Archives - Redeeming God

As many of you know, I am interested in church planting. I am currently attending a relatively new church plant in Arlington, TX, and hope to be involved in more church planting efforts in the future. Some of my favorite conferences and favorite books are related to church planting.

Many of you who read my blog are also interested in church planting, and so I want to introduce you to a friend of mine, Nathan Laughlin (and his wife Amy), who is heading to Vancouver, BC next year to plant a network of churches called “Open Circle.” What they are doing is so simple anybody can do it, so innovative it is exciting to think about the possibilities, and so missional it could change the face of church planting.

Go check out out his site at opencirclevillage.org, listen to his podcast, read the blog. Who knows? Maybe you can start an Open Circle in your own neighborhood!

Watching My Life

By Jeremy Myers

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On my drive home from work tonight, I realized that I am watching my life with great interest. I feel like I am on some sort of great adventure, and I have no idea where things will end up. Earlier today, I saw a bumper sticker that read, “I have no idea where I am going.” I laughed, because that is how I feel.

Some days I feel a bit like God has “benched me.” Other days, I feel like only now, am I finally “in the game.”

If you had told me one year ago that after graduation from seminary, I would be cleaning carpets for 70 hours per week, I would have said you were crazy. If I had made a numbered list of all the possible careers I wanted to do, carpet cleaning would have been dead last. And the crazy thing is that I kind of enjoy it! But that is not the only thing that intrigues me about where God is taking me. Whereas I used to read 3-4 books per week, I am now lucky to read 3-4 pages per week. Whereas I used to spend hours every day on in-depth research and study of Scripture, I now barely get time to simply read it. I used to preach three times per week. So far, I haven’t preached in over two months.

But guess what? I now personally talk about Jesus with way more people per week than I did per year when I was doing all that reading and studying and preaching (which doesn’t really count).

So I’m watching my life. I don’t have a 10-step plan of how to get where I want to see myself go. I’m just trying to listen to God and follow His leading. And right now, He wants me to clean carpets. I’m not fully sure why. But I like what He is doing, and how He is answering my prayer to bend His will “to break, blow, burn, and make me new” (see previous post on “My Life Prayer“).

The Nature of Sand Castles

By Jeremy Myers

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My family and I spent the day at the lake recently (It’s been about 100 degrees for over a month now!), and as part of the day’s events, we built a sand castle. Allow me to brag about my construction skills. The sand castle was amazing, complete with walls, turrets, gates, flags, a moat, and even a cannon with little cannon balls.

When we were nearly done, Selah asked “Can we come back and play with this castle next week?”

“No,” I replied. “Someone will probably come along and knock it down.”

“Why?” she asked.

My wife chimed in, “Because that’s the nature of sand castles. We build them to enjoy building them, and then leave them for others to look at before they knock them down.”

Selah, not at all upset by this information, said, “Well, we better build a good one then, so that they enjoy looking at it before they knock it down.”

That, I think, is my new philosophy to life and mission. Everything I do in life will probably be knocked down once I am gone. In fact, it seems that some people are trying to knock me down before I even get the first wall built. So the best I can do is build in such a way to (1) enjoy the process of building, and (2) build so that someone enjoys looking at what I build before it is destroyed.

I figure that if God wants my life work to outlast me, that’s up to Him. Attempting to build something for myself when God is not behind it is like trying to protect sand castles against the tide.

Reimagining Church

By Jeremy Myers

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As mentioned previously, I just obtained a copy of Frank Viola’s new book, Reimagning Church. It is the sequel to Pagan Christianity, in which Viola strips away nearly everything we think of as “church.” The book leaves you thinking, “Well, if none of these trappings are necessary for church, what exactly is necessary?” Though I have some preliminary answers of my own, I look forward to reading Viola’s new book to see what he says.

Anyway, after flipping through the book the day it came in the mail, my eyes landed on a section on pg. 27 called “I Have a Dream” (adapted from the speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.). Here is what he says:

I have a dream that one day the church of Jesus Christ will rise up to her God-given calling and begin to live out the true meaning of her identity–which is, the very heartthrob of God Almighty–the fiancee of the King of all Kings.

I have a dream that Jesus Christ will one day be Head of His Church again. Not in pious rhetoric, but in reality.

I have a dream that groups of Christians everywhere will begin to flesh out the New Testament reality that the church is a living organism and not an institutional organization.

I have a dream that the clergy/laity divide will someday be an antique of church history, and the Lord Jesus Himself will replace the moss-laden system of human hierarchy that has usurped His authority among His people.

I have a dream that multitudes of God’s people will no longer tolerate those man-made systems that have put them in religious bondage and under a pile of guilt, duty, condemnation, making them slaves to authoritarian systems and leaders.

I have a dream that the centrality and supremacy of Jesus Christ will be the focus, the mainstay, and the pursuit of every Christian and every church. And that God’s dear people will no longer be obsessed with spiritual and religious things to the point of division. But that that that their obsession and pursuit would be a person–the Lord Jesus Christ.

I have a dream that countless church will be transformed from high-powered business organizations into spiritual families–authentic Christ-centered communities–where the members know one another intimately, love one another unconditionally, bleed for one another deeply, and rejoice with one another unfailingly.

I have a dream today…

What do you think?

(By the way, I am going to be hearing Frank Viola speak at the House 2 House National Conference here in Dallas, TX on August 29-31. If you are in the area, you should try to come.)

Imagine and Reimagine

By Jeremy Myers

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I want to make another post about some of the things my pastor, Stephen Hammond, said in his message on Sunday. If you want to listen to all of it, you can do so through his podcast here. The section I am quoting below begins at 13:00 from the July 20 message.

What would our community look like if we began to really understand where God was wanting to take us?

Could you imagine a community where everyone was accepted?

Could you imagine a community where everyone got a chance to participate in what God was doing? Even our friends who haven’t yet trusted Jesus? There’s a starting point for them too. Even for our atheist friends, or for whatever friends you may have. Even for people who have been Christians for a long time. What would it look like if everyone got a chance to play, and service wasn’t just for the paid staff?

Imagine a community where everyone was forgiven, and if you hurt somebody, they would just say, “You know what? I forgive you as God has forgiven me.”

Imagine a community where everyone is accepted. Democrats hung out with our Republicans, and our Librarians hung out there too. I mean, Libertarians. Librarians are welcome also.

…We are a community that wants to help take care of the world’s problems. Imagine a community where AIDS is taken care of in our lifetime. Imagine a community where no one in El Salvador has to drink dirty water again.

Imagine a community where whatever your race, whether black, or white, or Hispanic, or Asian, when people looked at you, they just saw a heart, a soul, and a spirit.

I really like Stephen’s thinking here (which is part of the reason we attend Mosaic). I think all of us must continually imagine and reimagine the church, what we could do, what we could look like, and what we could accomplish, if we simply changed a few things.

I have a blog post I’ve been working on for over a year now called “What if?” It contains all my musings about how the church could function differently and more effectively than it does today. Someday, I’ll get around to posting it, though right now, in it’s present state, it is so long it would take over 20 posts.

On a related note, I just received an advance copy of Frank Viola’s Reimagining Church in the mail today. I am pretty excited to read it. As I was browsing the book, I found a short section on p. 27 called “I Have a Dream” which is where he lays out his dream for the church. If a get a chance later this week, I will post his dream.

Living Life on Mission

By Jeremy Myers

Bad Church Growth

By Jeremy Myers

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I was recently talking to a pastor who was telling me about the amazing things God was doing in his church. The church is 150 years old, and had gone into steep decline. Up until a few months ago, they were averaging only 8-10 adults on a Sunday, all of whom were over 65 years old.

The pastor shared with me that recently, in response to many years of prayer, God had brought “revival” to the church, and they were now averaging about 150 people!

I was amazed and impressed. The church went from 10 to 150 in a few months! And while I believe in the power of prayer, I was amazed when the pastor said that, aside from praying a lot and building a brand new building (how did they fund that with only 10 people?), they hadn’t really done anything different with outreach or their worship service.

But as I talked longer, it came out that the 140 people had come from a big church across town that split.

My heart sank at the news. This pastor was thrilled at the “health” of his church, and the “revival” that God was bringing in response to years of prayer, but really, not a single new person in the community had come to faith in Jesus. Instead, a church across town experienced a messy split, and 140 people came over to the church in town with a new building. Is that really a “work of God”?

As I sat there fuming, trying to decide if I should burst the pastor’s bubble by telling him what I thought, and that it was probably just a matter of time before his church split also, God reminded me that in my first pastorate, I was actually praying for other churches in town to split or fold, and for other pastors to have moral failures, so that my church could possibly receive some of the people in those other churches. It saddens me to even think about it!

But this is what the American church has come to…feeding off each other as we try to survive a nose dive into oblivion and cultural irrelevance. If we want to not only survive but thrive, we need to change. I think I am beginning to see and envision what some of these changes will mean for me. The question now is whether or not I have the faith and courage to follow through on them.

How Women Help Men Find God

By Jeremy Myers

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I finished reading How Women Help Men Find God today. It’s a book written for women, but as a former (and future?) pastor, I wanted to read it because it is packed full of ideas on how women (and churches in general) can help men become followers of Jesus.

Such a book is desperately needed because the average church today is seeing a massive drop-out rate among men. We are not just losing a generation; we are losing an entire sex.

Of course, if your congregation is bucking the trend and is comprised of at least 50% men (in all age groups), then chances are good that you and your church are already doing some of the things mentioned in this book. Read it to affirm what you are already doing, and maybe to provide insights on some other areas that could be tweaked to encourage greater involvement by the men in your church.

But if your church is like the vast majority of churches in the United States, and your congregation consists primarily of women, this book is for you. It is full of practical suggestions (often written in a humorous way) to help men see that following Jesus is not just for women and children.

For example, most men don’t mind singing in church, but songs about being held by Jesus, and kissing Him, and Him being our lover will keep most men from singing too boisterously. As Michael Frost has said, Jesus is NOT my boyfriend.

In a similar vein, don’t invite men into a “relationship” with Jesus. Such terminology is attractive to women, but men respond better to the more biblical invitation to “follow” Jesus. This is especially true when the dangers and risks of following Jesus are emphasized.

Also, simple things like changing the way the church is decorated can go a long way in showing men that church (and following Jesus) is for them as well.

The book is also full of helpful suggestions on how to evangelize men, how to disciple men, and how to encourage them to take the role of spiritual leader in the home and in the church.

So do you know a man who needs to become a follower of Jesus or take a more active spiritual role? Do you want your church to become more effective at reaching men, making disciples, and raising up leaders? Read this book.

Oh, and don’t forget to check out David Murrow’s two websites: www.speakingofmen.com and www.churchformen.com

Fruitful Church

By Jeremy Myers

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As I drive around Dallas for my carpet-cleaning job, I can’t help but notice how much land is tied up in church real-estate. I drove by one mega church today that must have had 50-40 acres in land, and a good 20 of it was nothing but grass. Think of the tax revenue the city is losing! But I’ve written on that before.

With just a tiny bit of creative thinking, churches could be redeeming their land and buildings in ways that would truly benefit the community. Take the Episcopal Church of Our Savior in Pleasant Grove, Texas as an example. It’s a church of only 30 people, but they recently divided their four acres of land into garden plots, and rented them out to area residents for $30 a month and an agreement to donate 10% of their produce to a local charity.

Since 2003, they have donated 18,000 pounds of produce to area food pantries.

So what are you growing on your church property? Who uses your church building Monday-Saturday? Can you think of any better uses for both?

A Red Letter Blessing

By Jeremy Myers

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As I was cleaning carpets today in a house in Arlington, I noticed that there were several books sitting around called Red Letters by Tom Davis. I asked the homeowners about it, and they informed me that they attend Pantego Bible Church and lead a home group, in which they are currently reading and discussing this book.

Then they gave me a free copy!

There is almost nothing I love more than free books.

On the ride back to the shop, I opened the book up, and not only did I get the book free, but is has been autographed! That was a bonus.

And to top it all off, there was a piece of paper stuck inside the front cover as well. I opened it up, and out fell a check for $10,000!

No, I’m just kidding about the check. But there was a piece of paper inside, and on it was written “A Franciscan Blessing” which was exactly what I needed to hear today. Here is what it says:

May God bless you with discomfort…
     at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships,
     so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger…
     at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
     so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears…
     to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war,
     so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness…
     to believe that you can make a difference in the world,
     so that you can do what others claim cannot be done,
     to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

Amen.

Open Circle Village

Watching My Life

The Nature of Sand Castles

Reimagining Church

Imagine and Reimagine

Living Life on Mission

Bad Church Growth

How Women Help Men Find God

Fruitful Church

A Red Letter Blessing

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