intersections

My take on The Good News

My friend, JR Woodward, who is the pastor of Kairos Los Angeles and lives just down the road from me in Hollywood, has an incredible blog called Dream Awakener, which if you haven't seen it, you really need to check out. During the season of Easter he's asked 50 different writer to contribute a 300-500 word piece about the "good news" written for their local newspaper.

Here's how I start my piece off. You can see the list of all the contributors here (some pretty prestigious people) with links to their pieces.

My friends John and Aileen serve breakfast to about 150 hungry people on a relatively quiet sidewalk in Hollywood. They do this every weekday. They naturally have help from friends in the neighborhood. The only way you can distinguish the volunteers from those being “helped” is by the rubber gloves worn by the volunteers. I, too, look like I’ve just rolled out of bed. Some of those in line look more prepared for a job interview than I do. That’s probably where a couple of them are headed next after they finished their turkey sandwich, fresh strawberries and yogurt.

To me, John and Aileen embody the good news.

Read the whole thing here.

Stained Glass: Hollywood Blvd. (Episode 1)

I just realized that the first episode of the four-part documentary that the North America Division is doing about the Hollywood Adventist Church is now online at the Vervent website.

I'd love for you to have a look at it and tell me what you think. This was written and directed by one of our members, Melody George. (As an aside, you will be hearing a LOT more about Melody in the coming months...just sayin').

There are three churches that are a part of this project and each church will have four episodes. Stay tuned for the rest of these in the very near future.

Now, have a look at Episode one...click here and look under Featured Resources for "Stained Glass: Hollywood Blvd - Episode 1."

Join the fight for affordable housing in LA

Los Angeles Families Phone City Council Urging Passage of a Mixed-Income Housing Ordinance By June!

Housing Advocates establish a hotline this week to urge city council to take decisive action on the Los Angeles Housing Crisis and pass a mixed-income housing ordinance by June. This ordinance would ensure that in every new development in the city would include units affordable to working families.

To learn more and download a Press Release, click here.

It's Time!

My follow up post to Reading Mark (below), is cross posted in two places: The Missional Journey and the Spectrum Blog. It seems I'm going to be blogging a bit more at Spectrum so stay tuned for that.

Here's the beginning of the post. The whole thing can be read here and/or here.

In an earlier post, here, I suggested a creative re-reading of the first chapter of Mark that was part of my sermon on Epiphany 3. What I was trying to do in that narrative was to highlight the context in which Mark frames Jesus’ announcement of the Kingdom.

Notice,

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:14-15).

The challenge facing pastors week by week is serious. I’m deeply concerned that most congregations are hearing the texts only in ways that prop up the reigning social imagination; in my case, the consumer capitalism and militarism (among other things) of the United States of America. But we need scripture to subvert our imaginations and sow the seeds of a new world. This can never happen while pastors simply offer scripture as a way of learning how to live well-adjusted lives in whatever society we find ourselves.

....

Beyond Evandalism - new info!

Here’s the brand new flyer that you can print and share with others, or, download this high resolution PDF here.

More information, including instructions on how to register at the www.re-church.org.

Beyond Evandalism

//cross-posted at the re-church website. Please watch the re-church site for updates.

Please join us for a re-church gathering in Hollywood, California, March 1-2.

The primary speaker will be Peter Rollins. Peter is the co-ordinator of the experimental collective Ikon. Ikon describes itself as iconic, apocalyptic, heretical, emerging and failing and engages in what it calls theodrama and ‘transformance art’.

Our theme will be “Beyond Evandalism.” Through Peter’s challenging talks responses from other speakers, including Ryan Bell and Samir Selmanovic, each particiapant will have the opportunity to both share their wisdom and contribute to a constructive proposal for ecclesial witness in the 21st century.

The gathering will begin at 7:00 pm on Sunday, March 1 and continue all day on March 2.

Cost: $75 early registration (through Feb 9); $90 regular. (More information about how to register and pay will be forthcoming).

Location: Hollywood Adventist Church, 1711 N Van Ness Ave, Hollywood, CA  90028.

For more information contact Ryan Bell at rjbell (AT) re-church (DOT) org.

A different kind of leadership

A pastor friend of mine in Moscow reminded me a great quote today and I think it's the perfect way to begin a new year of blogging. This quote comes from Alan Roxburgh's excellent book, The Missional Leader. I read this book when it first came out in 2006, so this quote is a great reminder.

It also comes at a good time because I was having coffee and catching up with a friend who remains fairly active in the Hollywood Church in spite of moving out of the area recently. We were discussing the relative merits of the numerical growth (or lack thereof) of the church. The pressure to "grow" the church is almost irresistible sometimes. We both agreed that if we wanted to pack out the Hollywood Church (it seats approx 300, I think) we could do that. Our group is smart enough and talented enough, and our leadership capacity has grown to the place that we could probably pack the place in a matter of a year or so. We weren't being arrogant. We were just being realistic. But we agreed that this was not the point. And, in fact, the whole character of the Hollywood Church would change such that many who have found the life-giving experience with a life with God would be devastated. Those who are unfamiliar with the missional church and still drinking from the fountain of "church growth" and attractional methods of church development will probably misunderstand what I'm saying here.

Anyway, enough commentary...now the quote.

Today, we give up on congregations that we declare are out of touch with the culture. We run to big, successful places with marquee-name leaders to find out how to be successful. In so doing we are going in exactly the opposite direction from everything we see in the Biblical narratives. We have forgotten that God’s future often emerges in the most inauspicious places. If we let our imagination be informed by this realization, it will be obvious that we need to lead in ways that are different from those of a CEO, an entrepreneur, a super leader with a wonderful plan for the congregation’s life. Instead, we need leaders with the capacity to cultivate an environment that releases the missional imagination of the people of God (21).

If you are a church leader, how do you hear this statement? In what ways do you sense God's Spirit calling you to a different kind of leadership - different than a CEO or "super leader with a wonderful plan for the congregation's life?"

2008 in Review

There is so much I could say about 2008. It has been, by far, the biggest growth year in terms of the Hollywood Church. And I don't mean primarily numbers (though the church grew by 20% this year). More people found faith, more connected to Christian community as something healthy and life-giving who never thought that would happen for them. We have more leaders in the church this year than last year. We've also had our setbacks: our mural project got stuck in the city-wide legal problems surrounding public art murals (it's a long story). We've had key people move out of town and some hit hard by financial and other life challenges. But I would say that overall, our life in the city as witnesses to God's reign is stronger than a year ago. More on this later, perhaps.

Our children are in a new school that is working out much better for them. We are all VERY pleased that Sophie started Kindergarten and Zoe is now in 3rd grade at Franklin Elementary.

In addition to this here are some other highlights of our year...

Travel

Obviously, the traveling Elysabeth and I have been privileged to do has been probably the #1 highlight of our year. In addition to traveling to Moscow (here, here and here) and St. Petersburg in October and Israel (here and here) in December, I went to

• Washington, D.C. in January for research meetings about PICOs ongoing work around health care reform.
• Princeton, NJ in June for the Envision '08 conference. (Also here).
• Orlando, FL in September for the annual Spectrum/Adventist Forums Conference.
• Columbus, OH in October for the Innovation Conference.

Community Beautification Grant
The Hollywood Adventist Church received a $10,000 Community Beautification Grant from the City of Los Angeles to paint an art mural on the wall of our church that faces the freeway. (More here and here).

Interfaith work
2008 was the year I got deeply involved in interfaith work. Some of the highlights of this was participating in the Memorial Day Interfaith Service at All Saints in Pasadena, meeting Robi Damelin and Ali Abu Awwad from the Parents Circle Families Form and being elected Treasurer of the Interreligious Council of Southern California (website).

Community Organizing with LA Voice/PICO
We have had another amazing year partnering with LA Voice in local community organizing, mostly around the crisis of affordable housing in Los Angeles. My participation in the national work really dwindled this year as I had so many other travel commitments, but I'm looking forward to getting back involved in early 2009.

Adventists Against Prop 8
I am so proud of the work our little group did in speaking out, as Christians, for the rights of gays and lesbians in California (website). This is a fight we temporarily lost, but our work united many good people who have either left the Adventist Church, have been on the fringes of the church, or who just never imagined that anyone in the church would stand for religious liberty and human rights in the way that we attempted to do. I am also very grateful to the leaders of the local Conferences and the Pacific Union who worked with us to allow a different voice to be heard in this debate. I'm glad my church can tolerate diverse viewpoints.

And of course, for me, one of the greatest highlights of the year was...

the election of Barack Obama the 44th President of the United States

BEST BOOKS I READ IN 2008

I've read a lot of books this year, as usual, but I really haven't read that many good ones. I'm not sure what that means. And I can't tell you how many I've started but never finished. Here are the cream of the crop from what I read this year, in no particular order. As usual, these are not books that necessarily came out in 2008 (though some are).

Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson

The Fidelity of Betrayal, by Peter Rollins

Wisdom Distilled from the Daily, Joan Chittister, OSB

Surprised by Hope, N.T. Wright

Evangelism After Christendom, Bryan Stone

Here's to a healthy and joyful New Year!

Introduction to Missional Leadership

Many of you who read my blog have asked me, either by email, phone or in person, about missional church. What is it? How can we sort through the fluff and get down to the issues that really matter? Like any new word or concept, it quickly gets co-opted to mean, "the new name for whatever we're doing that we're really excited about."

So, if you're wondering about missional theology and leadership, you have an amazing opportunity to learn from one of the best teachers I know in this field. Allelon is hosting a new webinar with Alan Roxburgh called "Introduction to Missional Leadership." The first of this 5-part series will happen on Monday, January 5 at 9:00 AM PT or January 6 at 12:00 PM PT (you chose one). Best of all, this webinar is free. You can learn more and register for this Allelon Webinar here.

If you are a pastor or lay church leader and you've been reading my blog off and on for a while and wondering how you can better understand what it would mean for you to be a misisonal leader, you really shouldn't miss this. I will be attending this webinar myself. I am finishing my final project for my D.Min. in Missional Leadership (Fuller Theological Seminary) and Alan Roxburgh has been one of two primary mentors (along with Mark Lau Branson) so I know Alan well and I know this material. But, I also know that I can learn from the interaction with others as we grapple with what it means to lead local communities of faith into authentic missionary encounters with our neighbors where God has placed us.

So, please join me on January 5 at 9 AM or on Jan 6 at NOON for this first of five webinars on Missional Leadership.

Discussing the Emerging Church

There's a good conversation going on over on the Spectrum Blog about the Emerging Church and Adventism. I encourage you to head over there and check it out.

There are three main parts of the discussion that readers are reacting to.

1. A review of Phyllis Tickle's new book, The Great Emergence, by my friend Brenton Reading.

2. A review of Roger Oakland's book, Faith Undone, by Steve Parker. Faith Undone takes a very negative view of the Emerging Church, from what I've been able to gather. I have not yet read either of these two books.

3. My post called The (Adventist) Church Emerging, which is a short introduction to my article in Fuller's Theology News & Notes, "From the Margins: Engaging Missional Life in the Seventh-day Adventist Church."