Mission and Vision

Mission: My mission is to reach the world around me by showing them and telling them the truth about Jesus Christ while sharing in and walking through life together as a member of my community. Vision: I see a community of people who on average have been damaged by religion and poorly executed Christian ministries. Truth be told, it’s very post-evangelical and now I consider it pre-Christian altogether. With Cult and Occult attendance on the rise and growing at a faster rate than ever before, I have a desire to minister to this community by living among them, sharing in life with them, and struggling alongside of them. I will not allow myself to become a minister of the gospel who sees the inside of his church office 30+ hours a week and does not encounter the members of this community. I will share in the mess. I will work alongside of them. In doing so, I will shine my light in both word and deed. If nothing else, I will be the one to take my light into a community trapped by the darkness by offering them understanding, offering them friendship without condemnation, and by offering them a way out. To the glory of God. My rationale in this matter is that I grew up in this community. I am familiar with the ways of pastors who are wonderful men, professional, and qualified in pedigree. Why have none of them managed to create a lasting congregation of people let alone a growing one? It seems like everything in this town has a season of beginning, it finds momentum by meeting some need, and then it wanes before dying. Contentment to fizzle out is a horrible thing to watch. It’s like watching someone die from refusing to eat for 40 days. Except it takes 40 years. Bi-vocational ministry has always been a necessity in my life. While Kingswood did their very best to prepare me for full time ministry, they failed to instruct me at the strength that can be gathered by working within the community as a member at large. The popularized term at a recent Church Planting Bootcamp was “co-vocational”. Call it what you want, but there is nothing worse than moving into a town and trying to sell vacuums to a town who’s recent vacuum salesman committed some heinous atrocity or collected lots of money but never delivered on his promises. By working among them my hope is to show them, much like Paul, that I am willing to work hard among them so as to not add to the local burdens. I believe this is the secret to building lasting relationships, gaining exposure to new people, and ultimately in repairing the damage done by a consumer oriented gospel that fizzled out after pop culture moved on.

What Makes Leadership Christian

What makes leadership Christian? When addressing anyone of any religion or culture it’s important to define terms. Leadership in the business world of North America might be a great place to find examples, role models, and pioneers of leadership in a respective field. Such definitions are understood as the person in charge, or the person that everyone works for daily. When observed in religion leadership tends to take on appearances that are more influential in nature and yet reveal themselves to be agents of control. What makes leadership Christian is not the natural, but the supernatural. Christian leadership is branded by the words of its deity that have stood the test of time for well over 3500 years by wrote. Christian leadership finds its roots embedded in early Jewish teachings. One such example is in Deuteronomy 31:8 saying, “The Lord [the Hebrew God] will lead you. He himself is with you. He will not fail you or leave you. Don’t worry. Don’t be afraid” (Deut 31:8 ERV). The numerous examples of this deity then imparting his leadership upon certain individuals as time goes on is a constant reminder of where the gift of leadership originate as well as to whom it has been bestowed; mankind. These ancient texts are considerably studied and honored by multiple faiths, but none are so much influential as the New Testament when it comes to the heartbeat of the teachings that separate Christianity from other world religions as well as the business world. Again, mankind has need of supernatural leadership. God himself clothes himself in flesh and becomes human, though divine. This event is captured by the documentation detailing the life of the Christian Savior, Jesus of Nazareth, who being both human and divine in nature redefined leadership and set the stage for Christian leadership to be counter-cultural, or unnatural. One such account shows Jesus saying, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13 NIV). This is one such teaching that reveals Christianity’s desire to lead by example, not for personal power, fame or success as is common among man-made leadership. Christian leadership that is rooted in the supernatural is also defined by action. It is not just a position to be held, but it is a position at the front of an object in motion. Jesus often defined his role as a servant saying, “For even the Son of Man [a title given to Jesus] did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45 NIV). This teaching takes Christian leadership on a path that is counter-intuitive to normal leadership paths found in the business world where the leader is placed on top and other participants instinctively or by instruction, do what is required of them. In summary, the nature of Christian leadership is not natural at all, it is supernatural. It is rooted in the participation and impartation of leadership by and from God himself. It is unique in that God became an active member of humanity and human society all while embodying leadership in both teaching and example. And lastly, what makes leadership Christian is the call for action on the part of all of its participants to lead in the same way Jesus did knowing that God plays an active role in that leadership.

Be Teachable

"Good leadership requires a leader who is willing to learn the specifics of leadership context, who is willing to address the conflicts between values people say they hold and the reality they face" (Willimon 400). The hive of pride can hide within the depths of human ego. It keeps leaders from looking towards the future in an adaptive way. Being unteachable prevents transformation and inflates a leader's ego to the point where any doctrine of eschatology becomes self serving and shortsighted. A leader in such a position will be suffocated and cut off from developmental changes that reproduce healthy leaders. Should any theologically sound leader be found among such offspring it's very possible that they will fight against and consume anything that threatens the hive. A leader willing to learn is a leader that does not look at eschatology egocentrically. It's not about that leader, their ministry, and their production as much as it is about God's plan, mankind's hope in that plan, and the ability to tap into a kingdom-mind rather than the hive-mind of ego. Looking to the end, to the plan, and to the means is very much eschatological. Good leaders allow themselves to be drawn into God's overall plan. Jesus said in Mark 10:44, "and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all". This is a direct blow to the hive of an egocentric leader. Viewing leadership as a service, a ministry, while keeping the end and plan in perspective is what keeps leadership in Christianity from becoming cult like, self serving, and tyrannical. Our king is a servant, and we see that in Philippians 2 this mindset leads to an exaltation that far outweighs any current reward.