Conversion

"I don't use the word 'evangelism' because if you're not a Christian, it sounds like a disease...and if you are a Christian, it is one."
-Rob Bell, "The Revolutionary Voice", YS Convention ATL 2004

I think that we may be "converting" people to the wrong thing. Sometimes I think we may just be giving people a religious excuse to be more selfish than they were before. Is it possible that we are converting people to our ideas about Jesus rather than converting them to Jesus? What if we aren't even doing that much? Are we actually just converting people to an afterlife...for themselves? Most "evangelism" programs I've ever seen seem to be doing exactly that. (convince them how bad Hell is, convince them how bad they are...etc.) I think maybe we're getting it wrong, because people don't seem to be getting "converted" at all. Oh sure, they may start coming to our churches...they may become more "moral" in some sense...but are they really being transformed? Maybe we're showing them the wrong door. What if the afterlife is true, but not the point? What if making it the point has shifted the entire focus of what Christianity, Church, Faith, and "Evangelism" were supposed to be about in the first place.
What if instead of converting people to an afterlife or our particular way of doing church (so that one can go to Heaven), we went about it a different way? What if we actually started caring about people simply because they exist? What if, as our relationships with them grew, they learned our stories of faith and life? What if we then introduced them to the other people in our lives who also have faith and they learned their stories too? Is it possible that people might begin to figure out that all of these stories are a part of a bigger Story? What if they found the experience of us, our stories, and our Story...well, beautiful? Would they think that all of this was "good news"? Over time, might they want to be part of that Story? Might they realize that it really was their Story all along, even though they didn't know it? Would they fall in love with Jesus and want to become like Him? Would they then be ecstatic when they discovered that they got to live with Him forever? What if it was never supposed to be a 5 minute sales pitch? What if it was always supposed to be a Way of life that catches on as it is shared with others?
AE
Helpful Resource:

Firstfruits

Paul calls Jesus' resurrection the firstfruits of what will happen to us (1 Cor. 15). I think this analogy may be lost on most of us. "Firstfruits" points to when a farmer harvested the first part of his crop to ripen. This first sampling of the crop would tell him how the rest of his crop was going to develop. The NT authors did not intend for you to interpret Jesus' resurrection to mean that "Jesus was raised from the dead and therefore your nonmaterial soul has the promise of an afterlife". By using the term "firstfruits" they are saying "This is what it's going to be like for you." Now, I have to state here that I do believe that after you die, if you are a follower of Jesus, your spirit/soul does, in fact, go to "be with God." As Dallas Willard points out "What else would God do with His friends?" This is, however, not the promise of the event we celebrate at Easter. As N.T. Wright points out in Simply Christian, Easter points to not "life after death", but "life after life after death." Even the ancient Jews believed that for God to be faithful to his promise, everyone to whom he had ever been in covenant with would have to be alive to enjoy it's fulfillment. They believed that when God did what God was going to do, all of his people would be there to enjoy the fulfillment of God's dream for the world. This is not simply to say that they would be raised to life again only to get old and die again either. When the New Testament writers describe Jesus' resurrection and his appearances afterwards, (again, as Wright points out), it is almost as if they didn't have the language or vocabulary to describe what they were seeing and experiencing. He was the same as before, yet somehow different. He was familiar, yet at times unrecognizable. He had physicality (he ate, drank, touched, was touched, etc.) but he also walked through walls, came through locked doors, appeared and vanished. He was alive again and he was physical, but he was more than that as well. The biblical word is "glorified", but again, it must be stressed that even this condition is presented as a "firstfruits" for us. We will be free from death and decay. We will be free from the fallout of Genesis 3. But, we will not be raised "incorruptible" to live in a world that is corruptible. Paul states plainly in Romans 8:18-25, that Creation itself has the same promise as the Children of God. Creation itself will be freed from the bondage of death and decay. It will be free from the fallout of Genesis 3. In short: God, human beings, and Creation will become what God had in mind all along and will go on from there forever toward exciting, amazing, and as yet undreamed of possibilities. The kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our God and he will reign forever and ever, Amen. That's what I celebrate at Easter.
AE

Prayer Request (updated)

I just got the message that one of my former students from when I was the Youth Minister for the Palo Alto Church of Christ in Panama City, FL has been injured. He is stationed in Iraq, and this morning he was apparently riding in a Humvee that drove over a landmine. The explosion injured both of his arms and one of his legs. The left arm apparently sustained the most severe injuries. My understanding is that he is in surgery, but was awake and calm when he was taken to the hospital. His name is Rex McKnight. I would greatly appreciate your prayers on his behalf.
AE

(UPDATE) I just got this message from Holly, another former student in relation to Rex.
"We just got a call from one of the guy that has been taking care of Rex in the hospital in Germany. Rex wanted him to call and let us all know he is okay and for us not to worry!
The guys name is Chris. He said that he has really enjoyed taking care of Rex and that he is a great guy. Rex has been talking to him alot and Chris told my mom that he seems to be really spiritual and positive! That's our Rex! Being Jesus no matter were he is and in all cirumstances!

Chris also told us that Rex's arm was pretty banged up but they are doing everything they can. In a couple hours they will be taking Rex into Surgery for his arm. Tomorrow night Chris is going to call and let us know how the surgery went ."

Breakthroughs

• "Adam, there's a call for you on line one," Deb (the receptionist) said. I was sitting at my desk at the Palo Alto Church of Christ, in Panama City, FL, in what ended up being my last year there. Andrew, a high school senior was on the other end of the phone. "Hey man," he said, "A few of us were wanting to go down to the shelter today and help serve some people who are down on their luck. We were wondering if you'd like to come with us." I hate to admit it, but I was stunned. I'd been ministering to these kids for 4 years trying to move them towards exactly this kind of moment. It wasn't an officially planned or organized event or program. It was simply a group of teens, trying to follow the Way of Jesus. That afternoon, the Kingdom of God broke through.

• The other day I heard Dana (my wife) talking to someone else. She didn't know I could hear her. She was talking about how much she believed in me...how proud she was of me...she actually called me "brilliant". In that moment, I could take on the world. In that moment, I knew that partnering with God and this incredible woman he had given me I could actually change the world. In that moment, the Kingdom of God broke through.

• Dana got up early yesterday. She had some things she wanted to get done, so she got up quietly and let me sleep. I half awoke a little while later to the sound of the bedroom door opening and closing. I thought it was Dana slipping in to get something she needed. My eyes were still closed. I felt the bed shift a little as my 2 1/2 year old daughter Emma climbed up on the bed. She never said a word. She just crawled over and snuggled up to me. She put her little arm around me and stroked the back of my head until she fell asleep again in my arms. For a moment, everything in my world was in harmony. For a moment, I knew why I fight the battles I do. For a little while I thought about the future I wanted for her. I thought about the church I wanted for her. I thought about the faith I wanted her to see and have. I realized that it was all worth it if I can help give her the future that God dreams for her and the world around her. That morning, the Kingdom of God broke through.

"Then Jesus asked, '“What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.'"
Luke 13:18-19 TNIV

AE

Stream Of Consciousness Observations On Life In General

This week, instead of unpacking 1 salient though, I'll drop several random, unconnected thoughts:

• My wife Dana is one of the wisest people I've ever met.
• My daughter Emma is brilliant (no bias, of course), and quite possibly a comedian.
• "MySpace" is internet Crack that sucks up time like a vacuum cleaner.
• "The Next Generation Leader" by Andy Stanley is probably the best book on Leadership I have ever read. I even started using a highlighter. (I generally hate Leadership books)
• The weather in West Virginia is proof that God has a really weird sense of humor.
• I wonder how much of "evangelism" happens at a subconscious level.
• Sometimes I wonder if our current version of church cancels itself out.
• I think Emma looks more like Dana than me, but she has my eyes.
• Jack Johnson is just cool, isn't he?
• My main contacts with most of my best friends (besides Dana and Emma of course), now take place over the internet.
• I know the New Testament was originally written in Greek, but I'm pretty sure that the Greek language was invented by Satan.

AE