Joel Webbon

Here's a post from Joel Webbon who is planting a Vineyard church in Ocean Beach California. I just spent the weekend with Joel & his team & they are an amazing group of men in a unique part of San Diego. Their story is really interesting, but as they've pushed through many trials & are seeing a work emerge. 


 I've heard people say that in dreams a vehicle can often symbolize different types of ministries. I don't know if this concept can even begin to actually be supported theologically, but I guess God has spoken in much weirder ways than this. As you can probably imagine, every person I talk to who has a dream like this always explains how the vehicle they dreamed of was big. I've heard the stories of dreams containing jumbo planes, giant cruise ships, massive buses, and trains that stretched on for miles. However, the most profound dream I've ever had that included a vehicle was about a tiny little helicopter. In the dream I was flying this helicopter through an extremely dangerous and narrow passage between two jagged mountains. If I had flown to far in any one direction by even just inches I would have crashed. 

    In my opinion, church planting is like piloting a helicopter. You have to be able and willing to maneuver. You have to have the capacity to drastically adjust at a moments notice. The Bible says, "Man makes his plans, but the Lord determines his steps." Over and over I have had to repent of my sin of idolatry because I put my plans above allowing my steps to be led by Jesus. Now this truth should never be used as an excuse for apathy, but the hard work of planning should always remain vastly inferior to the genuine prompting of the Holy Spirit. 

     On the other hand, it also makes me sad when I hear people talk about how they've had to back-pedal in ministry when the Holy Spirit began to lead in another direction. I personally don't believe there is such a thing as back-pedaling when it comes to ministry. I have no regrets. I've done things that may appear stupid now, but at the time it was exactly what was needed. This not only includes my methods, but also even my theology. I can clearly see now how God has graciously used even my wrong beliefs in order to guide me through tricky and difficult situations. I can't see what He sees. I don't know what He knows. As the Bible says, "His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are much higher than our ways." 

     So if I make my human plans, but am incapable of seeing God's overall divine plan what can I do to ensure success? The answer is simple. Success in ministry is defined by obedience. Immediate, spontaneous, impromptu obedience. Some of us plant and some of us water, but God makes things grow. I am not responsible for growth because growth is outside of my control. God is the only one who can control growth and results. Remember Jesus said, "I will grow my church." So when we see growth it's always Him who deserves the credit, and when we don't see growth we must also be careful not to take the blame. The only thing we are responsible for is obedience. This revelation is what will sustain any genuine follower of Jesus, but especially a church planter. It gives me peace to know that the pilot of the tiny helicopter is not in the least bit inferior to the pilot of the humongous cruise ship as long as both are responding in obedience to what God has called them to do.

Leadership by: Steven Hamilton

The intention of this blog is to nurture the gift of Church Planting within the Vineyard. This post is written by Steven Hamilton who is going to plant a Vineyard Church in Pittsburgh. It is my hope that we learn together, dialogue, & grow through sharing our thoughts on subjects we find important to our craft.
If you'd like to post let me know...
Thanks Steven, great thoughts from a great leader. 

In our journey towards cultivating a faith community in urban Pittsburgh, our little team is just beginning.  But beginnings are important, as they can set the trajectory and essence of so much in a community of faith.  This is especially the case vis-à-vis leadership, for which, we have two primary metaphors by which we have been seeking to live.  The primary one is "Family", as in the household of God.  This is why we seek to root ourselves in the Vineyard community of churches and live out that family-dynamic in our faith community, in our rhythm of life, and in our leadership:

1. The family forms around a person (or persons) of peace (Luke 10:5, Matt. 10:11). That is, mature people (presbuteros) who function as spiritual moms and dads (episkopos-those who watch over). 1 Timothy 3:4-5.  We feel this is best expressed naturally and lived, not necessarily as an elected office.
2. Not a meeting but a family who live life together (which includes meetings). Acts 2:44, 46. Heb. 3:13.
3. Most important fact? Jesus is present and active. It's His church and He is always at work. Matt. 18:20, 16:18.
4. Most important skill we learn together? Learning to listen to Jesus and do what he says. Learning to see what the Father is doing. This must be modeled and facilitated by the spiritual grownups. John 5:19; 8:28-29; 12:49-50; 14:10-14; 16:13.
5. The leaders function as really healthy parents. 1 Thessalonians 2:7, 11; 1 Cor. 4:15, 16. (The health of every family reflects the health of the parents.) Their goal? Every member becomes mature (grown up) in Christ. How do they do this? Through wise parenting (often involves coaching/facilitating--asking and listening more than telling and directing).

Based on some reading from Parker Palmer, what we have felt we need to wrestle with is the fact that a leader is capable of the power to project either shadow or light upon our world and upon the people dwelling in it.  This is particularly the case for those in our families and our relational networks.  In this way, leaders shape the “essence” of how people live…an “essence” as light and authentic as heaven or as dark and twisted as hell.  A mature leader seeks to have a higher awareness of the interplay of inner shadow and light, so as to cast more light than shadow. 

Too long have we dwelt in the immature and dangerous delusion that our leadership is OK if based in ”good intentions” and that makes our power benign; Jesus always called out the leaders for “good intentions” without following through to “good actions” that liberate instead of bind people, themselves included.  But to grapple with this Jesus-centric “calling out of leadership” is to join the journey toward maturity. 

If we as leaders are to cast light and not shadow, we need to embrace the gift of discernment and seek to understand the shadows that populate our hearts in order to bring them to Light and experience the transformation of on-going maturity in Christ:

• Insecurity.  Many leaders are insecure (OK, maybe all of us are!).  We become insecure possibly because we don’t think we know enough, aren’t expert enough, aren’t “insert-your-own-insecurity” enough.  When leaders aren’t secure in their own identities rooted in Christ, we can often foster an environment that deprives other people of their identities, as we are busy supporting our own insecure place and identity through them.  We need to heed the sacred call to embrace the gift of being ourselves.  I keep coming back to the fact that I need to embrace the gift of myself.  God wants me to be me, I can’t be Moses or David or John Wimber, I need to be myself; the ironic thing comes forth at this point: the more I can be myself in Christ, the more I can be real and present to other people and even in embracing who I am, there will be a family resemblance because of Jesus living through me.  But I can’t be divided…I can’t be two people.  As we all know there is a cruciform-shaped authenticity at the core of servant leadership.  Walking with authenticity is walking with a limp, to paraphrase the old Wimber-ism: Never trust a leader without a limp.
• Pride.  Another shadow common among leaders is the pride of “functional atheism”, which amounts to the deep-seated belief that we are responsible for everything and it all comes down to “me.”  This sort of pathology “wishes” God might show up, but “acts” in a manner that never expects much from God or other people, but expects almost everything from me.  This kind of pathology leads to depression, burnout and can carry us close to “losing our religion”.  It is very difficult to lead people so that they follow Someone Else.  Full disclosure: Most of the anxiety in my life is focused on “outcome”, and I forget scripture clearly states that the “outcome” is God’s responsibility, and my responsibility is just to be faithful (even if that makes me look like a fool for Christ); as Mother Teresa used to pray: “I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.”
• Fear.  Related and underlying the first two is fear or perhaps reactions to fear.  One primary reaction of leaders to fear is taking control.  In this way, we have over the years tangled and bundled power, authority and control.  I think it is time we together enjoined the task of unweaving these baselines of leadership.  We can see clearly that most of Jesus’ meetings (in which He was clearly the leader) were a mess…messy human need, fear, insecurity, pride, and everything that comes with those.  Unfortunately, we leaders try to organize and manipulate and eliminate the mess with a thin veneer of polish.  But what we might find ourselves doing is organizing the work of God right out of our gatherings.  Thus we find ourselves creating an oppressive environment rather than a liberating and empowering environment.  The insight of scripture is that almost always messiness is a precondition for creativity and growth.  We witness this in Genesis where there was formlessness and void and darkness…as the Spirit was brooding, then life itself emerges from the mess.  There is a precarious balance between spirit and structure that creates the condition for life to emerge and thrive.  But in order to embrace this good tension of structure and freedom, leaders must through fear, be discerning, and embrace courage.  As US President Roosevelt once said: “The only thing we have to fear if Fear Itself.” 

The road toward maturity is a road traveled in fellowship, as a family always is.  We need to remember that throughout history people matured and “grew in Christ” primarily through the family dynamics that were relational and communal in engagement.  This engagement engenders trust and deep relationship that forms us on the way.  For us, there is a deep sense that this is about living your life out-loud…walking with your limp, in public.  In this journey, we hope to live and lead not out of the insecurities and pride and fear that populates our hearts, but in the midst of our transforming heart that empowers trust and hope and faithfulness.  We want to move toward a grace-filled place of possibility rooted in Christ and away from outcome-based anxiety, while we all work out our faithfulness and trust issues in fear and trembling.  My hope and prayer for all of us is that we move toward maturity and integration, even if, at-present in this now-and-not-yet age, it remains a hidden wholeness in Christ Jesus our Lord.

An Offering of Uncles

Each month a group of pastors in Santa Cruz read a book together. Last month Jason Farley picked "An Offering of Uncles," & it is a fabulous book. I'm thankful we don't read many Ecclesiological Engineering books; I'm interested in the life Jesus promised & I'm pretty sure my neighbors are too.

"Set down here, therefore, the fact that orthodox Christianity has nothing against the body, & everything for it. First, God made it. Second, God loves it. Third, God took it to himself in the womb of Mary. Fourth, he walked the earth in it, not with disdain, but with enough obvious pleasure to acquire a bad reputation in the eyes of fussy people; &, finally, he died, rose, ascended into heaven, & reigns forever as the incarnate Lord--in a body--with flesh, bones & all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature. The problems raised by orthodox Christianity are anything but Oriental. They are embarrassingly--shockingly--fleshly. The current age, if it hears the true doctrine at all, finds it not too spiritual, but too material for its tastes. It is not God who is too refined for man. It is man who finds God's announced way of doing business slightly...vulgar."  (Pgs. 95-96)

"When the body has to be pinched, stretched or reprocessed before we can get enthusiastic about it, there is a good case to be made out that it is not being loved or offered as a body." (Pg. 96)

"Where Are You Pouring Your Life?"

Here's another great topic & thoughts from Joshua Hopping:

Yesterday I was having coffee with two area pastors when a similar topic arose as part of our discussion of elder-ship. Specially we were talking about the differences between having a church leadership focused entirely on the senior pastor versus having a team structure in which the senior is first among equals.

As part of this discussion I was asked if I was afraid for my “job” as pastor since our church bylaws allows for the church elders to ‘fire’ the pastor. My response startled him as I said that I wouldn’t want a church that didn’t want me.

Or to use different words, I am following Jesus and as long as the church fellowship is going the same direction, I’m happy to love them and push them toward Jesus. But if there every comes a time when they want to stop moving or if they want to go another direction than the one God has me going, then I will happily step down and let them go after God. The church is not my life; Jesus is my life and loving people is just what I do because it’s what He is doing.

All too often pastors get caught up in the ‘hireling’ concept that their church is their life. They pour themselves into the ‘church’ as an organization instead of pouring themselves into the ‘church’ as the body of Christ. The difference may seem slight, but the outcome and direction of one noting the difference is HUGE!!

In a missional sense, the difference can be seen in how one views a church plant. Is the pastor going to a certain area to start their own organization/church? Or does God already have a ‘church’ there who is just looking for someone to help spur them on towards Jesus?

Regardless of the heart behind the actions, the first view will normally create an attitude in which the church planter/senior pastor is constantly trying to keep a hold of power and authority.  Unless it this attitude is checked, it can becomes more about the vision of the pastor and less about what God is doing among people in the fellowship.

The latter view lends itself towards an attitude of a journey. Church planters/senior pastors become more concerned about what Jesus is doing in their community than they do with fulfilling their own visions or dreams. This is hard as these leaders are normally dreamers and visionaries motivated by what will one day be.  Yet these dreams and visions must be written in pencil as it is the “counsel of the LORD that shall stand” and not the “plans in a man’s heart” (Prov 19:21).

What say you? Where are you pouring your life?

Sorry that it's been a while since posting, but life has been  rather full lately. Here's a great link to a video which says a lot about the world we love & live in.

http://vimeo.com/31451022

A Mustard Seed

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?