Are you a TED talk person???

I was at the Fort Worth Museume of Science and History recently with my wife and son.  While walking though one of the rooms where there are these very cool light drawing pads (I hope these are a precursor to the light saber), there is a four page print out of an article entitled "Are you a TED talk person?"

I always wondered as soon as I watched my first TED talk, "If the Church is supposed to be a culture making entity, then why can the Church not host or 'be' like TED?"

What if the Church gathered together occasionally and invited people in the congregation to give their own 18 minute talk?  Heck there are even "The TED 10 Commandments"!

People pack into TED, people talk about the ideas of TED, TED is open, TED is counter cultural, TED is not afraid of new and and what is being "called" out.  It seems to me the the vacuum for culture making the Church created when we began to focus on ourselves has been filled by a number of other culture creators.

Maybe the Church cannot reclaim that culture making position on a large scale ever again (maybe it should not have been that powerful to begin with?), but local individual churches can create culture in the communities in which they are embedded.

What culture do you see being made in your local church?

Alternate idea for Children's church

My son is 2 and 1/2 years old and my wife is a preacher in Arlington.  Jude, our son, is as active as any other kid his age and he has that overwhelming stigma to overcome of being a DOUBLE preacher's kid.  Here is a picture of him in worship a few Friday nights ago.

He sits by himself next to Mrs. Virgina Thompson who is a saint of AHUMC.  Literally he sits there the entire time and I am not even around.  

It got me thinking about how much I appreciate the fact that AHUMC does not have "Children's Church" during worship.  

Each week my son sits with a saint of the church (either at AHUMC or at First Arlington UMC) and participates in worship.  He has different models around the church, not just his parents, guiding him and helping him.  Notice Mrs. Virgina holding the song sheet for Jude to see.  He does not sing just yet (his daddy is not much of a singer either), but she sits with him and shows him "how we worship" together.  

I was thinking what if at church we had parents partner up with older adults to sit with children and model "worship" for these little ones?  I know my son is much better "behaved" for others and follows others better than for Estee or me.  What if children were being mentored in worship by saints of the Church each week?  What if parents sought out mentors for their children (such as Mrs.Virginia) to help them grow in the faith?  What if all parents were as active in our children's faith development as we are in their soccer development?

Anyway, in case I never said it before, I thank God for Mrs. Virgina.

Who are mentors to you or your kids?

Why the Mainline is dying?

In the most recent book I have begun to undertake, Almost Christian (you can see the book cover and link to the right of this post in the "goodreads" box), the author Kenda Creasy Dean makes several arguments about the current state of affairs in the Church.  While this entry is not a critique about the entire book (of which I highly recommend to anyone who wants to understand not the future but the current state of the Church), I did want to share one aspect of the book which connected with me deeply.

The argument is that there are some youth who are very devoted to the Church and the mission and ministry of the Christian Way (about 8%) and there are four characteristics these youth possess that other youth do not in regards to the Church:

1.     A Creed to believe 

2.     A Community to belong

3.     A Call to live out

4.     A Hope to hold onto

Of those youth in this category there is a higher proportion of LDS (Mormon) church members than any other denomination.  The next most represented denomination in this "devoted" category are members of Evangelical Non-Denoms.  The Mainline is the next represented group, with Catholics near the bottom of the list.  

As I reflect on my local community of faith, we take a lot of pride in fostering the second of the four characteristics.  We use words like 'family', 'connect', 'belong', 'fellowship' and even 'get together' a lot in our faith community.  While not nearly as dominate, we also take some pride in the first characteristic of the four and put a lot of effort in making sure we are teaching 'good theology' striving to remain 'open' to different theological perspectives, and using gender neutral language for God as best as we can.

However, these third and forth characteristics are hidden at best in my faith community.  I do not believe this is intentional at all.  We do not disregard Call/Vocation or Hope/Future but these seem to take a backseat to our Creed/Teachings and Community/Family emphasis.  And it I wonder if this imbalance actually firmly locates my faith community in the past/present unable to advance into the future and vision?

It seems to me the ability to call people to live a certain way or the ability to share a certain hope for the future is understood as “divisive” by some who want to foster a community and a common creed.  It is difficult for some to see how we can be “divisive” and also maintain a community and a unified creed.  So these individuals,, for the sake of Community and Creed, do not spend much time on potentially “divisive” issues of Call and Future.

Could this be one of the reasons the Mainline Church is on the decline?  We are living in the past and present out of a potentially “divisive” future?  

What do Lebron James and Young Clergy have in common?

If you have been in a cave for the past four weeks, then you have not heard but Lebron James is a basketball player. In fact, he is the most sought after player in a long time. He played for his home team, the Cleveland Cavs, for seven years and his contract expired. As a free agent, he had several offers from all around the league. It was quite the hoopla. While the World Cup was going on (the most watched sporting event in the world) I could not get highlights on ESPN because everyone was speculating "where will Lebron go?"

This 'drama' reached it's apex last Thursday when on an hour long special James declared that he would be leaving his beloved Cavs and head to the Miami Heat.

People reacted as they do.

I was thinking about all this and how it hit me was how much the decision feels like what I am in conversation with my young clergy peers about.

Let me explain.

"King James", as he is called by media and fans, turned down more money and even better teams to play with the Heat. Let me rephrase that, Lebron turned down money to play with friends.

The NBA is a league built around individuals. Jordan. Shaq. Dirk. Kobe. It is known as the "superstar" model. That is, get a "superstar" and your team will go far. Because lets face it one superstar on a team of 5 makes a HUGE difference. So teams go after these superstars. The NBA markets the stars. Show me a time which you saw a team picture of an NBA team other than when they just won the championship and I will show you a picture of the year 1951 and all the players are Anglo.

Lebron moved directly counter to the entire leagues push get a "superstar" to lead a team to the championship and joined up with a team of stars. Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade and Lebron James are all friends. They all wanted to play basketball together. They all were willing to forgo the whole 'superstar' thing and take a pay cut in order to work on a team.

Many of my young clergy peers are tired to churches pushing the superstar model. Olsteen. Moore. Jakes. Graham. Warren. I would be interested to know if most people know what the name of the church (team) these people are connected to. They are superstars and people like superstars.

However, many of my friends in ministry are tired of super-stardom. We, like Lebron, desire to work on a team. We want not only other clergy to let their egos die but also for laity to be willing to take the lead at times. We desire a team of stars not superstars.

It is my hope that the Heat have success and fun as they work together to accomplish tier goal.

I have the same Hope for the Church.