Fireseed Anthology: A postmodern approach to ancient faith

2007-11-04T20:23:00.001-08:00

Story Time

2007-11-04T20:11:00.001-08:00

Monday nights, 7pm.

4609 Ledesma Road, Austin, Texas 78721

We are starting up our story telling dinners. For the next five weeks different friends/neighbors will be telling stories of Kings and Queens from Biblical times. Everything will be oral. It should be refreshing and interesting and diverse.

So, expect dinner, expect to tell stories and to hear them. We will go down the road a few blocks to TC’s, for Blues Night. Bring a friend or two.

moved

2007-10-03T22:06:00.000-07:00

I am keeping my wordpress blog more up to date:

http://fireseedanthology.wordpress.com

Characteristics of Fireseed

2007-07-02T20:29:00.001-07:00

Spiritual Dimension

1. Prayed for by students, volunteers, staff, interns and supporters.

2. We are expectant of God to do the miraculous among us.

3. Volunteers are outward focused and have a vision for their friends, peers, and younger friends serving with us.

4. Volunteers and staff submit lives under the authority of Jesus Christ, they love Him and others.

5. Volunteers and staff are growing in their faith, knowledge and works in Christ.

6. New involved friends have personal opportunities to hear and experience Christ, His teachings and what God has done in the lives of volunteers, staff, and interns lives.

7. New involved friends’ input and service is valued.

8. New involved friends are free to question.

9. New involved friends are loved and know it.

Friends are experiencing healing, hope, and surrender to Christ.

Friends are being connected to a healthy, local church body.

12. New Movements are happening organically.

Story Runners

2007-03-04T08:56:00.000-08:00

"What's happening is this – most of today's younger generation and even many of the baby boomers of the 50's, 60's, and 70's prefer to learn through spoken and visual means rather than written word.

Studies have shown this trend. A 2004 study reported that “literary reading in America is not only declining rapidly among all groups, but the rate of decline has accelerated, especially among the young.” This reflects a “massive shift toward electronic media for entertainment and information.”

But this wave is much deeper than a learning style preference, more than just preferring to watch TV and listen to music. There is also a strong move towards relational, non-linear learning.

he problem is that most of our preaching, Bible studies, evangelism and discipleship are reader-oriented and linear-sequential in thought. Also, the post-modern's learning style involves a more 'poetic' language than a scientific language."

This is from http://storyrunners.com

The Fireseed Anthology Project is in parntership with Story Runners. Together, we are seeking how to reach our post-modern culture in the west and beyond.

More Ideas Austin:STINT

2007-02-15T12:44:00.001-08:00

So here are some more brainstorms of things we could do as a team as we walk through the gospels next year an invite students to join us in experiencing following Jesus.

August

The Temptation of Christ/preparing for Ministry

Open our year with a 40 day fast as a team. Use our time of planning and training also as a spiritual focus on prayer and fasting in conjunction with the start of Christ's ministry as He was led into the wilderness. We may also be doing a week of orality training (learning the stories of Scripture through oral means and being able to communicate them to our culture-) during this time.

September

It seems like at the start of Christ's ministry he performed a lot of healings, etc.

We could explore what it would look like to offer a prayer/love in action focus to the sick and broken hearted on campus and in the city. Maybe we would come up with unique ways of ministering to Freshman. We could invite students to come with us to hospitals, nursing homes, aids victims, etc.How could we bring awareness of global disease around the world to the campuses in Austin?How could we be a blessing to these people? What could we do to love them? How could we pray for them? How could we do these things creatively?

October

Jesus' teaching on Loving Enemies/Sinful woman who was forgiven much

Could we initiate a "forgiveness drive" on the campus'. Sharing this teaching of Christ...could we challenge those claiming Christ to love and forgive boldly...perhaps especially within their family relationships and broken friendships. What tools, creative ways,art, discussion groups to propel this?Could we use tools like short films, La Busqueda...project it on walls at night on campus?

Parable of the Sower, Lamp on a stand, To Him who has much more will be given
.....public art pieces, stewardship games?

November

Feeding of the 5,000

Focused effort of feeding the Homeless in Austin and mobilizing students to get involved.

Mt. of Transfiguration

Team Retreat somewhere to connect with the Lord and rest

70 Sent out/cost of discipleship

Maybe we invite students to "leave their families" for Thanksgiving and do a ministry to those without families, or something like Katrina Relief ministry that week...maybe we go somewhere together.....maybe we prepare meals for the elderly, orphans, or refugees without families to celebrate with. Then we come back an debrief and celebrate what God has done. As always, You would invite those who are exploring Christ to experience/serve with you...

December

..........to be continued....

STINT/AUSTIN

2007-02-09T12:52:00.000-08:00

Please pray about joining our STINT team in Austin beginning in August. If you are staff, please contact Melinda Carter and/or Scott Nannen at their uscm account.

If you are planning on interning with Campus Crusade for Christ and this project, please contact us and apply preferably by March 20. Go to http://apply4internship.com to consider/apply. We are not listed yet...but hope to be soon. Just type in Austin/Fireseed as your location.

But...Please let us know if you are thinking about this.

If you are a student...you will also need to apply for a year long STINT by March 20. You will take a year off of school to do this and live in Austin, Texas.

The Fireseed Anthology

2007-02-09T12:45:00.000-08:00

A collection of inciting stories of Jesus, His disciples (then and now), and those who will become disciples.

The Purpose

2007-02-09T12:43:00.000-08:00

To explore, experiment,and express the stories of Jesus (within the context of the grander story of God and His people); to become part of the story and to invite others into the story.

The Hope

2007-02-09T12:42:00.000-08:00

To effectively communicate the gospel to a postmodern culture and seeing lives transformed as they enter into the story with us...Following Christ together. Seeing those who have never known or experienced the abundant life Jesus offers to become fully surrendered to Him and bring others with them.

Website

2007-02-09T12:38:00.000-08:00

This would be the space for documenting the stories(of team members and others) of the different experiments, of pastor's input to Jesus' stories, of creative expressions of the parables, public art pieces,etc. Its a web-like "Real World" of the team and those they interact with and how they interact with Jesus and His teachings.

It would include a blog, a video, art and photo gallery...Interviews, etc.

The Website would also be a good way for people to find out more about the stories and gives them an entry point into the story. It's a place for people to find information about the projects, to get ideas for their own experimentation,etc.

It would be an outlet for and catalyst to gathering stories - a circular situation (get stories/put them on the website, update the website because there are many stories to be told).

Gathering Stories

2007-02-09T12:33:00.000-08:00

One of our first entry points on campus will be conducting interviews/getting accounts of stories with students. We will talk with them about their own stories that mirror Christ's parables,get them to tell the stories of Jesus in their own language if they know them...ask about cultural stories that they might know from books or other people that represent the parables/stories (real life prodigal son,e tc).

We would also want to gather stories from pastors on their understandings of the teachings/stories/etc.

When we conduct these interviews,etc. We give the people we talk to the link to their web site so they can view what we filmed later...and also invite them into the project.

Inviting others

2007-02-09T12:28:00.000-08:00

"Make disciples and some will become converts"- Dallas Willard
"Follow Me" - Jesus

As we experiment with following Jesus through the stories of the Bible, we will engage with students on campus and invite them to come with us and participate with us in these experiments.

We will be teaching them about Christ through experience first but also through story telling, reflecting the Biblical Narrative. They will taste what it is like to follow Jesus through these varied exercises, projects, public art displays and services to those in need....They will learn the story of Jesus and His teachings within the context of the Grander Story of God, Creation, Fall, Redemption,etc.

So...again...we are not teaching based on knowledge and reflection...but primarily through experience and then story telling. Action - Reflection

Study

2007-02-09T12:22:00.000-08:00

As a team, we will be studying the grander Story of God within the Scriptures. We will look to outside resources such as the One Story project (http://onestory.org) to help us learn the stories of the Bible and develop skills in oral Bible teaching methods.

As each "experiment" will focus on one story of Jesus or parable that He taught we will always want to "set the story up".

As people come to interact with the project we will give oral presentations of the context of this particular story within the greater story of God and people. Learning these things will be an integral part of everything we do...and a major part of our discipleship.

We will become equipped in knowing the Stories of the Bible being able to communicate them in a variety if ways.

Church Resourcing

2007-02-09T12:19:00.000-08:00

We will be going to local churches, pastors,etc. to get their take on the different parables and teachings of Christ to inform our "experiments".

These interviews, etc will be documented on the web.

This will benefit not only the Fireseed Project...but hopefully give the students and others within the Austin Community exposure to the spiritual resources within their reach.

We hope that this project will create a bridge to the local church. We also hope that on some of the different projects we could partner with different local churches.

Notes in the Project

2007-02-09T12:17:00.000-08:00

Jesus is central and the central "character" if this collection of stories (The Fireseed Anthology)

"We even shared our lives with them" = hearkening back to Paul's words...as we will be documenting, exploring, trying, failing, praying, living through Jesus' stories and teachings our lives as current day disciples will be exposed to others on the web and in the city. We believe this authenticity is what is needed to reach this generation and to invite others into the process.

Members will live in community and in close proximity to one another (like an overseas STINT). This will promote team community and a spirit of fellowship and sharing "all things in common"...as well as a welcoming environment, yet modest, to invite others into.

We want to encourage students to join in the experiments with their natural groups of friends and acquaintances rather than focusing on the individual. They could possibly be challenged to join us in the different experiments in the form of teams. We believe that we live and grow best in the context of community and that multiplication will happen more effectively within their organic relationships.

Prayer and Christ's leading are key. We want to be praying for the miraculous and the movement of God's Spirit...because that's' exciting...right?

Functions within CCC

2007-02-09T12:00:00.000-08:00

Research and Development - These experiments, studies, trials will serve as research for the rest of CCC on how to effectively reach Post Moderns in the West.

Resources - As we develop ideas, websites, conduct interviews, etc. These will serve as a resource for the rest of CCC and the church in reaching Post-Moderns...hopefully offering fresh ideas.

Campus Ministry/Movement Building - We will be on the field, doing hands on ministry and (Lord Willing) creating new spiritual movements on the college campuses in Austin.

The Fireseed Anthology Project is an extension, a growth shoot off of the Campus Ministry reaching students that we have yet to reach..."so that every student will know someone who truly follows Christ."

Experiments with Jesus' Teachings

2007-02-09T11:27:00.000-08:00

Experiments with the Gospel/Parables- one of the main focuses of the Anthology Project would be experimenting with Jesus' teaching and parables to live out, obey, follow these things in our lives today. They would be based on specific stories of Jesus and adapted to challenge us in our living today by the same truths He spoke of then. The team would be studying the teachings of Christ and would discuss ways to experiment together. We will invite students to join with us in the experiments as we interact with them on campus and in the city.

These experiments would take on different expressions and forms. This might include city wide events, public art pieces, service projects and outreach to those in need, film....etc.

For Example:

-giving away all you have and giving it to the poor - as the team comes across this teaching/event within the gospels they will wrestle with it. They will documented as they decide what they will do. Will I sell my grandmothers furniture...The team would really experiment truly with doing this. Selling everything and giving it to the poor. If someone held things back..filming the process, why, the results. We would invite students on campus do to the same...on a large or small scale. Perhaps we would have a city wide/school wide garage sale and give them money earned to the poor in the city.

-loving enemies/forgiveness

-praying all night (like Jesus did before His crucifixion...when the disciples fell asleep). we would walk through these stories and experiment with them in our own lives as a team inviting students in the city to join us in these different experiments.

Jesus' crucifixion around Easter. Creating a public art piece where you build a very large wall with wood representing Christ (abstractly) and then have balloons filled with red paint that you would offer to people to throw at the wall. There would be a strange sensation as you throw these balloons knowing that it is like you are throwing them at Christ. The team would share the story of Christ and the Cross...and explain the role of sin ,etc...and the betrayal that each of us has with Christ...etc. Letting people experience this in a public setting.

+ others

Team Roles

2007-01-31T18:58:00.000-08:00

As I think of a team for The Fireseed Anthology Project...I like thinking of each person working out of his/her giftings...and that defining (somewhat) their role on the team. So...as staff and students consider joining the team...they would consider different roles that they would serve. I think perhaps this is Biblical and would lead to a greater effectiveness.

Possible Roles?

Poem

2007-01-22T13:32:00.000-08:00

"Go to the people,
Live with them,
Learn from them,
Love them.

Start with what they know,
Build with what they have,
But with the best leaders, when the work is done, the task
Accomplished,
The people will say,

We have done it ourselves." - Lao Tsu

The Project

2007-01-12T14:25:00.000-08:00

I have recently been toying with the idea of calling our STINT, The Fireseed Anthology Project.

This stirs in me possibilities of specific goals or "missional" projects that perhaps could be tried during the two year trial period.

Much like the http://one.org/ One Campaign, could you meet specific needs as a team and community, inviting others do do so while exploring Christ and his claims together.

I can imgaine a website The Fireseed Anthology Project documenting the stories of those involved and the progess of the campaign.

I think the first act would be "decoding". Going out into the community, surveying unmet needs and desires.

Any thoughts?

Sent

2007-01-12T13:18:00.000-08:00

At the first service of my church http://voxveniae.com, the pastor, Gideon gave an analogy about how if Fed Ex wanted to be the best shipping and packaging company in the world it would be ridulous for them to think they were achieving that by building bigger and bigger warehouses for packages. In the same way, the purpose of the chuch is the similar,to be sending us out...He proposed that his vision for his church would be that it would challenge the church to be the church outside of the church.

Today, I read this, " God is a sending God, with a desire to see humankind and creation reconciled, redeemed and healed. The missional church then, is a sent church. It is a going church, a movement of God through his people, sent to bring healing into a broken world." - pg. 18 The Shaping of Things to Come by Michael Fronst and Alan Hirsch

It is my hope that the Fireseed Anthology Project would be a vehicle of sending.

Evangelism

2006-08-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

The Emperor Has No Clothes: Evangelism

He has carried a burden on his heart as few men that I’ve ever known.
A burden for the evangelization of the world”

Rev. Billy Graham speaking of Dr. Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ

“Evangelism” to those saints before us was the faithful spread of the good news of Christ. Evangelism is an earmark of the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. Specifically, the ministry is known for the creation of and widespread use of the 4 Spiritual Laws, also known as the “Knowing God Personally” booklet.

“Evangelism” to a post modern, American generation means peddling that “Jesus died on the cross for your sins”…with whatever tool you have in hand.

“Evangelism”, linguistically, to a post modern, is a bad word. It may seem like semantics – but if you use it with a postmodern, and you mean it in a good way…they probably will not hear that.

When you tell a post modern that we are going “to do evangelism”, you are telling them, “we are going to sell Christianity door to door”.

Language will continue to be an important issue with the globalization of the world. We must continue to pursue understanding of one another beyond a surface glance within a conversation. Other words within our Christian subculture that have negative and inconsistent meanings are “witnessing”, “saved”, “born again”, “testimony”, and “missionary” in some cultures.

No clothes

2006-08-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

“The Knowing God Personally Booklet is our Bread and Butter”

The modern campus ministry is rooted in the training and use of the KGP to share the “cliff notes” of the Bible with those on beaches and dorm halls.

However, in a post modern culture this method will prove to be less and less culturally relevant and effective. It is not that the approach has become merely unfashionable, needing better graphic design or that the messengers have become less dedicated and courageous needing to just “step out in faith” more often “sharing the booklet and leaving the results to God”.

In fact, the booklet is truly very culturally modern in its approach.

Bill Bright very effectively communicated to his culture, but the west has changed. The booklet offers a rational approach to salvation as it leads you through a logical progression:

1) God Loves You…God gave Jesus so you would have life, abundant life.

2) Man is sinful…You can not experience this life because of your sin.

3) God’s provision…Jesus died on the cross to pay for your sin so you could experience this life.

4) Your response…you must individually receive Jesus to experience this life and God’s plan.

“The modern perspective emphasizes the rational aspect of faith and individual understanding of God. Belief grows out of knowledge and knowledge grows out of study and observation. Modernism seeks to prove the existence of God; but this discussion ultimately relegates God to an idol or a mere concept. Proof uses positively what conceptual atheism uses negatively…in both cases, human discourse determines God.”

Jean-Luc Marion, God Without Being

One concern I have with the modern approach to evangelism is that though a person may understand the "legal" transactions that needed to occur for our attonement of sin...and our "legal" need to place our faith in Christ...they may very well complete this transaction and be one to whom Christ would say, "I never knew you".

As I read more and more about reaching a postmodern generation, I feel as though I have a front row seat watching the Emperor’s New Clothes, or that I am the emperor. What I mean is that we are proudly marching on the college campuses with our tracts and everyone else knows what we are “wearing” (“invisible fabric”=naked) and that it isn’t what postmoderns want. It isn’t that some of these people, believers or not, don’t want Jesus…they don’t want a sales pitch and a booklet (even if in our hearts this isn’t what we are doing – this is what is communicated). This may seem harsh, but it is painful for a postmodern to go out on campus knowing they are essentially wearing nothing…and that their method is actually a barrier for other post moderns to knowing Jesus. Of course, sharing the gospel is a vulnerable thing…but I am speaking of the method when I speak of feeling “naked”, it feels humiliating because it feels inauthentic.

A postmodern needs a relational approach to becoming a believer and disciple of Christ. When I say relational, I do not mean simply, “friendship evangelism” or the “relational model” of evangelism. What I am referring to is introducing a person to the person of Jesus Christ, His story, His teachings, His friendship, His position, His Kingdom, His place in the God Head. Jesus said “I am the way…” The emphasis is on faith in the Person of Christ, rather than principles of Christianity and a list a propositions (even if valid).

Expressions of Knowledge and Love

2006-08-24T16:35:00.000-07:00

Proposal/Fireseed Anthology/Introducing others to Christ

“Alan said he was a big man, full of life, who listened without shifting his eyes. Alan asked a few questions. I don’t know what they were, but as a final question he asked Dr. Bright what Jesus meant to him. Alan said Dr. Bright could not answer the question. He said Dr. Bright just started to cry. He sat there in his big chair behind his desk and wept.”

Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz

Bill Bright knew Jesus personally, he loved Jesus and he wanted others to know and love Jesus…and experience the love Christ has for them. He prayerfully found a way to express the gospel to his generation. He spoke the heart language of the culture at the time.

Can you imagine if there were only one love song in the world? Only one newspaper, one synoptic gospel? What if there were only one guy who got to paint a painting to express his love for the beauty of God’s creation? What if we told all little children…better not to sing your song…you might hit the notes wrong, best to leave it to your uncle Bob.

I think we miss an important part of knowing Jesus in a deeper way when we do not form our own words to express who Christ is, our love for Him, and what it is to know Him. Often, many “Christians” may not realize that they in fact do not know Christ because they are able to parrot and sing so much of others understandings and expressions of personal experience.

Part 1

2006-08-24T16:34:00.000-07:00

FIRESEED ANTHOLOGY: WIN>BUILD>SEND: PART 1

Know and communicate who Christ is (Biblically) and what his teachings are.

Intentionally introduce others to Christ and His teachings.

Fireseed Anthology would seek to facilitate the exploration of individuals knowledge/experience of Christ and His Lordship as well as lead them through personally expressing their knowledge/experience of Christ and His Lordship, to each’s own degree…not assuming that all are in the same place.

We would encourage those to intentionally share about their relationship with Christ with those closest to them, as you would in a marriage situation. As people share with their natural networks, Christ becomes even more real as He impacts their personal lives and their personal networks. His impact becomes more organic.

We would encourage personal, creative expression depending on each one’s culture, gifting, personality, etc.

We would teach people to see:

As an artist, I can teach you to be an artist in two ways. First, I can teach you a formula of how to draw a tree. Then, I can teach you a formula of how to draw a house...the sun, a person, a cloud, etc. The unfortunate part of this is that you will only know how to draw these items in the way that I have taught you.

Secondly, I can teach you how to see...how to draw, in general. If I teach you how to look at the world...how to think about positive and negative spaces, lines, etc. Equipped to “see” you are able, even without talent, to take what is in front of you and create something that resembles what your eye sees on paper. You are able to express it.

It is the old idea, “Give a man a fish...he eats for a day”...”Teach a man to fish...he eats for a lifetime”. Teach a man a model of how to share the gospel…he can share the gospel when he is in the context of how he has learned to use the model. Teach a man to know and think about the gospel, he can express it in any context.

We must not spin our wheels thinking of the next “post-modern” model of a sharing the gospel track. We must take a step back and teach our staff and students to “see” the gospel, to think about it, to know it in such a way that no matter what situation they are in they can respond authentically. That is transferable.

Starting with whats there

2006-08-24T16:28:00.000-07:00

Let’s Have a Rauschenberg: Planting with Persons of Peace

“We’ve begun by finding Christians. But if you want a really powerful church start, find people of peace. Bar the Christians; don’t let them in. They mess things up in the early stages.”

Carol Davis, church planter

Growth culture	Reproductive model
Focus on individual conversions	Focus on group conversions
Start on believer’s turf	Start on unbeliever’s turf
Teach Scripture for information	Teach Scripture for application
Begin by finding Christians	Begin by finding “people of peace”
Begin in facilities	Begin in homes, front porches, yards, parks
Start with celebration in a large group	Start with a small group
Build programs and buildings	Build leaders
Import professional clergy	Have indigenous and convert-emerging clergy
Leader leads all the participants	Leader equips the emerging leaders
Fund the church starter	Start churches with bi-vocational people

The Fall semester rolls around and the machine keeps pumping. Two days into planning, staff member’s calendars begin to fill. Fall Retreat in October, staff conference in November, winter conference, trips to campuses around the state to give lift to ministries, staff meetings, phone calls and discipleship appointments…the list goes on. Where is the time to reach out to those who don’t know or have not experienced Christ? It is hard to find unless you call it a survey.

Under our current model of planting movements, it is my understanding that our primary method is to surface strong believing students and to coach them to lead a movement on their campus. What usually results is a glorified Bible Study with few reports of totally transformed lives from darkness to light.

At a Catalytic Training school, I head a speaker who said that Dr. Bright used to say WINBUILDSEND almost as if it was one word or one thing. Often, enhanced by our structures (randoms, Bible studies, retreats, conferences), we tend to divide the process into three separate compartments and few within our ministries experience the full transformational process.

Person of Peace defined

2006-08-24T16:24:00.000-07:00

The Person of Peace: (from the article on reproductive church planting)

They are receptive. Not every receptive person is a person of peace. There will be many people along the way who receive Christ before you have found this person. But every person of peace is receptive.
They are a person of reputation. They are known. They may have a good or a bad reputation. But they are known. The woman at the well had a bad reputation. Cornelius' reputation was good.
They have influence. They are a person who, when they respond to Christ, will bring many others along with them.

The person of peace is someone that God leads you to that may or may not yet be a committed follower and believer in Christ, but one who is open and receptive to Christ and who has the qualities listed above...obviously this isnt a hard and fast rule....but a guidline of keeping your eyes open to who God might be working in and through to reach a community.

Assemblege Art

2006-08-24T16:19:00.000-07:00

Proposal/Fireseed Anthology/Planting Movements

Robert Rauschenberg was an artist in the 1950’s and 60’s. Rauschenberg’s oft-repeated quote that he wanted to work “in the gap between art and life,” suggested a questioning of the distinction between art objects and everyday objects when he began experimenting with assemblages that broke down barriers between painting and sculpture by incorporating everyday objects such as Coca-Cola bottles, clothing, newspaper clippings, taxidermied animals, and photographs into his work.

Rauschenberg took found objects and created art with them rather than casting a mold and melting down materials into the mold. In the past, I think what we in the campus ministry have deemed transferable has too often become a mold in which all should fit. We go onto campuses and into our years with strategic plans, full calendars, and pre-designed resources that allow little room for anything fresh, unique or custom made…sometimes it feels that if the Holy Spirit did want to move in a new way He would have to make sure it fit in conveniently between appointments.

I think taking a cue from this post-modern artist would inform us well about planting transformational communities in a post-modern matrix.

Perhaps as we go onto non-believers turf, rather than imposing molds we work with God in creating something fresh with the raw souls before us. We seek to create a fresh work within an existing network of people…with the personalities, gifts, languages that are there. We do not ask these people to conform to the mold of Campus Crusade culture yet let Christ make them a new creation, redeeming His handi-work as unique and beautiful as individuals within a greater work of art…and even this work( this local community) within the greater body of work, the Body of Christ.

We seek to orchestrate and create being flexible and responsive to the uniqueness of each community and what each part offers.

Part 2

2006-08-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

FIRESEED ANTHOLOGY: WIN>BUILD>SEND: PART 2

PRAY FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT TO LEAD YOU WHERE HE IS WORKING, LOOK FOR THE MIRACULOUS

BEGIN WITH PERSONS OF PEACE RATHER THAN MATURE BELIEVERS TO START MOVEMENTS

FOCUS ON GROUP CONVERSIONS, ORGANIC CONVERSIONS AMONG THE P.O.P.’S CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE

Fireseed Anthology would seek to intentionally initiate meaningful spiritual dialogue to locate the Holy Spirit’s work and the Person(s) of Peace in which a movement could be started.

We would seek to simply equip the emerging leaders within the community to guide the group. We would not make the group dependent on us.

With the internet and the vast amount of resources, we would guide them to helpful materials and readings to inform their spiritual growth.

We would begin with facilitating learning the stories of Christ (see next chapter) orally.

Fireseed Anthology would also seek to be a portal and peacemakers to the church universal. We would give basic Christian heritage so that the new community would have an appreciation for the tradition and family of the church, as well as a Biblical understanding. We would give guidance in how to choose a church home.

We would encourage all those who have placed faith in Christ and committed their lives to be baptized in accordance to Scripture, at this point: through a local church body and to partner with that church (as a group) in some way, and to eventually find membership.

Stories

2006-08-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

A Bouquet : Stories of Disciples

“Current estimates suggest that almost two-thirds of the world’s population is illiterate or has an oral preference (can't, won't or don't read and write). The proportion is significantly higher among the nearly 5,000 people groups not yet reached with the gospel, and among these include many of the 2,700 remaining Bibleless peoples. For these oral communicators, life lessons are processed by observation, participation and verbal communication—i.e. stories”

Epic Partners website, a partnership of CCC

Proposal/Fireseed Anthology/Building Relationships

In the fall of 2005...I began to think about how cool it would be if I could sit around with my friends and we could tell the stories of Jesus. I love the gospels....and I love the parables. I can tell you the Parable of the Good Steward...or give you a snapshot of the Prodigal Son....but what I can not tell you is this: Who was Jesus talking to when he told that parable? Was Peter there? Was it in the beginning of His ministry...or near the end? Has he performed the miracles yet?

Why does this matter?

I want to know the teachings of Christ within the context of the relationships He had. I want to know Christ and tell stories of Christ as I would the stories you tell of old friends when you try to explain who they are to someone...and you remember warm memories of them.

As I lay in bed, I tried to think of one story...just one. I could not do it. I could remember only the pieces of everything...He rode into town on a donkey...He died on the cross...thy spat on Him...Peter betrayed Him.

I began to imagine what it would be like to create a culture that(no matter who they were, followers of Christ or not) that knew from their hearts the stories of Christ and His teachings contained within the context of that.

How amazing would it be if students within our own, post modern culture could learn the stories of the Kingdom of God, the Stories of Christ, the stories of God in their own heart language...and then take the gospel to much of the unreached world and teach them to understand these stories in their own heart language?

To reach the postmodern west (America and Europe) we will need not only to use story in merely oral forms but also through the media and the web. This is very much part of the heart language of the student culture.

PART 3

2006-08-24T16:09:00.000-07:00

an·thol·o·gy n. pl. an·thol·o·gies

A collection of literary pieces, such as poems, short stories, or plays.

[Medieval Greek anthologi, collection of epigrams, from Greek, flower gathering, from anthologein, to gather flowers : antho-, antho- + logos, a gathering (from legein, to gather. See leg- in Indo-European Roots).]

FIRESEED ANTHOLOGY: WIN>BUILD>SEND: PART 3

LEARN AND TELL OUR OWN STORIES IN CONTEXT OF RELATIONSHIP/COMMUNITY

LEARN AND TELL THE STORIES OF CHRIST IN THE CONTEXT OF HIS RELATIONSHIPS

Fireseed Anthology would be a gathering of people, people with stories.

We would seek to facilitate the telling of personal stories through a variety of means such as methods used in Europe, Soul to Soul, Poetry, Art, Myspace, Media, etc. We would seek to help people know and value to story of their own culture and lives. This would strengthen community and provide a creative means of engaging one another.

We would also engage and facilitate learning and telling the stories of Christ and His disciples through oral and technological/media means.

Participants are not necessarily committed followers of Christ yet could be considered disciples…some becoming converts through getting to know Jesus. It would be expressed from the beginning the duality of the group both to learn stories of one another and to learn the stories/teachings of Christ.

The term Fireseed in the name implies that this collection of stories (people and their lives/disciples old and new) would also be a gathering of “Fireseeds” that when they go out they have great potential to create an outbreak of change, and revolution, i.e. fire.

Those transformed believers in Christ having emerged from Fireseed Anthology would be encouraged to participate in Epic Parter/Orality missions and/or plant other Fireseed Anthology movements as well as partnering with Christ, the Church and is His mission to the world in a variety of ways.

Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done

2006-08-24T16:07:00.000-07:00

KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE

"Missional faith asserts that Jesus came to preach the good news of the kingdom of God to everyone, especially the poor. He came to seek and save the lost. He came on behalf of the sick. He came to save the world. His gospel and therefore the Christian message , is good news for the whole world. The idea that the Christian message is universally good news for Christians and non Christians alike is , to some, unheard of, strange, and perhaps heretical.......Jesus was a Jew and so saw Himself as one of Abraham's descendants. Abraham's original contact with God involved a kind of mission statement: I will bless you, God said, and I will make you a blessing to others. I will make your name and nation great, God said, and through you, all nations will be blessed. "

Proposal/Fireseed Anthology/Making Disciples

When Campus Crusade mobilized 10,000 students last year to reach Katrina victims, I was extremely proud of our organization.

Social Action and Service are at the heart of the post-modern students. Faith married with actions, Orthoproxy (right practice) lining up with Orthodoxy (right belief), will be expressions of true faith for the believer.

Self-addiction, a consumer mentality has plagued recent decades of Christians…journals filled with prayers about me, me, me. I fear that too often the vision of the gospel and a relationship with God that is given is so individualistic and selfish in nature that many don’t realize the revolutionary call Christ gave to those who would be His disciples…I wonder if I realize it.

Jesus’ central message and teachings centered on the Kingdom of God. I am not an official theologian…but when I was first reading the Bible on my own in college, not influenced by the church culture…I would have told you this was central to Jesus’ teaching. The Kingdom of Heaven is the reign of Christ in the lives of men now and for eternity to an ever increase. In the Kingdom of Heaven a man forgives an infinite amount of times realizing the forgiveness of Christ. In the Kingdom, you don’t merely love those who love you but love your enemies. In the Kingdom, God is more than fair…He is extravagantly generous to the one who has earned nothing…who has not bore the heat of the day. Jesus’ vision of His Kingdom calls us to go beyond what is comfortable, safe, and fair to be generous, radically loving, and to value the beggar, to live more righteously than a Pharisee, and to never be ashamed of Christ. Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow Him.

PART 4

2006-08-24T16:01:00.000-07:00

FIRESEED ANTHOLOGY: WIN>BUILD>SEND: PART 4

FIRESEED ANTHOLOGY WILL PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES AND ENCOURAGEMENT FOR A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO DISCIPLESHIP WHERE ONE NOT ONLY APPLIES RIGHT TEACHING AND MORAL LIVING, BUT ALSO KINGDOM VALUES AND PRACTICES OF CHARITY/SERVICE.

FIRESEED ANTHOLOGY WILL SEEK TO PARTNER WITH OTHER GROUPS IN THE COMMUNITY AND THE WORLD TO BE A BLESSING AND A SERVANT IN THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST.

Associate staff

2006-08-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

I think more and more we will need to seek staff that are volunteers and associate staff. Often times I hear that the reason that staff do not have effective personal ministries is that they are always in "ministry mode"...they have little time for relationships outside of official business and the longer they are on staff the further they drift from natural relationships. In order to be able to model the kind of ministry that will be most effective in this generation, I think it will be imperative for ministers of the gospel to take time to be tent makers here and there.

For me personally, there is also a struggle in that I know I am made to create art - even though my passion is ministry. It seems like the work of ministry is never done and thus far in my staff career it has proven very difficult to create art on a consitent basis.

Some starting places

2006-08-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

A STINT for staff and students that would allow them to experiment, search, and pray for ways to reach the current western generation. I know for me it is daunting to think of trying to do this basically on my own.

A facilitated time at CSU for all interested staff to discuss, pray for wisdom, and come up with stepping stones to move forward on the field in reaching post modern students.

Leadership must commit to form multiple teams to pioneer the way to reach the next generation.

Critical Question Two: Connecting with Lost

2006-07-09T13:51:00.000-07:00

How do we approach a city?

How do we not just look for individual conversions but group conversions? (not just see one but 200 ---see blog down below on organic church stuff)
Where do we start?

How do we connect them with one another (if web-based methods are used at all) and/or an appropriate local body?

Keep in mind: Keep Christ His Life, Resurection, the teachings of the Kingdom central...dont use cheap ploys on political issues or evolution,homosexuality, etc to draw a crowd...these can be distracting....or at least not where I feel that I want to invest my time being a catalyst for debate.

Keep it simple.

Critical Question One:Leadership

2006-07-09T13:42:00.000-07:00

Who would I/we report to?
why?

What would leadership look like? CD/ACD or more of "team leading" with people serving in their giftings?

Does the team have to be localized..or could it be national or global? How would that work and to what extent and for what purposes?

If not CD/ACD then how would that work within the overall system?

Would there be a method of evaluation within roles? What?

Next Steps/ Vision central

2006-07-09T13:23:00.000-07:00

Next Steps:

What are the critical unknowns of starting a PO-MO ministry within Crusade?

What are simple, short term plans?

What are predictions within those plans?
(Forecasts should be tested with outcomes to evaluate and learn from: remeber the goal isnt necesarily to get it all right the first time...but to learn)

What are possible pitfalls?

Central to Vision (thus far) "Turn lost students into Christ centered laborers", "Take the initative to share the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit..."

-Make disciples of Christ (whether non-believers or believers in joint community). Encourage
a decision of surrender as expressed through baptism through a local body church.

+Kingdom of God here and to come is central...the Cross is in context

+Become disciples not only through orthodoxy(right belief/opinion) but also through
orthopraxy (right practice)

+Creating a culture which learns/teaches through questions, dialougue, "seeing" thinking,
creating,expressing, serving, in community. Culture will know Jesus in relational context as
they learn the stories and teachings of Christ (see blogs below)...and by seeking to follow His
ways.)service, blessing enemies, etc)

What else?

Spiritual Dialogue through art

2006-07-05T22:03:00.000-07:00

Here are the results of an image initiave that we did using images to begin spiritual dialogues with college students: http://breathe-in-art.livejournal.com/

Cross in Context

2006-07-02T18:48:00.000-07:00

In the Bible, in the book of John, Nicodemas a religous leader of his day, asks Jesus how he can enter the Kingdom of God, the paradigm of life the Jesus descibes throughout His ministry. Jesus replys that one must be born again...by water and the Spirit. In 3:15 He says that everyone who has faith in the Son of Man will have eternal life.

Bill Bright illustrates transformational faith in this way:

Suppose you meet a certain young man or woman about whom you have heard many fine compliments. You like what you see - looks, personality and many other qualities. Would this be enough on which to launch a marriage?
No. There is more to marriage than mutual respect and admiration.
As you become better acquainted, you soon fall in love. Is this sufficient for marriage?
No. There is more to marriage than the intellect and the emotions.
Then you become engaged, and the wedding day arrives. How exciting! Intellectually you believe he or she is the most wonderful person in the whole world. Emotionally, your heart beats twice as fast when you are together.
But now something even more important is about to take place. As you stand before the minister or priest to exchange your vows, you commit your wills one to the other. The marriage is not a true marriage if there is no mutual giving of one to the other.

So it is when you become a Christian. When you commit yourself to Christ, you must give yourself wholly to Him in a commitment of your intellect, emotions and will.

http://www.transferableconcepts.com/transconcepts/english/christian/index.html

You may know who Jesus is, even like Him or love Him but until you surrender yourself to His authority and humble yourself under His love and grace, you will not be able to see God's Kingdom.

Why do I mention this here? Too often, in evangelism we limit the gospel to personal salvation from sin...Jesus dying on the Cross for our personal salvation. Jesus' message was a visionary one...it wasnt simply to give us a ticket out of hell...to assure us that we are a "10" on a scale of 1-10 of how sure we are we would get into heaven....but He came so that we could enter into the Kingdom of Heaven...to experience abundant life under the reign of Christ in out hearts & lives now and forever. We must begin to give people the context for this salvation. The context is the Kingdom. The Cross is a beautiful bridge of God's grace and mercy, of justice done...it is the rock that abundant life flows from. You will notice in many of our current evangelical worship songs that the focus is on the cross...how thankful we are for the forgiveness of Christ...how much we loveHim for that...which is great...but Jesus gave us a promise of a life built on the cross. The life is the vision. The Kingdom Vision makes us want Jesus. It is new life because of death. It is not merely a stopping place for sin. Let us live in that, and give people the cross in context of the Kingdom life.

I am so greatful that Dr. Bright did not cheapen salvation to simply praying a prayer and getting your ticket out of hell...from this Tranferrable Concept #1, he explains that salvation includes our intellect, emotions, and will. We must kneal at the throne of the King once and forever, and enter into new life, life in His Kingdom.

What is a Movement?

2006-07-02T18:37:00.000-07:00

In the Fall of 05, some of my regional leadership defined a "movemen" within Campus Crusade as this:

1. Connection with the Lost
2. Life Changing Discipleship

_____________________________________Ministry

3. Multiplying Leaders
4. Generation of Resources

_____________________________________Movement

Who is the post modern person?

2006-07-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

Maybe you have seen the commercial of the mac guy and the pc guy...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5327783079293356550&q=apple+commercial

I think this is a great potrait of the emergence of the postmodern age...one where creativity and globalization is valued as highly (and more at times) than the business model era scientific nature of modernity.

Spiritual Dialogue

2006-06-27T20:18:00.000-07:00

If we are to reach a postmodern generation, we must invite and initiate SPIRITUAL DIALOGUE. see http://www.fieldbook.com/ The Fifth Disciple Chapter 52-57

Campus Crusade has defined success in witnessing as simply taking the initiative to share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and expecting results from God.

One way of doing this is to continue to initiate and invite students into Spiritual Dialogues concerning issues of God, Christ, His Kingdom, etc. This is different than a Bible Study or Focus Group because we renounce formal authority in the conversation...but openly cojourn through the process of the dialogue.

I believe one of the bravest things we can do is to build safe containers, environments that initiate collective inquiry and dialogue. Inquiry comes from the latin inquaerre, to seek within.

The process of dialogue encourages people to develop a shared intention for inquiry.

The best dialogue has no end in mind, but the intent of developing deeper inquiry, exploration, discovery and insight.

Along the path, the group may in fact sometimes come to a meeting of the minds to reach some agreement - but that is not their primary purpose in coming together.

++Why this is important in a post modern matrix...

Globalization: As we are communicating more and more with varied cultures both from different regions of the world and also cross generationally, the need to understand what one another deeply is imperative. One definition of postmodernism includes: The belief that no communication is devoid of myth, metaphor, cultural bias and political content .

With this in mind, no longer do we assume meaning but we must create shared meaning within the context of each relationship. Creating a place for dialogue is crucial because we can uncover what we truly think or mean to say beyond semantics.

I am not saying that there is no meaning here...or no absolute truth...I am saying that it may be beyond our human groping to know and communicate it fully without the help and revelation of God.

One fear could be that we would initiate all of these dialogues and in pure post-modern fashion there would only be more and more questions without someone ever coming into a relationship with Christ.

A few things to consider:

Through prayer and our personal relationships with Christ, we also invite the Holy Spirit into the Dialogue. Not only do we invite Him to speak to us, and through us, but we also invite Him to speak to the hearts of those involved. This becomes a collective experience with God that all are invloved in. Of course, we must be aware that the enemy, Satan will plant his own sources of deception within these collaborative conversations, as well...and thus must emphasize a soberiety and vigilance.

Another defintion of Postmodernism is:A culturally pluralistic and profoundly interconnected global society lacking any single dominant center of political power, communication, or intellectual production.

We as 20th century, western, predominately white, evangelical Christians can not claim authority or the market on understading an eternal God...but He who is outside of time and culture and the Creator of it, can. The Triune God is the single, dominant center...we are some of His ambassadors. There is truth and we must remain co-journers of seeking that Truth...yet as believers, sealed with the Holy Spirit, the full revelation of that truth becomes a guarantee and our inheritance.

These Dialogues may be held with belivers and non believers. I think the process of dialogue will help to reveal and create true beliefs in one's heart...and then also in the collective "heart" of the group. I think this teqhnique has the potential to help us go deeper in our seeking of God versus our dependence on the wisdom of man...as long as we continue to invite Him in wherther publically or not.

Bohm and the Fieldbook give techniques for creating "fields' or environments for dialogue that can be explored more.

see also : http://www.david-bohm.net/dialogue/

Does this make sense? I need feedback on this one.

The Arts

2006-06-07T20:27:00.000-07:00

http://tribecaarts.blogspot.com

You will want to go to this blog to see how we are seeking the Kingdom of God through art this summer.

Making a culture of Disciples

2006-06-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

Can you imagine if everyone in America and the West was fluent in Jesus' teachings, parables and the paradigms of the Kingdom? Consider that even if they never surrender to Christ as King, they are well versed in His philospohy, and understand that as He told Nicodemas, to enter the Kingdom, this revolution of love, you must be born again...through faith in Jesus, the resurrected Lord, King, Savior, God...and by His baptism of water and the Spirit you are inducted.

God Calling

2006-05-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

In January of 2002 I was begging God for community. I had graduated from college, and was living with my parents in rural NE Texas. During the Fall my mom and I had painted a 70 foot long mural together commissioned by another small town...and I had been getting jobs as an artist. I was trying to work my way out of debt before coming on staff. Although, after Christmas, I had no more jobs lined up...and I was lonely for friends.

An old friend and kindred spirit , came through town with her boyfriend of the time and they told me about an outdoor education center/camp that they were working at. They paid no rent, got health insurance, the pay was decent, and there was a fun group of post college singles who worked there. I joked and said if there were any openings to let me know.

A week later she called. Another girl was transfering and they had a job for me. I moved down with my sleeping bad and a six pack of Dr.Pepper and was ready to go.

This friend and I had met several years before at Camp Classen. We were both very young in our faith. She had recently started going to Campus Crusade for Christ at OU and I had just committed my life to Christ. We would become good friends in life and our journey of faith.
She, another friend from Camp Classen, and another girl were roomates at the O.E.C. when we were not in cabins with 5th graders.

The first night after I arrived I can remember catching up with my second friend...telling her of my life change since Christ and living in Russia, etc. She was not an evangelical Christian. She was a vegetarian and did yoga and can put everything she owns in her backpack. The new girl was also a vegetarian who had graduated from UT in something environmental. Nontheless we all became great friends....and truly spiritual friends.

The new girl and I began to pray(she initiated this) together often...even though she was not what we would consider a "believer" at the time. She had a relationahip with God...and was searching...and I believe, was in the process of deepening her relationship with God though questioning. She had a lot of issues with Christians, their ways, and their politics.

The new girl was in the process of becoming a disciple of Christ before she professed Him as Lord and surrendered to His Authority in her life. As we seek to "Turn Lost Students into Christ Centered Laborers", it is my desire that we "Make disciples in all nations, teaching them everything that He has taught us"...far before they make a profession of faith. Let us make disciples of Christ....and perhaps they will also become converts. (I have not finished reading Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Williard...but I have heard that he says something to this effect).

http://www.dwillard.org/books/DivConsp.asp

Kingdom 360

2006-05-19T19:41:00.000-07:00

The Summer of my freshman year of Texas Tech, I worked at a YMCA summer camp. Imade a list of goals for the summer the first of which was to "Know God Better". At that time in my life there was probably little outward evidence at all that I was spiritually interested. I wasnt a horribly immoral person...just an average college student who hung out with my friends, partied, and generally lived a happy life.

I can remember sitting with my friends in the dorm. We had the lights off and we were all piled on the bed talking about what kind of guy we wanted to marry. We all agreed on a really good guy...but not a "Bible Beater or anything". Two of the girls came from strong Catholic backgrounds. They eventually were a part of something called Raider Awakening, a retreat put on for college students by their church.

In the Spring I was invited to go and through the process...my heart was softened, broken by the love I experienced there...and I became serious about finding out what I really believed about God.

Throughout the next 8 months, I entered deeper into a process of becoming a committed follower of Christ. As a child, I had risen my hands mutiple times at Baptist Youth Camps and Vacation Bible School events that I attended with friends, indicating that I wanted to be with Christ in eternity....but I had never know what to do past that point.

During those 8 months...I looked into other religions and then began to read the Bible. As I read the New Testament I was deeply impressed with the transcendence of Christ's teachings. "Dont merely love those who love you, but love your enemies". This was not the teaching of the world. In my heart I wanted to believe in this God...so loving and compassionate.

I did not want to be a fool though. I wished that I could be anything but a "Christian". Finally, with many questions still in my heart concerning the validity of the Bible, evolution , dinosaurs, etc. I told God that I believed but He would have to help my unbelief. I wanted God to give me assurance...a solidness in my heart that He was who the Bible said He was. Somehow He did...and eventually I felt that I should be baptized.

When I was around 8 years old, men from a church I had visited, came to my home and told my parents about my indication to receive Christ as my personal savior (I had heard the salvation message and walked down the aisle and prayed with someone). They were wanting me to get baptized. My parents told me it was my decision. If I felt that I knew what it meant that I could. I didnt know what it meant...and so it was not until March of my junior year of college that I would publically profess my commitment, my "marriage" in a sense, to Christ.

Baptism was a bench mark in my life to that expressed my total commitment and loyalty to Jesus and His Kingdom ways. I wanted my old life to be gone and to rise a new. I am so thankful for the wisdom of my parents in allowing me to wait to fully experience the fullness of the symbol of baptism as a surrender of my will to His...and an expression of my love for Him and an acceptance of His love for me. I was accepting everything about Him..not only His payment for my sins....but even more, His calling to follow Him and His ways.

Soon after, I became a Young Life leader. As I was interviewed before joining...He asked me what a person needs to know before beoming a Christian. I remember thinking back to all the things I had been reading in the Bible about loving Christ and loving others, the Kingdom of God, forgiveness,.....he said I was forgetting something. The answer was sin. Its not that I didnt believe that sin seperated us from Christ and that He died for our sins....I just didnt know that was the "answer". After reading the gospels, forgiveness of sin really wasnt the main point I had come away with. I believed it...but it seemed so insignificant to everything else Jesus taught about...everything about the Kingdom of God.

It was a confusing thing to go from that point in 1998 to now in 2006...coming full circle in confidence that the Kingdom of God was central to the gospel. It is my desire that as Campus Crusade ministers to the students in a post modern environment that there will be room for a process and that their faith would be one that may withhold the fires of the Kingdom of God and the love of Jesus.

ONE STORY

2006-05-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

In the Fall of 2005 (this past year) ...I began to think about how cool it would be if I could sit around with my friends and we could tell the stories of Jesus. I love the gospels....and I love the parables. I can tell you the Parable of the Good Steward...or give you a snapshot of the Prodigal Son....but what I can not tell you is this: Who was Jesus talking to when he told that parable? Was Peter there? Was it in the beginning of His ministry...or near the end? Has he performed the miracles yet?

Why does this matter?

I want to know the teachings of Christ within the context of the relationships He had. I want to know Christ and tell stories of Christ as I would the stories you tell of old friends when you try to explain who they are to someone...and you remember warm memories of them.

I began to lay in bed and try to think of one story...just one. I could not do it. I could remember only th pieces of everything...He rode into town on a donkey..He died on the cross...thy spat on Him...Peter betrayed Him.

I began to imagine what it would be like to create a culture that( no matter who they were, followers of Christ or not) that knew from their hearts the stories of Christ and His teachings contained within the context of that.

In January at a Summer Project Directors Training...I met with fellow directors of the TriBeca Arts Track Summer Project in NYC. I began to tell them of this vision...and we all seem to get excited.Tanya Walker who works for R & D said that she had been to something where they were telling all about this. People within Campus Crusade and other organizations were already starting to do this...but primarily for other cultures. See http://onestory.org/

I have heard that Steve Douglass is experimenting with a very similar idea on a campus that he volunteers with...

How amazing would it be if students within our own, post modern culture could learn the stories of the Kingdom of God, the Stories of Christ, the stories of God in their own heart language...and then take the gospel to much of the unreached world and teach them to understand these stories in their own heart language?

To reach the west and Europe we will need not only to use story in merely oral forms but also through the media and the web. This is very much part of the heart language of the student culture.

Jana Holley's Article on Post-Modernism and Crusade

2006-05-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

In the Summer of 2002, I moved to Denton, Texas. I was working at the time as an artist, selling my paintings to pay off debt so that I could join staff. My roomate, Libby, was already on staff at the Universtiy of North Texas.

Eventhough I did not join staff until January of 2003..and did not report until the Spring of '04, I have sensed ownership of our mission , "Turning Lost students into Christ centered Laborers"...since my STINT year in 99-00.

In Denton, at the University of North Texas, the ACD was Jana Holley. She has since written an article that talks about how Campus Crusade for Christ may minister in the Post-Modern Environment. Within it, she tells of some of our experiences, communication break downs...and breakthroughs.

http://longarticlebyjana.blogspot.com/

A New Kind Of Christian

2006-05-19T18:03:00.000-07:00

In 1999-2000, I was on STINT in Russia. I was very new to Christian Culture and Crusade Culture for that matter. It has taken me a while to learn the language.

From my team and the team that followed developed a family. We still keep in touch. Around 2003 we began to pass around a book called, "A New Kind of Christian" by Brian McLaren.

This book really rocked the worlds of these former Campus Crusade student leaders.

Many within the evanglical community have feared and resisted the "Emerging Church Movement" Many have not had time to truly read or listen to the questions they ask or issues they address. Many have heard people in "their camp" speak poorly of the "emergent camp" and thus distance themselves without knowledge of what its all about.

Brian McLaren is one of the articulates of a post-modern expression of Christ's church. He has written many books in which have resonated with me and my experience. Of course I do not agree with all that he ever says....but he isnt asking me to. The Emergent Movement (of course not all within it...you always have the wheat and the tares) seeks to reopen dialogue.

Here are some quotes from some of McLaren's writings that have encouraged me"

"So salvation is joining God's mission instead of trying to live by our own selfish, personal agenda. The issus isnt being saved, born again, or crossing the live...it is following Jesus, joining in his adventure and mission of saving the world and expressing God's love" pg 131 of " A New Kind of Christian"

"Has He (Jesus) become ( I shudder to ask this) less out Lord and more our mascot? Lord means "master" (the very opposite of mascot...." from : pg 83 of " A Generous Orthodoxy"

"The gospel as he has understood it was about saving individual souls. He had begun having some problems with it. 1) It smacked of selfishness...would God want a heaven full of people who wanted to be "saved" but didnt necesarilly want to be good? If we pitch the whole story as, "Do you want to go to heaven or hell?, he said, we run the risk of attracting people who want salvation from hell without necessarily salvation from sin." : pg 82 "A New Kind of Christian"

" Sure it has answers, but I dont think that is the point. Think of a math book, Dan. Is it valuable because it has the answers in the back? No, its valuable because by working through it, by doing the problems, by struggling with it, you become a wiser person, a person capable of solving problems....The whole answer book approach is what modern people want the Bible to be": pg 52 "A New Kind of Christian"

"Then I added six words: "To be and make disciples of Jesus Christ in authentic community for the good of the world." That last phrase brings the essence of missional into the equation. It says that Christians are not the end users of the gospel. It says that the gospel of Jesus is not "all about me". pg. 119 " A Generous Orthodoxy"

" Missional faith asserts that Jesus came to preach the good news of the kingdom of God to everyone, especially the poor. He came to seek and save the lost. He came on behalf of the sick. He came to save the world. His gospel and therefore the Christian message , is good news for the whole world. The idea that the Christian message is universally good news for Christians and non Christians alike is , to some, unheard of, strange, and perhaps heretical.......Jesus was a Jew and so saw Himself as one of Abraham's descendants. Abraham's original contact with God involved a kind of mission statement: I will bless you, God said, and I will make you a blessing to others. I will make your name and nation great, God said, and through you, all nations will be blessed. " pg 120 " A Generous Orthodoxy"

Brian McLaren encourages me through his writings to bring people into the Kingdom of God not to buy a ticket out of hell and learn all the right answers...but to receive salvation from the living God, through Jesus Christ, so that we can be a blessing to the world....salvation is about more than me and you consuming. He encourages to seek more truth than ever and to believe in a God bigger than our modern era can hold.

Teach people to See

2006-05-19T17:25:00.000-07:00

It has been my experience that within the current model of ministry we often:

feed people the answers...and they parrot them out

when they graduate from college or are put in a situation that does not fit their template of information, they do not know the answer...or how to respond

Though our current model of sharing the gospel ( "The Knowing God personally Booklet, or "The 4-laws") is transferable it is rarely transferred into most students and staff's every day life as a method of shring their faith. As students or former staff move away from Crusade, or are not "on duty" at a summer project, a scheduled sharing time, or a winter conference...they do not use the booklet to share their faith...and share their faith very little..if at all.

As an artist, I can teach you to be an artist in two ways. First, I can teach you a formula of how to draw a tree. Then, I can teach you a formula of how to draw a house...the sun, a person, a cloud, etc. The unfortunate part of this is that you will only know how to draw these items in the way that I have taught you.

Secondly, I can teach you how to see...how to draw, in general. If I teach you how to look at the world...how to think about positive and negative spaces, lines,etc...eventhough you may not have a talent...you are equipped then to draw anything you want.

It is the old idea..."Give a man a fish...he eats for a day"..."Teach a man to fish...he eats for a lifetime".

We must not spin our wheels thinking of the next "post-modern" model of a sharing the gospel track. We must take a step back and teach our staff and students to "see" the gospel, to think about it, to know it in such a way that no matter what situation they are in they can respond authentically. That is transferrable.

This is a scary thing because it takes us out of control....I say it is much more powerful for some to truly have thought, questioned, and known the gospel intimately than for many to have only parrotted one song of it. What if there were only one song about love in the world...eventhough it may be accurate...we would never hear the many expressions and facets that each song writer offers. We must trust and believe in the power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit indwelling our staff and students to express Himself and His Kingdom in a variety of ways at appropriate times.

There will still be times to use the "Knowing God Personally Booklet"....but there will be many other times for a unique expression of the gospel and the good news of Christ's Kingdom. Let us teach our staff and students to ask the right questions...and seek God for the answer to "What is the Gospel".

Can you imagine the outpour of "generated resources" that would come forth as we gave wings to creativity and innovation?

Contextualized Post-Modern Movements

2006-05-19T17:00:00.000-07:00

In January 2006, I attended the New Staff on the Field Training in San Antonio for the Red River Region. During this time we helped the local team try to launch movements on campuses around the city. Within this, my team was assigned to launch an IMPACT movement.

At the end of the week we were to give a presentation about what we had experienced, learned, and what information we had collected. This was to help spread the wealth of our different experinces throughout the week and also for us to make suggestions about what we thought the local team should do from there.

I began to try to understand the verbage: "contextualized ministry".

I looked through the staff resources and found a paper written by Charles Gilmer dealing with this: https://staff.campuscrusadeforchrist.com/cms/content/2876.doc

Here is a portion:

Another term we need to understand is contextualization. Contextualization is a missiological term for taking the gospel and expressing it within the context of a particular culture. It's an approach that clarifies the goal of evangelism and discipleship for a cross-cultural mission or missionary. It involves going beyond simple translations from one culture to another, such as translating a hymn from English to Spanish. It seeks to see expressions of Christianity develop that are culturally relevant or authentic, thereby entering the world or culture of that people group. And this is essential if we want those in that culture to hear and be exposed to a clear, relevant presentation of the gospel.

When WSN, or any mission, operates overseas contextualization is one of the unspoken goals. The implied objective is to see the ministry manned by nationals in a country. When ministry is being pioneered by US staff, English speakers are the target. The ministry reaches a different state of maturity when you have leaders who are able to minister with fluency in the language of that particular culture. That is a step in the process of contextualization.
What we are doing is applying the same principle [of contextualization] to ministry in this country; it means speaking the language, if you will, of students with whom we would not connect otherwise. We are not willing to limit ourselves to being effective only with those who can speak the “white Christian” language or have assimilated into the white culture.

After reading this paper I understood two things:

1. Campus Crusade for Christ had always been contexualized...in that it has always sought to reach the members of a segment of the population or sub-culture in a relelvent way. The Campus ministry is contextualized itself in that it seeks to reach college students. We are specialist versus generalist.

2. I had been trying to overhaul all of the modern campus ministry in order to try to reach a contextualized slice of the population : post modern college students. Our current ministry does not effectively reach them in a relevant way...but what needed to happen...at least at first would not be to discard current models....but to simply start fresh movements to effectively reach a large portion of the students population in the west and most likely Europe.

Organic Growth of Churches...are we as staff learning or lagging?

2006-05-19T15:47:00.000-07:00

At the Catalytic Training School in New Orelans in May of 2006, I asked the question during the final Q/A time, "With what we are learning about organic growth...has anyone tried to start movements with reaching non-believers first?". The room was relatively silent. Gilbert said that he had not heard of anyone that had done this . Then, Scott, answered and said...."no, we have not..but we need people to pioneer in that way."

I received the following article in the Fall Semester:
This one is really worth reading:
http://www.missionspokane.org/sterilechurches2.html

This article compares a reproductive model and a growth model of church planting.
As far as I can tell our current sytstem within catalytic leans heavy on the growth side. I would love to help pioneer a reproductive model that would incorporate a BOTH/AND approach. Planting Movements by reaching non-believers and through the process and prayer fully finding believing students to co-labor and be grafted in. These fresh wine skins will be the best at reaching our current post-modern culture because it is their own...where as many students (though post modern) in many areas of their lives have learned to relate to God and their faith in a very modern way and will need to learn to minister in a post-modern matrix to be effective.

Many staff are reading the book : Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens
by Neil Cole

http://www.christianitytoday.com/outreach/articles/organicchurch.html

The problem: much of what we are trained to do, have experience in and measure are not in line with these ideas....but we have no other system to operate under...and the wheels of our traditional system continue to turn...so it is hard to get off and try something else.

Here is are other communities of church planters discussing these issues: I dont claim to agree with all of their ideas....its just good to know what poeple are discussing and to enter into the dialougue:

http://www.organicchurch.net/

http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/tallskinnykiwi/2005/03/leadership_r_we.html

Plan B: Austin Catalytic

2006-05-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

At CSU of July 2005, I met with my HR director. Previous to this time I had been serving on a staffed campus for approxiamately two years, plus another previous year of rasing support and living with someone on the same team...thus feeling as though I served on that team for three years).

At this time I did not want to leave staff with CCC, but had continued to feel very frustrated in my efforts to create innovative and effective change within the campus ministry on my local team. Though they were open minded and supportive...I felt trapped in the current paradigm of ministry that has an established system of operation that runs like a machine.

The ministry at that campus had been closed at the end of Spring 2005 and the team had been dispersed. I was meeting with my HR director to hear my options and decide wether or not to stay on staff.

I had one main desire: to be on a team where I could try different things...

I ended up joining a Catalytic team. They were a new team(had only operated one year) and though self-described as non-creative, they were open to new ideas and were excited to have me join them.

The agreement: I would need to carry my traditional load on the team and in return would be able to have freedom to try new things.

The results:

Though I had heart support and listening ears, I didnt have adequate additional time or additional resources to develop new ideas.

My team, though supportive are probably more "modern" in their experience and thinking...where as I am more "post-modern". Therefore they can cheer me on, but can not join me unless they can begin to learn and experience ministry in a post-modern matrix.

My leadership is still accountable and measured by the success of the current model and therefore trying anything outside of that seems in competition for our time and goals.

Initially as we were launching campuses I had the idea to have a focus group to discuss Jesus' teachings the day that we gave out FSKs. Originally this idea was accepted...but then, it was decided that it would be in conflict with our current model to focus our efforts on finding strong Christian leaders on campuses rather than using our time to do evangelistic focus groups. Those should be the work of these Christian leaders that we find. I pushed the issue and ended up having several of these focus groups. I think my leaders felt torn in that we were putting time into something that wasnt supposed to be our focus as staff. I continued to follow up with initial contacts from the focus group on this campus and it grew to be a small movement which included a Muslim, a 37 year old American/German who was Catholic but not a committed believer in Christ, two very new believers...one of which now wants to be a volunteer, another non-believer who joined us in New Orelans for Spring Break...and some others. This group has been very messy considering its contents...but also very exciting to me.

The demands of traditional ministry are unending and carrying that load did not leave room for creating.

( My leadership encouraged my ideas...but our schedule with conferences,etc. left little room for creating)

January- April

Dallas Winter Conference (led the design team) - one week...plus mutiple weeks before hand

Summer Project Director's Training - one week

New Staff on the Field Training - one week

IAM - A conference for those in the arts - 4 days ( this one was optional - I chose to go)

New Orleans Spring Break - one week

A Spring Retreat for Texas Catalytic students

Catalytic Training School - one week

I show this to illustrate the current system...to this add: weekly discipleship, movement launching, travel to distance campuses, evangelism, support raising, team meetings, development, planning for summer project or conferences and retreats,etc.

I have thouroughly enjoyed my semester...but as you can see it would leave little room to develop new ideas, gain support and resources, and to execute them.

In conclusion, though I had an enjoyable year of ministry...my efforts to pioneer new ways of reaching students were limited because I did not have the adequate resources needed to do so (time, money, people, freedom from the other system).

+++Please see the next post for further understanding of why this didnt work well.

Creating Fresh Growth within CCC

2006-05-19T12:11:00.000-07:00

In May of 2005, I was flying to New York to help lead the art portion of the Tribeca Summer Project (a pioneer effort to be and make disciples of Christ through the integration of art, art making and faith). In the airport I picked up the May 2005 issue of Harvard Business Review (http://hbr.org).

I found two articles that address creating change (fresh growth) within an established organization.

see:
hbr.org
May 2005
pg. 58 "Building Breakthrough Businesses Within Established Organizations"
pg. 73 "Your Companies Secret Change Agents"

The first article ("Building...") examined what it takes for new initiatives to become effective within established organizations. They called the hypothetical new initiative "NewCo" and the established business "CoreCo" for the purpose of the study.

Important Notes from "Building Breakthough Businesses Within Established Organizations" :

"I came to the conclusion long ago that limits to innovation have less to do with technology or creativity than organizational agility. Inspired individuals can only do so much." -Ray Stata, cofounder of Analog Devices, $2 bil. semiconductor co.

"Emphasis must shift from ideas to execution and from leadership excellence to organizational excellence" pg 58.

Three components for success: forgetting. borrowing. learning.

Forget.

Change Behavior
Forget CoreCo's model

who do we serve?what do we offer?how do we deliver?
Because of this a different set of skills and competencies are most valuable.

+++Too Often NewCo will talk like New Co but act like CoreCo.

"Many firms make the mistake of duplicating CoreCo's organizational design when they create NewCo. Doing so minimizes hassels, since making NewCo an exception to the rule about things such as hiring, compensation, and status can lead to resistance, even resentment , within CoreCo. But the only way to erase memory is to overhaul NewCo's organizational design."

How to Forget:

Hire Outsiders in Key Roles. Outsiders challenge institutional memory

Dont Assign status based on size. NewCo. should report at least one level above CoreCo in order to reduce the pressures on NewCo for short trem results and to ensure tha CoreCo does not hoard resources.

Rearrange the moving parts. NewCo must reconsider how major business functions such as marketing and product developmetn interact. Established patterns are usually incompatible with the new business model.

Build a new dashboard: NewCos performance should nbot be based on CoreCo's metrics. Doing so reinforces CoreCo's formula for success not NewC's.

Dare not to make complex judgements. The company should not judge the performance of New Co's leader too heavily against plans.

Promote new thinking about success. New Co's leader should create a unique set of beliefs about actions that lead to success and regulary reinforce them. CoreCos beliefs may not apply in NewCo's environment.

Borrow.

CoreCo's tremendous resources are too invaluable to ignore.

New Co should only borrow when it can gain a crucial competitive advantage-crucual enough that the company would highlight it to investors

Example: NYTimes Web team ended up serving a completely differnt set of readers than the print team and met distinct needs. "us versus them happened" between web and print though.

How to Borrow:

Balance the yin of forgetting with the yang of borrowing. Create links, yes, but only to lend New Co a crucial competitive advantage . Avoid links to the IT or HR departments.

Find Common Ground. Reinforce values that Core Co. and New Co share. Senior management can create a "metaculture" composed of more general values.

Be careful what you ask for. Eval. and Reward Core Co managers in part with their willingness to cooperate with NewCo. Avois strong incentives toed strickly to CoreCos short term performance.

Co-opt Core Co. Make borrowing as painless as possible so Core Co can focus on Core Co. Replenish CoreCos resources when NewCo borrows heavily. Core OC will always be more enthused about helping NewCo when there is evidence of success.

Be alert to tremors. Anticipate tensions between NewCo. and CoreCo. and intervene when tensions become destructive. Senior exectives must continually explain the rationale for the differences between New Co and Core Co.

+++Warning Signs+++
>Core Co perceives the New CO will cannibalize CoreCos revenues
>CoreCo perceives that NewCo could render CoreCo obselete
>CoreCo perceives that NewCo might damage CoreCo assets, such as brands or customer relations
>Resources are scarce as CoreCo goes through a downturn and is resistant to allocating anything to NewCo
CoreCo management is unaware of the needs of an emerging NewCo
>CoreCo managers are jealous of NewCo
>Stereotypes persist about the capabilities of new and old Co.

Force authority uphill. Unless NewCo. is in danger of damaging one of CoreCos assets, particularly a brand, empower NewCo in its interactions with CoreCo. Without intervention, power will naturally shift back to the larger, more entrenched CoreCo.

Learn.

Reliable Forecasts are the best indicators that a new business is learning.

Stategic experiments are highly uncertain endeavors. The faster New Co can resolve these unknows, that is the faster it learns, the sooner it will zero in on a winning business model or exit a hopeless situation.

Learn to predict NewCo's business outcomes. These will be wild guesses. These are important not because of their accuracy but because of the learning opportunities they present.

It is a crucial learning step for New Co to analyze disparities between predictions(about unknowns) and outcomes. This must be done with openness and candor...speed, rigor, discipline.

+++Mistakes of Hasbro example:
It ignored its own predictions
Planning (like most companies was annual)...learning slowed to a crawl
Measured success of new venture short term
Didnt revise predictions to outsiders...Rigid predictions lead to "gaurd rail to guard rail
" decision making - that is agresive investment followed by complete abandonment

How to Learn.

Dont Mix Oil and Water. Hold seperate meetings to evaluate the business performance of New Co and Core Co. Combing can be impracticle and destructive.

Protect Predictions. New Cos leadership must understand the value of improving predictions and be aware of how the learning process can go astray if predictions are ignored.

Avoid Being too defensive. Evaluate the leader not on results but on their ability to learn and make good decisions. Accountability to plans may be effective in mature business practices but crippling to a new high potential business.

Do Less, Faster. Simplify Plans...but plan more often. Each cycle through the planning process creates a learning opportunity so planning more frequently increases the learning rate. Detailed plans (broken down by region, product line, sales channel, and so forth) are useful for mature businesses but New Co should focus on critical unknowns.

Analyse through a New Lens. Compare predicted and actual trends.

Measure what you dont know. Identify metrics that are useful in resolving critical unknowns.