Recipe for a Pink Penguin?

Many of us in the Vineyard are wrestling with great theological questions & Joshua Hopping is no different. Joshua is the pastor of Payette River Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Idaho. Joshua asked if he could post a question for us hoping it would create thought & a conversation about his wrestling match.

My hope is for many of us to post on this blog, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or rants you'd like to put before the group please let me know. Too, if you have any feedback write a post instead of emailing me so the quest collumnist can see your thoughts & respond.

Joshua Hopping:

Changing Styles

I have a question for you all as I have been wrestling with how our Sunday morning service is going.

While God has continued to show up and bless us with His presence, I’m not so sure if the format of having people sit in rows listening to a lecture is the best way to teach people to follow Jesus. In fact, I know it is NOT the best way – yet it is the way that most people have come to expect (especially those in a rural community like mine). 

Knowing this I have been thinking about changing the style of our Sunday service to try to help people learn to do what Jesus did (and is doing).

The idea that came to mind as I thought about this dilemma is not really novel or new – it is actually a throwback to 1970 and ‘80s. My insecurities and questions about this new style stems from never experiencing it or seeing it in action.

So that is the ‘new’ style I’m thinking about?

Well there is two parts to it:

The first part would be to remove the rows of chairs and replace them with round tables (like I said nothing really novel).  This would allow folks to enjoy their coffee and snacks (we take turn bring cookies, cakes, quiche, etc to church each week) while reading their Bible (something that is hard to do currently as it requires balancing multiple items and hot liquid while sitting in a chair…not an easy task).

The second part of this shift would require me to change the way I preach – namely, instead of delivering the sermon as a lecture, I would shift gears into a more interactive presentation with questions and answers from the congregation. The picture that I’m envisioning in my mind includes two sub-points in order to make this work:

One – each person would receive a handout outlining the sermons main points with various blanks throughout, forcing folks to pay attention and fill-in-the blanks (again not a new idea as I know lots of churches do this).

Two – During the ‘sermon’ or towards the end (depending on what the topic is and how inactive folks are) I will stop and specially ask for questions or to see if anything needs further clarification.

That’s about it… that is what I have been thinking about. I have bounced the concept off a few folks here at the church and they seem to like it, but I still have some misgivings / concerns that I am hoping you all might be able to help with.

First off, did the circle table thing actually work? I know a lot of Vineyard churches started out that way, but having never attended one that was set up that way I’m wondering if that style was a failure…. or did the churches just get too big to ‘waste’ floor space in that manner?

Secondly, while the Q&A part of the style intrigues me – it also scares me. What if things get out of control? How do I gently and peacefully bring the conversation back to the topic that I felt God wanted to talk about that day? Or, as the case may be, do I just let things go the direction they go instead of trying to direct things back to a certain topic? (Knowing you guys, someone is probably going to say, “Depends – there’re both valid!”)

Thirdly, does having notes with blanks in them actually work? Do they help communicate or do they detract from the move of God? (yeah, yeah… I know… it depends on the person… work with me here…do some broad stereotyping for a minute.)   =P

Oh…I should probably give you all some more presuppositions about my view of Sunday morning (for those who don’t know that well). My view of Sunday morning is two folds (hmm…..I’m seeing a trend here):

One: I view Sunday morning as a time of corporate worship – a time when the followers of Jesus can come together and praise the Lord as one body.

Two: Sunday morning is a training ground in which Jesus followers learn how to do the ‘stuff’ so that they can take the presence of God out into the highway, byways, nooks and crannies of our area. It is NOT the end all – it is simple a tool to help facilitate mentoring and training in a highly independent and busy society.

Ok..I’m done now.

What do you all think? Have you seen this done before? Did it work? Fail? Are you still reading this? Should I calm my fears and go for it? Did a pink penguin just walk by?

Don't plant a church

I recently went out to lunch with a great guy who wants to plant a church in Santa Cruz. I believe he’s gonna’ do a great job. That said, what was ironic about our conversation was my response to his question, “what should I do?” I responded, “Move here, but don’t move here to start a church.” 

A few months back I got an email from Shawn, who was about to finish his M.Div. He felt God calling him & his family to plant a church in Santa Cruz; (BTW: I am a huge fan of more Cplants in Santa Cruz). He wanted to meet & hear our story to get an idea of what to expect. He’s a great guy (great family too.)

There are several things that make each location within the U.S. unique. St. Paul Minnesota isn’t Buffalo New York; Dallas Texas isn’t Santa Cruz California, etc. Out of the several distinctive things that make up the Bay I will share a couple in regards to our challenge. 

First: The Bay is a post-post-Christian-neo-pagan culture. They don’t want church, they don’t need church & they aren’t indifferent to our hopes. Most of them know enough about Christianity to reject it & scratch their spiritual itch with some form of Buddhism. To them we are the imperialistic remnants of the George W. Bush Religious Right. We are the closed minded, gay hating, anti-fun fungus that drags down the freewheeling liberalism which is destined to set mankind free. 

Next: The Bay is very expensive. Granted our Father “owns cattle on a thousand hills,” yet each time I try my landlord says he doesn’t accept cows; he wants cash. When we moved to Santa Cruz it was ranked the 7^th most expensive city to live in the United States & I’m sure almost every other city in the Bay is the same. As you look around you see that almost every parent of a young child is in their 40’s. Why? Because most people in the Bay are consumed with a career to pay the bills & starting a family has to wait; for us who want to start a church, just trying to pay the bills takes a large portion of the prayer life. 

Too, as Shawn discovered there are two types of jobs for church planters; the wrong jobs that pay the bills & the right jobs that don’t. The wrong job (for a church planter)  is a construction job where you get paid $35hr, but all you work with is middle-age men who don’t live in your city (my first job in SC) The right job (again for a planter) is right down the street at the local coffee shop where thousands of locals stop by each day & “everybody knows your name;” however, your mom just called because she saw you & your family on the latest episode of “repo man” because you can’t pay your bills. Cattle anyone? 

Last: You’re the pastor of a small, slowly growing, filled with wonderful & challenging people (as they all are), church. On top of that you have expectations of where the church should be, so do your friends, & so does your denomination. You live in constant tension with what should be & what is. A friend shared a story of a very promising church planter in the Bay receiving $200,000 to start a church. 4yrs later he had gathered 50 people. The other pastors in the city agreed it was typical growth; his denomination wasn’t as impressed. This ain’t Ohio. 

These are three of the things making church planting, in the Bay, a grueling exercise in faith based obedience.

Last week Shawn & I met up for lunch. He looked tired. He was worn-out because he’d been looking for jobs, coffee shops, etc, & the reality of what he was trying to do was sinking in. He still hadn’t found a place to live because the place he got accepted for reneged on their agreement: no job, no house, only a call to start a church in Santa Cruz.  He asked for my opinion. 

I told him “move here, but don’t move here to start a church.” You see, we moved here to start a church. We had a particular vision for what God was going to do (or was it what God was going to do for us?) & that plan never materialized, which made many of us struggle because it failed. However, the only thing to fail was our idea of what God was calling us to & not what actually materialized, which is really a great thing; yet the process is a hard road to travel & an easy road to wander off of.  

We’ve realized starting a church in the Bay might take a lifetime. Too, what you think of church might not be what God is calling you to: Sermons, seats, video clips, young people, Caucasians, middle-class, heterosexual, etc. It’s a bit more complicated in the Bay & one thing God has shown me is: Slow down long enough to live life because that’s what everyone in the Bay (everywhere actually) is having the greatest difficulty doing: Living life, which is exactly what Jesus came to give…life.  

So I told Shawn “move down here, get a good paying job, allow your wife & family a transition time, learn the rhythms of Santa Cruz culture, make some friends, & then after about 2yrs get your support team & start a church.” I don’t think we’re doing church planters, in the Bay at least, any justice when we front load them to death with unrealistic expectations on top of an unrealistic financial situation. 

What used to take a shingle with the name Vineyard, a few Sundays, & a few good songs is a thing of the past. We’re drinking new wine & need new wineskins, which take time to mature.

Dear Sean: Don’t plant a church, go live a life.  

The God of the Misfits

If you’ve spent any time with me I love to eat, so naturally, being the type of person I am I ask myself, “how can I make that?” This has led to several wonderful adventures as I try my hand at creating my own recipes & delectable treats for my friends & family. 

If you’ve spent any time with me you know I love good, robust, & tasty beer; so naturally I ask, “How can I make that?” Over the course of the past year I’ve become rather intrigued & delighted in brewing my own beer. However, with this cooking adventure I’ve stumbled upon a whole people group that enjoys the craft as well. 

We are fortunate enough in our small coastal city to have a great, all organic of course, home brewing store & through my journey it has led to some pretty cool friendships with the employees. One could assume that I just as might bring in some chick tracks, in the form of recipes, & place them in the store, but I’ve found that brewing a good beer instead delights my people group, & myself, a bit more. 

I don’t know any other Christ followers who regularly enter the store & share the craft with the homebrew people & that said, my friends at the homebrew store are intrigued that I, a pastor of a local church do; however, as I’ve journeyed along this road, & started brewing some good beers, my friends have started to talk to me on deeper levels, which has led to genuine friendships, questions, & better beers. 

All of the guys at the shop know I make small batches: 1 to 3 gallons. This was/is confusing to them because they all brew 10 to 30 gallons at a time; yet when they’ve asked, & they all do, I share with them that I choose to make small batches because, “beer is certainly good, but certain people within my community struggle with alcohol & I want to respect them.” This of course brings up great conversations of: faith, restraint, living to love others, & the celebration of creation vs. prohibition. 

One day I entered the shop to share one of my brews & was wearing my work shirt that happened to be a shirt from a ½ marathon. My friend asked, “Do you run?” I mentioned that I did & he said, “I do too. We should go running sometime.”We decided on a day we could run together.

Yesterday morning we rose early, drank our coffee, & met at the Buttery, which is a Santa Cruz landmark of sorts. When we started running he asked about the previous day & I mentioned I spent most of the day at the Farmers Market where our church runs a booth selling “Meditational Arts: Prayer flags, candles, etc.” This coupled with my home brewing obviously intrigued him enough that he blurted out, “What type of church are you a part of anyways?” I guess a pastor who brews good beer & sells meditational arts at the Market is pretty interesting. I told him about our church & he said, “It sounds like you are a church for misfits.” I agreed whole-heartedly that we were in fact a church of misfits & that Jesus himself was always to be found amongst misfits. Then as we continued on for a bit, caught up in the rhythms of our feet striking the ground he said, “I’m a misfit,” & I remarked, “I am too.”

The Perils of a Godly Man

I recently opened a message from a woman I assumed I went to Highschool with. What followed was a rather interesting dialogue as I discovered I was being given a "proposal." I think we get proposals often, sometimes from simple things, & other times we get a proposal that will shipwreck who we are. I wish I always made the right choice when presented with a enticing proposal, but "very often" will have to sustain me to the finish line.

Below is the actual dialogue between my suitor & I via Facebook:
--You look good in your profile picture, are you still single? Smile!!!!
--What's up Nancy. Thanks for the compliment. I've been married for 11 years & have 3 incredible kids. I hope you're doing well. Blessings.
--Yes, i am doing good and you?
--We're doing great. We live in Santa Cruz & are a part of a really cool faith community here following Jesus. What have you been up to?
--Nothing much just wish we could get to know each other and see how it goes, how are your kids doing as well?
--How do we know each other Nancy?
--well, maybe we can exchange email
--Hey Nancy I don't know if you caught on or not, but I'm a happily married man. Too, I have three kids. What would it have been like for your dad to accept some invitation from another woman? What would that have done to your life? Is that what you'd like to do to my family?

Maybe she's still thinking about my questions...