Bro, you are totally a hipster.

via

As I think of doing ministry, it is with too much ease that I disregard the individual stories of those I am serving. We should recognize these and then let the gospel drench each and every situation.

HT: Transformed blog.

Pull back the blinders from my eyes
release this heart to dream
I realize i know
What’s happened is still happening
Still behind what’s before me
Time stretches toward infinity
In the face of decision
I’ll stand, I’ll stand

I put my trust in God, in God
I put my trust in God, in God

You are faithful

Still a child in my heart
Open eyed in wonder
You work beyond what I know
I don’t Know and I don’t want to

I put my trust in God, in God

You are faithful

I am not your typical college pastor. Most of those I minister to in our church are a tad older and beginning their careers. We don’t live in a college town and of the two-year schools here, the student population is small. That being said; we still minister to and disciple a number of college students and I want to be more intentional in how we reach them.

The Gospel Coalition has a great piece by J.D. Greear and Rupert Leary where they share 9 keys to reaching college students. It is well worth the read. I especially enjoy their first two points: don’t shy away from depth and preach the gospel.

Read the article here.

In one article the founder of Mashable, Pete Cashmore, talks about how he founded the digital media site and how he sees the things we often take for granted (like banking) to change in the coming years. One big idea that we must embrace is that ”it’s clear digital runs through everything in our culture.” What will this mean for your church that disregards new media and what Cashmore calls “digital?” Is it time of ra resource adjustment to speak into the lives of generation flux?

I prefer old school – I preach from a wooden pulpit and am routinely boring – but how am I letting “digital” run through my culture and how am I using new tools to proclaim the gospel? These are question I face everyday.

Beyond figuring out how to reach this chaotic generation though, I think there is great hope. Cashmore puts a lot of faith in human progress, he says ”the need for change is overwhelming: “It’s fundamentally a good thing: Human progress is accelerating. As a species, we have so many problems. If we change fast enough, we could solve them before things become disastrous.”‘ We have the answer however and it is not the latest gadget or our ability to troubleshoot the next big crisis – our hope is in Christ and things might get more disastrous but when he speaks the words “it is done” then chaos melts and we become who we are meant to be…

In a presentation with our church staff I was asked the key difference between Portland and the Tri-Cities and I said culture. I think our context in Eastern Washington is unique – certainly compared to the communities I have called home. When I say the culture is different I do mean the food, entertainment and arts in the community but I also mean the attitudes and the aspirations. What we live for shapes our culture. What we expect our children to do shapes the culture. And here it is different that most of the urban settings I have lived in.

The key is that having a different culture is not a bad thing. It is actually exciting for me because I have to figure out ministry in a new context. But we must realize that we are not in Seattle and things that are “successful” there might not be here.

At the same time however, the church must be about culture creation. We have to be the ones living counter-culturally to influence our communities and glorify Christ. This is why it is important to know your culture, so you shape it as you live differently.

Mark Miller over at Echo Hub has an article about being cultural pioneers and it is a good call to Christians everywhere. Miller says we need to answer three questions when we think of being cultural pioneers; 1) What culture are you spreading? 2) Are you pioneering? 3)Are you counter-cultural?

Once we realize that we are either spreading or copying culture then we can determine how we might pioneer – what we might take on to influence our world – and live out our faith. “or believers of Jesus, pioneering means being counter-cultural, leading in a way that turns conventional thinking upside down. Are you living the counter cultural teachings of Jesus? ” Let’s be people who can answer this question well.

If only I could go to _______’s church… How often do I hear this and how often have I said it myself. We are a people drawn to leadership and every once in a while we idolize a pastor and think our lives, and our church experience, would be so much better if I was part of that church… This is the rise of podcasts and blogging as influences on faith. And it is not all bad. But mostly.

I haven’t reached idolized status, and it is unlikely that I ever will, but I have been around the idolized and those that look fondly upon them. Steve Burchett gives some good tips if your preacher isn’t as great as you think he should be. I recommend it to you.

“We should praise the Lord for giving us outstanding, well-known preachers, but let us not forget Paul’s command to Timothy, who was entrenched in a local church with pastors whose names none of us knows: “The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching” (1 Tim. 5:17).”

Chase does well to remind us of this point and lays out some ways in which our view of the gospel can inform our lives. From the book’s description: “The Message that Saves is the Message that Sanctifies. Christian discipleship cannot be achieved by following clever formulas or spiritual shortcuts. Believers achieve true growth by holding firmly to and continually appropriating the gospel of God’s grace. While some people consider the gospel to be relevant only for conversion, the Bible teaches that the gospel is indispensable for the Christian life.”

Here are some of my favorite lines from the book:

“If we’re not careful, we might unknowingly lead people to think that Jesus isn’t Lord unless they make him their Lord through faith. We must teach that the Holy Father, not human faith, already made Jesus Lord.”

“For the believer, Christ becomes the reason for living and dying; he is not a means to some greater end. Christ is not penultimate; he is ultimate”

“When we water down the gospel to trite formulas, we are not helping sinners understand the gospel better. Rather, we may be muddying the waters by attaching the label sheep on goats—people who offered all the right answers to a few questions but who were perhaps only interested in obtaining fire insurance.”

“Quit fretting over the length of the pastor’s sermons, whether or not you think he’s funny, and try to concentrate the best you can on what he’s saying—you might even try jotting some notes. Pursuing church for its entertainment value is a dead-end road, because we should gather to worship God, not be preoccupied with our preferences and tastes.”

“Drawing people to church services with non-gospel strategies is dangerous, because people will stay for what they came for.”

And this one from C.J. Mahaney, ‘“The gospel isn’t one class among many that you’ll attend during your life as a Christian—the gospel is the whole building where all the classes take place!”’

The Gospel is for Christians pulls a lot of great nuggets from several pastors and authors and brings it together around the them that the gospel is for our whole lives. While a few of the chapters drag on, I appreciate Chase’s fidelity to the gospel and I was refreshed and encouraged by the book.

David Walker shares some of the same thoughts, at least from a standpoint of being authentic and honest about who you are. His words are a call to discipleship and I pray that we all can get to a point where we proclaim “ I’m cashing in all my chips to make it happen…to ensure that discipleship is the primary thing my life revolves around. That I’m making sure someone who is further along in this journey is investing into me, but, likewise, that I am doing the same thing in discipling others.”

Who are you discipling? Do they see who you truly are or have you scripted what they will see?