jayhardwick.com

We Don't Act Like Jesus

"If Christians would just be normal people...be friends...be accepting and loving, and connect with people that way, maybe there would be a better chance of us (outsiders) listening to them." -- Gabe Lyons, co-author of unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity...and Why It Matters

Can't say we don't know what outsiders think of Christians and Christianity anymore. I don't know about you, but this research, the book, and it's implications have rocked my world. If we're "unChristian," then we're not like Jesus.

For those who have read the book, what jumped out at you the most? How has your weekly routine changed? How has your church changed? What are you doing to help people in your community re-engage the world around us? How have your church plant plans changed?

(If you're in a reader, click on through to view the YouTube clip of Gabe's interview on CNN.)

What Keeps Me Awake At Night

I can't believe how God is softening my heart for the things I used to just drive by, walk by, brush off and...ignore. This verse did it for me a few months ago:

If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.

My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love. This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality.
1 John 3:17-18 (The Message)

As God continues to renovate my heart, I find myself lying awake at night thinking about vastly different things to what kept me up at night a year ago. A year ago, I'd lie awake at night thinking about the next sermon series, the next marketing push, or the next stage set idea. Nothing wrong with those things...I'm just saying God is doing some amazing work in me to position me to fulfill the assignment He's given me in Columbia and beyond.

So here's what kept me up until 4:00 this morning...

55% of the student body at one of the high schools on our side of town, which happens to be in the wealthiest school district in South Carolina, live at or below the poverty line. As a result, they are on free or reduced lunch and breakfast. The question: if their family can't afford to feed them breakfast and lunch, then what do they eat for dinner? What do they eat on Saturday and Sunday? What do they eat in the summer? Remember...that's in the wealthiest school district in South Carolina!

Lara Beth and I met with a friend who is living her life as a missionary in largely hispanic trailer parks in East Columbia. She told us about a 14 year old girl who just had a baby...and has no one to help her with the baby...no one to help her keep up with her education...no means of sustainable income. Then she told us there are more girls between 14-16 who are pregnant as well. And it's no wonder...most of their moms are prostitutes. This makes me sick...sick that this kind of unmet need exists in my city. Sick that for most of us pastors, our default answer is "lets get them in church." How foolish and arrogant to think that all those people need is a good dose of church...and church the way we do it. How can we take the gospel...be Jesus...to that 14 year old girl, to her mom, to her baby, to her neighbors by serving, loving, clothing, feeding...I think Jesus said when we do that for people like her, we've done it for Him.

Columbia has one of the fastest growing gang populations in the country. Over the weekend, I heard about a neighborhood in wealthy Northeast Columbia that is literally split in half in terms of school designation because of the gang wars that exist in the neighborhood. If we know enough to pinpoint where the gangs are, but our best answer is just to send them to separate schools, have we really done anything? That keeps me up at night...

My mom sent me the findings of a recent study that ranked Columbia as the 13th "Drunkest City" in the U.S. It was the first city in the Southeast. I wonder how many of the "drunks" that contributed to this ranking wear great clothes, drive nice cars, live in nice houses, have high-paying jobs, say, "Fine" when you asked how they're doing, and are at the end of their rope. How do you reach that person? I venture to say that every one of them has heard the name of Jesus and knows where a church is. Yet they've chosen the bottle over the gospel. They've chosen isolation over community. Why?

I could keep going. I used to think that because "mercy" didn't rank high on my spiritual gift inventories that I was excused from meeting needs, having a heart of compassion, and caring for the least of these. God has obliterated that idea.

If you live in Columbia, let's open our eyes. We don't have to go to a third world country or a big inner city to find homelessness, poverty, sex trafficking, lonely people, hungry people...hopeless people who've lost their sense of divine potential. They are in the cubicle next to yours. Under the bridge you drive over everyday. In your classroom. In the house next door. In the neighborhood you drive past to get to yours. On the cold sidewalk outside your favorite restaurant.

If you're in Columbia and want to join us in attacking these issues and others, let me know. A holy discontent is rising up in me that screams, "Not in this city...this is the city of God and hopelessness has no place in the city of God!"

That's what's keeping me up at night...you? Any answers out there?

Friday Five: Pastors I'd Like to Meet

Pastors I'd love to meet at Starbucks for coffee and conversation:

1. Rick Warren - Rick's talk at Catalyst blew my mind.  What this guy is doing right now to leverage his influence and affluence for big Kingdom stuff in incredible.  He is on the front lines of what God is doing all over the globe.  Just to hear stories and what he is learning would be enough for me.
2. Erwin McManus - Erwin is hands down one of my favorite communicators and favorite authors.  I love Mosaic and how they are creating culture in L.A.  I'd love to just hear what's on Erwin's mind related to the future, creativity, ad leadership.
3. Dave Ferguson - I love what I see from Dave, CCC, and New Thing Network.  I really feel like Dave has blazed a trail that more people need to jump on - decentralizing leadership, releasing networks to launch more networks, and multiplying everything...leaders, artists, movements, and disciples.
4. Craig Groeschel - You know someone has loads of integrity and humility when you can read it in their blog posts!  Craig has learned so much...and he shares it so willingly...I'd love to talk with him about integrity, humility, and leadership.
5. Tie: Rick McKinley & Alan Hirsch - Rick pastors a church that is loving, serving, and reaching people who are far from God in one of the most unChristian/liberal cities in the U.S.  Alan has done similar work in Australia using an organic, missional/incarnational strategy and has written about his learnings in The Forgotten Ways.  I want to learn from anyone who is reaching people in largely unChristian contexts, regardless of how they do it.

I'll share some other people I'd love to meet next week.  Any pastors you'd love to meet?

Hey Jay...What Are You Doing?

I get that question all the time these days.  And I wish I had a "knock your socks off" answer.  But to most, my answer is largely underwhelming.

If you would have told me last spring that we would be where we are, doing what we are doing today, in Columbia, SC, I would have laughed you out the door and wondered what you were smoking.  There are still plenty of mornings when I wake up, look at the ceiling, and wonder, "Where am I?"  It's still that bizarre.

As we have made this transition and fully embraced our calling to Columbia and our new lives that come with the calling, we have had one prevailing thought the entire time:

Do the next right thing.

That's it.  I seriously wake up everyday and ask God for wisdom to see and courage to do the next right thing.  That takes on a lot of different forms.

1. Relationships :: I spend a lot of my days and we spend a lot of our nights meeting people, talking about what God is up to in Columbia, hearing people's stories, etc.  We've met some really great people and many are catching on to the initial ideas God is giving us.
2. Reading/Learning :: I'm reading more than ever and trying to ask more questions than ever.  The result is a bunch of new ideas, a stretched imagination, and legal pads filled with notes of how it all might come together to create a movement in Columbia.
3. Fund-raising :: Gotta be honest and say that there are few things I hate more than fund-raising.  Not so much the talking about what God is doing part...more the "can you give $______" part.  But, I am learning and God is providing...we're still eating and living indoors! :-)
4. Traveling :: One of the ways we have income is through me speaking...so I am...a lot!  It's fun because I get to meet some really great people, experience other church environments, and I love speaking.  Also, I am checking out other leaders in other places...and that is a blast!

More important than any of that is my time with God.  He is doing so much inside of me right now...it hurts sometimes...it's blow my mind encouraging sometimes.  Either way, I'm thankful.

I feel like the scrappy underdog most days.  We're flying under the radar.  No strategic plan...no staff...no logo...shoot, we don't even have an official name :-)...but I love it.  God is doing so much...I'm just trying to stay out of the way and keep my ear to the ground for the next right thing.

So, there you have it.  Probably didn't help much...probably created more questions.  That's okay, ask away.  I'll be happy to answer.  In the meantime, pray...for us...for Columbia...for what God is doing here.  He's up to a lot...

B-E-A-UTIFUL!

Where do I sign up? Thanks, Jason!

It's Still a Dream

I caught myself thinking something yesterday that I wish I didn't. Not just on MLK day, but on any day.

My family and I were riding around looking at houses in an area sort of close to downtown Columbia. As we made our way to the house/neighborhood we wanted to see, we drove through some areas we didn't want to see. Oh wait...we said, "wow, look at all the ministry opportunity." But inside, I thought, "we can't live here."

Why do I think...STILL think that way?

Why do I still look at neighborhoods that are trailers rather than two-story brick houses and think, "that's not for us?" Why do I still think I/we "deserve more" than that?

I remember in 1st grade...a friend asked me who I "liked?" I said, "Jackie." He looked at me like I grew a third eye in an instant. Jackie was an African-American. I'm not. Nor was my friend. My friend quickly told me, "you can't do that...she's black." Oh, that's right, I'm supposed to be better than her. That's what he thought, at least...in 1st grade.

One of my best friends in the world is African-American. He was in our wedding. He's one of the biggest encouragers I have in life and ministry. I love the guy and would give my life for him...he'd do the same for me. Why can't I apply the way I feel about him to everyone...regardless of the color of their skin and the neighborhood they live in...or lack thereof?

It's still a dream.

I want so badly for it to not be a dream anymore. But there are still unregenerate parts of me that inform my thinking on where we are supposed to live, what schools our girls are supposed to attend, who we are to do ministry "for" versus who we are to do ministry "with"...and there is a BIG difference.

And I am convinced that there is a stronghold in my city that is a result of Dr. King's dream still being a dream. We still fly the confederate flag in a prominent location on our State House grounds. As you drive down Main Street, it's front and center.

I wrote a paper in college defending the flag as history. I believed what I wrote until my friend I mentioned above told me what that flag meant for him. Without sharing what he said through his tears, I'll tell you that conversation changed my perspective.

Next to that flag is a statue of a statesman who was influential in our state in so many ways...and was an outspoken racist, too. Conveniently, the plaque at his statue fails to mention his involvement suppressing African-Americans. There is a motion on our State House floor now that would remove the statue or at least change the plaque to accurately tell this guy's story.

It's still a dream.

But, before the dream becomes reality in an outward, corporate sense, it must become a reality in all the dark, cold corners of my heart. Man, I want that. I want it bad. I want to pound my fist on this table in Starbucks because I want it so bad.

It's still a dream...but it can be reality. It starts with you. It starts with me.

I Can't Feel My Face

Did anyone else's face go numb every time the cameras showed Giants coach Tom Coughlin yesterday...

The picture doesn't do it justice, but it's the best I could find...his face looked like chapped leather by the end of the game...and a chapped leather face cannot feel good. :-)

So, quick question...how cold is it where you are?

Columbia = 30 with a wind chill of 21

Scorecards

Success in launching a movement that really does lead people to Jesus and transforms cities one life at a time is largely determined by the scorecard we carry around with us.  Let's face it, we all want to know if we're winning...and we should.  But, what's on the scorecard is the first priority.

My new friend Hugh Halter is leading a movement in Denver, CO and around the world.  I'm still getting to know Hugh, but he has already stretched my thinking and helped solidify some things in my mind.  He recently posted some new scorecard items to consider:

In the past, the Christendom report cards measured numbers in attendance, number of salvations, number of small groups, number of new churches, or budget numbers.  Essentially “numbers.”  Even though we all felt as though this can’t be God’s measurements, we found it hard to break free and find other thing to look at to see if we were being good leaders for God.

Without getting into too much detail, let me throw out a few ways we evaluate our faithfulness to God’s call.  Because most of us are dysfunctional westerns who can’t count movement, I’ll  guise it in the idea of numbers.  These will be in no particular order of importance.

1. Number of new relationships formed where I know their names and they know mine.
2. Number of people who have been uniquely blessed by me and my community.
3. Number of people who invite me to be with their friends who don’t follow Christ.
4. Number of ways, my street, neighborhood, or community are more livable because of my influence.
5. Number of Christians that are actively confronting their consumerism and making adjustments at the life level.
6. Number of Christians that I ask or persuade NOT to go on mission with us.
7. Number of incarnational communities that commit to form around benevolent action instead of just a bible study.
8. How long people remain at our weekly gathering after the formalities are over.
9. Number of community-based initiatives our people are supporting with their time or money.
10. Number of young leaders we’re intentionally developing.
11. Number of people baptized: Still is a great guide to judge a persons commitment to follow Christ with the community.
12. Number of Bibles purchased because someone asked for one.

Long term, we do expect that churches will be born and that financial statements will increase and that conversions will be easy to find.  But we don’t start there or expect it prematurely. If you begin with the old goals in mind, you won’t live out the incarnational presence of Christ one person at a time. If you start with the latter, you’ll eventually find that people are following you and that they stay together in a missional form called...a church.

Make sure you read the entire post so you get the full context.

What do you think?  What would you add?  What do you dispute?

Catalyst Roadtrip

Had a blast on Tuesday morning hanging out with my friends Chad and LV from Catalyst Conference. They just embarked on what is going to be one of the most exciting adventures of their lives for sure...5 months on the road visiting hundreds of leaders who are on the frontlines of advancing the Kingdom.

The heart behind this Catalyst Roadtrip is to extend the boundary of Catalyst beyond just a leadership gathering in October...these guys are dreaming about what might happen if they could create community and collaboration among those who are Catalyst regulars. If any one had an excuse to just ride off into the sunset and not mess with anything, it's the crew at Catalyst Conference. Instead, they're pushing the envelope and asking some big questions.

Now, why I was a part of this trip, I have no idea. Before we hooked up, they visited with Tony Morgan and they left me to visit Steven Furtick...hmmm, who doesn't fit in that lineup?! Yeah, the red head dork from Columbia. :-) It truly was an honor to be a part of this.

I am convinced that these guys are going to see and hear stuff that we know nothing about...the under the radar, true innovation kind of stuff. There are ways of engaging cities with the gospel that we know nothing about and I am convinced that these guys are going to unearth some of these stories. You can follow their journey on the Roadtrip blog...I'll be tracking 'em all the way!

Let's Talk #1

Read a quote last night that is perfect for our first "Let's Talk" installment. The idea...this is a conversation, not a monologue. I want us to press in on this quote and wrestle it to the ground. Here it is...

"If we come to plant a church in a particular area, we're not perceived as doing anyone any favors."

Why not?

If that's true, then why do we plant churches?

How can we change the way we plant churches so as to do the community a favor?

Do we even need to change the way we plant churches...is this more an indictment on society than an indictment on the church?

Let's Talk.