thoughts of the week…

Lon | September 21, 2006

Been totally drained, finally settling back into some level of functional normalcy today.

- monday I had classes from 8:30am-9:30pm. Arrived in Ottawa near 2am.
- Woke up at 6am to make it to Montreal for the IMN regional 9am-5pm.
Drove back to Ottawa by 8pm. Crashed after hanging with Andrew & Lisa at midnight.
- Wednesday. Woke up at 6am to make the drive back to Toronto for a 1pm class to do a presentation for preaching class and ended class at 9:30pm last night.

The makers of fire event was great. Shout outs to Niza, Alex, Dean, Patrick, Norm, Jerome, Jim, Joel, Nick, Morine, and Lorenzo. Always great meeting like-hearted people. Great connecting.

Some thoughts from Makers of Fire…
- opaque vs. transparent strategies - not having methods block the message
- Jesus calls us to the primal essence of humanity
- There is no territory excempt from kingdom influence
- Missional reasons for de-planting churches
- The bulk of the work in reclaiming humanity will not be done by paid staff, pastors, or theologians, but by every day people who’s hearts are following Jesus into the culture.
- When you are doing things that are new and innovative, don’t ever be surprised when no one shows up.

A few other thoughts picked up through this week…

- I need to spend some serious time backtracking and reflecting more on what brought me on to the journey of where I am. I think it’ll go a long way in articulating and seeding thoughts on church planting with others.
- We talk about grace quite a bit, but rarely present ourselves as people in need of grace.
- Our culture values youth, without valuing youths themselves
- The price of our families having good things, is often no family at all.
- Young people often ask why, not out of rebellion, but to try to figure out our value systems behind our demands and ‘traditions’
- Treating the discipline of Sabbath as a day off, is a ‘bastard sabbath’ (Eugene Peterson).
- There are traces of beauty everywhere if you stop long enough to look.

Categories: Church planting, Community, Leadership, seminary
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8 responses

I like that last one a lot -- When you

tony sheng | September 21, 2006

I like that last one a lot — When you are doing things that are new and innovative, donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t ever be surprised when no one shows up.

Definitely encouraging to me.
And I like the fact that you wrote just mere snippets, but I can feel the energy and hear the rumble and love it!

"When you are doing things that are new and innovative,

Sam. | September 21, 2006

“When you are doing things that are new and innovative, donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t ever be surprised when no one shows up.” - that’s definitely intriguing! What’s the context?

Thanks Tony / Sam. Alex was just talking about

Lon | September 21, 2006

Thanks Tony / Sam. Alex was just talking about how people who’ve done the unthinkinable don’t usually do it because they know everything’s going to work out. And how following Jesus is worth it even if we get nothing out of it.

I think it’s interesting how we all picked up on that one. Maybe because we’re familiar with the feeling of ‘no one showing up’. I think maybe it’s just the nature of some of the things we do. It’s innovative because no one else is doing it. Odds are innately against us.

I liked the thought too, not just because many of

Patrick | September 22, 2006

I liked the thought too, not just because many of us resonate with that lonely or disappointed feeling when no one shows up, but also because sometimes doing the right thing is valuable in and of itself.

That being said, there’s the real possibility of short-circuiting our own intentions if we keep on doing what we’re doing ignoring the fact that no one’s showing up!

Dude, thanks also for sharing your thought about valuing ‘youth’ without valuing youths. It’s far too tempting and dangerous to abstact an ideal separate from those who embody and are integral to them. Is that the business of dis-incarnation?

Hey Patrick... or should i say village heretic! that's

Lon | September 23, 2006

Hey Patrick… or should i say village heretic! that’s true, it can be a fine line. Disappointing turn outs should definitely be a call for reflection as well. Sometimes people aren’t just ready for where we’re heading.

And with youth. Yup, we value youthful things like freedom, play, risk, adventure, but sadly we just don’t seem to want ‘them’ doing it.

hi lon - i love how you described the opaque

niza | October 11, 2006

hi lon - i love how you described the opaque vs. transparent thing. we had a great time at makers of fire. it was so good meeting all you guys and gals doing the hard work out there… simply inspiring!