Driven

Sabbatical Sit Down: John Dickson

It was a couple of years ago that I heard an interview with a historian and author by the name of John Dickson. I found him to be fairly interesting, so I went and looked up his podcast and started listening. I was quickly hooked, and Undeceptions has become my favorite, and most recommended, podcast.

I find Dickson’s communication style to be particularly engaging. His lighthearted and winsome spirit is apparent, and he doesn’t shy away from difficult topics. His podcast covers a huge array of topics, from culture to literature to theology to philosophy to history. Dickson’s background is just as broad. He holds a PhD and has a focus on ancient history. He was a singer-songwriter for a 90s rock band. He is ordained by the Anglican Church of Australia, and served as the senior minister of a church there for 10 years. He has appeared on television, produced and and presented documentaries, written a lot of books, founded the Centre for Public Christianity in his hometown of Sydney, Australia, launched not only a podcast but a podcast network, and recently hosted his first Undeceptions conference.

Last fall, Dickson began working at Wheaton College in Illinois. As I was prepping my sabbatical, one of the goals I had was to learn to better communicate the gospel. That led me to take a shot in the dark and reach out and see if I could meet with Dickson. I was delighted when I received a response back, and we scheduled a meeting.

John was as kind and welcoming as I could have hoped. We met in his office at Wheaton, and I immediately felt comfortable in the room – it was filled with theology and history books and recording equipment, with a guitar resting in the corner. Definitely my kind of place.

I wanted to get a sense of what kind of guy John was. I started by asking about how John viewed his calling, and he had a quick and ready answer: “Make Christ public and help other believers do the same in doubting times.”

The focus of John’s ministry, whether as an author, teacher, podcaster, or presenter, has been to proclaim the gospel, especially to those who are doubters or seekers. Coming from Australia, John has experience communicating biblical truth in an post-Christian context. In 1971, 86% of Australians identified as Christian. In 2021, that number was less than 44%. In America in 1971, 90% of the country identified as Christian. Today, that number is 63% and is declining rapidly.

That means that American believers today, and especially in the near future, will be trying to communicate biblical truth in an entirely different cultural climate than we have in the past. That should be apparent, especially in the conversations that have surrounded controversial issues over the last few years. As John put it, “we have to hold all the convictions of classical Christianity without any hint of structural power.” Without a Christian majority, there is no longer (or, in the near future, will no longer be) a cultural viewpoint of a Christian moral authority.

That means we need a different approach. Often times Christians have approached people with a sense of superiority, a sense that we can, and should, tell people what they need to do. But, when speaking to skeptics and doubters, that isn’t a strategy that is going to open them up to hearing the good news. Those skeptics and doubters are going to hold a number of beliefs that they are going to feel gives them the moral high-ground; especially on issues related to healthcare and sexuality.

The stance many Christians over the years have taken is to let go of some of those beliefs that have been seen as orthodox over the history of the church, leading to what we refer to as “liberal Christianity.” But that isn’t an acceptable option for many of us. We need to learn to better communicate biblical truth in a way that is shows that we care about the other person, despite any disagreements we may have with them. Sounds a little like what Paul was talking about in Ephesians 4 when he talked about speaking the truth in love.

That idea hits a tone of conviction in my heart. I confess that, at times, I’m more interested in being right than I am winning someone over. I think there are a lot of Christians that find themselves in the same boat. Our evangelistic efforts can’t be focused first and foremost on us being right if they are going have any fruit. It isn’t that we should sacrifice truth to win a person over, but we also shouldn’t sacrifice a person to prove that we’re right. Christian virtue signaling doesn’t do anybody any good.

Any time we are talking with someone about the good news, we need to remember that it isn’t about us, it’s about Him. We need to love first and foremost, and our pride needs to be put to death. John made a pretty simple statement to me that has stuck with me. “The choice isn’t ‘liberal’ or ‘jerk’.”

I hope and pray that I, and we, learn to do this better.

Check out John Dickson’s podcast, Undeceptions

“Bullies and Saints” – John Dickson

Christ wrote a beautiful tune, which the church has often performed well, and often badly. But the melody was never completely drowned out. Sometimes it became a symphony.
John Dickson, Bullies and Saints

Dickson opens the book, Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look At The Good and Evil Of Christian History, with a story. He was standing on what we sometimes refer to as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, now the third holiest site in the Muslim faith. He was standing outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque, recording for a documentary he was making. The subject was the Crusades, and in particular that day he was telling how the Christian soldiers stormed Jerusalem in 1099, horrifically slaughtering any and all they could find in the city-from the fighting soldiers down to unarmed women and children. I’ll spare you some details, but it was brutal.

As he was speaking into the camera, Dickson could see a member of his crew that day standing just to the side, a Jerusalem Muslim woman named Azra who was acting as a handler for the documentary crew while they were on the site. As he delivered his lines, Dickson saw the tears begin to well up in her eyes. After his filming, he felt the need to go to her and apologize. As Dickson puts it, “The date, 15 July 1099, has left a nine-hundred-year-old wound in the soul of many.” Dickson titled that opening chapter to the book, “The Day I Lost Faith In The Church”.

To be clear, Dickson didn’t lose his faith. As a historian, communicator, ministry leader, and pastor (more on Dickson in a future Sabbatical Sit Down), Dickson is firmly committed to the Christian faith and the advancement of the Gospel. But his realization, and the purpose of “Bullies and Saints,” is to point out that Christian history is full of wonderful examples of Christ’s love impacting the world, alongside horrendous examples of people committing sins and atrocities in the name of Jesus Christ.

Many of us live in something of a Christian bubble, and we view the universal church, today and historically, with rose-colored glasses. We see the good things and celebrate, and we avoid the ugly parts and pretend like they don’t exist.

The world doesn’t do that. The world points to the Crusades, the Inquisition, forced conversions, church sexual abuse, and the like, and they condemn the church. Increasingly in our country and our world, people are no longer asking, “Is the church good?” they are asking, “Is the church safe?”

Fair or not, that is a reality we have to deal with as believers. Whether that is a current-world question or a historical question, we need to be able to compassionately engage with people from a variety of backgrounds and show them the beauty of the gospel. It’s true that the Crusades were terrible undertakings done in the name of Christ, but history also shows that it was the church that created the idea of charity, that created the first welfare systems, and that consistently protected the weak and the orphaned and widowed. One doesn’t make up for the other, but it should be acknowledged that the church has, and continues to, provide the world with a powerful source of good.

Jesus Christ wrote a beautiful composition. Christians have not performed it consistently well. Sometimes they were badly out of tune. But the problem with a hateful Christian is not their Christianity, but their departure from it… The antidote to hateful, nationalistic, violent Christianity, Einstein proposed, is Christianity in practice. Christ’s melody remains beautiful – dare I say unique. When Christians perform it, they leave an indelible mark on the world.
John Dickson, Bullies and Saints

A couple of posts back I wrote on another history book, Dominion by Tom Holland. Part of my takeaway from that book was a unity, a consistency in the historic faith – despite drastic changes in the church, the culture, and the world, there are themes and ideas that transcend the last 2000 years; themes like love and compassion and forgiveness, all found in Jesus Christ.

Bullies and Saints took my mind in a different direction. I found myself thinking back to the Old Testament concept of a remnant-no matter how bad things were, God kept a remnant, a group of faithful followers that continued to do God’s work no matter what.

The Crusades were terrible and brutal, yet in the midst of them there is the story of Francis of Assisi, who humbly walked into the Muslim camp and shared the gospel with the enemy. While the Christian empire began persecuting non-Christians the same way that the earlier empire had persecuted Christians, Basil of Caesarea is launching the worlds first hospital. While the empire is expanding and forcing Christianity on newly conquered territories, Christian missions are finding and saving children that are abandoned to die because they aren’t wanted by their parents. While the church is coming to grips with its sex abuse scandals, its also leading a global fight against human trafficking.

The church is full of sinners, like you and me. We don’t get to single-handedly choose the direction of churches around the world, but we can be faithful to the calling God has given us, and encourage others to do the same. That includes having honest, compassionate conversations with those God puts in our path. Christianity isn’t perfect. Christ is. We aren’t called to conform to the religion, we’re called to follow the savior.

Violence has been a universal part of the human story. The demand to love one’s enemies has not. Division has been a norm. Inherent human dignity has not. Armies, greed, and the politics of power have been constants in history. Hospitals, schools, and charity for all have not. Bullies are common. Saints are not.
John Dickson, Bullies and Saints

Bullies and Saints, by John Dickson

Check out John Dickson’s podcast, Undeceptions

Sabbatical Sit Down: Bryan Mincks

I traveled south into the exotic land of “Iowa” to meet with Bryan Mincks. Bryan is pastor of Iron Ridge Church in the small town of Waukon, IA. He helped to plant the church with his father Marlan, a national church planting leader.

Bryan highlighted a journey of a lot of ups and downs for Iron Ridge. It has been a church that has grown to be seen as a beneficial, even vital part of the community, while at times hitting bumps in the road along the way. Over 20 years the church has gone from meeting in the local school to purchasing and operating the local movie theater, to now having their own building that they are in the process of expanding to accommodate its roughly 500 attendees.

Part of the church’s story that got my attention was related to the topic of church vision. Iron Ridge knows who they are. They have developed their mission and vision, they have clearly communicated it to the church body, and those that come in are taught it quickly.

However, the thing about most visions is that they don’t work for everyone. The reason there are different churches in existence is that there are different approaches and ways of doing things. There isn’t a “one size fits all” form of church ministry.

I’ve had several conversations over the years with people that have checked out River’s Edge Church. We’re a bit different from most of the other churches in our area, as is Iron Ridge. For some, that’s a huge plus. For others, that’s a barrier to plugging in and getting involved.

At Iron Ridge, they have had a couple of moments where certain people didn’t align with the vision of the church. Bryan met those moments with understanding and clear communication, and his approach struck me with its strength. He said, “If this doesn’t work for you, fine. This is the mission we’re on.”

Knowing what God has called you to do is important. Looking at your strengths and weaknesses, seeing where God has placed you and understanding how He wants you to use your gifts, talents, abilities and resources to do His work is something we all need to keep in our minds. And when we are in a position where something gets in the way of us doing that, then we need to be able to say, “That’s fine, I’m just called to something else.”

I’ve had conversations with individuals and families about my church, and I’ve told them, “You know what, we aren’t for everyone. I’m less concerned about you being a part of my church than I am with you being a part of a church where you can connect, grow, and serve.”

That’s why churches exist: to bring a group of like-minded believers together to worship God, build up each other, and help each other do Kingdom-work. No group is perfect. There are always going to be things we have to do to get along with each other and fulfill those purposes. Sometimes we can adjust and overcome easier struggles-there are a number of members of my church that have done just that. Sometimes we simply need to find the place God wants us to be-there some that have checked out my church, went someplace else, and thrived there.

The important thing is the calling. Love God, love others, point people to Jesus.

“The City of God” – Augustine

The earthly city has made for herself, according to her heart’s desire, false gods out of any sources at all, even out of human beings, that she might adore them with sacrifices. The heavenly one, on the other hand, living like a wayfarer in this world, makes no false gods for herself. On the contrary, she herself is made by the true God that she may be herself a true sacrifice to Him.
Augustine, The City of God

There are few, if any, Christians in history that have had as significant an impact as Augustine, and “The City of God” is his most significant work. Following the sacking of Rome by the Visigoths in 410 AD, Augustine uses Rome as a picture of the earthly city and compares it to an infinitely greater city, the City of God.

Augustine uses history and philosophy to highlight how Rome was built on a system of beliefs that ultimately didn’t hold up to examination. He highlights the pantheon of gods, gods that oversaw every aspect of life and the world-sometimes even multiple gods overseeing the same thing-yet they didn’t seem to have an effect. Bad things still happened, and if the gods were in charge of things like the weather and crops, and if they really were protectors of the Roman cities, then they apparently weren’t very good at it!

On the other hand, we have the City of God, not an earthly city but an eternal, heavenly city where God reigns on high, where there is no suffering, where everything is good. It’s a city that we can choose to be a part of through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

The earthly city glories in itself, the Heavenly City glories in the Lord.
Augustine, The City of God

What always strikes me when I read Augustine is the fact that, despite half a world and 1,600 years separating us, he still seems to understand how the world around us works. He sees how sin infects humans, how it twists everything and blinds us.

Its ironic, because often times those who embrace sin claim that they are the enlightened ones! That isn’t a new thing-the pagans claimed they were enlightened and it was the Christians that were out of touch in Augustines day. They thought it was because of the Christians that Rome was sacked, because Christians just didn’t understand the truth. Even in the beginning, the serpent claimed that disobeying God would bring new knowledge, that Adam and Eve’s eyes would be opened to the truth.

But that’s not how sin works. Sin corrupts us. It takes our eyes off of God and fixes our gaze, ultimately, on ourselves. We think that we are in control, that we are the masters, rather than giving that Lordship over to the one that really deserves to be in control – the Creator of the Universe.

We have a choice of what city to live in. We can live in the earthly city, subject to natural disasters, to attacks and destruction, where the only meaning to be found is in what we can gain for ourselves, or we can receive citizenship in the City of God, where we acknowledge that it isn’t about us, it isn’t about what we can get, it’s all about the glory of God.

The bodies of irrational animals are bent toward the ground, whereas man was made to walk erect with his eyes on heaven, as though to remind him to keep his thoughts on things above.
Augustine, The City of God

“The City of God” by Augustine

Sabbatical Sit Down: David Sorn

David Sorn is the founding pastor of Renovation Church in Blaine MN, and he’s someone I’ve known for many years. Meeting with David was a little bit different for my sabbatical plans, as Renovation and River’s Edge Church have very little in common (I mean, apart from being missional churches centered on the Bible and aligned with Converge). Renovation is in a fast growing suburb, and a key component of their ministry is planting other churches. Renovation is growing at a spectacular rate. Despite opening their new building for the first time just a couple of years ago, they have already broken ground on an expansion project to add to their space. I love what Renovation is doing, and I greatly appreciate David’s leadership and heart.

I was really looking forward to meeting with David, but our meeting was cut short because someone had mistakenly marked down our get-together on their calendar at the wrong time. I had mistakenly marked down our get-together on my calendar at the wrong time. So, we only had about half an hour to chat, but it was great to see the building for the first time and hear about what God was doing in Blaine.

There was one thing that David said that has still stuck with me, now weeks later. It was connected to another ongoing theme in my sabbatical conversations – the de-christianizing of our country. Over the next 10 years, it is increasingly likely that many, if not most, of the people we invite to church with us will not have any connection to any church. No Sunday school growing up, no going with grandma on Easter and Christmas. Nothing. They’ll likely know the name Jesus, but they won’t know anything about him. Even out in a rural community like River’s Edge is in, we’re seeing this more often, and especially with our youth group.

One of the things Renovation has done for years that has been hugely successful in its outreach is holding big community events – carnivals with rides and food trucks, helicopter egg drops, etc. They’ve been free events, by invitation, and they have connected with hundreds of new families through them.

But, in an increasingly non-Christian setting, inviting nonbelievers to church will take a very different feel. David said this: “The local mosque could hold the best community event ever, but I’m still not going.” We can throw great events, fun activities, serve outstanding food, and people still won’t come because they can get events, activities and food other places that don’t include some “weird religious stuff” that they will assume comes with being at a church.

So, the question moving forward will increasingly be, how do we reach people in our community with no connection to the Christian faith? There will undoubtingly be more and more conversations about this in the coming years, but I think there’s a pretty clear answer right away as to how do that: care about them.

They might not want to go to a fun event with a bunch of weird religious people, but they might want to go to a fun event with a friend that cares about them. They might not want to attend a meal with strangers that they have no connection with, but they will with someone that they already know they want to spend time with. They almost certainly won’t want to go to a service with iffy music that they don’t know and some weird guy talking behind a podium most of the time, but they’ll think about it if someone they trust tells them that its important to them and they get something valuable from it.

Our world is becoming a very different place, but the answer to how to reach it is the same as it has always been: love your neighbor. Build relationships, truly care about people, and point them to Jesus.

Sabbatical Sit Down: Jared Bangs

Pastor Jared Bangs hails from Cook, MN (population approx. 500), which is a stones throw from Canada, so it isn’t that Jared is Canadian but he is Canada-adjacent.

Jared has taken a fairly unique role since becoming lead pastor of 1st Baptist Church of Cook 7 years ago. He oversees the church as a whole, as well as essentially wearing the hat of the church youth pastor. He has an experienced associate pastor on staff that primarily does pastoral care and outreach. That isn’t necessarily the most common setup, but for 1st Baptist, it works. And that was a theme that ran through our conversation about ministry and life: find what works, and go with it.

When you are in leadership, there are a thousand people from all over that will tell you what you should be doing-that’s true in churches and in all walks of life. There are conferences, books, podcasts, video seminars, magazines, social media accounts, and loads of other message transmission sources that will share their tips, tricks, models and methods.

And that’s not just all right, that’s good! We all need new perspectives and ideas in order to move forward well. But there is a difference between a good idea, and an idea that is good for you. There are a million different programs and processes for everything, but they don’t all work the best in every situation. Just because a plan works in a church in Saint Paul or Blaine, that doesn’t mean it will work it Cook or Amboy.

That’s why Jared’s advice is so good. Find what works for you and go with it. Know who you are, how God has made you, what God has called you to do, and figure out the best way to faithfully follow the path He is leading you down.

As I think about what this looks like, I’m struck by the fact that it sounds easy, yet to follow through on it well takes a lot of work. We like shortcuts, and there are an awful lot of shortcuts to “find what it works and go with it” that lead to a lot of undesirable places. Many (most?) will claim that they’re following that advice, when in reality they’re just too lazy to do the work that it takes to fulfill God’s calling. What is the task we’re trying to accomplish? What is the mission? If we are serving God but we think our mission is to sit quietly in a corner and relax, then I think we have missed the meaning of “go and make disciples.”

As I walked through a tour of the 1st Baptist Church building – a very cool old-school church building, updated well but with the original winding passages and stairways – it struck me how they had walked through the process. They wanted to reach their community with the gospel, but not everything they had tried had worked. And that’s good – when something fails, we learn from it and move on to find what does works. Now they have a mix of ministries and activities that are providing for the needs of the community while helping the church grow in its devotion to God and each other.

Growth takes work and commitment, but its worth it. When we are willing, God will give us the power to accomplish exactly what He wants.

“Dominion” – Tom Holland

How was it that a cult inspired by the execution of an obscure criminal in a long-vanished empire came to exercise such transformative and enduring influence on the world?…

Today, at a time of seismic geopolitical realignment, when our values are proving to be not nearly as universal as some of us had assumed them to be, the need to recognize just how culturally contingent they are is more pressing than ever. To live in a Western country is to live in a society still utterly saturated by Christian concepts and assumptions. This is no less true for Jews or Muslims than it is for Catholics or Protestants.
Tom Holland, Dominion

Dominion is a great book. I recommend it to any history buffs out there, but be prepared-it’s a bit of a project to get through. I started this book some time around December…of 2020. It’s 542 dense pages of history, philosophy, and cultural reflection. I muscled through the last 60% or so during the beginning of my sabbatical, and, while it’s probably not for everyone, I’m glad I did.

I’ve heard it described by several people as one of the most important history books of a generation. The main idea is this: Christianity is so foundational, so central to Western culture that it is inseparable from that culture. The Christian faith and traditions have literally built our society for the last 2000 years. And that evaluation comes not from a pastor or theologian, but from a secular historian that does not profess faith in Jesus Christ.

The book tracks Christianity and Christian thought through the history of the middle east, Europe and the modern world for the last 2000 years (plus a little stage-setting by looking at about 500 years before). The concept is simple: Christian beliefs and ideas shaped everything. The few movements that attempted to separate entirely from any Christianized thinking missed a host of connections to the thinking it was rejecting, and they all failed.

Theres a lot of good that is highlighted throughout the book, and there is a lot of bad that is highlighted throughout the book. That’s just the nature of history. But what struck me in Dominion was seeing what could be called a scarlet thread through history – the importance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross and his call to repentance, connecting the apostles with the early church fathers with the Holy Roman Empire and the reformation and the Beatles and Angela Merkel.

From world history, that’s an important connection. But as a believer, I find it encouraging and humbling to be reminded that my faith is an ancient tradition, going back not just 2000 years to Christ but to the beginning of everything-to a God that loves us and has been making a way for us to be forgiven and restored to Him. A connection to Abraham, who was saved by grace through faith in the one who would come, Jesus Christ, just like me. A connection to David, who kept failing over and over again, but still he humbled himself and was forgiven. A connection to Daniel, who was ripped from his home and placed in a culture that didn’t respect or recognize his God, yet he remained faithful.

Throughout history Christians have gotten a lot of things wrong, just like me. Hopefully I don’t make mistakes at the level that some have, but I have had and will have my low points. We’re reminded throughout scripture that, even when I’m not good, God is. Even when I fail, God still offers forgiveness. Even if I feel alone, He is there with me. And, if I can keep my focus for more than 3 seconds on God, He will help me avoid those pitfalls and sins and grow into a better version of myself, a version that looks more like Jesus.

Christians aren’t perfect, but we serve a God that is. If I can remember to love God and love others, that love will cover over a multitude of sins.

I’m thankful that He is good and that He remains the same yesterday, today and forever.

Divinity, then, was for the very greatest of the great: for victors, and heroes, and kings. Its measure was the power to torture ones enemies, not to suffer it oneself: to nail them to the rocks of a mountain, or to turn them into spiders, or to blind and crucify them after conquering the world. That a man who had himself been crucified might be hailed as a god could not help but be seen by people everywhere across the Roman world as scandalous, obscene, grotesque…No more shocking a reversal of their most devoutly held assumptions could possibly have been imagined. Not mere blasphemy, it was madness.
Tom Holland, Dominion

Dominion, by Tom Holland

Sabbatical Sit Down: Wade Bishop

Wade Bishop, pastor at Element Church in Hayward WI, was my first meeting with a ministry leader that I didn’t know. I had reached out to a couple of well-connected friends and asked for the names of pastors of churches in small towns that were using some innovative, creative, or unique ministry ideas. So, I took the 4 1/2 hour drive to the town of Hayward, population approx. 4000, to meet with Wade.

Wade is an energetic, enthusiastic guy that became a church planting pastor somewhat reluctantly. He said that he had always worked with his hands, doing things like carpentry, and he was content to do that until God put some pieces in place that eventually led to Element Church today, an open and inviting new building situated on the edge of town, immediately next to the local schools.

Wade shared with me the now-familiar theme of clarity of vision – he knew what the church needed to be and what it needed to do, and he strongly and consistently leads in that direction. In the midst of that, he talked about emphasizing the why behind the what – it isn’t just asking what do we need to do, by why do we need to do it?

That’s an important question to ask, and one we have talked about at my church for years. I like to say that we love tradition, as long as the tradition is still serving to help us meet the goals and the vision that God has called us to. It’s easy to fall into the habits, the routines of consistent behavior, whether we’re talking about church activities, our jobs, or aspects of our daily lives. But we need to consistently ask ourselves “why”.

“Why am I doing this?”

“Is this what is best?”

“Does this help me to accomplish what I want to accomplish?”

“Is this still beneficial to me?”

It reminds me of an analogy I’ve heard. In the past, space shuttles were launched using rocket boosters – long, skinny rockets filled with fuel. The story goes that the rockets would have been fatter, but they had to be built and transported to the launch site on trains, which had to go through mountain tunnels. Train tracks are a standard 4’ 8.5” wide, and the tunnels were made to fit trains that run on those tracks. That track size was set by the English because that was the size of tramways that preceded the railroads. The tramways were that size because they used some of the same equipment to build them that they used to build wagons. The wagons were that size because, for centuries, the roads and the ruts in the roads around England and much of Europe were that size. And who built those roads? The Romans, over 2000 years ago. So, the size and shape of modern rockets were defined, in part, by of the size the Romans decided to build their roads.

The analogy might be a little bit of an oversimplification, but it highlights a couple of ideas – we can, accidentally, continue doing things for a really long time without knowing where those patterns and habits started, but I think it also shows that sometimes we can continue what has worked in the past because it still works for us. To take that idea one more step forward, today’s rockets from companies like SpaceX look very different and do not conform to the same size and shape as those older rockets for the space shuttles. What was done in the recent past was fine, but for newer technology and goals they built newer designs.

Being willing to step back and ask, “why”, is an important part of our lives. Sometimes the answer leads us to continue as we have. Other times it causes us to shift directions. Either way, if we want to be faithful to our calling as believers, its important to take the time to seek God’s direction.

Sabbatical Sit Down: Tiger McLuen

Tiger is one of those guys that I don’t see regularly, but every few years for the last couple of decades something comes up and we get a chance to reconnect and catch up. Which is cool, because Tiger is a legend! He’s been doing ministry for something like 5 decades, and is one of the original innovators of youth ministry. His leadership and insights have impacted thousands of men and women doing ministry all over the country and around the world today.

Over the last few years, Tiger has retired, which for him means he’s started a new ministry project. He’s launched Youth Ministry Consultants, an organization that seeks to coach, train and provide resources to churches, and especially rural churches, for little or no cost. Through this organization he is able to, along with his fellow workers and trainers, share ministry insights with those least-served and least-trained ministry leaders across the state and region: people trying their best to serve God and their community, but who haven’t had the schooling and training to help them do the ministry as effectively as they could.

One of the ideas that came out of our conversation, and one that has been reinforced by other conversations recently as well, is the idea of keeping focus on the vision and mission – knowing what we are called to do and making sure that we keep doing it.

When we go through struggles, when things don’t go according to plan, when we aren’t sure of ourselves, that’s when it’s often easiest to shift our focus or move towards something else, thinking that any change is good when we feel like we aren’t where we want to be or reacting to the loudest noise that points to a problem. This is true in organizations as well as in our day-to-day lives. It often isn’t a big, world-altering event that gets in our way, it’s a hundred little things that drip drip drip and take us off course. And when we find ourselves there, we don’t know what to do.

Oddly enough, Tiger mentioned that as one of his biggest challenges. Churches and ministry leaders get in that place, where things aren’t quite right but they don’t know what to do, and they get discouraged. Then, in that discouragement, they do…nothing. They don’t reach out, they don’t ask questions, they don’t grow. They don’t know what to do, so they just keep digging the hole they’ve found themselves in. Instead of engaging they become defensive. Instead of reaching out they turn in. Instead of moving forward they pull back.

Our world is changing more and more every day. Everything we do, as Christians and as churches, is complicated. We need each other more now than ever. We need the body of Christ to encourage us and keep us moving forward in our mission to love God and love others, and we need ministry leaders to help our group efforts continue to be effective as we advance the Kingdom of God and reach the lost with the gospel.

I thank God for good, wise men like Tiger, and I pray that we all use our time, energy and resources wisely as we seek to serve God.

Sabbatical Sit Down: Jonathan Dahl

Getting a chance to sit down with Jonathan was a slightly unexpected, but greatly appreciated opportunity. I’ve felt a connection to Jonathan for several years – the meeting that I got a crazy idea to bring River’s Edge into the Converge fold was the same that Jonathan was introduced as the newest member of the Converge North Central staff (Converge North Central is our local region, including the Converge churches in Minnesota and Iowa). Jonathan was the one that later shepherded River’s Edge through the process of joining Converge. He’s been a great support and resource to me personally and for River’s Edge for the last several years.

I didn’t think that we were going to get to meet because he has recently transitioned to a job with the Converge national office. However, a couple of days ago he contacted me and let me know he was going be in a meeting at the same time and place that I would be in a meeting and we could simple get together afterwards. I count it as one of those God-directed opportunities, and we had a great chat.

Jonathan shared with me a bit of the project he would be working on for the national office, and it sparked some thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head since. His goal is to come up with a way to help churches better develop their members as disciples-sounds simple, but it will be an extremely difficult task to accomplish (good luck Jonathan!).

Discipleship is a word we through around the church a lot. More often than not I think it ends up meaning growth—many times there ends up being a false dichotomy in our thinking where we either focus on discipleship (Christian growth) or evangelism (making new Christians). The reality is, those things go hand-in-hand, and biblical discipleship is not simply getting to the “meat” of the Bible.

At the end of his time on earth, Jesus left his followers (and us) this command:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
Matthew 28:19-20

We are commanded to go and make disciples. There is a definite evangelistic component to that. But it’s more than going out, finding someone who doesn’t know Jesus, and telling them about him.

When I was a youth pastor I used to take my youth group on mission trips every year. Over the years I used several different missions organizations. We would sign up for when and where we would serve, show up to the location, and they would do the rest. They would find the work we would be doing, provide housing, structure our days, and program the week. I quickly eliminated a couple of those organizations that I had used, and eventually ditched them all together and planned my own trips, largely because of their approaches to evangelism. I hated when they would do things like throw the kids on the street to do sidewalk evangelism where, after a solid 20-minutes of training, they would approach strangers going about their day and stop them to try to have a spiritual conversation. Occasionally something valuable would happen, but more often it was rude, unproductive, and hard on the kids. Even in the best situations, where someone would legitimately have an interest in what was being said, we were a group from another part of the country, working with a missions organization that had a minimal presence in whatever city we were in, and there was no way to move that person on to a situation where they could continue on a path towards deeper faith. After I ditched those types of trips, I began planning my own, and I would start with a church in whatever city I felt we were led to, and our group would build into the work that was already being done by a church that had an ongoing presence in the community.

We aren’t just called to evangelism, we’re called to make disciples. A disciple is simply a follower, someone who believes in Jesus as their lord and savior, and who is seeking to live a life more in line with what he taught us-as Jesus said, “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

Sometimes that starts at 0, and we share the gospel. That’s good, and that’s important. But discipleship is something that we should all be doing in our church family as well—finding someone that we can speak into their lives, help them to better follow Jesus, point them to the truth found in God’s Word. We should also have people in the church body discipling us. That’s why just going to church on Sunday mornings for worship isn’t enough. If being a part of a church means showing up 5 minutes late then ducking out during the closing song so you can beat the rush to Pizza Ranch, then you’re missing the point of church.

Discipling one another just might be the most important thing we do as a church. It’s also something that is very hard to do as a church, and something that the large majority of churches don’t do very well.

As Jonathan and I wrapped up our conversation, we both agreed that we would continue a dialogue in the future about what he was doing and what we were doing at River’s Edge to better engage in disciple making. I’m looking forward to those conversations, because that is something I think we have to do better. May God guides us forward in His wisdom and power.