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There is No Safe Place

This morning Heidi Carlson wrote an article entitled “Where can we be safe?” that spoke to my heart. In it she describes bringing her children to a new park only to find a group of kids videotaping little girls fighting

A group of about 20 school-aged children were laughing and goofing around on the grass. How refreshing, I thought, seeing children outside playing—a sure sign of strong community. While my daughters flew down the slide, the gaggle of children transitioned to the adjacent field and began cheering. Several of the older youth held up cell phones, recording some interaction taking place amid the group. I took a closer look and noticed two smaller children on the ground, gripping each other in the fetal position, grasping each other’s hair in their fists. They were fighting.

An older gentleman saw the interaction and called to me from the sidewalk. “What’s going on?” I explained what I’d seen, and he confided he’d recently seen a story on the news about children fighting, recording it, and posting it online. Some were seriously injured participating in this “game.” I hadn’t heard of the phenomenon, though I wasn’t shocked. “Did you hear the shooting around the corner?” he asked. “The police have it all roped off. A lady was shot an hour ago.” That was about 15 minutes before I’d arrived at the park. “It’s not safe,” he continued. Before he walked to his home around the corner, he urged me to head home while there was still light.

Carlson continues to explain how a place being unsafe should draw Christians TO IT with the Gospel instead of away from it.

God’s call to “go into all the world” isn’t just answered in the jungles of the Amazon or the polluted cities of China, but also in the poverty-stricken housing projects of the American inner city, the immigrant London neighborhood, the neighborhood in a “bad” school district one mile from home. Christ’s followers know such places need his witness, but we are reluctant to go because it’s not safe.

Crime statistics, school ratings, and online reviews all have their place, but they ought never overshadow the Spirit’s call to penetrate dark places to be a light for Christ’s kingdom. Yes, this perspective runs counter to the world’s modus operandi, which says, “If it isn’t safe, make every effort to get out.” But for the Christian summoned by the Spirit, the call is to go and be a tool in God’s hands for spiritual transformation. This doesn’t mean recklessness or foolishness, but it does mean the ideal of safety must never stand in the way of humble confidence in our true safety, Jesus Christ.

On a personal level this spoke to me because there are fewer and fewer people willing to enter the unsafe places of the world with the Gospel of Christ. May God raise up a generation who will realize there is no place truly unsafe apart from His presence.

Articles Cited: http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/where-can-we-be-safe

From the Blog

Creating a Gospel-Centered Worldview with a Peanut-Butter Sandwich

Planting the Gospel in children’s hearts often involves becoming the role-model for them which means you become the authority figure, and one who teaches them what being a man or woman of God is really about. In other words, you teach them a whole new worldview, or way of thinking about life.

Changing their worldview with the Gospel is obviously going to be very difficult (especially since this role would normally be filled by their parents) so I started by looking for complicated programs or strategic plans to help change their thinking. While there’s definitely a place for this, I’ve replaced those strategies with a peanut butter sandwich.

Monday afternoon as the kids came they found not only the customary juice and Bible story but a toasted peanut-butter sandwich on the table. I carefully explained that the boy or girl who behaved best during story time and our game time playing red light-green light would get the sandwich.

There was a bit of confusion (and some annoyance) when I gave the sandwich afterwards to a little girl who hadn’t won at the game. More than one of the boy explained that they deserved the sandwich after winning two times.

Of course this confusion comes from a culture that rewards success (the fastest, and strongest) instead of a person’s character. This is why most of the boys who come over will cheat at a game every time my back is turned, and get into a heated argument if they don’t win.

The Gospel instead looks past a persons achievements focusing on the character of their heart. And I must make that heart focus a part of all the time they spend at Mr. John’s house (not just during the Bible story). In the future everything I offer; from the juice, to tablet time, or who starts a game will be given out not on the basis of who is the strongest, but who has the most character.

The true reason for the peanut-butter sandwich is it gives me teachable moments for the Gospel with these children. One boy yesterday in particular (the best athlete) was pretty frustrated because winning not one, but two competitions didn’t earn the sandwich, I explained after losing the last competition (a race) he got angry and said it wasn’t fair.

The idea of rewarding character instead of achievement is still foreign in his mind, but I’m looking forward to the moment the Holy Spirit allows me to explain God doesn’t care about all the things he can do…God cares about the heart. And winning all the races in the world couldn’t pay the price for his sin.

In a culture where children of all ages find their identity and self-worth in achievement may we create a worldview one peanut-butter sandwich at a time that emphasizes character over success, and by doing so point their eyes to a God who sees their heart.

Our Broken Culture

Thoughts on “my story” and it’s power in Social Media

As someone who loves social-media and is concerned about its affects on our lives I was interested in an article by Samuel James this morning entitled “Breaking Free From My Story.” In it he described how online accessibility of information have created what’s been called an “end of expertise.”

But this “flattening” of knowledge also comes at a cost. Nichols (Tom Nichols who wrote an article on this in the Federalist) notes what he calls the “end of expertise.” The ease and immediacy with which everyone can access the same information and share their interpretation of it has fomented notions of an intellectual hyper-egalitarianism, in which everyone’s opinion and perspective must be of perfectly equal importance.

The result is a generation who finds qualification not in education or skills, but their story

A person can be “informed” if he’s read the Wikipedia entry, or can “speak to an issue” through a free WordPress blog. The result is that what counts in this “intellectual marketplace” is not one’s skill, certification, or merit (things that can be fairly compared and measured) but one’s narrative, story, and voice (things that cannot be compared and measured).

Obviously I’m often forced to yield to the authority of others, but this is mostly because of the demands of reality, not the desires of my heart. When the room empties or the lecture ends, my natural inclination is to be convinced that my 25-year-old self is just as qualified, just as seasoned, and (therefore) just as entitled to authority and respect as anyone else.

This focus on a individuals story a their identity has led to what has been called “the coddling of the American mind”

Recently The Atlantic featured a cover story on the “coddling of the American mind,” a movement within American higher education that seeks to cater to students’ emotional mores through academic (and sometimes legal) intervention. From demands for “trigger warnings” before lectures to well-intended but bizarre “safe spaces” where students will not be argued with, many cultural commentators are concerned American colleges are producing a generation of young adults who feel they have an inalienable right to not be provoked. These students are genuinely unable to process the stress and epistemological labor of learning and being in a context that isn’t immediately friendly to their stories. They cannot go forward until they’re reassured that who they are is who they are supposed to be, and that nothing and no one can ever legitimately challenge that.

James ends with the awesome truth that things aren’t really about our story at all…but the story of Christ

Where culture dictates that we must know ourselves, the gospel invites us to know God. Where culture insists that reality bend to fit “my story,” the gospel points us to Jesus Christ, the one who is the meaning and purpose of all history. Where culture invites us to retreat into our sense of individual autonomy, the gospel throws open the doors of the church, where we know and are known by people in whose lives we have a real stake.

May God give us more timely warnings like this encouraging a younger generation to find their identity in the gospel

Works Cited:

From the Blog

Putting an End to the “John Show”

In about a week it will officially be two-months since I returned to Barrouallie as the intern pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church. During that time I’ve enjoyed many wonderful blessings, but none of them compare to tonight.

See for the last eight weeks we have enjoyed the “John show” which means I do pretty much everything myself (speaking five times a week and leading music occasionally). This isn’t something that bothers me to be honest since it’s normal for Church plants and I love to preach, however I’m well aware that Tabernacle cannot grow that way.

Last month I began praying about this and the Lord burdened me about the need for one on one discipleship with men in the Church. The kind of Bible studies that emphasize spiritual growth, but also equip for ministry, and lovingly send them out into the culture with the Gospel. By God’s Grace that burden has become a reality starting today as I begin the first small-group study on evangelism at the Church, and two men begin discipleship next week.

Sadly though today is incredibly important for Tabernacle, part of me wants to keep the John show going.

Because it still gives me an element of control
I know things will be done the way that I like them done
I would rather not ask for help 🙂

The bottom line is it’s easier to run around spinning the plates myself than to allow other people to do it and break a few plates in the process. Yet with all the plate-spinning I am forgetting an important truth.

It’s not but how many plates you can spin

It’s about how many people are spinning plates

If Barrouallie St. Vincent (and the world) will be reached for the Gospel we must get past the plate-spinning philosophy of ministry that will just lead to exhaustion, and enter into one focused on apprenticeship/discipleship.

Yes that means things will get messy and lots of plates will get broken

But it also means instead of being about it me it will be my Savior

Uncategorized

Teaching Myself to Say NO

Yesterday afternoon a woman came with her son for a thirty-minute computer-tutoring session. She listened carefully as I explained the uses of the mouse, learned how to cut and copy, took notes, and laughed while playing a typing game online.

About fifteen minutes after she left a three children came asking if I could print something for them. It turns out though each wanted me to complete a homework assignment by finding pictures online, putting them in a document, and then printing it (can you guess when the assignment was due?)

Sadly along with the people who want to truly learn there will always be those individuals trying to make you do their homework. This shouldn’t surprise us since we live in a self-centered broken world where children are taught from an early age to grab whatever they can. However as Christians we cannot allow ourselves to be used by them.

After a fairly lengthy bartering session (they wanted me to do it for $1 which is the basic price for printing something off a flash drive, we eventually decided on $2 a page). I completed the work and brought it out to them with a stern warning next time I wouldn’t complete their homework.

Now chances are they won’t remember my saying that but I can absolutely guarantee you that I will…and they will go home empty handed (I’m not totally heartless, but being approached about doing their assignment for them the night before it’s due is ridiculous).

The thing is sending them away empty-handed goes totally against my personality since I am a service-based person who loves helping those in need more than anything. But there is a big difference between printing out a document for someone who doesn’t have a printer, and creating a document for someone.

So I am preparing myself to say no

The truth is I should have refused last night because my actions shared a very clear message, “you don’t have to do your homework just go to Mr. John’s house and he will do it for you.” And now every child who comes requesting this will say “but you did it for ______).

Never before has there been a greater need for clear boundaries in our lives (what we are willing, and not willing to do) because otherwise people will just use us whenever possible. Obviously that’s not true for everybody, but that doesn’t mean the users aren’t out there.

In a deeper sense we must give ourselves permission to say no

Honestly that word sounds very unloving to me but the truth is saying yes when people are simply using me for their own purposes is the most unloving thing possible. Because now there is a learned dependence on me to continue doing that same act of mercy.

Ministry is a fine balance between grace and structure that I definitely haven’t perfected, but one lesson learned along the way is saying no isn’t nearly as hateful as it sounds.