Coffee Shop Journal

William Paul Young is the author of the book The Shack, which I think that nearly everyone has read! For this shorter session, he was interviewed about his experiences in writing the book, which was primarily written for his six children. After putting it online, it went viral over the internet. They spent something along the lines of $300 to market it. Amazing.

A couple of points stood out to me. First, his demeanor was humble and grateful to be where he was. Before The Shack he was working as a janitor and two other jobs. He also cleared up the first question that is always asked about The Shack: it is a parable. The Shack is a metaphor for the spiritual darkness we all find ourselves in. It is autobiographical in that the spiritual progression is William Paul Young’s spiritual progression, but it is not intended as a true story. Sorry…no Shack-hunting tourist trips! He concluded the interview by recounting some of the stories of people who were touched by their reading of the story, and discussing some of the reactions of Christians around the world to the story. Not all of these reactions have been positive, but he kept a good attitude towards them while reminding us that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.

Jim Collins is one of our favorite business authors. His book Good to Great has literally redefined how business is done. Jim began his session by reminding the Catalyst audience, primarily a young audience, that not all times in your lives are equal. Some matter more than others, and this one matters a lot. It is time to be great. The overall message Jim Collins gave was that good is the enemy of great, and greatness is a function of discipline and choices.

Discipline of the flywheel

Most great overnight successes don’t come overnight. They are the result of one more “turn of the flywheel,” one more try. And then success breaks through seemingly overnight. In a twist of his usual concepts, Jim went on to examine how those who used to be great, became less great. How did they fall? It is not generally through complacency, or laziness, but from overreaching. We fall because of the undisciplined pursuit of more.

The number one sign that you have overreached your greatness: you grow beyond your ability to have the right people in the right spots on the bus. First find your people, then grow. this is called the Who Principle.

Jim discussed the turbulent times we find ourselves in, and reminded us that no one can predict the future. If you can’t predict it, you can’t really plan for it. Therefore, you need to focus instead on finding people who have the ability to adapt and change to an unstable environment. People first, then grow.

Next the session turned to a look at leadership types, specifically what Jim calls Level 5 leaders, those who lead the very best companies. The level 5 leaders all possess one distinguishing characteristic: they are humble. They have a burning passion for their company, their mission, but it is not about them. If it is about you, you will not build something great. Churches in particular often become dependent on a charismatic, powerful leader, but the distinguishing characteristic of a great church is that the work will go on without the personality.

The final concept Jim taught is the one that leapt off the notebook page to me: create a Stop Doing List. It’s like a To Do list, ony quite obviously different. What do we need to stop doing?

The big idea: Core values must never change. But don’t confuse values with practices. “Every generation needs to create its own practices to passionately exemplify eternal values.” Values remain, practices change.

Assignment list from Jim Collins:

1. Go to jimcollins.com and use the diagnostic tool there: everything on the site is free!
2. Answer these questions: How many key seats are there in your organization? How many are filled with the right people? What are your plans to get that number to 100%?
3. Get young people in your face: this keeps your practices up-to-date.
4. Who will you allow to be your mentors? Do you have any unintended or undesirable mentors?
5. Build a council.
6. Don’t try to be interesting, be interested.
7. Take time to think — turn off electronics. Give yourself “white space” days. Work is infinite and will always fill up time. Time is finite. Use it wisely to think.
8. How do I commit myself to something for which I have so much passion that i am willing to endure the pain of achieving it?

There followed a question and answer time with Andy Stanley, during which Jim elaborated on several key points. One of them that stuck out to me was this: you don’t have a job or a title, you have a responsibility. How you accomplish your responsibilities is up to you.

Believe it or not, this was the first time I’ve ever heard Andy Stanley speak! After the amazing worship, we were ready to hear a message and boy did we get one. Andy spoke on Nehemiah, and the project of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. Here are some key points that struck home to me:

• Once you become an adult, rarely do the people who actually influence us have any real authority over us. They influence us because of their moral authority, instead. This is — for better or worse — also true of our own influence. In reality, we can’t MAKE anyone do anything. That is why your own moral authority is so crucial.
• You achieve moral authority when people perceive that there is an alignment between the creed and the deed. In other words, you walk the talk. Without this alignment you would have a credibility gap.
• Nehemiah had moral authority because for 12 years he chose not to take his “fair share” of the food and land. He chose to forgo power (land) in order to build his authority.
• All we really have is influence — everyone is a volunteer! Build your authenticity.
• These are the areas in which we need moral authority:
• Forgiveness: We have been forgiven, therefore we should forgive. If you are bitter, you lose your moral authority.
• Family: Prioritize your family. “Don’t exchange a role no one else can play (parent to your children) for a role anyone else can play (pastor etc.).”
• Finances: Your finances must be in order if you are working in a ministry where people give money. You need moral authority. If you want to lead generous people, be generous. “Give, Save, live on the rest.”

Catalyst rolls on faster than I can process it! After our first break we heard Mark Batterson talk about Convoy of Hope. Then we heard the author of The Shack. Now Jim Collins (Good to Great) is speaking about discipline.

I can’t wait to share the principles and links to more information for you all!

So we finished the first worship set with Steve Fee! Amazing technology. There were lights, video screens everywhere,
a circular LCD screen. Amazing stuff.

Andy Stanley is speaking now on Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the wall: the original economic buyout plan. I will write about that soon, since I am on my phone and can’t type so well!

By the way, those of you who know me will understand this: I am so excited because Steven Furtick and his wife are sitting across the aisle from me! If you don’t know who he is, click his link on my sidebar!

I can't wait for the worship tomorrow!

Well, we’re in Atlanta prepped and ready to go to Catalyst bright and early in the morning! David and I drove over to the Gwinnett Arena tonight to check out the action. In the lobby people were scurrying around setting up ministry booths and (thank you, Jesus!) table after table of books and other goodies. We ran into our friends Ryan and Sarah Grace Wall and remembered why we like to come to things like Catalyst: it’s all about the people! Another good friend of mine, David Imber, is running the production and lights tomorrow. I haven’t seen him in years, and can’t wait to reconnect. I wonder if there will be any other surprise friends waiting for me tomorrow?

As readers of this blog know very well, finding unique third spaces in the community and connecting the people there to life in the kingdom defines the passion of my days. All is right with my world when I stumble into a conversation that has an impact, reveals a bit of God’s plan for our community. Coffeehouse Theology, a new book by Ed Cyzewski, captures this perspective on life perfecty. Coffeehouse Theology, Reflecting on God in Everyday Life, challenged me to bring a new level of thought to those seemingly random conversations.

Coffeehouse Theology refers to the concept of examining our belief systems about God through the lens of our everyday life. Take your belief systems out of the church, and into the coffeehouse, so to speak. Ed writes,

“Some people believe that God acts frequently in this world, bringing peace and justice. Others see God as very angry, onthe verge of raining down judgement. Still others think he set the world in motion and then walked away.

I want to know one thing: Where do these beliefs about God come from?”

The strength of Coffeehouse Theology lies in the author’s ability to simply (though not simplistically) outline the current theological systems in the church today, and then to trace through church history how we arrived at this point. This is called, academically speaking, contextual theology. Contextual theology, like any other tool, can be used well or can be used poorly. This book attempts to teach us how to use the tool well, not shying away in fear of wandering off-course but constantly re-examining what it means to be an incarnational representative of Christ here on earth.

Coffeehouse Theology gave a very balanced picture of the contemporary church, including the theological basis for many of the postmodern, emergent points of view. This current “bridge” generation between modernism and post-modernism needs to understand this cultural shift. My favorite passage of Coffehouse Theology was a fictional intersection of the Andy Griffith show (a very modern-era show) with participants from The Real World (a very post-modern show). If you ever doubt whether society has moved from one world view to another, just ponder those two shows for a moment.

The world of Mayberry — with an objective authority figure using reason to sort out matters, a closely followed and orderly script, andlargely black and white values — embodies modernism. The Real World with its uneasy equality given to different perspectives, unscripted and chaotic interaction among the characters, and a mishmash of moral observations throughout the show.”

The key concept to learn from Coffeehouse Theology is that while we are all bound by our own culture in time and place, being aware of the interaction between that culture and our theology is a good thing. We can learn to introduce new perspectives to broaden our awareness. We can read history. And we can properly relate theology to our own culture.

After reading this book I have walked away with a clearer understanding of my own time and place. I enjoyed the writing style, and am amazed that the author could communicate complex concepts as clearly as possible. Did I agree with everything in it? Probably not. This is a post modern age, after all, and my lens is different than Ed’s lens. But I felt like Coffeehouse Theology was an excellent tour through history theology and culture.

By the way, this review of Coffeehouse Theology is part of a blog tour review. Consider it an online book club touring the internet through the month of October. If you want to join me in reading the blogs each day, go to the author’s blog for the master list.

This week I’ve been reading Death by Suburb by David L. Goetz. It’s an interesting book about using spiritual disciplines to enrich a life challenged by a suburban environment. I found an interesting intersection of thoughts with Death by Suburb and my Starbucks coffee cup today. It isn’t often that I find wisdom on my cup, but today I did! It reads:

The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating — in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life.

– Anne Morriss

This was startlingly similar to a thought expressed by David Goetz in his book. He was discussing the tendency to “church hop” in the suburbs, finding a new church for each phase of your life and needs. A spiritual discipline, he says, is to stay and work through the relationships that exist in your church family. Be committed to your community.

Freedom does not always mean going. In the thicker life [ed. note: a deeper spiritual life], in fact, freedom often means staying. That’s certainly true of the Christian understanding of marriage. Staying with one partner over a lifetime opens me up to the goodness of God in a way that serial monogamy doesn’t. Church is another place where freedom means staying. That seems counterintuitive, given scripture’s emphasis on the kingdom of God and its global enterprise. With both church and marriage, in a culture of options, I choose not to move. I stay rooted in community, because only in a place where I’m free not to leave can I find the “personal” in so-called personal relationship with God. This practice is all about staying in relationships when everything inside me screams to pack up my hurt feelings and find a more ideal community.

The relationships we form within our church communities are part of the plans God has for us. He intends for us to grow and prosper through them. When we know that we are committed to each other, there is freedom in not having to evaluate our decision to stay in that church over and over. We are here for each other; we will be here for you no matter what may come. We are not alone, and that is good.

Visiting Christ Fellowship’s various campuses always causes me to come away shaking my head, amazed at the radically different personalities that have developed from one heart and one ministry. The City Place campus, also called the Ascent, seems like the bohemian, artsy little sister of the Christ Fellowshp group.

City Place itself is a mid-sized commercial redevelopment program, an outdoor lifestyle center that is about as hip as you can get in West Palm Beach without descending into gritty. The movie theater in City Place draws a huge crowd, diverse on a Friday night. Because of City Place’s location, it also can draw homeless or the folk from across the bridge in Palm Beach itself. Smack in the middle of this culture clash sits the Harriet Himmel Theater. Christ Fellowship houses its church in the theater every Sunday, from an early morning 9:00 service to the evening Ascent service for college and young adults. It is a hopping spot.

Today, at all of our campuses, we began sign-ups for our LifeGroups. At City Place John Poitevent (Campus Pastor) spoke on a fairly obscure passage in Colossians 4 where Paul lists the names of those people who have been ministering with him during his time in prison. As John preached, it became obvious that Paul’s cast of supporting characters are still around today: those who start but drop out soon, those who are Mama’s boys, those who travel to bring information to others, those who open their homes. As a kind of grand finale to the message, John had LifeGroup hosts come up front and tell about the purpose of their groups.

That’s when the goosebumps started.

They were a motley bunch, alright. Very diverse in their appearance and stage of life. All of them were excited about doing life in community, and their varying purposes of their LifeGroups stunned me.

“We are going to feed the homeless in Lake Worth every Sunday afternoon. We leave when the food is done.”

“We want to give college-aged girls a place to find support while they chase after God’s purpose.”

“We’re going to use dance and worship to bring glory to God.”

“We’re going to explore the biblical ways to reduce tension and stress as we live our lives. And oh yeah, there’s a martial arts component to this LifeGroup so be prepared to move.”

“I love to cook: come for a complete home cooked meal and then we’ll discuss God’s life.”

“I hate to cook: can someone bring food?”

“I don’t cook either, but we’re going to learn about the Living Water and then find a way to share it.”

None of them were alike; each group had their own purpose. They were wide in their diversity and awe-inspiring in their unity. I was entranced. I looked around the theater — criss-crossing beams overhead, wooden floors and dimly-lit chandeliers — and was humbled by the authentic community represented by this church-in-the-middle of the city. Then I remembered it was my church, and I wanted to cry.

Leaving, David and I literally had to push our way through the lines of City Placers signing up for a new adventure in LifeGroups. We walked down the stairs and looked at City Place itself — Starbucks tucked under the theater along with a few other shops, restaurants lining the roads and people everywhere. A church, a coffeehouse and a mission. It doesn’t get any better than that.

I’m getting excited about going to Catalyst ‘o8 this year! The speaker line-up is incredible. I don’t want to miss the opportunity to hear Billy Graham speak! Yes - Billy Graham. The speakers really are too numerous, and too amazing, to list. But I am excited about Stephen Furtick being there. He is one of the best new preachers I have come across in many years. God’s hand and anointing are on him. I love to get to Atlanta any chance I can get…so many of my very best friends live there. And Atlanta food…oh yeah.

Anyone else out there headed to Catalyst with me? The early registration deadline is today, June 26. They put this Geico add spoof out to encourage us to register. Very funny. And yes…those are their real voices!

Catalyst / Geico Spoof from Catalyst on Vimeo.