NYU Navigators: Forward to your Navs Friends.

Today, I met Mike Donovan.

Mike is nearing 22, and a servant of Jesus. He has had an extraordinary life, and "thus far the Lord has helped him". He has finished school (University, for my Australian readers), and is convicted that God wants him back at Navigators to learn from Peter Trautmann how to do ministry. (Like MTS, for Antipodeans.)

We talked for maybe two hours, and ended up in Starbucks in 16th St near Union Square. At the end, we prayed. Mid-prayer, I look up, and through the (very thick) window, I see this African-American lady standing right there, no more than 2 feet away. I pause in my prayer, wondering what she wants. The window was sound-proofed, but she motioned to us that we should keep praying. And she stood, outside in the light rain, head bowed, praying with us. Although she heard nothing of what was said, she mouthed 'Amen' at the end of it, and then she smiled and walked away. I love moments like this. I thought of Hebrews 13:1:

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.

Here's the deal with Mike: He is raising his own support, and has done a great job so far. For what it's worth, I reckon if the actual Navigator Students at NYU got behind their new staff member, they could raise his last dollars.

• If 30 Navigator students gave $25/month (or more), he would come close to his target.
• Laurel and I are in, so all we need it 29 more people willing to give up one lunch a week for the sake of the gospel at NYU.
  

Navs people who read this, forward it to your buddies. And contact Mike directly (email me if you need his address) if you want to support him.

29 is all is needed.

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‘La Vida Loca’ or 'Rumspringa by Another Name'

After my post on Do our Churches have a version of Rumspringa a pastor wrote me an email called 'Rumspringa by Another Name'. Here is what he said:

At our church, when the leaders & I were working through young adult lists trying to work out where people were up to, occasionally we would put the letters (LVL) after a person’s name. ‘la vida loca’.

Nice.

Have you been LVL? What brought you back?

(I've already heard from a few of you on the other post -- Thanks.)

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Classic Graffitti near NYU

While walking with a friend through New York University yesterday, we came across this timely piece of graffiti. It was near Astor Place. (Click on the picture to see more detail.)

We had to stop and take a pic.

• Is this Christ Vs Hedonism?
• What do you make of it?
• For New York friends, what does it suggest about your mission field?
• Is this what people really think if they are honest?
• How did we get to this point?
  

This made me laugh.

Ah the simplicity of humor like this.

H/T Mike J

Do our Churches have a version of Rumspringa?

You've heard of Rumspringa, right? It's an Amish thing. It refers to a period in adolescence where young Amish are not bound by their communities. And many (although not all) do the crazy things that they think about all the time, but couldn't normally do! Rumspringa literally means "Running Around". They idea is that after they have 'run around', they (hopefully) come back and dig in to community and stay there.

Do our Churches have a version of Rumspringa?

I just read this article from LifeWay. It's a survey of young Americans. It refers to the fact the 70% of American church-goers, aged 18-22, simply stop going to church for a year or more. They leave their home town (say, they come to NYC!) and simply don't connect with a new community in which to be accountable. Go ahead and read the article. There are lots of reasons they give as to why they stop contributing. And many apparently come back.

Here in NYC, it rings true. The Christian Groups on campus (while top-notch) are comparatively small. I meet young people all the time who are not really connected into a community that functions in a healthy way with strong accountability. They sometime go to several churches for different personal-preference reasons ("I go here for the 'worship' , there for the 'teaching', and I drop in to another church for the 'community' " etc.) And many don't go anywhere, except sheepishly when they go home for breaks.

In three weeks time (when the new school year begins) my community, Christ Church NYC, will meet many of the students who will be confronted with this choice.

Some questions you could help me with:

1. What do you make of the survey and the thoughts contained within?
2. Can we do anything about it?
3. (For my Australian friends: What are the differences, do you think, between the continents?)
4. What is a compelling vision for this age group?

Here is a quote:

Stetzer noted, "There is no easy way to say it, but it must be said. Parents and churches are not passing on a robust Christian faith and an accompanying commitment to the church. We can take some solace in the fact that many do eventually return. But, Christian parents and churches need to ask the hard question, ‘What is it about our faith commitment that does not find root in the lives of our children?’"

h/t Justin.
Pic by niznoz

Give The Boy some Hope...

We are teaching The Boy and The Girl to swim at the local city pool. So he's kickin' and splashin' and 'talking to the fish' (blowing bubbles underwater).

It's fun for the summer.

But here is the thing: I tend to think that they have little genetic hope of being good swimmers. Both their mother and I are aquatically-challenged. (Laurel, by the way, says I should speak for myself.) However, it would be fair to say: Winrams, we ain't! (Let the reader understand).

So here is what I want from you: Hope.

Is there anything that you are good at, that you most assuredly did not genetically gain from your parents? (Or maybe some gift your parents had, that you never got?)

Tell me these things are not set in DNA Stone.

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Begone, Word Verification! Begone.

I've taken off "Word verification for comments".

I'm done with wasting time on deciphering and typing those letters. I figure I won't waste your time either. Unless I get spam. So I'll get back to you on that.

Have a great weekend. If you are a member of a church, take joy in it. If you are at Christ Church NYC, then read, mark and inwardly digest: Colossians 3:1-11.

:)

Evangelism: 7 Possibilities (#7)

The 7 Lie and 7 Possibilities can be read as one by clicking HERE.

7. God wants people to surrender to Jesus.

God directs your steps, calls his own, and leads as he pleases. Some want help. We simply need to open the Bible and speak of Jesus. Thats what happens in this story. But it would mean no good thing for the Ethiopian unless he surrendered his life.

36As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" 38And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.

In fact, so important is this surrender, that later textual editors wanted to 'seal the deal'. So presumably they added another verse, V37, putting words in the Ethiopian's mouth. But those words aren't necessary. The oldest manuscripts are enough: "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?"

In other words, "why shouldn't I right now surrender my life to Jesus?"

That's the prayer, right?

Here endeth the lesson.

Thoughts or suggestions?

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Evangelism: 7 Possibilities (#6)

The 7 possibilities are built around the story of Philip and the Ethiopian in Acts 8:36-40.

6. God wants us to speak about Jesus.

In the end, we open the Bible to see Jesus, by whom and for whom the universe was created. We search the Scripture knowing that in them there is eternal life because they testify about Jesus. So the eunuch, already reading the 'gift' text, then asks the 'gift' question: V34

The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?"

The answer is 'someone else'. And Philip doesn't drop the ball: V35

Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

We preach Jesus Christ as Lord.

I once heard a Bishop in Sydney say that Christians get ourselves in all sorts of trouble because we primarily preach forgiveness (instead of Jesus); we preach grace (instead of Jesus); we preach life (instead of Jesus). Smart observation.

Thats why you are here in Manhattan this week.

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Evangelism: 7 Possibilities (#5)

The 7 possibilities are built around the story of Philip and the Ethiopian in Acts 8:36-40.

5. Engage with the Words of the bible.

This gift falls in Philip's lap. And Philip, we find out, takes the gift. The gift: The eunuch happens to be reading one of the most extraordinary verses in the Jewish Scriptures? Isaiah 53

Acts 8:32-33 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

"Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opens not his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.

This passage, is, of course, central in the work of Jews for Jesus. No other passage in the Jewish Scriptures testifies so strongly about Jesus. Jesus is the embodiment of all Israel, that he might justify many. Jesus suffers judgment as Israel suffers judgment , to heal many. Jesus is raised to life, and he includes us in him. Jesus is the Servant. But first, he has to die unjustly like a sleep about to be slaughtered.

My point here is this: If we are going to introduce people to God, we must introduce them to what he said. The Bible must be engaged. There is more to say, and that more is next...

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Evangelism: 7 Possibilities (#4)

The 7 possibilities are built around the story of Philip and the Ethiopian in Acts 8:36-40.

4. The truth is: Some people want help.

We tend to think of everyone as self sufficient, and not needing help. But some want help! V30-31

So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" And he said, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

You see it often on the subways and buses in NYC: people reading the Bible and other books. A good question: "Do you understand what you are reading?" with the intention of inviting them to discuss with you.

I have a guy at church who doesn't yet believe, but is always asking good questions about what he is believing. He really embodies someone who says: "How can I, unless someone guides me?"

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Evangelism: 7 Possibilities (#3)

The 7 possibilities were delivered to encourage the Jews for Jesus Summer Campaign volunteers last week. They speak into the 7 lies... The 7 possibilities are built around the story of Philip and the Ethiopian in Acts 8:36-40.

3. God has, at times, lead people directly.

A special moment, this is. It is early in the life of the church, and as a Jew, I suspect that an Ethiopian eunuch is the last person that Philip might think of to speak the gospel to. Maybe it’s a special moment like this that requires special prompting. V29

The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."

This is a description of what happened, not a prescription for today.

But I wonder if a Jews for Jesus campaign in New York City is a special moment like this in reverse. And there may be some of you that know Christ's prompting in this way this week. I've never had a prompting like Philip. But you may have.

Take it.

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Evangelism: 7 Possibilities (#2)

The 7 possibilities were delivered to encourage the Jews for Jesus Summer Campaign volunteers last week. They speak into the 7 lies...

The 7 possibilities are built around the story of Philip and the Ethiopian in Acts 8:36-40. The story is a description of then, not a prescription for now. but I seek to draw general things as they come up.

2. God has his own people and calls his own people.

We know that from John 10:14-16. But see it in V27-28:

So he [Philip] started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet.

He is an Ethiopian. And he is a eunuch. He is the most unlikely to accept Jesus as Messiah. And yet he is reading the Isaiah with some level of hunger (we find out later). And Philip has been called to speak to him (v26): Jesus calls his own.

So as you stand at the Subway or in Brooklyn, look at each person and think – Jesus may have this person in mind. As you see the Prophets or the Torah being read... this could be a person Jesus has in mind.

Who are the unlikely people today to accept Jesus as Messiah? Not Ethiopians eunuchs, but the Jewish people -- the very people for whom Isaiah was written!

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Evangelism: 7 Possibilities (#1)

The 7 possibilities were delivered to encourage the Jews for Jesus Summer Campaign volunteers last week. They speak into the 7 lies...

The 7 possibilities are built around the story of Philip and the Ethiopian in Acts 8:36-40. I fully recognize that the story is a description of then, not a prescription for now. I try to take care with that, drawing out the general things as they come up.

1. God has our life and movements in his hands.

The mere possibility that God is sovereign over my life and movements is of great comfort. It means that he has me were he wants me, and has the power to take me to where he knows I need to be. For Philip, it was concrete in the moment, and specifically revealed to him by the Spirit. V26

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza."

My friend David L (a student at TKC) and I went to Washington Square Park on Good Friday to speak with NYU students about Jesus (A good day to do it). Before we started, David and I read Acts 8:36-40 without nativity: we know that there is no promise that the Spirit would speak to us like he spoke Philip. But we affirmed the sovereignty of God over our life and movements. So we asked God to lead us to the person who he wanted us to speak to.

5 said No.

Cloud said Yes.

Yes, Cloud is the child of hippies.

Cloud is 23, college-educated and temporally homeless. We went together to a local restaurant and we talked with him about his life, and we shared Jesus' story with him. David invited him to church, and Cloud walked 70 blocks to get there on Easter Sunday. And then he shared a meal with a family from church.

God has you were he wants you.

We need to see God working and vocalize it...

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What makes God look Glorious?

This video clip is John Piper at his God-given best: Strong, profound, pastoral and devastatingly simple.

These three minutes settle the matter for me: I will not give ground to the prosperity gospel, and I will speak openly against it. There is too much at stake. The alternative life (suffering in and for Christ) has a Power that the proponents of the prosperity gospel cannot and will not understand.

(Warning: there is a profoundly sad story mentioned at 1:30, for the sensitive).

H/T Christine

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Wikipedia -- Is it this easy?

Are you a Wikipedia Editor?

I'm not.

But I have now made two remarkably bold (?) edits on a Wikipedia page. I'm astounded at how easy it is to change the information that people read.

A month ago, I found an error on the Wiki page of Peter Jensen. I corrected the publish date of the Archbishop's book At the Heart of the Universe. To 1991. These things matter, right?

And tonight, I removed a pejorative term from the St Helen's Bishopsgate Wiki page in London. Someone had written "St Helen's Bishopsgate is a bigoted conservative Evangelical church in the city of London."

Anyone want to guess which word I removed?

Are you a Wiki editor? Whats it like? Got any stories to tell?

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Evangelism: 7 Lies (#7)

This is the FINAL post of the 7 lies. The 7 possibilities are coming. Read Acts 8:26-40 to prepare for them.

7. You’ll never be any good.

It is true that there is giftedness. And you can think of the people in this room who seem gifted at it, right? And you wonder what it would be like to be like them. But the lie is that that giftedness is the end of the discussion. 'I’m not gifted, so I won’t do it.'

But in 2 Timothy 4:5, Paul reminds (an un-gifted?) Timothy to do the work of an evangelist, maybe because he didn't see himself as one:

But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry...

So giftedness, then, is only a part of the discussion.

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Pic by CMc$

Evangelism: 7 Lies (#6)

The 7 lies and then 7 possibilities were delivered to encourage the Jews for Jesus Summer Campaign volunteers last week.

6. Saying something to someone is the end of the business.

We can so believe lies 1-5 that when someone... anyone... shows any interest, we get so excited that don’t do anything else after a short conversation about Jesus. But how will I follow up that contact? How will I introduce them to community? What are the next steps?

Imagine if we all opened a new restaurant where very few people come in at first. And then finally someone comes in a looks at the menu, and everyone gets so excited that we run out the back to have a celebration and talk about how good it is that someone looked at the menu.

Go the full distance with people. This requires, of course, a new level of love and new level of organization.

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Pic by Chris&AmyCate

Evangelism: 7 Lies (#5)

The 7 lies and then 7 possibilities were delivered to encourage the Jews for Jesus Summer Campaign volunteers last week.

5. Comfort is the basis for making choices.

I take it that you are here (Jews for Jesus) because you haven’t believed this lie: Getting up early; sorties; contacts; hostilities.

Many people choose comfort unless they are being paid. Then, and only then will they will work hard. In contrast, Hebrews 12:2 says:

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

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Pic by DieselDan

Evangelism: 7 Lies (#4)

The 7 lies and then 7 possibilities were delivered to encourage the Jews for Jesus Summer Campaign volunteers last week.

4. Timidity is incurable.

The lie (expanded) is this: That timidity is incurable, and that you are then locked into a certain attitude as you stand there talking to people in Brooklyn or Times Square or wherever you are. You are timid, and so you cannot (and will not) do things that non-timid people do.

One of the significant people in my faith was shy. In many ways, I think that his gift was was shyness, as was his curse . Shyness made him a brilliant reader and thinker. And more than that -- he was approachable to some because he was shy. At the same time, he often wanted to withdraw and avoid people.

He knew that God had fashioned him that way, and yet he also knew that the devil wanted him to debilitate him with shyness. So he would force himself to have meaningful contact with people for Christ's sake.

In 2 Timothy 1:7, Paul says to Timothy --

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

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Pic by Chris&AmyCate