See you in Vegas,

JG



Last weekend I spent some time at a camp for teen boys whose stories of neglect and abandonment are the type for which you pass by on the news or in print and hope to never meet in real life. 

Young men to be who hurt and fear and hate but still respond to the magic of love and the alchemy of hope.  Kids who've seen and felt well beyond the parameters of our usual remedies and special moment clichés.  Personalities that will only respond to the full fledged authenticity of those who would give away their hearts.

At this camp beautiful relationships were forged over rock climbs and through scars and onto fields of grace.  Fields where the moments were real, history didn't matter and the Love was big.

I realized how much emphasis we place on the protection of our own hearts as if they're not meant to be shared or given away or even broken.  That the depth of our vulnerability directly correlates to the depth of our love for others... And that sometimes generating this love takes work and seeing the potential of something that's hardly there...

I walked away from the Origins Event thinking, "It's good to see my friends."  But since that doesn't help you much, here are a few sounds I heard that I'm pretty sure were projected : )

Erwin McManus [@erwinmcmanus] - Intrinsically people are in a search for meaning in the human narrative.  A search that welcomes conversation.

Dave Gibbons [@davegibbons] - The church needs nameless assassins for good, not bringing church numbers up but the number of the hurting down.  Zero is the new metric.  Zero orphans, zero unfamilied foster kids, zero uncared for single moms...

Dan Kimball [@dankimball] - If we don't make disciples we won't be able to sustain social good.  We can start by loving people to the point they invite us into their lives.

Rick McKinley [@mckinleyrick] - Our safe acts of charity are petty.  Jesus didn't die on the cross to make us safe people, but dangerous people who bring change to the world.

Margaret Feinberg [@mafeinberg] - Going big for God may result in giving somebody else the best day of their life.  You have no idea what you're capable of.

Debra Hirsch [@debrahirsch] - Discipleship must go beyond an individuals morality.  Recognize the image of God in others and bring it out.

It was a pleasue taking part and I look forward to the procession of this tribe.  Thanks to all who made it possible.  Cheers.

Read this on Seth Godin's blog this morning;

The other night I grabbed a film I knew nothing about called "Remember Me."  The movie bills itself as, "...an unforgettable story about the power of love, the strength of family, and the importance of living passionately and treasuring every day of one's life."  What's not to like?  Plus it leads with Rob Pattinson...which I don't get but apparently the girls dig him.  Plus I actually dig him too.          Team Edward.

Interesting note about this film is the disparity in approval rating from within the Rotten Tomatoes community.  The "Critics" awarded Remember Me a dismal 25% on the tomatometer, while in the contrast the "Community" posted a healthy 72%.  Makes you wonder about the purpose of the "critic" all together, which in the case of Remember Me is to let the community know they're wrong for liking it.

With user generated review platforms popping up everywhere and about everything (i.e. yelp!) our culture is increasingly relying on itself to be its own critic rather than take the word of an elite few. 

Anyway...made me think of a great speech on criticism given by reformed food critic Anton Ego in Pixar's Ratatouille,

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy.  We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment.  We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read.  But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.  But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new.  The world is often unkind to new talents, new creations.  The new needs friends...In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto, "Anyone can cook."  But I realize - only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere..."

Moral of the story?  I don't know, how about; Enjoy the thoughts of others but not at the expense of your own.

I recently threw down $89 for my wife to accompany me to the Origins Event at Club Nokia in LA this weekend and it got me thinking...what else could I have done with that hard earned 89...so naturally, I Googled it.

1. Bought a Pilot's Delight Heli Tour around Maui...but first I'd have to get to Maui.

2. Acquired a piece of NASA's multimillion-dollar balloon crash failure...nah.

3. Picked up a month's membership to Chet Rowland's PCO Millionaire System...who's Chet Rowland?

4. Buy a taco for everyone living in Shageluk, Alaska (pop. 113)...do they eat tacos in Alaska?

5. Spend a night at Casa Carmen in San Miguel, Mexico...tempting.

6. I could've bought this guy's guitar...but he got it first and I don't really play guitar anyway.

7. Bought an upscale evening gown from Ali Express...I don't do evening gowns.

8. Buy a 7-Eleven hot dog for everyone living in Zinc, Arkansas (pop. 82)...those things will kill you and Zinc can't afford to lose anybody.

9. Have these guys paint my room...I'll paint the room myself, strangers in the house annoy my cat.

10. Register my wife for the Origins Event and spend the day at a chic venue with a great girl in conversation with new friends and leading faith creatives...which is what I did, it was the best choice.

Love to see you there.  You can also follow me along on Twitter for notes, interviews, insights and secrets : )

Couldn't resist some of these LeBron quotes from "The Decision."  Enjoy.

"One thing I didn't want to do was make an emotional decision. I wanted to do what was best for LeBron James and make him happy..."

"At the end of the day all our minds are winning an NBA championship."

"It's a very small number and I could probably count it on my fingers."

"The last time I changed my mind was probably in my dreams, and when I woke up this morning I knew it was the right decision."

"One thing you can't control is you never know."

"It was a tough decision because I know how loyal I am."

"Put the shoe on the other foot. If the Cavs would have got rid of me at one point, would my family burn down the organization? Of course not."

Why Origins?
I love Origins.  Being part of a network of creative, missional, innovators who hold a high view of Scripture, passion for evangelism, etc., is a real blessing.  I have a lot of respect for those who have put this network together, which helps too.
 
What are you reading?
Just finished Tim Keller’s The Prodigal God (amazing), and I’m reading Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales and a book called Good Intentions that helps the church navigate some of the negative unintended consequences we sometimes stumble into in our compassion and justice work.  Good stuff.
 
What's on your iPod?
Future of Forestry, Sigur Ros, This Will Destroy You
 
iPhone4?
Loving my Palm Pre
 
You have a new book out, "Embodying Our Faith."   What inspired you to this work?
One of our assumptions when we planted Life was that our best apologetic among postmodern people wouldn’t be our crisp, rational answers to all their questions, but our “embodied apologetic” – the way we lived out our lives in Jesus with one another and with our friends.  So we were asking a lot of questions about what this might look like.  What would it look like to actually structure a church around this idea of an embodied apologetic?  What would happen if we elevated spiritual formation and mission together?  If we presented the gospel as becoming apprentices of Jesus and letting him use us in his world?  Embodying Our Faith is about what we’ve discovered and how we’re attempting to live it out.
 
You've talked about building communities that are "revealed by their faithful."  What does that mean?
Jesus said the world would know that we are his disciples by the way we love one another.  In essence, Jesus gave the world permission to judge whether there is anything to this whole Christianity by looking at us – scary!  So for us at Life, that means that we lean heavy into spiritual formation, cultivate an environment that encourages authentic community, and live out our faith in ways that tangibly impact our city.  We need to be with Jesus, leaning into his work of transformation and letting him shape us into people who love like he does.
 
Thoughts on reconciling the chasm between what we'll call "traditional" and "post-modern"?
In my experience, one of the best bridges across that chasm is what missionaries call contextualization – being faithful to the message of Jesus, but allowing our communication of the message and its resulting fruit to take forms that make sense in the host culture.  When I am talking to groups of traditionalists I like to talk about this idea out of passages like Acts 17 and 1 Corinthians 9, and I find that once they see how biblical this notion is the conversation changes.  It moves us away from questions of what’s wrong with culture and toward questions of how we can best be missionaries to the different cultures around us, be they premodern, modern, or postmodern.
 
Christian Book Distributors is quoted as saying that your book "Very well may be the most challenging book you read this year.”  What is it about Embodying Our Faith that it would garner such a response?
That was a huge compliment!  I’d like to think Embodying Our Faith is pretty meaty theologically but it is not difficult to understand, so I think the challenge they had in mind is the change it would involve for many churches.  I think we are all pretty invested in approaching church in a way that serves ourselves, and shifting to a mission footing is very challenging.  But it’s amazing!  I couldn’t imagine going back to another way of living.  Our church has been blessed with an impact that is disproportionate to our size and age, including two more churches planted, significant overseas ministry, etc.  It’s an adventure.
 
Biggest challenge facing your church over the next few years?
As lame as it sounds to say, I think our biggest challenge right now is the economy.  Our church is young, and as people get married and start families we have a lot of people moving to areas of the country where they can better afford to live.  When I was in seminary I never thought I’d find myself praying about the housing market . . .
 
Thing you're most excited about?
I’m super excited right now about a new approach we’re taking to equip our church for evangelism called HOW.  Rather than guilting people into the proverbial once-a-year-Saturday-training-class, we take those who are really ready to go for it and put them in a small group together.  They receive training over fourteen weeks, but more importantly they become a learning community, pray with one another for their friends, and learn to make outreach a part of their ordinary lives rather than a separate (and rare) activity.  It’s been pretty exciting!

Tim and a host of other creatives will be at The ORIGINS Event in LA July 23-24.  Hope to see you there!