There are three kinds of people in the world, those who make waves, those who ride waves, and those who sit on the beach.

Wave Makers
Wave makers are those who innovate, create, and change the direction of culture and society. They are often well known, and people who know about them feel very strongly one way or another about them. Such people are catalytic, sparking great excitement or great contempt. Steve Jobs is a wave maker in the technology realm. Brian MacLaren is a wave maker in Christianity. He may be the father of the Emerging Church movement, and people who are aware of him think that he is either a genius or a heretic. I’ll withhold judgment for now.

There are really more wave makers than you might think. The problem with being a wave maker is that it is hard work, and often involves swimming against the tidal wave of tradition. As a result, most wave makers are never heard of, because most of them drown. Though wave makers are necessary and needed, being a wave maker is risky and tiring.

Wave Riders
The second type of person is a wave rider. This is the person who waits in the water for some brave soul to create the wave, and then they jump on for the ride. They are students of culture and can feel the subtle changes in the current of society. They look for patterns and new developments, and upon sensing them, paddle madly to catch the next big wave. The most dedicated wave riders will ride one wave for a while, and then paddle back out to wait for the next one.

There is risk in riding waves, but not nearly as much as in making waves. As such, there are always a lot more wave riders than wave makers. Most wave riders survive, but the drawback is that most of them do not become well known. A few will get book deals and prominent leadership positions, but most will just keep riding waves. Another drawback is that many wave riders are criticized for “going with the flow” and just following every new wave that comes along.

Sand Sitters
Finally, there are those who sit on the beach and watch it all happen while soaking up the sun. They are the sand sitters. They either “Ooh” and “Aaah” at the wave makers and wave riders, or criticize them and tell each other what they would have done differently if they were the ones out in the water, braving the sharks and rip tides. There is nothing really wrong with sitting on the beach, enjoying the rays of the sun. After all, the wave makers and wave riders need someone to cheer them on.

But sand sitters have the danger of getting burned. If they aren’t careful, never get out and splash around in the water, and fall asleep on the beach, they end up with nasty sunburns (Read 1 Cor 3:15).

So what kind of beach goer are you?

I’ve written briefly on this before, but Wendy and I are coming to the firm conviction that we are not cut out to be what is commonly thought of as a “Pastoral family.” I am no longer a pastor, and she is not a pastor’s wife.

Nor are we going into “church planting” even though I have talked and written a lot about it.

Instead, we have decided to go into missions. We are going to be missionaries. We will be a missionary family. The only question now is “Where?” Well, that question is still a little bit up in the air, but we do have a general area of the world that we know God is calling us to.

God is calling us to be missionaries in a part of the world that is increasingly hostile to Christianity, is largely unchurched, and according to some studies, unreached.

The great thing is that since I’m pretty bad and learning foreign languages, this part of the world speaks English. Also, I’m somewhat familiar with the culture, which is helpful as well, since all expert missiologists say that indigenous missionaries are typically the most successful missionaries.

What part of the world are we headed to? It is the part of the world known as the United States of America. Please pray for us as we make preparations, look for sources of income (which will include a job), and ultimately settle on a specific location within the United States to continue our missionary efforts.

I used to be very critical of everybody and everything that didn’t do things the way I thought they should be done and didn’t believe the same way I believed. I have been trying to change so that I am much less critical. This is especially true since I realized that much of what I criticize in others comes around to happen to me.

But there was still one group I tended to criticize…I am now critical of those who are critical…

I now find myself thinking, “I can’t believe how critical they are! All they do is judge people who they know nothing about. Don’t they see how negative they sound and how damaging it is to Christian love and unity to be so judgmental and critical?”

Ironic, isn’t it?

It’s like pride. As soon as you think you’ve got it mastered, you’ve lost the battle.

Do you want to see churches planted, but don’t have loads of money? Do it missionally. Here’s a basic outline by which anyone can plant a church.

1. Get a job, any job. But not a pastoral job, unless the church which employs you allows you to plant churches in the way outlined below (I’ve seen it happen, but it is very, very rare). In this way, you do not depend on the “church” for your income. You have no idea how liberating and freeing this is.

2. Develop and/or find a simple and easily reproducible way of making disciples. It should be something that anybody can learn to teach anyone else after seeing it only once or twice, and which is advanced enough for even the most knowledgeable Christian. It should also involve active service in the community. I highly recommend “Life Transformation Groups” by Church Multiplication Associates as talked about in Neil Cole’s book Organic Church.

3. Find a marginalized, fringe group that is rejected, neglected, outcast, condemned, criticized, and judged by the majority of society, especially by “religious” people.

4. Insert yourself into this group with one goal only: to make life-long friends with some of the people in this group. Your goal is to become friends with these people, even if they never accept your beliefs about Jesus and the Bible. Do not try to turn every conversation around to God and the Bible. Don’t have an agenda!

5. Live like Jesus among this group: Love, accept, forgive, serve. Laugh a lot. Have fun.

6. If/when someone becomes interested in your way of living and believing, invite them to join you in the discipleship process of step 2.

7. If/when they believe in Jesus for eternal life, invite them to remain in their community, practicing these seven steps among their friends and family.

This approach is not flashy, will take time, and will not help you gather huge crowds or construct big buildings. But disciples will be made, and that, after all, is what Jesus called us to do (Matt 28:19-20).