'God send us the ones you want to run with us and keep those away that would derail this Missional Church Launch.' --that's one of the top prayers that I've prayed during this past 12 months of launching PHC.
Guy Kawasaki's 'Art of Innovation' presentation over at 'zentation' has had a huge impact on my thinking related to the launch of Phos Hilaron Church. He helped me realize that we needed to innovate and that it's okay to 'polarize' people, because that's taboo in church-land where the goal is to be uber-nice and to keep things nice and calm.
The mission in church-land is to swab the deck on the cruise ship and provide tasty meals right on time so that the tourists remain calm and leave nice tips. I bet they even have some pictures of fish and fishermen on the cruise ship! The goal of a fishing vessel like Phos is to co-labor with Jesus to head out into the open sea full of adventure and become 'fishers of men' on a journey with Him. The goal is the catch and not the comfort of the 'guests'. We take people deep sea fishing! It's not for everyone. Every church must make a choice -- cruise ship or fishing boat. We're a fishing boat! ( I think Jesus likes fishermen!)
The usual goal of starting a church is to get as many people to join you as fast as you can and that can lead to the law of unintended consequences drop-kicking your collective heinies into oblivion. Our goal has been to put forth an 'Operating System' that has a monthly Sunday AM 'Service Worship' built into our life-cycle. We've launched a fishing vessel and the experts have told me that it can't work and sometimes I've wondered if they might be right, but then God intervenes again and gives us the people, the resources and the vision for His next adventure to participate in. He has given us good days on the wide open sea with full nets many times.
We're edgy on purpose. We polarize people and send 'church-shoppers' who are bargain hunting right back out the door pretty fast. Why? Because they're used to 'thinking' about their faith and not used to 'acting' on their faith. We ripped a thought line off from Rick Warren's 'Peace Plan' that says that 'We turn spectators into contributors' (I like to call em 'participators', but I don't know if that's really a word) and that's something we're very committed to do.
The reason Phos exists is to Propel Ordinary People into an Extra-Ordinary Relationship with Jesus who can Fly into the Future that He has Dreamed for them.
It' a high calling and it takes courage to build a church that has 'ACTION' in her DNA. We chose the name Phos Hilaron to remind us of our mission to be 'dancing light' in this community and around the world -- to go into hard & dark places with this great Good News and love people. To literally live out the 'Good Samaritan' story that Jesus tells in Luke 10.
Our paid servants have known from the beginning that this is not 'business as usual' for a church and that we're running the edge of disaster all the time. And, they've had paychecks held long enough for one more Sunday as we pray that the offering will be strong enough to pay em. And, they know that when we go out and do 'Service Worships' that sometimes we take a big fat Goose Egg home with us in the offering bucket. In the business world that's called 'Opportunity Cost' and it's 'costed' us plenty this year as we have taken it on the chin a few times. And, right now we're running in the red because of it. And, we won't have it any other way. Give us this adventure with God in forging apprentices or give us death. We can't stomach the thought of more business as usual in church-land.
But, I have loads of God-fidence that He'll show up again and rescue us from out of the blue again. I'm kind of addicted to the adrenaline rush of seeing what God does up close and personal. I like the 3 AM head-rush of wondering if anyone will show up the next Sunday and if God will provide what we need again for another day. I'm learning to live on Manna that comes when we need it, but only as much as we need...and, I like the new diet!
Our Paid Servants have positioned ourselves as Missionaries and NOT as Church Staff. Church Staffers have office hours and programs to run and volunteers to recruit to run said programs. We don't have offices or office hours but we have a mission of being engaged with our neighbors and of doing whatever it takes to reach them and build them into Full On Apprentices of Jesus. Our team works their tails off each week and has proven that they'll do anything to reach others and see them enter into a full-on relationship with Jesus.
And, they're just taking their cues from the AMAZING Volunteer Army that makes Phos run. You wouldn't believe the level of commitment, energy, zeal, and passion that this crew plays with. You wouldn't believe what they do to set up for just one worship experience at Tinseltown Movie Theater in 11 & 13 & the Kid's Area each week. You just wouldn't believe it!! They're the best.
God has called us to the edge and pushed us off over and over again and I'm beginning to learn to trust Him and to know that we can fly & that He'll bring the thermals we need to move us along. That sometimes we just have to set our wing and let Him provide the lift. I'm not really very good at flying, but I'm getting real good at falling off the edge after a nudge from God and then 'soaring' as I rely on His energy to carry me along and to provide the updrafts that take me to incredible 'un-earned' vistas -- that is, I didn't work real hard to fly high--He just takes me there because He wants to.
Last Tuesday I got some potentially devastating news about two key families at Phos....they're leaving! We're not gonna be their church anymore. In both cases these are people that I care about and that care about me and Phos. There is no animosity. There's just a sense in both families that they need something that Phos just doesn't provide....lots of Bible Studies with no expectation that you ever really do anything with what you are learning. They are Christian families and they'll do just fine at another church. And, I'm happy to let em go even though it makes one wonder how God will carry us next. I'm happy to let em go because if we shift to try to keep them we'll loose our soul and we'll compromise and we'll become a church content with 'content' (knowing stuff) and no action. We'd be okay with 'head knowledge' disconnected from Kingdom Oriented Action and that smells like rotten putrid maggotty road-kill to me. So, I celebrate their departure and I welcome the Wave Two people that God is bringing lately who 'get Phos' and they sense that we're on the move and they want to be on the move and they want to take action. They want to be in the game and they're not content to be spectators. They love to be into what God is up to and they're not happy unless they're right in the middle of the action--that's who we are and that's who God is bringing to us. A breed of people who are addicted to the adrenaline of walking with Jesus into a Homeless Shelter to serve rather than into a posh sanctuary to consume another sermon. A breed of people who study their Bible and then GO live it out rather than study their Bible so that they can have yet another Bible Study and babble on about what they've never really tasted. It's one thing to study the Good Samaritan passage and to know all the nuances of the story and it's a whole 'nother thing to LIVE IT. We're taking 'experiential' to a whole new level with Phos. We don't just bring an actor into our 'sanctuary' dressed as a homeless person..We will walk with those who are reaking of urine and showerless days this coming Sunday when we have another 'Service Worship' and we'll bring the 'sanctuary' to the homeless and share our lives with them. This is remarkably uncomfortable for many who are content with yet another Bible Story with zero application in their richly appointed church building -- safe and secure from all alarm and sanitized from the possibility that she/he will ever experience the thrill of walking with God into the great big wide open unknown where there's nothing to rely on except for God.
Alan Witham gave me some vitally important advice as I was launching Phos when he said, 'Put a sign on the front of your bus and let people know exactly where you're going.' And, that has helped us more than anything. We are and will be a people who run into the dark with the light of Jesus. We will not shrink back. We will take courageous action to be good neighbors in our community. We will light candles and not just curse the dark. We will study the Bible and then we'll go live it out there. We won't be content with head-knowledge but will lean into actively walking with Jesus as modern day disciples. We will engage our culture with this great Good News by loving God and loving people because God loved us first.
We will run and not grow weary because He is our Hope, our Joy, and our Power.
We will soar because He wants us to and provides the updraft.
We won't back down and we won't give up. To rip Barack Obama off, this is 'Change YOU can believe in' and this is change that propels you into a whole new faith journey and revitalizes your relationship with God and others.
This is our attempt to co-labor with God to change the world by ushering in His Kingdom and by bringing hope, light, and resources to those who have none.
This is our mission and we won't back down.
Game On.
Let's go fishin,
Jeff
