I have been reflecting a lot on why I have recently had feelings and thoughts of failure.  God has kindly been reorienting my foolish thinking of looking to myself as the hero to the true Hero Jesus, of looking for fruit in something other than God provoked life transformation.  Tim Keller commented on the session he will be doing at the Innovation 3 conference on Ministry Risk and Failure.  Beautiful eh?

Jacob could not become the true Israel until he limped. Paul says that God’s power is made perfect in weakness. We in ministry know how to preach on this to people who are going through troubles, but we don’t know how important it is to face and grow through failure in our own work.  In this we reflect our culture.

At a recent Harvard commencement, J. K. Rowling extolled the ‘Fringe Benefits of Failure,’ while the listening graduates sneered at the idea. Ministry in western culture has never been more risky or difficult.

Many younger leaders show themselves to be extremely risk averse and thin skinned.

Older writers, from John Newton to Jonathan Edwards, knew that one of the greatest dangers in ministry is mistaking spiritual gifts and ability for spiritual fruit and character. Virtually always, we make an idol of our ministry, looking to it for our justification and identity.

Until failure comes, we are blind to what we are doing. Thus, the benefits of failure in ministry.

Bless 3 people per week (1 insider/1 outsider/1 your choice: encouragment of some sort)

Eat with 3 people per week (1/1/1 model: hospitality)

Listen to the Spirit of God one hour per week ("If you listen to Him today, you will hear from him tomorrow" I think is a mommy Theresa quote)

Learn Jesus: Take one session a week, one hour per week to just reflect on, meditate on, get to know Jesus: through a Gospel, a book on Jesus life, movie, WHATEVER..Just JESUS!)

Sent: You are sent into whatever vocation you are in by God.

Keep a journal

They meet in groups of 3 people 1 time per week for: DNA groups for accountability: Discipleship Nurture, Accountability.

 Wonder where these Bells might take me in my thought life on leading the Bridge community in missional practice.

DOGMA IN ESSENTIALS UNITY : Historic, handed down Christian dogma.

(Example: God is Sovereign, PERIOD) Deals with What is MERE CHRISTIANITY?

DOCTRINE: IN NON-ESSENTIALS LIBERTY "A Community Based Theology"  A Bridge theology. 

(Example: How does God express His sovereignty?  Biggest historic divide Calvinism/Arminianism)  The challenge here is what doctrines do we consider DOGMA that are unnecessarily creating division.

OPINION: IN ALL THINGS CHARITY: Personal opinions, as wacky as they may be...

Great thinking and categories to frame discussion.  In another metaphor in this genre...

Is this a hill to die on?

Is this a hill to bleed on?

Is this a hill not worth climbing? 

moralistic therapeutic deism 

moralistic: good person, be the best person you can be, help out fellow man.

therapeutic: God exists to meet our needs, to be our life coach, to help us feel better about ourselves--but yet this framework is placed upon us in light of deism (see below) (I'm not denying that some of the implications of the Gospel result in the expeerience of some of these things.) 

deism: distant, far far away, not really active, sometimes will show up--but we're doing the best we can and trying really hard. 

 results: despair because we know we're hosed on our own OR pride when we think we are doing OK, thing we are self-sufficient, think we can do it..

In many ways this rings so true with what I hear outsiders to the life of Jesus living in. It also rings true in how insiders navigate life.  So glad that Jesus speaks so loudly into the human predicament.   I've got to figure out this whole therapeuticness deal.  Quite mind blowing how widespread it is.   What an opportunity and challenge.

This morning our elder team had a chance to watch a session on Finding True North by Bill George, former CEO of Medtronic, and Harvard Business School professor of leadership.  A few thoughts that I found helpful.

-Great quote related to OWNERSHIP of ministry: "People support what they create."  How many times have I wondered why the ownership value is not raised and intuitively have known that I am asking someone else to own what they did not create.

-I enjoyed his reminders on the shift from the 20th century "command/control" leader to the 21st Century empowerment theme.  What he said that is specifically helpful in this regard is that he doesn't talk about a leader having followers at all. 

 The leadership question is no longer: "Is anyone following?" but rather questions like "How am I empowering other people to lead? Who am I empowering to lead?  How am I getting underneath others so they may excel in the ministry God's designed for them?"  Love that.  Love to think of every disciple as a multiplier.  This fits in with my recent thinking about the paradox that Jesus invites us to FOLLOW HIM, and yet He walks beside us.  Interesting isn't it?  Follow me, Jesus says, and yet it says He was "with them."  I love that Jesus invites us to follow Him and the typical image is that Jesus is a bit further down the path than we are.  In my reading of the Gospels, He is actually NEXT TO THEM, WITH THEM and in that context leading them.  In fact--don't shepherds lead from behind sometimes?  Wow--follow me and yet He is behind us, serving and prodding us on.  What a Messiah.

 -Bill surveyed 125 leaders for his book Finding True North They all led from their life stories, from their core story.  What is your core story?

 -Here's a statement I jotted down from reflecting on one thing he was saying:

You are not a failure, you either have not fully seized your opportunity or have not been given an opportunity....yet.

 -I love his phrase: motivating capabilities.  Acting out of our core passions.  What are the elements of our sweet spot?

Personally, outside of biblical reflection and prayer, I cultivate this through a relationship with my iPod, my MAC, and honestly my kind wife Bethany who is a great listener and heart detector.  

Wondering--what helps you maintain vision in the mids of the sometimes slowness of the disciple-making art?     What keeps you STIRRED?  Have you been SHAKEN lately or in the past and perhaps side-tracked from missional life?

We leave in about an hour and I'm leaving with much more understanding about the overall landscape of the Mexican church than I had before.  One of the guys we worked with Edgar is an emerging rockstar (seriously) who has a heart for seeing the church impacting the next generations in Mexico.   There is an urgent need for a movement of churches to flood this nation.  We worked with a few leaders who are launching a church called Communiadad Link and I look forward to seeing how God partners us all up.

And--I bought my 2 boys wrestling masks like the ones from Nacho Libre.  They are the bomb. 

Before I go on, I have been given the honor of coming alongside some key leaders in Saltillo, Mexico to make some strategic investment in the form of conversation.  I suppose we could call this possibility seeking.  Asking what God is up to here and how we might serve them.  Anyway--here's the deal--what we do is such an honor.  I remember our ancestor David who said to God "Who am I that you have brought me this far?"  It brings me great joy to know that God includes us in His action.  

I'm also glad for the rhythm of work and rest--and right now it's time for me to crash back to some rest.  For Jesus' and His kingdom. 

6 months later, you start to think, mmmmm, you know I'm not sure if I like this family room at all. 

 2 years later...This house stinks!  What was I thinking?  I would give anything to start all over and tweek the plans.  I can't stand the kitchen, the bathroom stinks (ha), the layout isn't helping our hosting of guests...That's it, I've had enough...It's time to pick up saw-zaw and hammer and do some major RENOVATIONS. 

This is our current image statement for the Bridge community.  We are in a season of some serious RENOVATIONS.  I'm thankful for one of the guys on my team Troy who the Lord used to share this perspective with me because quite frankly, my image was of DECONSTRUCTION, blowing stuff up and starting over. RENOVATION injects a much more hopeful and Gospel appropriate optomistic mood than DECONSTRUCTION.  That image was birthed out of my own overly sensitive critique as well as restlesness and impatience.  As a young buck missional church planter, I've grown content with saying that RENOVATIONS will be regular and so needed in the journey we're on. 

Calling all marinated missional momentum dudes:  Tell us a story of RENOVATION from your early days of transition or understanding of church planting.  

I'm really stoked to see simple, reproducable structures owned and lived out by the wonderful folks God's assembled at the Bridge.  Peace out for now.