Run with God

Breakfast with my Homeless Guy (no, not kidding)

Tuesday AM I was scheduled to have a breakfast mtg at Lots of Lox off 152nd Street with one of my multisite media directors... only I forgot to confirm, so I was the only one to show up. Oh well.

I was midway through reading my blogs via iPhone 3G at the restaurant... when an old friend walked through the door. He and I go way back. We've eaten together, prayed together, laughed together, cussed together... well, he did the cussing. Oh, yeah, and he's homeless.

I met him about four years ago when he was sleeping outside the front door of The Living Word. I bought him lunch. Between food, McDonalds gift certificates, bus fares and Bibles, I've invested a lot into this guy.

It was funny. He walks into the restaurant and walks straight up to my table, recognizing me immediately. The waitress starts to ask him to leave, at the same instant I kick the chair out from under the table, greeting him with a smile, "Hey man. Sit down. I've missed you." In shock, she changes her sentence in midstream asking if everything is okay, and would I like some more coffee? I replied that I would love another cup, and whatever he wanted. He didn't even ask for a menu, rattling off 4 eggs runny, large orange juice, bacon, sausage, white bread, water, and I'm sure other items I can't remember. Total for him came just short of $20. That's a lot of breakfast.

People in the restaurant stared. This businessman at the next table couldn't take his eyes off us. Mind you, I'm dressed business casual. He, well, was wearing a dirty pair of shorts and a hospital gown. Yeah, no shirt and half a hospital gown. He still had heart monitors attached to his chest (he said he walked out of Jackson South late last night and slept in the alley next to the restaurant.) He wouldn't go into detail on the hospital stuff. That concerns me.

When I usually meet him, he's optimistic. He may be homeless, but he's got a job coming up... he's got an opening at the HAC Homeless center... he's saving up money to go home to Mississippi... he's got an opening at a job skills center... That's one of the reasons I like to help him. He's always trying to get out. Today he was different. I know it's weird, but it was the first time I've seen him depressed.

We talked about plans, hopes, helps, anything. He was physically and emotionally beat up. He had no plan, there was no hope, and he wasn't really looking for help. The sun had beaten him down again, someone had stolen what little possessions he had, and he can't find a job. We talked of God. I do believe that he is a Christian, but years of losing to the world has left him jaded, soured.

After breakfast I reflected on my life, and thanked God for the continued grace He has shown on me. Then I prayed for my Homeless Guy.

The Miami Pursuit

It has long been a mystery to me why churches in Miami don't work together more often... Call it the missional mindset that I've gained from my experiences owning "The Living Word", but I've realized that if we are going to see the MAJORITY of Miami get saved -- we're going to need more churches!

That's one of the reasons CF went multisite. Get more locations. Get more bases of operation. Put boots on the ground. Attack the enemy! But if we throw in the Law of Exponentials... if two churches can grow, can go multisite... that's a lot more locations, more bases of operation. That's a lot more people excited about reaching the lost. And the mission field is so huge, it's stupid to live in fear that "oh no, our members are going to that other church now..."

That's why I love Miami. You're not seeing people join the church by "moving membership". You're seeing lives changed. One person at a time.

All that to say...

I hung out with some guys from "The Miami Pursuit" today. (No, it's not going to become the next CF Campus location...) TMP is a Church Plant whose Pastor, Matt Mehaffey, I hooked up through my blog I guess about a year ago. Never met him until today. (See, Trav, there's still a chance for us). TMP is a portable church that will soon be meeting in a ballroom in Pembroke Pines. He has a great heart for Miami. They haven't even launched their first service yet (Jan 2008) and they're already talking about starting a second campus... man, I thought CF moved fast...

I got to hang out with their Lead Worshipper (Alex Diaz), Tech guy (Mike) and several of their key leadership... play with some gear... layout their worship center... fun stuff like that.

I asked Matt if other churches had been much help.
Not surprisingly, the answer was "not many".

It makes me sad. We're on the same team. We're striving for the same goals. Why would I not be a resource to them? Why would I not want to help?

The funny thing is that other churches have contacted us lately, asking for the same type help. I and my staff and volunteers will happily provide it. How are we going to reach Miami (all 2.40 million of us) if we're not leaning on each other for support.

God, thank you for the vision of The Miami Pursuit. Thank you for giving them an opportunity to minister. May You bless their ministry, and they see the fruit of their labor. And God, allow us the opportunity to help other churches. May we always lend a hand and come alongside a church that needs a helping hand... not for any selfish agenda but for the cause of Christ in Miami.

Plank in your eye?

Thanks to The Ongoing Adventures of ABSO Jesus for the reminder.

Ten Things I Admired About Frank Hopkins (1936-2007)

A man known and respected by the CF Community, Frank Hopkins, passed away last Friday. I attended the funeral today. Frank's Obituary is posted online. While Frank spent more time with my father and my father's friends, as an outsider I held much respect for Frank. While listening to people share about Frank, I started crafting my own Ten Things.

Ten Things I Admired About Frank Hopkins:

10. Business Owner. Frank understood the business model. Knew how to work it. He was interested in the bookstore and C28, and oftentimes gave advice on what direction to take.

9. Visionary. Frank was the type of guy that never stopped, never settled. His goal was to do better in all things.

8. Workaholic. It's one thing to be a visionary that sees things, but doesn't work to achieve them. That cannot be said of Frank. The man was driven in home life, business, and ministry. People look at my life and say "Jeff, how do you have time for everything?" I looked at Franks life and asked him, "Frank, how do you have time for everything?" Seeing what he's done reenergizes me in that I still have resources to give to the Kingdom.

7. Controlling Chaos. If you've ever seen or been a part of a SHARE program at CF, you know this is true. Frank's management style was not "order". It was bringing "order to chaos".

6. Genuine. There were no surprises with Frank. You knew what you were getting. You may not always like what you get, but you knew it was coming. I bumped heads with Frank a couple times in my young life. At the end of the day, I respected the man even more because during those arguments, it was clear that Frank disagreed, but he still respected me. And I respect that.

5. Maven. Read Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell. Frank was the epitome of a "Maven". He knew everyone, but more than that... if you came to him with a problem, he would know how to fix it or who you needed to talk to to get it fixed. He collected resources for the purpose of helping others.

4. Servant Heart. Looking from the outside, I never got the impression Frank's ministry was about Frank. It was about impacting the City of Miami-Dade for Christ. He strove to meet their spiritual needs, but was very Missional by meeting their physical needs first.

3. Man of Faith, Biased to Action. There was never a doubt that God is in control of Frank's life. He was a man of strong faith. But Frank was driven by James 2:14-17...

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead..

2. Entrepreneurial Spirit. When Frank saw a need, he would find a resource to fill it. If he found an unused resource, he would find a need that it could fill. NOTHING was ever wasted with Frank.

1. Aggressive. Read: Pit Bull for the Kingdom. Frank wasn't afraid to bark. When he saw things weren't right, he wasn't afraid to say what he thought. If it required work, though, Frank was the first in line.

God, thank you for the lessons you've taught through Frank's life. Let him enjoy the rest that he so much deserves. Frank, we'll see you soon.

$10,000 tip not a "case of misplaced decimal"

Meet Jessica Osborne, 20 year old waitress at an Angola, Indiana Pizza Hut. Why is she on my blog? Somebody just tipped her $10,000 so that she can go to college.

Here's the deal. Mom and two sons come into the restaurant at least once a week if not more, and eat pizza. Every time they come in, they ask for Jessica, by name, to be their server, then chat about their lives when she had the chance to talk. During one of their talks, Jessica shared how she's struggled to do the college thing because of lack of funds. She was even contemplating a move... The family responds with a $10,000 check, folded in half, and slid across the table.

As much as we as Christians focus on the depravity of man, isn't this awesome! When reading this article I found myself wishing/praying this mom and her sons are Chrisitans, because this is probably the most MISSIONAL thing I have EVER HEARD! They build a relationship with someone they are not directly connected to. They talk. They listen. They befriend. And when the opportunity is right, they share.

Mom and kids, whoever you are, thanks for living as an example/symbol of how Chistians can interact with the world.

FoxNews has the story, so go to them to get more than just my slice.

Hatred, Revisited

Jerry Falwell passed away. I'm not a Falwell lover. As a matter of fact, I was criticizing some of his bold, argumentative statements just this past weekend. The guy loved to talk, and to take a stand.

I think there are groups of Christians that feel called to be that. It's almost like a Christian Shock Jock. He He. I just pictured Howard Stern as a TV evangelist. Sorry, back to the point.

I never realized how much Falwell was hated. Jerry never held back from speaking his thoughts, and unfortunately, people are not afraid to share their thoughts of him. During a staff meeting today several of the discussion boards on Falwell's death were read and discussed. Take a look at some of the headers. "Burn in Hell Falwell" is the general theme. The lost world hated this guy. Why? Because in their eyes Falwell hated them.

I hesitate to ask, but when Billy Graham dies, do you think there will be this animosity towards him? I don't think so. Why? Because Billy never focused on the sin. I don't remember him making bold statements about Gays going to Hell, Abortion being murder, etc. Billy focused on the need for the world to know Christ. We're all sinners, we're all guilty. What's there to hate if the world is just as guilty as me? Even though I'm saved, I still sin. I'm worse than those that Falwell banished. At least I know what I do is wrong. Yes, I'm saved by Grace, but I'm just as bad as the worst there is. I hold no authority over anyone. Why should I condemn them, publically or privately?

What's the old adage? Don't hate the sin, love the sinner?

If Christ is love, how is the world going to see that love unless we show it to them?

{Update: As of 6:30pm many of the hateful discussions that were posted on the Falwell Discussion Board were censored and removed.}

Hatred

At what point did Christians become one of the most hated groups in America? What did we do to become despised? What is it about us?

I watched some of Nightline's coverage of the "Face Off" between Christians and Athiest. In the Christian corner, Kirk Cameron & Ray Comfort. Without going into specifics come to your own conclusions on the debacle debate.

Did you see the woman who asked about the cancer issue? The fire in her eyes as Ray addressed the larger issue of "suffering"? That was hatred. Where does that come from?

What did we do? Did we force our beliefs on them? Did we not show them love? How have we offended them?

The other day I blogged on how evangelicals are viewed on the college campus. If you didn't catch it, I'll give you the snapshot. Profs hate us more than Freshman 101 classes.

We live in a world of acceptance. Of tolerance. Society applauds itself at every point. It feeds on change, on rebellion against the establishment. How did we end up on the outside?

I'm 29 years old. In the grand scheme of Christianity in America I haven't experienced that much of the big picture. But in my short time I've become aware of pieces of the smaller picture.

Our job is to bring healing to the hatred. We suck at it.

I had lunch the other day with a person who described himself as a "3.5 to 4.5 point Calvinist". The reason it fluctuates, he would tell me, is dependent upon how much he wanted to anger the person he was talking to. This is what I call Theological Arrogance. This is what is wrong with Christians today.

Can I be honest? Calvin was a man. He lived. He died. He is responsible for leading a lot of people to the Lord. But that's just it. It's "other people". Jesus spent very little time dealing with the "religious". He got his hands dirty. He was not pious. He was holy. But He did it in a way that made those that didn't believe comfortable around Him. Can the same be said about us?

When did we start treating church like a country club?
When did we become so calloused to the world?
When did we stop opening our arms to those that believe differently?
When did we turn our back on the ones we should be reaching out to?
When did we decide to fight more amongst ourselves (instead of helping others)?

We turned our backs on them.
We isolated ourselves.
We ridicule them, insult them, ignore them.
We tell them that their life choices are wrong.
We hold up signs and wear T-Shirts.
We despise them.

Can you blame them for hating us? We've been doing it to them for years.

Can I be honest? I'd hate us too.

College Profs don't like Evangelicals

According to the Dallas News Religion Blog:

Fifty-three percent of college professors have a negative view of evangelican Christians, according to a new study. The study, by the Institute for Jewish & Community Research [IJC] in San Francisco, found no other major religious group held in such disdain. Mormons were a distant second, with about a third of college professors having a negative view of that faith group.

Jeff's Take: The IJC posted their two year, one hundred page report online. I'm actually in the process of reading the whole thing now. Having attended and graduated from a liberal university, this isn't a surprise. Here's several bullet points from the report:

* Evangelicals were the only group to be viewed negatively by the majority.
* 30% of the Faculty intereviewed ARE evangelicals.
* 20% of the Faculty say that religion is important to them
* 71% of the Faculty agreed with the statement: "This country would be better off if Christian fundamentalists kept their religious beliefs out of politics."

There's a lot of solid info in this report. I'm going to revisit this soon, but let me leave you with this: Is there any better opportunity for Kingdom Impact than on a college campus? I've done college ministry, on the church and parachurch level. And honestly all of our efforts were focused on the students. Effective yes, but not missional. Maybe God is showing us that to reach the campus we should be reaching the profs. What the campus needs is not someone telling profs they are going to Hell, but someone to invest into their lives over time.

Thanks to Monday Morning Insight for the heads up.

Missional Cell Phone Calls

If nothing else, I'm upset I didn't think of it first. However, it's amazing that it worked in today's culture. What am I talking about?

Okay, meet Ryan Fitzgerald. Ryan's 20 years old, lives at home with dad, recently lost his part-time job and has some spare time on his hands. What makes Ryan more hero than loser? Ryan posted a YouTube video on Friday where he gave out his cell phone number and told whoever watched the video if they wanted to talk to call.

5,000 calls later, Ryan's in the news.

Ryan is looking at a $20,000 cell phone bill. His "free nights and weekends" service through T-Mobile? Evidently there is a limit after all. Ryan is out of minutes. And it's just one weekend.

What is Ryan's thoughts on this? What's he going to do with his bill? How does this stop?

Come Monday, no way I’m going to just hang up on people and say, ‘I don’t have the minutes'," he said. "Some people’s own mothers won’t take the time to sit down and talk with them and have a conversation, but some stranger on YouTube will ... After six seconds, you’re not a stranger anymore, you’re a new kid I just met."

To watch his original video, see below:

To watch his update, 48 hours after he started, see below:

What's Jeff's Take here? Some complete stranger in Massachusettes is telling the world that he cares for you. Is this not the heartbeat of the Missional Church? Hear me, I don't know the heart of Ryan, but I love the fact that he makes himself available to people. I think we could learn alot from this 20 year old loser caring individual.

For more information, check out the article from Associated Press.

God, may we have the same passion for the lost as Ryan does. May we care for people, listen to their hearts, their needs.

CF Homestead: It's starting to get fun...

Okay, about this whole BOO-YEAH thing... I really was just kidding about it, but I'll drink the cool-aid. BOO-YEAH for everyone. I found myself saying it several times this morning. It was a good morning.

Since we started the service we have had a lingering technical problem involving a video scaler/switcher that would enable us to switch from a VGA feed to a COMPONENT feed and then output it to a RGBHV Cable hooked up to a HD Projector. Confused? So was I. The good news is that the TVONE 1250 seemed to do the ticket. That made me VERY HAPPY today. I was caught giving a boo-yeah outloud.

Also this week, we had another church's leadership come out. Jorge has been talking with another church plant. Relevant Church is growing in the Miami Lakes area, and they are looking at setting up a portable campus in a cafetorium (sound familiar?). I enjoyed talking with their techie guys, explaining some of the why/where/how in what we do. I've come to a realization that I cannot change the world by myself. Part of being missional is realizing that we need others out there to help us fight the war! To Relevant Church, let's get together!

We were able to say hello to an old friend today. We brought back our original stage... and banished the new stage deep into the storage bin. Mental note for anyone dealing with portable stage... always get stages where the base/legs are separate from the top... I've never really seen volunteers commit mutiny before, but I almost had it last week! Aside from the stage weighing in at 10,000 lbs... 1) it was too low -- 2) the stage transport (which nearly killed me a month ago) broke -- 3) it wasn't durable... needless to say, everyone is much happier now.

Next week we'll probably be using a new camera (JVC GY-HD250) which will allow us iris control in the control room. No more of Rick getting washed out! WooHoo! Not to mention we can start broadcasting the services in HD soon. BOO-YEAH!

We had over 400 people on our campus this week (first time non-Easter). I gotta say, I didn't think we would be growing at this speed. I also wonder how much longer we can keep up at this pace in our current facilities. The great thing is that God will provide...

Thank you, God, for allowing us to work harder for Your Kingdom. Give us the strength and time to do what You would have for us.