Come visit me there. Thanks for reading.

-Micah

I don’t agree with megachurches. I don’t have a fear of large numbers. I don’t disagree with mass amounts of people. The church described in Acts 2:41 could be called a “megachurch.” The part I disagree with is that they are often only about numbers, or at least that’s what they communicate. Perry Noble, pastor of local megachurch, Newspring, brags on the churches attendance in nearly every Sunday Night Reflection. Now this doesn’t mean that his theology is bad or that he’s a bad preacher, it does, however, reflect his focus as a pastor.

Here are my four problems with the typical American megachurch:

1. While we often see Acts 2:41 in the megachurch (171 professions at Newspring last week, which is awesome), we rarely see Acts 2:46 lived out. There is a sense of oneness, but very little discipleship and community.
2. Most megachurch members live in great comfort, including the pastors. Let’s not kid ourselves, we’re attracted to comfort, and of course we would want to attend a church that doesn’t call us to live outside of our comfort zone, that accommodates us with comfortable buildings. Megachurches rarely promote getting down in the trenches and living put the true gospel. I’ve sat in a church before as thousands of hads applauded their efforts for donating literally over a ton of food to the homeless sheltars. But did a single member come face-to-face with the homeless? Was there ever a person attached to the gifts? I’m not sure about you, but as happy as a would be to get a Christmas gift from my uncle, I would really question the intentions behind the gift if he sent it to me in the mail when he only lives two minutes down the street…
3. Spending. Jesus said to love others as much as ourselves, so should the church not budget at least 50% to help the poor? Simply put; this is biblical, this is not (PDF file, Q&A, espscially #3).

Don’t misquote me in saying that all megachurches are wrong. Cornerstone Church in California seems to be doing a fine job… these are just a few of the obsticles that need to be overcome for a megachurch to also be considered a biblical church.

Walking through a bookstore recently I noticed a big theme in Christian literature.  The shelves are filled with books analyzing the numerous problems and flaws in the modern church. It’s something we acknowledge. It’s something we realize… so why haven’t we fixed it?

The problem with Christianity is not that we have integrated our skewed our beliefs into our culture and therefore made it a religion that other countries and people groups immediately associate with our nations political agendas. Though this is a problem, it is not the core problem. The problem with Christianity is not that we follow a forty-day how-to manual for purpose as a church model instead of Acts 2:47 and other New Testament biblical models. Though this is a problem, it is not the core problem.

The core of this crisis is that somewhere between now and 2000 years ago we truly lost the person of Christ on our own cutting-board of personal preferences. We don’t look to scripture to reveal who Jesus is, but instead turn to our own imaginations of the perfect big-brother, awesome dad, or cool uncle we’ve always wanted.

For most Americans all we know of Jesus is that he’s a nicely groomed Italian looking man we talk around on Sunday mornings, it’s stylish to wear a t-shirt pronouncing he’s our homeboy, and he makes us laugh every time he shows up on Family Guy.

Knowing Jesus is the difference between being a Christian boy and a godly man. And I’m not going to allow any Christian boys to date my sisters… or future daughters and I’m not going to call him up and ask him to lead a position in the church.

Even “christian” authors are degrading the name of Jesus and doing very little good to the true image of what He is. In his book Velvet Elvis, Rob Bell hypothesizes that if Jesus say… was not born of a virgin birth, that that should not affect the way we perceive Jesus. I respectfully disagree. If “being born of a virgin birth” meant that Mary merely conceived the first time she had intercourse, as Pastor Bell imagines, then Jesus was conceived out of wedlock, out of sinful circumstances, born of a couple, woman and man, and cannot be the perfect atoning sacrifice for our sins. So if this core belief, or spring as he calls it, were taken away, we would lose the validity of Jesus as Messiah, and we mightaswell take the whole New Testament with it.

Acts 13:17-42 is an example of Paul walking the religious types through the old testament, to everything they’ve ever held as their core beliefs and saying “this is all about Jesus.” The whole Old Testament is about Jesus. The whole Bible, is about Jesus.

We see this again in the Matthew 17 account of the transfiguration. In this story, the physical representation of  The Law, Moses, and the physical representation of The Prophets, Elijah, descend and converse with the Son of Man. So we see the law and the prophets coming down, conversing with Jesus in submission and confession “this is all about You.”

Peter, who still doesn’t get it, proposes that he build three equal alters to them. It is then that the voice of God comes from heaven saying “this is my dearly beloved Son, who brings me great joy, listen to him.” We’ve seen this before when Jesus was baptized in chapter 3. This voice is a little different. In this instance the apostles are terrified. God was rebuking Peter for even suggesting that Jesus be held on the same level as Elijah and Moses. Yet we still do this today. We’re so caught up in believing that Christianity is a set of rules and moral conduct that we have to follow in order to stay away from guilt, we’re so caught up in learning and digging through the Bible to attain knowledge of prophesy, we spend so much time exegesing this and that that we forget that Christianity is about…. Christ.

When I want to actually learn things, I check The Resurgence (Which is primarily Mark Driscoll’s blog but also features contributions from Matt Chandler, Mike Anderson, and others)  and Desiring God (John Piper), my personal favorites and the first ones I check when waking up in the morning/early afternoon.

Some other blogs I enjoy are Francis Chan’s video blog and Frank Viola’s blog Reimagining the Church.

While these provide great opportunities for learning and instruction in my life, to understand the state of the Church, I also like to see what the heretics are talking about, so I frequently visit Emergent Village and Brian McLaren’s blog.

To read a little closer to home I read Perry Noble’s blog…

I read Christianity Today to stay informed overall, and for politics I turn to Hugh Hewitt.

So there it is.

“Almighty God, our Father:
Everything we see, and everything we can’t see, exists because of you alone.

It all comes from you, it all belongs to you, it all exists for your glory.

History is your story.

The Scripture tells us, “Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one.” And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now today, we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge point of history with the inauguration of our first African-American president of the United States.

We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where a son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.

Give to our new president, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity.

Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.

Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans—united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.

When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you—forgive us.

When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone—forgive us.

When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve—forgive us.

And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes—even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all.

May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet.

And may we never forget that one day, all nations–and all people–will stand accountable before you.

We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life—Yeshua, ‘Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus—who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.”

…and I thought all he was good for was forty-day game plans and how-to manuals for people who didn’t feel like actually reading their Bibles.

But here’s something undisputble that we should all be participationg in and I give thumbs up to Warren for practicing on national television:

“I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior.”

1 Timothy 2:1-3

So let’s not forget to pray for Obama, and don’t forget; God appoints leaders for His purposes.

Edit: This article is heavily influenced by Mark Driscoll’s post over at The Resurgence

We have got this whole thing terribly wrong.

It’s something we see, but can’t pinpoint. It’s something we know, but don’t want to acknowledge. The American Church is either failing miserably at being the body of Christ or Jesus himself is a liar.

40% of American adults say they are “evangelical Christians,” 45% say they are “born again Christians,” and of those, 79% say they are “deeply spiritual.” (Barna) With a following like that, the name of Christ must be in pretty good shape. Almost half of our nation claims to be followers of Christ….

How then can the world look like it does?

When we see a people group radically devoting to Christ in the Bible it looks something like this:

“All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals, and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.”

-Acts 2:42-47

In case you haven’t notice, our society doesn’t look like that.

What do we infer about our spirituality then? This is immediately after the Holy Spirit descends on the church. It is made very clear throughout the New Testament that this the direct reaction of the Church when they come face to face with the Savior. We must infer then, that the modern church as a whole has not truly come to and understanding of Christ, or is not carrying out its role. Or both. The more we dig into scripture, the more we see that if the second is not true, the first cannot be either.

So the most fundamental and crucial question that we have to answer is…

How are we a Christian generation that has totally missed God?

• 11:58am… Meagan

I have a really good friend named Meagan who has pretty strong ties to New Orleans. She calls me in tears and informs me that Cat 3 Gustav is about to hit the coast and that one of our friends, Rob, who is a pastor has decided to stay in the city. I recall a conversation I had with a pastor, walking down Canal Street, last time I was in NOLA (about a month ago) in which he said that the people of the city turned to God for about a year after Katrina… but had become really comfortable since and fallen back into their old ways. I remember the gut feeling I had as soon as the words left his mouth that the next time I visited Louisiana I would be workng in construction again and not street ministry.

• 12:01pm… Bryce

I grab Bryce and we decide to pray before we go to lunch. We pray for Rob’s safety and God’s glory in NOLA.

• 1:30pm… Grant

My friend Grant was in from Columbia, visiting for the weekend. He had bought some pants that were either too big or too small… either way they didn’t fit and had to be returned. So I drove him to the mall and on the way we talked about the Lord’s calling in both of our lives to plant a church, how we’ll be in it together, what it should look like, and what steps we take now.

On our way out of the mall we were stopped by a guy who asked us if we could drive him somewhere. His name was Stoney, he is 20 years old, he just got back from a year in Iraq due to a medical discharge from being shot in the chest with a 50 Cal and contusion in his head. He had many more awesome, gruesome stories that probably don’t belong on this blog….. anyways, we had the privilege of sharing the gospel with him and he told us how “religious” he was when he was younger and how much “religion” had failed him…

He was just waiting for someone to say something about God, he was ready to talk about it, and even more ready to have it all figured out… how many people are there like this in the world?

…As if Grant and I needed anymore confirmation.

• 7:45pm… Stuart & Carter

After church, I got to talk to Stuart (the pastor) about the church and community and what that looks like. It would be impossible to sum up the conversation in writing. But it was amazing and beautiful. It’s awesome to see how God is uniting his people under one thought and mission… to actually become the Church that is described in Acts…

September 1, 2008

• 12:01am… Wes, J-Lo, and Addy

I love Waffle House. The four of us sat down and threw around the question of what real worship should look like in church… how can we really remove ourselves from the stage so that only Christ is seen… does that detail literally removing ourselves from worship? Is there really room for a worship leader in churches consisting of prideful individuals?

• 4:00am… Justin

I have this friend who is in a hardcore christian band. He happened to be on campus this weekend visiting his brother and there had been word going around that things were uneasy between us. So I went to go see him and after 2 minutes we both realized these concerns were unwarranted. We talked things out and encouraged each other in our respective ministries. We’re fighting on two very different battle fronts, but in the end we’re both fighting the same war. It’s amazing and encouraging to see the different ways God chooses to use his people to proclaim his word to very diverse groups.

God is moving. He chooses to use us for His glory. He gives us that privilege. We have to be the revival. We have to be the reformation.

Bottom line: I think it’s because they expect something from me.

Since the first time I went, the staff has never tried to draw me with awesome youth programs or a face-melting band every night. They’ve never tried to look attractive or throw a big pizza feed where I could eat for free.

The bible never portrays the Church as a place someone can COME for free child care and pizza, or TAKE money from the Church’s offering to send the youth group to summer camp.

It’s actually quite a different picture then what we so often advertise… see when I read I see a plan for a church that is ready to GO into the world (Mark 16:15, Romans 1:8) and GIVE (Acts 2:44-45, Luke 3:11) at our own expense, out of our own salaries… out of what we have earned (2 Thes. 3:7-8).

So what is your church asking of you? Because I do believe Christ is expecting more from his bride than what most of us are giving now…