Dallas Willard and I

Yesterday I learnt that Dallas Willard passed away this week at aged 77. He was a deep and thought inspiring author and philosopher who impacted my thinking on how God changes lives and what focus we are to have with our lives. I was encouraged to read The Spirit of the Disciplines by my senior pastor in my first pastoral gig and found this was a heavy read (one that needed chewing on for a while) but what got my attention was its focus on the need for human transformation and how Christ followers can go about this. Dallas took seriously the power of Christ to transform us and said the greatest danger of a Christian is to pitch our message too low! He spoke about the spiritual disciplines – practices we could engage in so that Jesus could do in us what we couldn’t do for ourselves (i.e. transform us to be like him). I’d never heard of this stuff in Adventist circles and was intrigued.

The only other book I’ve read of his is titled The Great Omission which rebukes the Church for making discipleship optional, instead of a condition of being a Christian. Discipleship (being an apprentice of Jesus) is THE missing factor in my life and so many of my generation who’ve disconnected from church. I’ve been thinking on it for a while now and don’t know why I haven’t written about it. I guess I haven’t yet sorted a Jesus-focused plan that could be tailored for each person. Dallas lamented that he knew of no congregation that had a concrete plan and practise for teaching people to do the things that Jesus said. It sounds so simple, but this is what I want to do and help others do! I wish Dallas had offered a plan that I could adopt. These two books I’ll come back to often to find divine resources that can change lives and grow His Kingdom.

I connected with much of what Dallas wrote because I’m a flawed person who wants to change and Dallas told me that transformation was possible (necessary – guaranteed even) as a Christian if I chose to follow the practises, ways and instructions of Jesus. The reflections of Richard Foster and John Ortberg are worth reading for a deeper insight into who Dallas was.

You can find a collection of Dallas’ teachings via mp3’s, articles and books here.

First World Problems

A couple of days ago I got myself a little fired up. I was attempting to book some airline flights online for a holiday and the web booking system wasn’t cooperating with my request. There was a sale on – and it was set to expire at midnight, so with under two hours to go I was getting restless. After repeated attempts I phoned the airline, only to be told by an automated message that there was a high volume of callers and that I should expect a 30 minute wait. After waiting 5 minutes I hung up – all flustered and frustrated by what should have been a simple booking process. Normally in such a situation I would doggedly persist until the issue was sorted. Yet this time, I chose to give up and go to bed.

As I lay in bed I tried to calm myself down, reminding myself that there’d most probably be another sale or that if lucky, the sale might even be extended another day. Then the story of the student who died from being gang raped and beaten in India passed through my mind. Suddenly I was hit with the wet fish of reality. Here I was getting all worked up cause a website wouldn’t work and a bargain wasn’t had. I was putting thought and energy into what some have called FWP’s (First World Problems) – but I wasn’t directing the same energy to the real injustices in this world. Acknowledging my selfish consumerism, I let the airline booking worries go and I guess writing this now is a small step towards awareness and action for what really matters in this life.

Perhaps this video highlights the situation best – I don’t condone the video beyond 1:19 😉

Over-programmed

 

Ah, the weekend is here. It’s time for rest. Or is it? On tonight is a program at a popular church 30 mins down the road. This program started this year because it was believed there was nothing on for the youth on Friday nights. At this same church two weeks ago there were nightly week of prayer meetings with an international speaker culminating in a weekend of meetings as mentioned in my last blog post.

I currently live about 400 meters from two churches. One of these churches has two services running simultaneously in the morning, because of different worship tastes of course. Now both churches are starting an afternoon program that will run at pretty much the same time.

Maybe this is why Sydney doesn’t have an annual camp meeting. It’s over-programmed! Some see these programs as answers to church attendance/involvement problems. Some hope they’ll bring the disconnected back. I’m trying to support some of these initiatives. I must say, however,  that I’m worn out with all these programs. A flyer for one of the new programs has this at the top:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matt 11:28-30

I figure if anyone tries to attend all these programs – after/during a busy work week – they sure will be tired, worn out, and burned out on religion! I think the motivation behind the programs is right – but I’m just not sure all the extra programming is good for us or is discipling us. I think sometimes we need to stop. Be with God. Be with our families. Take time to reflect and meditate. If programs are continually taking us away from these things then let’s tone it down a little. I guess we have the choice to say no – and it’s great to have options. It’s also great that the sun’s going down so it’s time for me to stop writing and rest.

Thank you Jesus for the gift of Sabbath rest. May your next 24 hrs be rejuvenating. Ahhhhhh.

One Project Sydney: Opportunities abound

It’s a shame it needed to happen, but I’m glad it did. Last weekend the One Project came to Sydney and from most of the feedback I’m aware of, it was a timely gathering that ministered to our souls. Why? Here were the vital ingredients:

• The focus was Jesus. We talked about Adventism, the Church, the fundamentals – but the centre of these is, no, MUST BE, Jesus. All. (Those last two words are the tagline of the One Project).
• Honesty. The presenters were honest, open and not really that controversial – but kept on pointing us to our need – our church’s need – to have Jesus as our focus and centre. This in turn allowed us to be honest in our group discussion, and all this honesty just felt good. We could really relate to what was said but for some reason hadn’t vocalised or wrestled with this stuff in this way much before.
• Friends. It was almost a who’s who of Aussie Adventist youth leadership. Most of the Conference youth directors were present. A whole bunch of youth pastors and youth leaders made the treck. A bunch of these people know and love each other so this turned out to be a kind of reunion/retreat.
• Presenters. Sam, Eddy, Tim – the big names were there and we lapped it up. Many youth leaders have bonded with these guys after getting them to come speak at their youth events and their words were somehow comforting and challenging and healing all at the same time. It was particularly great to see some ladies take the mic and point us to the One.
• Group Discussion. I don’t know why we haven’t been doing this for years. A person talks up front, and with people seated around a round table they discuss/process the theme. I remember youth legend Doug Fields doing this with his youth service years ago. We’ve done it with the last couple of Submerge gatherings. I hope it happens more, even though round tables are pricey and take up room, I think the cost is worth it.
• Music. Nick Zork is a master at choosing songs and leading people to worship God. The band wasn’t overwhelming which (unlike most youthy gatherings these days) meant you could hear people sing! How refreshing.
• No Prelims. Well not many anyway. In an over-commercialised world it’s nice to come to a gathering that is more about the core content that the extras. Maybe this reflects my age or stage of life, but let’s just get to the point people.

Why was this conversational experience needed so much by those present? Isn’t Jesus our ALL and at the centre of our lives already? Was this gathering really that controversial, as some were suggesting? Most SDA’s I know, be they to the left or right, would agree that Jesus is the focus of Adventism. Obviously that is a point of contention and rationale behind this project. But let’s move on to what opportunities lie before the One Project organisers.

I think it would be a lost opportunity to not focus future One Project gatherings on 3 things: the 28, the Church and Discipleship. I recall Grenville Kent saying that he wasn’t ashamed of any of the fundamentals, and if we’re all to get to that place we need to unpack, explain and teach how each of the 28 fundamentals relate to Jesus. The Church has taken a battering from society and it’s own current + disconnected members and we’ve got to show and live how Jesus relates to Church and wants us to be the Church. Lastly, Jesus asked us to make disciples. We’ve spoken about Jesus a lot but haven’t figured out how to do discipleship yet – and it’s desperately needed. Most SDA Christians can tell you ‘it’s all about Jesus’, but ask them how they’re intentionally growing to become like Jesus and making disciples and you won’t get too many positive responses. The One Project has the vehicle and potential to make good ground in these areas.

Well there’s a few observations. I intentionally didn’t read Nathan Brown’s reflections first (RECORD + A Today), but will do so now! Oh and hopefully you’ll be able to watch videos from the Sydney event on the1project.org – if they’re not up yet, the other talks are similar.

Celebrity Sevvies

We love them. They fly in, preach up, then fly out. They are on fire for Jesus. They speak passionately. They are linguistically delicious and spiritually soothing. They are funny. They are bold. They have maxed out Facebook accounts. They are good blokes.

They are the international (mostly US based) speakers that have made the headlines at our camps and conventions that past ? years in Oz and Kiwi land. Some come twice or thrice in the one calender year. Youth directors believe (by their actions) that these guys are the drawcards that will spiritually charge the youth – giving the connotation that the locals can’t do the same. Not for the big events anyway. Is this true? Are our local speakers duds? Is this a bad thing? Is it our consumeristic approach to church and addiction to programs that has led us to desire more of these speakers?

OK, so I’ve been a bit cynical in the past. Perhaps I was just jealous of the frequent flyer miles they’re clocking up. Perhaps I wondered why God hadn’t given me the gift of verbosity and clarity of diction which they possess. Perhaps I wish we’d spend more time training Theo students and our current pastors in the art of preaching. Perhaps the listeners need training in how to listen/receive the message.

The One Project is in Sydney town this weekend and sees the return of some familiar and popular faces. It’s a somewhat pricey gathering that will see us refocus on the One (Jesus) as the centre of everything we do. Do we need these guys (and gals) to come all the way from the states to tell us this? I don’t know, but what I don know is this: it will do us good. Jesus is the one we need at our centre, as our focus, as our all, living within, guiding our steps. And these guys sacrifice a lot to come and share Him with us: long plane trips (initially exciting but anything over 5 hours takes its toll), jet-lagged bodies in a foreign country, pressure from the expectant and the cynical audience to deliver the goods, people lining up after their sermons to take another piece of them, and time away from family.

So thank you ladies and gents who fly across the globe and sacrifice much to deliver relevant and passionate appeals about our Creator’s love and plans for us. Whilst we should learn to be less dependant on you, we love you for the part you play in our discipleship experience. And may we talk less about how good/bad you were and more about what challenge or encouragement God shared through your words and actions.

New loos take away the blues in ‘Nam

I spent 45 minutes last night attempting to remove all the cement from my main work shirt – with a smile on my face. You see I’ve recently returned from a 10 day adventure in Vietnam that focused on building new toilets for two visually impaired families.  A team of 9 Aussies dug holes, mixed cement, passed buckets, rendered walls and laid bricks at two separate homes in Nam Dinh, a city 90km south of Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi. One of the beneficiaries, Miss Mai, lives with her 87 year old mother and couldn’t afford to upgrade her existing toilet on the $25/month social allowance she receives. The other beneficiary, Mr Ho, has been blind all of his 68 years of life, and like Miss Mai, had to walk a fair distance around the back of his house to find the squat (drop) toilet. The team had a great time interacting with Miss Mai, Mr Ho and their families (thanks to the local ADRA staff’s translation!). We also loved bonding with the neighbours who provided the brains and direction for the building projects. My main images of Vietnamese people I saw growing up were the mean faces portrayed in the American made ‘Nam war movies, so I was stoked to experience a fun, humble and caring nature of these beautiful people.I wasn’t sure we were going to raise our $4000 fundraising total in time to resource the project materials. However, thanks to four months of creative attempts, generous donors and prayer – we made it.

Living in a busy, consumeristic Western world, I’d been keen to make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate. After some searching, the Submerge crew came across this ADRA Connections opportunity, which aims to assist the lives of some of the 750,000+ visually impaired people in Vietnam. In spite of this great cause, many on the team still wondered whether it was better to fundraise and make a donation to the project instead of going on the trip ourselves. After all – we realised our main input was $ – we weren’t skilled in building at all (OK we had one sparkie on the team but the voltage and wires in ‘Nam are dangerous!). It wasn’t really until our last day in Nam Dinh that we realised the impact we had made. Though we’d got the chance to go and visit beautiful Halong Bay on the weekend, everyone on the team agreed that their highlight was working and interacting with the families and co-workers on the project. Some claimed it was a far better trip than any holiday they’d been on. Our final visit to the Provincial Blind Association confirmed that the projects would not have gone ahead had we not come in person. We learnt that whilst the funding we provided was needed, more important was the motivation we gave, which built a stronger sense of community. We realised we were not just ambassadors for ADRA but for Australia. This made a great trip a worthwhile, impacting trip – and donating $ from the couch at home can’t compare with that.

So when I consider going on another Connections trip in the future, it is the friendships and loving interactions with the locals which will be on my mind. And when I look at my cement-stained work shirt, I pray it’ll give me the courage to give time and make similar connections with needy Aussies in my own neighbourhood.

I WILL SHARE JESUS!

A couple of Saturday night’s ago I joined about 100 young people in Circular Quay to hand out DVD’s, book, talk to people – basically to ‘share Jesus’. Initially I was excited to be a part of this, but then came the thoughts and doubts, like ‘I don’t feel like bugging tourists!’ and ‘What about the follow up – who’s going to disciple these people?’ and ‘Is this just another experience to get our kicks ?’. Here’s kinda what happened:

http://vimeo.com/39257115

I actually had the best conversations (and was able to share Jesus) with people on my journey into to the city. There was the Indian businessman whom I gave a ride in my car after our train to the city got derailed up the line somewhere. Then there was the young lad on the train who was going to work as a ‘glassy’ in a club that night. At the end of our convo I encouraged him to read the gospels after seeing he had some interest in the Word. I find it easier to share when you’re ‘stuck’ on transport or sharing a smaller space with strangers.

However – I must say – I reckon this experience was good. It tests your faith. It makes you practise prayer. It forces you out of your comfort zone. It reveals a need for the Spirit’s movement, leading and discernment. It’s part of what God asked us to do on this earth (not bug people – but share Him!). It sees young people sowing seeds that will sometimes reap huge harvests. The first time Avondale students usually come to the city is for the Mardi Gras – so it was refreshing to see this as an alternative that would yield different results.

The challenge for me is to share him with strangers and those familiar-but-not-known people that I encounter each day.

For more info check: http://iwsj.com/

Seventh-Gay Adventists

I attended an advanced screening yesterday afternoon of an independent documentary called Seventh-Gay Adventists by husband and wife team, Daneen Akers and Stephen Eyer. I was warmly welcomed at the door by what appeared to be regulars to an SDA Kinship meeting, and inside I met the film director couple and heard a little more of their journey with the film. Here’s the trailer:

I sat in a crowded room spotted with prominent Adventists from the area, but was only able to view about 80% the film due to a pressing appointment. It was filmed well and enabled the characters to share their experience and particularly the tension and reality of being gay and Adventist. For those who don’t have gay Adventist friends, it’s worth viewing, however I wish it had developed the issues. It had the potential for so much more. I really think homosexuality needs to be addressed more in Adventism (in the South Pacific) – from a redemptive, compassionate perspective – but I thought the film could have addressed the Biblical perspectives a little more.

I guess I left the film feeling a little more sympathetic to the characters who shared so honestly (and wondering about how many have left the church because of mistreatment), but I don’t think it helped anyone gain deeper insight into what the Word says about the issue. Hey, I’m no expert and obviously have got much to learn and room for growth – so will endeavour to do so with the Bible as my torch and the Spirit as my teacher.

Overwhelmed

overwhelmed – past participle, past tense of o·ver·whelm (Verb)

1. Bury or drown beneath a huge mass.

2. Defeat completely.

I haven’t really written on this blog for over 4 months. I’ve been meaning to, but I’m overwhelmed (definition 1. not 2.). Between work, trip planning, article reading, facebook scoping, fundraising, people talking/listening, well-intentioned-but-often-poorly-practised Bible studying, praying, sleeping, exercising, eating and other essential practises – it’s become a bit too much. There’s too much info pressuring for our time these days. I’m not convinced new technology – as fun as it is to discover – is helping us with efficiency. I haven’t talked to good friends for a long time (and vice versa). I don’t even have kids and I’m not coping (eek)! My walk with God and well-intentioned goals are slipping. I’ve got to re-prioritise and simplify. Say no. Learn some task-management skills. Get back to the basics. Tone down my idealism. Be still.

How do you survive in this fast-paced, information-overloaded, ‘buy this, you need that’ world?

For disconnected/Submerge gatherings this year I’m focusing on the April service trip with ADRA to Vietnam (donate here if you like – thanks) and connecting with people in my community via indoor soccer/bball sessions which are happening at Fox’s Community Centre (church) on a Wed night. 14 people came last week – with no advertising – so the wheels are rolling. As far as weekend gatherings/conference, we’ll support the One project in Sydney in July. I’d like to do more – I have more dreams/ideas – but volunteers are few and simple things bathed in prayer are on the agenda.

Sabbath rest – what a gift – thank you Jesus.

Adventist Uni Students Australia = Deficient + Defective*

*defective  means having a defect or fault, while deficient  means inadequate or lacking in amount or degree

I recently spent 4 days at the Adventist Students Association (ASA) Convention at Lennox Head as part of my work (tough I know!). Here’s a few reflections:

• There were about 25 students who stayed for the week of activities (mostly indoors or nearby due to the constant rain – ahh!).
• They were a great bunch of students – friendly, focused and faithful to God. The speaker – Doug Burns – shared simple yet profound messages.
• ASA is struggling to keep track of current uni students and attract connected students to it’s Annual Convention. This is an issue of leadership, marketing, and mentoring.
• Conference/City Uni student clubs like NASA (Newcastle) and SASS (Sydney) have struggled this year to get off the ground and run any gatherings. They have appointed pastoral chaplains, but the challenges of students and ex-students leading and a new, transient generation (that is socially connected via technology but not in person) is taking it’s toll. Some states are doing OK (e.g. QUSDAS in SQLD) but say they are struggling, some population areas have no SDA uni club presence at all.
• I listen to one student at the convention talk about how current youth ministry in her conference – including youth rallies – was aimed at younger teens and therefore irrelevant to her. Interestingly, this is the same sentiment I’ve heard many times from 25-40 yr olds – but this from someone who was about 20.
• I’m concerned that with the lack of support, mentoring and leadership for uni students (Avondale College aside) in Australia, they will look more like my generation and disconnect from church and sadly loose their focus on Jesus. It’s time we engaged with this issue – and with our uni student generation.