“In 40 years of service in Zambia, they influenced a generation”

Franklin and Paula Kilpatrick were my host couple for my 5-week trip to Zambia last summer.  From the IMB’s africastories:

In 1970, the Beatles broke up, Earth Day was celebrated for the first time, the Concorde made its first supersonic flight, 500,000 people died in Bangladesh from a cyclone, and the first episode of the soap opera All My Children aired.

Franklin and Paula Kilpatrick didn’t notice many of these events. They were moving across the world to start a new life, in a new culture, as missionaries in Zambia.

“Some say, ‘Forty years sounds like forever,’” Paula said. “I think of it like the ‘70s were two days and then the ‘80s was like a day and the ‘90s like a day and [the last 10 years] like a day. So really we’ve only been here five days. That’s how I feel about it.

“It goes by in a hurry.”

The Kilpatricks are retiring next year to Pasadena, Texas, a suburb of Houston.

In 40 years of service in Zambia, they influenced a generation.

Read the rest.

Woodenisms

With John Wooden’s passing yesterday at 99, his inspirational quotes and rules to live by are getting renewed coverage. Some faves from ESPN’s tribute page:

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."

 

"Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then."

 

"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be."

 

"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts."

“Whenever media become more abundant, average quality falls quickly, while new institutional models for quality arise slowly”

Earlier I quoted from a review of Nicholas Carr’s book The Shallows. Carr expresses worry that the Internet is making us shallow. But Clay Shirky says that amid the silly videos and spam are the roots of a new reading and writing culture:

Digital media have made creating and disseminating text, sound, and images cheap, easy and global….Amateurs produce endless streams of mediocrity, eroding cultural norms about quality and acceptability, and leading to increasingly alarmed predictions of incipient chaos and intellectual collapse.

But of course, that's what always happens. Every increase in freedom to create or consume media, from paperback books to YouTube, alarms people accustomed to the restrictions of the old system, convincing them that the new media will make young people stupid.

…

Whenever media become more abundant, average quality falls quickly, while new institutional models for quality arise slowly.

…

There are three reasons to think that the Internet will fuel the intellectual achievements of 21st-century society.

Read the rest.

Review of Peter Thuesen’s “Predestination”

Predestination is either “the rock of Christian certainty, without which no true hope is possible, or it is the most dangerous of doctrines, one that risks negating the ‘Come unto me’ of Jesus’ gospel promise.”

Peter Thuesen traces how those divergent convictions have shaped church history in Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine. It made the cut for the 2010 Christianity Today Book Awards.

While his focus, as the subtitle shows, is on American religious history, he begins with the early church, through Augustine (and Pelagius), Calvin (and Armenius), Luther (and his gentler colleague Melancthon), and the Puritan convictions that began in England. It was the rejection of predestinarian thinking that was in part behind the formation of new uniquely American movements such as Mormonism, Adventism, and Universalism. Furthermore, Thuesen introduced me debates on this subject among groups less familiar to me (among Catholic Jesuits, for example, and Midwestern Lutherans) as well as giving me a chance to review the role that convictions regarding predestination (pro and con) have played in my Southern Baptist Convention—from the very beginning to the twenty-first century. He reveals that the doctrine shows up even in megachurches today, particularly in Rick Warren’s teaching, where “a vaguer language of foreordination is arguably stronger than ever.”

It is no surprise that differences on predestination have shaped the history of Christian thought (or maybe the history of human thinking entirely). It’s a fundamental issue: if God is sovereign, is there any room for real human freedom? Conversely, if human freedom is real, does that make God dependent on human choices for the operation of history (and thus not absolutely sovereign)?

Predestination, in the end, ought to generate devotion and not just speculation. “We…inquire into the mysteries which ought only to be adored,” wrote Luther. “Let us confess freely and humbly,” says Baptist theologian Timothy George, who is quoted in the book, “that none of us understands completely how divine sovereignty and human responsibility coalesce in the grace-wrought acts of repentance and faith.” Predestination, Thuesen writes, remains the mysterium tremendum et fascinans—the mystery before which one both trembles and is fascinated.

“I never got de-oathed”

Clever girlfriend:

HT: Abraham Piper

“The Shack's wild success doesn't reveal how Bible-thumpy this country is. It shows how alienated from religion we've become.”

Nathan Heller, in a Slate article that both lampoons and appreciates The Shack:

When every publisher turned down [William P. Young’s The Shack] in its current form, Young and some friends founded their own firm, Windblown Media, to fill what they considered "a big hole" in publishing: Although there were "religious" books and "secular" books, they thought, there were no titles in the middle ground, no "spiritual" novels that cast God as a path to happiness without serving up dogma. The Shack is just that book, and its success proves not how much this country loves religion but how far from mainstream faith the nation's aspirations have shifted. [emphasis mine]

Gotta love that last line. Heller seems to appreciate The Shack for the same reason some appreciate primitive folk art:

Young's too-weird-for-the-pulpit thoughts…have the appeal of knobby heirloom-produce in a world where much religion arrives vacuum-packed. His theories…accomplish what mainstream faiths tend to fail at: connecting recondite doctrine to the tastes, rhythms, and mores of modern life. The Shack's wild success doesn't reveal how Bible-thumpy this country is. It shows how alienated from religion we've become.

I’ve shared my Twitter-length take on The Shack before.

The History of the Book

WSJ’s Marshall Crook:

“We are becoming pancake people—spread wide and thin”

John Horgan, reviewing The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr:

Mr. Carr shows that we're paying a price for plugging in. Many studies "point to the same conclusion," he writes. "When we go online, we enter an environment that promotes cursory reading, hurried and distracted thinking, and superficial learning."

Mr. Carr calls the Web "a technology of forgetfulness." The average Web page entices us with an array of embedded links to other pages, which countless users pursue even while under constant bombardment from email, RSS, Twitter and Facebook accounts. As a result, we skim Web pages and skip quickly from one to another. We read in what is called an "F" pattern: After taking in the first two lines of a text, we zip straight down the rest of the page. We lose the ability to transfer knowledge from short-term "working" memory to long-term memory, where it can shape our worldviews in enduring ways.

…

Mr. Carr quotes the playwright Richard Foreman's lament that we are becoming "pancake people—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button." We are losing our capacity for the kind of sustained, deep contemplation and reflection required to read—let alone write—serious works of fiction and nonfiction. I sense these changes in myself, and I suspect that a lot of other people do, too.

LeaderLines: Bullseye!

Pop quiz: How many under the age of 19 live within a 3-mile radius of our church building?

Answer: 20,000.

That’s an Erwin Center full.

That’s how Karen Raulie put it in our annual staff retreat today. Take all the preschoolers, kids, and teens who live within 3 miles of our church building, bus them down to the Erwin Center, and you’d pack it.

(Actually, the fire marshal would turn away about 3,000 of them since the Erwin Center seats just shy of 17,000. But you get the picture: we have a heapin’ helpin’ of families within 3 miles of our facility.)

Expand that to a 5-mile radius and the number under the age of 19 leaps up to 60,000. Now we’ll need 4 Erwin Centers to hold all the preschoolers, kids and teens.

That is our ministry bullseye.

The “bullseye” is the center of a target in games like archery or darts. You get points for just striking the target at all, but the most points are scored by striking the bullseye.

As leaders, I want us to start thinking in terms of a “ministry bullseye” for Hillcrest. Sure, we have a “target” to hit: We want to recruit people and welcome people from every part of Austin and the surrounding communities. And we want to recruit people from every age range in that wide geographical range.

But then there’s our “ministry bullseye” on that target. I suggest that our ministry bullseye must be families inside a 5 mile radius to our campus. Another way of thinking about it: our ministry bullseye is every unchurched family who sends their child to Anderson High School or the primary schools that feed into Anderson.

What if you don’t live within that ministry bullseye? You’re still within our target, and so are the neighbors with whom you’re building relationships. Never stop inviting your neighbors to Hillcrest activities. But as a leader, you need to help us get more skillful at hitting our ministry bullseye, too.

I suggest 7 perfect ways to do that.

One: Take a new route to church. Do you take Mopac to Steck every week, for example? Try 360 to Spicewood Springs. Or wind through the Westover Hills neighborhood to get to the church from the north. Just this change of routine can start opening your eyes to the people God has placed around our facility.

Two: Learn how to “prayer drive.” As you drive into our ministry bullseye, turn off the radio and pray for the folks who live in the homes and apartments you pass by. Ask God to awaken them to their need of him. Ask God to use Hillcrest to reach them. I suggest that your Common Ground group or your youth leadership team schedule the use of our church van and take a half-hour to “prayer drive” an area of our ministry bullseye.

Three: Share in the ministry efforts of members who live in the ministry bullseye. Everyone in your Common Ground group or Sunday School class is within our ministry target. But you should especially identify those in your class or group who live within the ministry bullseye. Pray for them. Ask them about their efforts at reaching their neighbors. If they’re hosting a Backyard Bible Club, help them. If they’ve identified a need they want to meet in their neighborhood, assist them in meeting it. You don’t have to live within the ministry bullseye to serve within the ministry bullseye.

Four: Patronize businesses in the ministry bullseye. If you eat out for Sunday lunch, choose a place within 5 miles from the church. If you’re running errands while your kid is at Upward basketball practice, visit the shops at Mesa, Spicewood, Anderson, and the Arboretum. Get to know the owners and those who serve you.

Five: Support Hillcrest projects that aim for the ministry bullseye. I’m especially thinking of Upward Basketball and Hillcrest Hoops, our basketball summer camp and our Kids Music Theater. Volunteer at the Teacher Appreciation Lunch we host at the start of every school year for the staffs of Anderson, Murchison, and Hill. Be a mentor at Hill elementary school. Develop an ESL program for our area. Watch for more opportunities to serve the ministry bullseye even if you don’t live within it.

Six: Choose hobbies and activities that involve you in the ministry bullseye. Why not participate in a CBS or BSF group that meets in or near Hillcrest? Or get your kids in a Scouting program in the 78759 zip code area? Or choose a Weight Watchers group in the Arboretum area? It may take a few extra minutes to drive there if you live in Round Rock or Pflugerville, but you’ll start getting to know the people in our ministry bullseye.

Seven: Learn all you can about what’s happening in the ministry bullseye. Watch for surveys and stats that we’ll send your way from time to time. When watching the local television news programs or while reading the newspaper, pay special attention to news items that pertain to the northwest Austin neighborhoods. Subscribe to the Northwest Austin edition of the Community Impact newspaper, or read it online (click here).

Again, we have a ministry target, and then we have a ministry bullseye within that target. If you live beyond 5 miles from the church campus and you’re drawing your neighbors into the life of Hillcrest, congrats! You’re hitting our ministry target! But we also have to develop our skill level to the point that we’re hitting our ministry bullseye more and more.

Because 4 Erwin Centers full of preschoolers, kids, and teens is worth our time!

Tom

“Liquid Honesty”

Jonathan Acuff, on building honesty with your church’s relationship circle:

If there was a squirt gun in the center of a small group and whenever someone was fake you could grab it and blast them, people would be honest. Getting squirted when you’re running outside with your kids is no big deal. When you’re wearing khakis and work clothes, it’s incredibly irritating. I would probably name our gun “liquid honesty” or “fluid justice.” But that’s just me.

Summertime Reading

Thanks to some May birthday money, I’ve got my summertime reading underway:

A Heapin’ Helpin’ of Lost Commentary

I’ve collected some of the reactions to Lost since the season finale May 23. Time to offload them in a blog post. If you’re a Lost fan, you should check these out. (For all my posts on Lost, click here.)


The season finale was 'a cop-out' and 'a turn for the worse,' says author and 'Lost' guru Chris Seay. But he suggests 4 important lessons we can learn from the series anyway:

1) We are all lost

2) Fictional friends matter

3) Like Jack, I have a calling

4) The Bible's heaven beats Lost's

Michael Patton hated the finale with all the vitriol of a jilted fan, but Tyler Charles at CT’s Books and Culture liked it.


Hank Stuever drew the same conclusion I did: The whole series (not just the “flash sideways” plot device of Season Six) was about a purgatory-ish place:

People in "Lost" died multiple times in a lot of ways. Jack's exit in the final minutes of "Lost" was the death that got him to heaven, but the 815 crash was the death that got him busy on what he was meant to do. That's why the finale takes Jack back to that same bamboo field -- where he snapped awake in 2004 (dead, but not technically) and where, now that he is fully cognizant of all that has happened (and un-happened), he lays down and experiences a final peace. His work is done.

I know some hardcore fans don't want to believe it was purgatory all along, perhaps because they worked so hard to decipher "Lost's" layers of pointless mythology and whatnot. This is not an "it was all a dream" ending. It was about another realm that is like a dream, which explains why everything had to be so frustrating, complicated -- like a dream where you can't solve a problem.

But not a dream. An actual place -- a purgatory. Or for people who hate that word, an in-between. You don't go there simply because your soul is stuck. You go there because you're needed.

Mind you: The theology is disappointing, but I think this is what the authors were trying to say. Terry Mattingly, who linked to the Stuever piece, called it “Purgatory Lite”


Megan Basham says it was a “squandered opportunity.”


Al Hsu explains what 'Lost' taught us about dying well: “At the end of the day, and at the end of our lives, we're not going to care if we understood how the Dharma Initiative fit into the epic confrontation between Jacob and the Man in Black. But we're going to want assurance that we will see our loved ones again, and that our eternal destiny is secure.”


Joe Carter regarded it as “lazy storytelling.” He has a point:

The creators had no idea what they were doing—at all. They kept piling up plot points that made the show intriguing yet they knew something we didn’t: that there would not be a payoff to any of them because the creators themselves didn’t create them with a purpose.

What is really frustrating—and reinforces just how not-smart Cuse and Lindelof are—is that they didn’t even have to know where the story went. The fans had created the necessary theories to tie it all together. All they had to do was read the internet, pick out the best theory, and then make that the way Lost ends. They would have looked like geniuses. Now, they have simply revealed themselves as posers.

For “Exhibit #3,754 in the Case of the Clueless Creators,” Carter presents: “Sayid. The entire series they showed him, from childhood to the flash sideways, motivated to act because of his one-true-love, Nadia. Yet what happens in The End? He spends eternity in heaven with his summer fling Shannon.”


The “33 Things” feature at the Evangelical Outpost linked to “A heapin’ helpin’ of Lost’s loose ends” and “How Lost should have ended.”


Yes, don’t miss that: You should check out “How Lost should have ended.”


I’ve enjoyed The Late Greats’ weekly “One Song Lost” recap while Lost was running. Here’s the last, from Chanticleer.


Film and Theology at The Resurgence had some good insights. Watch it here:

“People who stay grow”

Joseph Hellerman:

Spiritual formation occurs primarily in the context of community. Persons who remain connected with their brothers and sisters in the local church almost invariably grow in self-understanding. And they mature in their ability to relate in healthy ways to God and to fellow human beings. This is especially the case for those courageous Christians who stick it out through the messy process of interpersonal conflict. Long-term relationships are the crucible of genuine progress in the Christian life. People who stay grow.

People who leave do not grow. We all know persons consumed with spiritual wanderlust. We never get to know them well because they cannot seem to stay put. They move from church to church, avoiding conflict or ever searching for a congregation that will better satisfy their felt needs. Like trees repeatedly transplanted from soil to soil, these spiritual nomads fail to put down roots, and they seldom experience lasting, fruitful growth in their Christian lives.

Hellerman calls for a return to the New Testament conviction that the good of the group comes before the personal interests of the individual. He says this is counter-cultural in the era that gave us James Cameron’s Titanic:

To illustrate a key difference between ancient and modern family systems, let us think about a popular film from a decade or so ago, the blockbuster Titanic.

Rose is a high-society girl engaged to be married to an arrogant, distasteful fellow for whom she feels no affection. In a memorable scene, Rose's mother reminds her that the arranged marriage is in the best interest of her family. It seems that Rose's father died after squandering his fortune, so for Rose's mother and her family, the impending marriage represents the only hope of maintaining their wealth and preserving their social status. Rose has been set up with a man she detests in order to guarantee an honorable future for the group, her extended family.

But then one evening Rose meets a street kid named Jack on the deck of the ship, and the encounter ignites a romantic fling that serves as the film's main storyline. Rose loves Jack. But she is engaged to a highly unappealing man whom she is obligated to marry for the sake of her family. Whom will Rose choose?

Jack, of course. If Rose had chosen otherwise, the film simply would not have worked for the tens of millions of North American viewers who followed the tragic tale. We are quite unmoved by the potential social dilemma confronting Rose's extended family. Our sympathies lie, rather, with the heroine's personal satisfaction. As I watched Titanic, I could almost hear the thoughts of the audience: Forget your family's fortune, Rose! Ignore your mother's wishes! Dump the rich jerk! Follow your heart! Go after Jack!

If Titanic were shown in first-century Israel, the audience would be utterly appalled that Rose would even consider sacrificing the good of her extended family for her relational satisfaction. They would find Rose's fling with Jack risky and foolish. First-century Jews and Christians alike would expect Rose to marry the rich fellow, if such an arrangement could somehow preserve the honor and social status of her extended family.

I saw the radical individualism in Rose’s choice when Titanic first came out. But I don’t think the alternative to her selfishness was to yield in misery to her mother’s materialistic expectations—expectations that were rooted in a desire to stay at an economic and social level the mother had been accustomed to.

In fact, the film would have been far more interesting had Rose’s fiance been merely dull instead of cruel. Had Titanic given Rose a choice between adventure with Jack or dutiful obligation with her fiance, the audience would have had more to struggle with.  We may have still found our sympathies with her, but the dilemma between personal fulfillment and family duty would have be sharper.

And that, I think, is a better illustration of the choice most church-goers face: they hop churches not because they find their current one spiritually toxic but because they’ve started to regard it as personally dull. That’s where Hellerman’s article can offer some substantive challenge. Read the whole thing.

“Socially conscious, cause-focused and controversy-averse”

Amy Sullivan:

Today's young Evangelicals…are socially conscious, cause-focused and controversy-averse. And they are quickly becoming a growth market for secular service organizations like Teach for America. Overall applications to Teach for America have doubled since 2007 as job prospects have dimmed for college graduates. But applications have tripled from graduates of Christian colleges and universities.

Sullivan uses the involvement in Teach for America as a jumping-off point to discuss the characteristics of young evangelicals. Worth your while to read.

Winning Ways: From Bunker to Beachhead

Some Christians prefer life in the bunker, hiding away from what they perceive as the overwhelming forces of unbelief in their culture. But faithful believers know they are called to influence, to persuade, to win hearts and minds. They know their own lives are to be kingdom beachheads in God’s gracious invasion of a fallen world.

Another word for the beachhead mentality is “missional.” It simply means to live with the keen awareness that you are supposed to be participating in God’s redemptive mission.

“We’re on a mission,” Jake Blues explained to his band in a memorable line from The Blues Brothers. “From God,” added Elwood Blues in a nasal Chicago accent.

Who woulda thought The Blues Brothers was so theological?

(Of course I’m being tongue-in-cheek. The 1980 film was a vehicle for some great blues songs, but mind the R rating for language.)

Jake and Elwood had their own notion of what it meant to be on a mission from God. But what does it really involve? Across the next 3 weeks, we’re going to be in a short series I’m calling “From Bunker to Beachhead.” I’ve been marinating in the pages of the book of Acts, and in the third and fourth chapters of Acts I see some things we need to do if we’re going to move from a bunker mentality to a beachhead mentality as believers.

The first thing we need to do is get into the world with both words and deeds. We can’t leave off one or the other: We need share the message of Jesus and meet needs in the name of Jesus. That’s what we’ll see in our study of the third chapter of Acts this Sunday. We’ll watch Peter heal a lame man in Jesus’ name—and offer an astonished crowd divine forgiveness in Jesus’ name. He set the pattern for our work today.

As a part of the message, I’m going to introduce you to a special summertime missions challenge. I want us to assemble home health care kits for a ministry called Baptist Global Response. When I was in Zambia last summer I saw how these home health care kits were used by missionaries to build relationships with families in need. I want our church to partner with our missionaries in this simple act of kindness.

Join us this Sunday @ 10 to learn more!

_______________________________________

Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday June 1

Top 10 Creative Ways to Store Your Stuff

 

Boy Stops Worshipping Dad At Record Age Of 3.

 

National Geographic reports on the rise of “narco-saints” of twisted religious cults in Mexico. Missionaries and outreach-minded Mexican Christians have a tough assignment. (HT: Kirby Cossey)

 

Joe Carter explains 3 reasons why evangelicals love the Jews.” Worth your while to read.

 

“Students today seem to care more about things like the environment and animal welfare and poverty around the world, but how much empathy do they really have toward their fellow man? Surprisingly, not that much, according to a survey by researchers at University of Michigan. In fact, today's college students, the scientists found, exhibit the least empathy of students studied over the past 30 years.” (Time)

 

A 20-year-old Frenchman obsessed with video games hunted down and stabbed a rival player who had "killed" his character in the online war game Counter-Strike, the Telegraph reports. (USA Today)

 

NYC bus ads asking 'Leaving Islam?' cause a stir

 

Board distances BGCT from Dallas church that won’t challenge the homosexual behavior of its members. This was the right move.

 

Posts at “Get Anchored” since last Tuesday:

"This doctrine is my daily Support"

Existentialist Firefighter Delays Three Deaths

LeaderLines: Your Part in the Transformational Church Project

Lost: What It All Meant

Winning Ways: Six Things to Look for in the Lord’s Supper

"This doctrine is my daily Support"

"This doctrine is my daily Support. I should utterly sink under a Sense of my impending Tryals, was I not firmly persuaded Christ had chosen me from before the Foundation of the World, and therefore will suffer nothing to pluck me finally out of his almighty Hands."

--George Whitfield, in a written reply to John Wesley's rejection of unconditional election, 1740)

Existentialist Firefighter Delays Three Deaths

From the Onion:

In an ultimately futile act some have described as courageous and others have called a mere postponing of the inevitable, existentialist firefighter James Farber delayed three deaths Monday.

"I'm no hero," Farber said after rescuing the family from a house fire on the 2500 block of West Thacker Street, and prolonging for the time being their slow march toward oblivion. "Like any other man, I am thrown into this world, alone and terrified, to play a meaningless role in an empty life. In my case, that role happens to involve charging through towering blazes to pull helpless individuals from a sea of flames before they suffocate or are burnt alive."

…

According to department officials, Farber, a 13-year veteran of Ladder Company 8, climbed through a kitchen window and, despite carrying with him a heavy burden of alienation, managed to see all three members of the family to safety.

"He came out the front door with a body slung over each shoulder, and seconds later there was this big fireball and beams started falling and the whole thing caved in," neighbor Judy Neal said. "When it was all over, he just sort of stood there emotionless and silent, as if nothing had happened at all."

"I think I even saw him shrug," she added.

Read the rest.

LeaderLines: Your Part in the Transformational Church Project

You’ve heard that commercial promising that “15 minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.”

Well, 15 minutes could help us become a more effective church, too!

I’m asking you to take 15 minutes to complete a survey. This is part of the “Transformational Church Project,” an effort designed to help churches make a biblical impact in their world.

If you’re a member at Hillcrest, watch the mail: You’ll receive your copy of the survey next week. You have an option to complete the survey online, or you can complete the printed survey you get in the mail and return it to the church.

It is vital that church leaders like you do your part! Based on our church size, this survey process requires that a minimum of 86 active adult members to participate. The ideal number is 240. So, you can see how important your 15 minutes is to the process. It will be hard to reach this number of participants without you!

The deadline to complete the survey is Monday, June 21.

Please answer every question. Surveys with unanswered questions will not count toward the survey goal.

I hope I can count on your fifteen minutes! If you want to learn more about LifeWay’s Transformational Church Project, click here to read an article and click here to read an overview.

_________________________________

Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

Lost: What It All Meant

I consider this the definitive commentary on Lost. David Letterman from Monday night: “It turned out that the end—you all know the end—it turned that everybody was dead and the last six years has just been a TV show.”