"But what about weird or stupid people?"

"I am under obligation both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish: so I am eager to preach the gospel to you also ...." Roman 1:13-14 RSV
OUCH! Imagine it, "I have to share Jesus with stupid people, so I hope to come to a town near you!" (I am curious whether you thought of yourself as the subject or object of the title.)

Several days ago I was speaking to a very nice Christian person (let's call him BOB) who simply could not imagine having "those" kind of people (weird, stupid) in his house. Not long into the conversation he mentioned those people in his church who thought they were too good for my friend. Notice a trend? If I am smarter (or whatever term you want to use) than you, then you are beneath me. If you are smarter (or whatever) than me, then you are snooty. Hmmm.

This reminds me of the man who went to the doctor with pain all over his body. Everywhere he touced himself with his finger he hurt. The doctor informed him that his finger was broken.

I said in the last post that my vision for Macon, GA is God's vision (for everyone to love Jesus) applied to a particular place, working itself outward in a concentric fashion. Here I want to talk about my vision for God's church (partially).

First, normal people usually meet Jesus through relationships with normal people. This could be through family, co-workers, teachers, friends, etc.

Second, this does not mean that we all get together one Saturday a month and do Evangelism in the streets or parking lots.

Third, this means that people who love Jesus have more leverage in the culture for God's kingdom than is usually assumed by either pastors or congregants.

Two objections need to be answered. First, "Is evangelism for normal people? Isn't that why we hire pastors?" Second, "How in the world can I do what I expect my pastor to do when I don't have any spare time?"

In order to answer the first question we need to look closely at Ephesians 4. "But grace was given to each one us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it is said, 'When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.' ... And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the sainst, for the work of ministry ... until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God," (Ephesians 4:7-13 RSV).

Usually, we think of these gifts as being relegated to ordained leadership, but the text seems to indicate that God gives everyone something of these gifts for doing ministry (no doubt governing and teaching authority is a separate issue, see 1 Timothy 2). Paul speaks of this totality in verses 15-16: "Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love." So Paul wants every believer (every) to "speak the truth in love" whether through evangelism or teaching etc; whether this is within the believing or unbelieving community. Each part has a part. (If you are thinking that Paul was talking about the inner relationships of the church body alone, then what place has Evangelism in verse 11 or the coming to a knowledge of Jesus in verse 13?) Want to grow you community of faith? Then everyone must do their part.

Second, there is simply not enough time. We barely have any time for our families, much less for our unbelieving communities. I admit, this is a real issue, but that is because we have bifurcated our normal lives from our church lives. I want to suggest rearranging how we think about normal life. Let give you an illustration and several questions to ask yourself along with one principle.

What this chart reveals is our concentric spheres of influence. In each sphere I am presented with a web of interactive relationships which we might call Kingdom Opportunities. Some of these relationships are more frequent than others. In some you have a voice of authority (family) or influence (employer). In some less frequent (market) you have contact but not authority. In others you have voice but not authority (hobby). These are the normal webs of relationship in every day life.

So how do we leverage the relationships we already have? Here let me insert the principle of intentionality. Where you are not intentional for sharing Jesus then you will not share Jesus. I suggest sitting down and filling in this chart in the following way.

1) List who your family is, what your job is, what your hobbies are, and where you shop. Now transfer the what and where to who. Who is in your family, who are you co-workers, who are you hobby mates, and who works at where you shop.

2) In each of these categories ask yourself four questions: where do I have authority, where do I have voice, where do I have influence, and where do I have contact. How I evangelize in my family will be different than how I evangelize shopping. The one may mean changing the nature of the events I do with my family (rather than adding more) while the other may be changing how I speak to my cashier (rather than chasing her into the bathroom with a tract).

3) Now ask yourself how you can be more intentional in each of these categories to share Jesus. For example: don't be in such a hurry when you shop; instead of asking someone to accept Jesus all the time, just ask them if you can be praying for them; see inconveniences as opportunities (when they involve people); use the same cashier over time (begin to ask questions and form a history); shop in the same places;

4) Finally, learn what the Gospel is and how to speak it into people's lives. You don't have to be a genius: "Jesus loves you and so do I, can I be praying for you?"

What have stupid people to do with this? Well, we tend to "avoid" people who we think are either better or worse than us, which is ....umm...everyone. Erase your prejudices, look at your young pregnant, teenage cashier at Hobby Lobby as a person that Jesus loves. Look at that idiot with his pants around his ankles at the mall as someone Jesus loves. See that snooty rich person on the side of the road who can't change his own tire as someone that Jesus loves. Your brat of a child? You have voice and authority; add intentionality to your relationships and share Jesus (however little of it you have).

The Vision = God's desire + God's provision + God's calling

"This charge I commit to you . . . my son. ... I urge that supplications, prayers, and intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men ... This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator ... who gave himself a ransom for all ...." 1 Timothy 1:18, 2:1-7 RSV
VISION: Whenever I interview for a ministry position I am asked, "What is your vision for the church?" For sake of clarity, let's distinguish between a vision for God's people and a vision for a particular place. So I have a vision for Macon (which I will enumerate in a moment) and a vision for those helping me to carry it out (the core group which I will enumerate in a separate post). For example, a football coach may have a vision for his team but he may also have a vision for his conference in which the team is a part (Remember the Titans is a good example).
What is my vision for Macon, GA? My vision is God's vision for the world applied to a particular place. That everyone in Macon, GA would be rescued from their sin, discipled, and sent out with a vision for everyone in GA to be rescued from their sin, discipled, and sent out with a vision for everyone in the South to be rescued from their sin, discipled, and sent out with a vision ..... You get the point right? Salvation, discipleship, mission in an ever expanding concentric wave to the ends of the earth.

Simple right? Not so much.

1. Let me answer three immediate objections. OBJ 1:Perhaps you are thinking to yourself: "but isn't that what churches are doing?" Yes. I love a lot of MAcon, GA churches inlcuding my two home churches (First Pres and First Evangelical). I am merely joining their ranks with the recognition that there are people groups (a lot of them) that are not being rubbed up against with the Gospel except from a distance. (I will explain in the next post how some new understandings in missions should be effecting how churches engage the unreached.)

GOD'S DESIRE
OBJ 2: Perhaps you are thinking to yourself: "Are you saying that God will save everyone?" No. I am saying that God wants everyone to be saved. If this is God's heart, then it should be our heart too. "Intercession for all men could be justified only on the ground of God's willingness to save all" (Guthrie). We want to be sure that everyone has the most hopeful opportunity of being exposed to the heart of the Gospel. Simply knowing about it is not enough.

OBJ 3: Perhaps you are thinking to yourself: "But Jesus and Paul did not try to save every individual in their path or in the world. Jesus concentrated on 12 disciples, Paul on several cities. Are you not then going beyond the scope of the Bible?" No. Jesus chose the 12 as an exponential strategy as did Paul with the cities of Antioch & Rome. The hope is that in concentrating on certain strategic individuals and cities the message of Christianity would spread exponentially. Why a city? Culture always flows from the city to the country. Save the city, you get the country also. Save the country, and you may never get the city.

This exponential strategy is true for Jesus' choice of the 12 as well. When Jesus ascended, having concentrated his ministry on discipling the 12 he sends the 12 out in the following manner: "Go therefore and make desciples of all nations [Matthew 28:19] ... But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 2:8). Jesus focuses on the twelve with the intention of focusing in on all the nations in this concentric manner, working from their immediate context (Jerusalem) outward until the ends of the earth are reached.

Consider also the election of Israel. God forms the nations of Israel from scratch and plants them in the most culturally influential section in the ancient near east. Trade and culture flowed through Israel to the rest of the world.

The point I am making is that just because God elected Israel does not mean that God did not care about the rest of the world knowing him (cf. Isaiah 19:16-25). Just because Jesus chose the twelve does not mean that He did not care about discipling everyone else. Just because Paul concentrated on certain cities, does not mean he did not care to reach the rural villages. Instead, it is just the opposite. Israel is formed, the 12 are discipled, and the cities are reached strategically to reach the whole world. Is God slow? Not at all. He is "patient, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).

GOD'S PROVISION
2. Not only is it God's will for everyone to be rescued, but He has made provision for it through the universal ransom of Jesus: "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2:5 RSV; cf. 1 John 2:2). "While we were yet helpless...Christ died for [in behalf of] the ungodly" (Romans 5:6 RSV) so that "just as one man's trespass [adam] led to condemnation for all men, so one man's act [Jesus] of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men" (Romans 5:18 RSV).

Why are not all men therefore saved? Because they must unite themselves to Jesus by trusting in Jesus' own work rather then their own. "Why [did Israel not get it]? Because they did not pursue it [righteousness] through faith, but as if it were based on works" (Romans 9:32 RSV). But does this mean they cannot be rescued who have depended on works rather than on Jesus' faithfulness? "And even others, if they do not persist in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again" (Romans 11:23 RSV).

So God desires all people to be rescued, he has provided for their ransom through Christ Jesus, but they must trust in Christ in order to activate God's ransom for them. Nevertheless, even when they fail to do this, they are not beyond recovery. Therefore we do not give up.

GOD'S CALLING
3. God's desire and provision (the Gospel essentially) are worked out in the world through his call. "Paul ... called to be an apostle ... to bring about the obedience of faith ... including yourselves who are called to be holy .... your faith is being proclaimed in all the world" (Romans 1:1, 5, 6). God's church is his missionary to the world (more on this later).

For me, God's calling is the application of God's desire and provision to the city of Macon. God wants every maconite to be rescued through the ransom of Jesus through the witness of his people. Then he wants to disciple them as his people so that they can in turn be a witness for every Georgian. Simple right? My vision is not based on doing church better than someone else. God has set the vision, God has given provision, God has announced his call. Equally, just because I imagine all of Macon worshipping Jesus does not mean that I focus on every maconite. Rather, I (we) focus strategically like Jesus and Paul. How this works itself out is the goal of my next post.

V=Gd & Gp & Gc

"REALLY Lord? Anything but that."

"Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah ... saying, 'Arise, go to Nineveh' ... But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish ... But the Lord hurled a great wind .... Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish ... and the Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited out Jonah" RSV

You know how it goes, right? "Just don't send me to....." And then he sends you there! One of the most difficult things in the last 6 years has been the waiting. "What am I supposed to be doing with my life Lord?" Only recently have my eyes been opened to God's work in the past and his calling in the present, but I did not welcome it at first.

For many years the longing to be in ministry has been met with constant confusion and a lack of outward confirmation (no one wanted my ministry). At one time I had a wide array of opportunities for doing ministry including starting a youth group, preaching revivals, working as co-director at a Christian camp, and doing youth ministry full time. Suddenly it all stopped. No opportunities, no one impressed. I think this was the hardest of all. I was so familiar with praise and a false sense of my own abilities and holiness that when God removed his blessing I was in total shock. I am in shock. In fact, I sometimes wonder if I am not kidding myself even now!


So what makes me think that I am called now to this work? Several things have been pointing in this direction for a long time. It started with my call to ministry when I was 18 (2000). I had been preaching revivals and doing ministry in my local town of Dekalb, MS. The Lord was granting much fruit and I understood that he was calling me out to do his work which I began to do. In 2002, the summer before I got married to my hot wife Julie, I was in my last class at Vennard College with Tim Roehl (co-author of TransforMissional Coaching) going through a MAPS assessment process. At its conclusion Tim asked me, "Kenny, why are you not planting a church?" Uh....


I was already on my way to Westcliffe, CO to be a youth pastor for two of the most influential men in my life - was I really going to change course? That comment planted a seed in my heart that would not rise again for several years. After three years of youth work I was sore at heart, young and immature but wanting to do something fresh. My wife and I and our two children moved back to Macon, GA where Julie had grown up. Several times we tried to move back to Colorado, once to Mississippi, and other places beside. Every time I tried to leave, the door was shut in my face. States Julie, "You're predestined for Macon." .....


After three years in Macon my seminary professor Matt Friedemann (syndicated radio talkshow host and author) pointed his obnoxious finger at me in class saying, "Kenny Johnston! Plant a church!" ....


Several months later I was really considering this possibility but the thought scared me significantly. During a rather serious week of considering a church plant I was surprised to have lunch at my in-law's house with a man named David Nicholas (co-founder with Mark Driscoll of Acts 29 church planting ministries)..... The timing was "uncanny" (wife quote). I was able to ask many questions and Dr. Nicholas gave me leave with a pamphlet on Calvinism that he authored saying to me, "let's get your theology right first." (Dr. Nicholas recently went home to be with the Lord)



Months went by and my fear kept me from pursuing it further. Planting is hard, risky, and not financially secure. As I pursued every possible avenue I was denied one time after another. Being asked to take an assessment I was found to be an ENTZ, which meant that I should be a teacher, CEO, Lawyer, or Dictator, but it also meant I was a perfect personality type for church planting....


Not long after I sat down with a District Superintendent of the Nazerence church who told me that I sounded like a church planter. His advice: "Find your calling, b/c it will keep you when all else will not." At his words I felt that the Lord was saying, "Yep, I'm calling you to plant a church." In my heart, I said okay. Two days later I was at a church in Columbus, GA called Christ Community Church. Sitting at the table a nice lady introduced me to her husband the Pastor. Asking me where I was from he stated, "Oh, we've been praying for several years now for someone to plant a church for us in Macon."......


And so it has been. These outward confirmations have been met with a deepseated peace along with a large amount of fear and trembling at what lies ahead. I won't lie, it scares me to death. What if I fail?


The years of waiting for clarity were necessitated by my own stubbornness of heart and the need to mature as a Christian, husband, father, and minister. My marriage had needs; my ego was far too inflated; and I had much to learn about "church". There were people whom I had to ask forgiveness for self-righteousness. Though I am still in need of God's grace in all these areas, yet he has been faithful to heal a multitude of sins. And there is still a lot to be done: prayer, formation of a team :) and training.

Why plant a church?

"...thus making it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on another man's foundation, but as it is written, 'They shall see who have never been told of him, and they shall understand who have never heard of him'" Ro 15:20-21 RSV

During the last several years I have sensed the Lord calling me to plant a church in or around the Macon, Ga area. For some, this might seem extremely naive or merely reactionary. At the least it seems unnecessary in America generally and in Macon, Ga particularly. In Macon alone there are 98,000 people with 663 yellow page listings of churches. That means that there is a church for every 150 people in the city of macon. Why does Macon need another church? Why not simply beef up the churches that we have? Additionally, isn't America known for being "Christian"?

In launching this announcement of a church plant I want to justify it by offering a few statistics:

First, churches are declining. "Studies show that if a denomination wishes to reach more people, the number of new churches it begins each year must equal at least 3% of the denomination's existing churches. Based on this formula, mainline denominations are failing to plant enough churches to offset their decline." (easumbandy.com) Basically, we are dying out.

Second, new churches have a greater effect statistically than do already established or large churches. "On a per-capita basis, new churches win more people to Christ than established churches," (Stetzer, Planting Missional Churches 7) Ed Stetzer quotes Bruce McNichol's research:

* Churches under three years of age win an average of ten people to Christ per year for every hundred church members.
* Churches three to fifteen years of age win an average of five people per year for every hundred church members.
* Churches over fifteen years of age win an average of three people per year for every hundred church members.

Third, the ratio of churches to the American population is decreasing. The North American Mission Board released the following numbers:

* In 1900, there were 28 churches for every 10,000 Americans.
* In 1950, there were 17 churches for every 10,000 Americans.
* In 2000, there were 12 churches for every 10,000 Americans.
* In 2004, the latest year available, there are 11 churches for every 10,000 Americans.

"The number of churches increased just over 50 percent while the population of the country has almost quadrupled." (9). No doubt macon, GA is high on the charts (there are 66 churches for every 10,000 people in macon). However the question of a church planter is: "who is not being reached? Let's go there." And Macon has unreached people and people groups.

Fourth, 663 churches does not indicate growing churches or even healthy churches. Where these churches are healthy it is does not follow that they are missional or intentional on reaching the lost (of course one wonders then if it is healthy).

Finally, the Lord has set me apart for this work. How can I not obey the Lord? He has called me to it, how can I not go?