclesiastes tells us, there is nothing new under the sun. At the end of the day, people respond to people who meet their personal needs in a personal way.

Ask around the church staff crowd, and not even a prophet can predict what we might hear. Several of you might react exactly as the average man or woman on the street if I asked, “Have you been engaged?” Before I wrote this paper, I think I might have told you a lovely story about a young girl, a wolf, and a red plate, but now study and academic diligence ruins me. My first thoughts go to meanings refined and filtered by evangelism teams through church planting teams.

What does engagement mean in our crowd? Is it “every believer sharing as a trained witness”? Can you, this week, think through and buy into the idea that every single converted Christian can engage someone with his or her faith as a matter of course, as a normal part of his or her day? Can you see a day when all Christians welcome the thought of sharing Christ with others? Can the word engagement go viral? Can it become a Twenty-first Century catch phrase for spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ?

Sorry, did I hear you say, “Not so fast”? Are you thinking I am pushing another program? Hmm, maybe we need to think about this together—universal buy-in is not the easiest of projects. Just because Ken Weathersby preaches it, Van Kicklighter emails it, and Geoff Hammond ties your paycheck to it, does not mean you will buy-in, does it?

Wait! Put down that stone! Please, before someone accuses me of insubordination, let me finish my thought. I have noticed that even if God tells people to engage others with Good News, they freely ignore him. Passive aggression is a well-worn human tactic. People like us flock to conferences and sermons, nod in agreement, but year after year we see little or no return on the investment. We know people do not engage their neighbors for Christ. The evidence is clear. We simply do not see much engagement happening between North American Christians and North American non-Christians. Obviously, simply telling you to train Christians to engage will do more than saying nothing, but just as obviously, telling you to do something is not enough.

In this paper, I will outline for you the biblical basis of engagement as it precedes spreading the Gospel. Engagement is a biblical idea, and you will have a difficult time disagreeing. Engagement follows prayer; well, it does not have to follow prayer, but I hope you will agree that prayer makes engagement easier. Prayer is one of four aspects of the North American Mission Board’s evangelism emphasis God’s Plan for Sharing (GPS). My assignment, engagement, follows prayer, and is in turn, followed by sowing the Gospel and harvesting souls.

My assignment is not difficult—all I need to do is show you the biblical framework for making a friend. Making friends is the essence of biblical engagement. Most of you already agree with the propositions the Bible makes on doing good works that lead to engaging others for Christ (my boss gives me easy tasks for obvious reasons).

I, however, like challenges, so I am upping the ante. I know that your agreement with the biblical foundation of engagement is not enough to get you to engage, much less to train others to engage. Rather than simply gaining your agreement that engagement blooms from a biblical branch, I am going to help you see that you were born to engage others. You already are engaging. By the time we are done, you will think that not to engage is weird, and no one wants to be weird.

Kudos to the folks at Champion Sportwear. They sent me this nice note a few days ago. 

Hi Jack,
We saw your blog post – we’re sorry for the bad experience.  It was actually a mistake and we’re looking into.  The banner ads that you saw should have taken you to this site - http://www.hoodieremix.com
Hoodie Remix is a design competition that recently launched where the winner of the competition will receive $500 and their design may be produced by Champion in limited edition.
We think you’ll find it to be what you were looking for.  No bad intent on the “bait and switch” as you’ve identified.  Just a simple mishap – and we apologize for that.  We’re actually quite happy you found it and commented on it, as we’re now looking into solving the problem to make sure it doesn’t happen again! Further, the Championusa website plans to have a link on the homepage on or before 2/2 to showcase Hoodie Remix.
Thanks very much, and we hope you’ll consider Champion in the future.
Regards,
The Champion Hoodie Remix Team

That’s how you handle a problem. That’s how you keep loyal customers, attenders, members, friends, and employees. You messed up? You clean up. Simple.

Let’s reward the Champion hoodie team by clicking on their link and entering their contest. Next time you need cool exercise gear (yes, friend, you need to hit the pavement), think seriously about Champion.

I just returned from San Francisco. I understand why people feel like they left their hearts there. It’s one of my favorite cities. 

While there, I attended a gathering of a few believers, a handful of crazy people, and I am very sure the Holy Spirit also attended. A fine Christian man from India led singing and Bible study.He was a pretty good singer, I was terrible, and the rest of the bunch was not much better than me. I made the rejects from first three weeks of American Idol look like The Supremes with special guests Tony Bennett and Luciano Pavarotti. I have a number of really spiritual friends who would tell you that Jesus loved our singing because it was all praising his name. Maybe that’s so, but only because Jesus has some wild, divine earplugs that can do to sound the same thing he did to leprous skin–make it clean.

The crazy people were at different levels of crazy. None was mean, but several of them might be able to get that way real fast. Some needed medicine. Some needed to stop taking street candy and start taking their medicine. Some needed to stop taking each others’ medicine and take no medicine at all for several months. All of them were broken in one way or another. All of them had been cast off from polite society. All of them have friends in low places. I’ve been in the physical neighborhoods like the ones where they live, and I have watched people in their mental neighborhoods, and it ain’t pretty. But I have friends in low places too, so that does not really bother me. 

We prepared some food together. My faith got a little weak a few times. There seemed to be a lot of dirt. The girl who helped me peel potatoes; well, I just knew there’d be a finger in the pot to flavor once they went in the kitchen to boil. There wasn’t even a nail shaving. One guy wanted to shake hands with my wife, but noticed that he had some food on his hand. So, he licked the food off his hand and offered it to her. She shook it. I went looking for the Purell.

One guy mistook me for guy who made a comment he did not like. It was really clear that he was confused, but I just had to apologize. Reminded me of parts of my family.

I was deeply impressed with the people who invited me to this gathering. They showed so much kindness and acceptance of people who were very different from themselves. They have connected with Jesus at a level that sees the people I’m describing as treasure. Not lip-service treasure. Not “look at me, I work with people on the down” treasure. Real treasure. Unlike me most of the time, they see people like God sees people. I will not say more about them except that they have a better handle on Christ’s love than I do. It made me want to go live in San Francisco so I could learn from them. 

Most of my students, friends, and family are very uncomfortable with and avoid this type of gathering. I know that working with the zanies is not the focus of my ministry, but I like going to these gatherings. I come away energized.

I usually leave wishing sane Christians measured faith more by the acts of people like the ones with whom I gathered (and sang badly) than by the cool, pretty measurements that we use. This will make sense in just a minute. I had my core shaken, and I think you should know how.

One of the people there–we will call her Lin–seemed close to normal. She had a pretty smile, and was genuinely helpful. Some of her mannerisms revealed a slight quirk, but nothing all that far out of whack. She maintained eye contact. She spoke beautifully, but was obviously shy. Janet and I found her endearing. Her clothing was a bit ragged but not dirty, nor did she carry a bad odor (neither did anyone else–this was not an entirely homeless crowd). In the middle of all the singing a guy came in who was lit up like Chinese New Year (which we witnessed in Chinatown earlier in the day). He tried to give her a peck on the cheek and she cringed like someone who did not want a peck on the cheek but was used to getting one whether she wanted it or not. She whispered something that made our new attender shuffle away. During our Bible study time, Lin spoke slowly and intelligently. 

After the gathering, as we were leaving, we met a man in the parking lot who claimed to have gone to Golden Gate and Southwestern Seminaries. He was deeply intoxicated, and had somehow lost his shoes and traveled what looked like a long way in a pair of tube socks. (My mind is racing with comments about seminarians, but I need to get us to a conclusion.) Someone told him there was food inside and he lost interest in us. Our ride needed to go. We left.

A couple hours later one of our hosts called to tell me what happened inside after we left. Lin caught the inebriated seminarian at the door, sat him down, and served him a plate of food. No one asked her to do this. 

When he finished eating, she sat at his feet, carefully removed his socks, and washed his feet. No one asked her to do this either. Then, she tended his sores and helped him put on a clean pair of socks. I cried when I heard the story and I was not even there–still crying as I try to retell it.

Sometimes you get to meet a disciple of Christ. A real one–one who cannot talk the talk as well as you or me, but who walks with Jesus. It is a shaking experience. Maybe Lin causes earthquakes in San Francisco; she gave me one. If you think of it, pray for her (Lin is not her name, but God will know who you’re asking about). Pray for me too, if you think of it.

One of my former students wrote to tell me several things. Some good, some not so good–this is life, right? But one of them stopped me. He wrote, “I still need a drummer [for my church].”

In responding, I hope I was not too harsh. I told him that no, he does not need a drummer–and it’s none of your business who “him” is, so stop trying to guess.

None of you hip dudes need a drummer, ax master, sound man, or sultry singer for your church. You’re not putting together a band, but many of us who plant (me included) seem to forget this stuff. We think that we have to be uber cool or no one will come to our gatherings. That’s true is you’re starting a restaurant or night club. To start a church, you walk with Jesus, do what he says, act like he acts, and he gathers the people through you.

There is not one smidge of evidence in the New Testament that a drummer is required or even particularly desired for a church! A church craves disciples. It needs people who want to know Jesus. A church needs broken, hurting, needy, uncool, self-conscience, unconfident, addicted, divorced, shot-through-the-heart, painful, messy, questioning, longing, lonely, knot heads like…me.

So, stop that stinky “I need (blah blah blah) to get it done” thinking. It sounds like the kind of “this is mine” thinking that Jesus hated. It leads to all sorts of problems, phobias, and stress. Stress is usually at the core of burnout, failure, marriage problems, money problems, and addictions. To be honest, it does not reflect well on Jesus when his disciples run about all stressed out, wringing their hands, telling the world “if I only had…” then immediately following it with “you should act like me!” Why would anyone want THAT life? That’s no life at all. 

People crave peace, love, and happiness. They write songs to peace, love, and happiness. Jesus came to offer us his…peace, love, and joy.

The church belongs to Jesus. Let him find a drummer, or not. Love ya, mean it…

It’s Friday and I’m working in San Francisco. The joy of mobile productivity! It’s also Janet’s birthday–our cab driver said she looks 30. Ahhh, mayyybe 32.

Today was good. I set up 2 appointments with church planter wanna-bes. Told one guy to calm down and get a job (lost his funding). Told another to act like a man and play by the rules. Confirmed speaking at three conferences (CPM Forum in Atlanta, SENT in Dallas, and Flourish in Atlanta). I also got to tell American Airlines why I prefer Southwest.

OK, time to update.
Champion Sportswear emailed me about the bait & switch blog. They were very nice APOLOGIZED, explained it as a technical difficulty and clarified. Contest is real, and it’s on but you only win $500. Still–I’m in! I’ll post the link next week when I’m blogging from a laptop instead of iPhone.

Wiebel’s scenario on paying ministers versus lawn guys has gone viral (see my version earlier this week). I’d like to amp it up. Can anyone besides Frank “Throw Heat” Viola, make a case from the New Testament for or against paying ANY staff salaries? Seems like some of our churches may be run more closely to Microsoft than a NT church but I’m open.

Finally, my cabbie today was great & very intelligent. Here’s a good shout out to Bud Hazelkorn, owner of “Bud’s Cab and Notary and Marriage Officiant” Bud is a minister with the Universal Life Church. He was an investigative reporter here in San Fran for many years before times got tough. Thanks Bud, for telling us about the places with great views and where to walk.

Part of my morning was spent checking the Hornets’ position in the NBA standings. While reading ESPN’s NBA standings news, I saw a very clever click through ad. The company, Champion Sportswear, is one I recognize, and they make stuff that I like. The ad said that I could design a hoodie. It showed a series of pictures of very cool, masculine (this descriptor will matter in a minute) hoodies by very hip designers. The ad said that if I designed a particularly cool hoodie, I would win a fat $5,000.

All I needed to do was click the button marked “Start Designing.” I bit. I clicked. I wanted to design something, own it, and wear it. I wanted to win the money. I took the bait. I got the switch.

My click sent me to the company web site with a cover ad for a 2-for-1 sale on sports bras. I do not buy sports bras. If I had to guess, I’d guess that very few of the people in ESPN’s primary demographic buy sports bras.

It gets worse. The site has no mention of the design contest. No banner, no menu item, no photo of cool designer hoodies. Even when I tried to find the design contest on their site by using the search function, I got nothing. No hits on “hoodie” or “design.” Champion pulled a classic bait and switch. They conned me to their web site to sell me something other than that which they offered. 

You may think you will never bait and switch, but Christians and churches do it ALL THE TIME. I was taught how in seminary. To be clear: Jesus NEVER did it, and there is no hint of approval of this absurd practice in the New Testament. According to God, it’s a dumb tactic.

I can think of 4 reasons to NEVER bait and switch. 

1. You waste my trust. Unless they’re at a magic show, people hate to feel they’ve been tricked. If you tell your neighbors that you’re throwing a BBQ in your backyard and then turn it into a Billy Graham Crusade, they will not appreciate you. If you tell a co-worker that you’ll pray with her for her sick mom, then spend the entire break reading her the Four Spiritual Laws, she will not trust you with her time. If you promise to take your kid to eat ice cream, then stop by the doctor’s office for a shot first, she may think twice about next year’s Mother’s Day gift.

If you promote your organization’s “openness and family atmosphere,” then make the financial decisions behind closed doors, your employees will think you mean “we’re like the mafia family.” If you imply that your group values a person’s thoughts, emotions, and insights, then provide no avenue for them to express their thoughts, emotions, and insights, you are a Western church with a Sunday morning service (oops, how did that get out?). If you tell me I can come to your place to do something fun, then hide it from me, I’m gone. Maybe forever.

2. You waste my friendship. I will tell my real and virtual friends what you did. I’m telling you now, am I not? I remember a college marketing (or maybe psychology?) professor teaching a class that the average person tells ten people about his or her very positive or very negative experiences, and five people about his or her mildly positive or negative experience. Average experiences get no publicity, I guess. He was wrong.

If a student really likes a class, he tells ten friends? Nope. He tells 100. If he sleeps during the class because his teacher worked overtime to make an interesting subject boring, he will tell ten friends? Nope. He will tell 1,000. I think my professor was right in 1980 and dead wrong in 2009. Facebook, email, blogging, twitter; all take old social axioms to exponential heights.

I read every story about fantastic or awful service. I know Nordstrom’s loves its customers, and Lakeview Harbor’s stuffed shrimp special was disappointing. (If a status report is funny, I remember it even more clearly.) I know that Mobile, AL has terrible traffic control and crime is a hobby in New Orleans. I know that Orlando has few jobs and Austin has great live music (and few jobs, but more than Orlando). I know that Bonobos pants fit and look great, Gran Torino is a moving film, and Chicago is too cold for people.

Brother, you bait and switch me or one of my friends and we will spread it. You waste my friendship and I’ll do what I can to make sure you do not hurt my real friends.

3. You waste sharp, creative, grade-A people. Somewhere in the bowels of Champion Sportswear is a person who created a great ad and a fun contest. She or he will find out soon that the ad was used in a bait and switch campaign.

It may be because of a web site glitch. Perhaps things just did not work well before they were launched. Perhaps no one was malicious or intended to b&s me. It will not matter one bit–that highly creative person will wonder why she or he is working for Champion. More than likely, they will find a new opportunity and Champion will be left with the C students. 

Your church acts unloving; your whole city knows within a few hours. Your most creative members will leave when they think their talent is wasted. Your company treats employees like dirt; your other employees start polishing their resumes (and the best ones usually leave first).

4. You waste money. Champion wasted whatever they paid for that ad. Click through ads charge by the click. I clicked, they paid, but I did not buy. That’s a waste.

You plan your event to help people find your service (or your Savior). You invite. You clean. You cook. Whatever; you put in some effort. Then you waste it if you do not do exactly what you said you would do.

If you take my class, I will increase your skills. I will not sell you irrelevant concepts. I will not put you to sleep. I will not waste your time. If you come to my party, we will enjoy each other’s company. I will not sell you Amway products. 

Simple cure: lead an open and honest life. Never bait and switch.