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Social Action

Ephesians 5:14 and You

February 21, 2010

A young man prays in Carrefour, the epicenter of the January 12th earthquake

“Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:14

I first memorized Ephesians 5 with Kristen in 1995. We were dating and we had discovered that memorizing Scripture together was a way to channel our, um, energy for one another. It worked!

This passage of Scripture has been illuminated to me in new ways since I returned from Haiti a few days ago.

On the one hand– I need to shake the trip, to focus on the action items ahead of me, to move on with being a leader, husband, and father here in San Diego. I am needed here and there is no denying it. That much is clear.

On the other hand– everywhere I go I encounter something I cannot reconcile with what I have seen. Yesterday, I spent most of my day in a coffee shop sipping mochas and working on a freelance project for some friends. I am proud of the work I did yesterday. It turned out great. I love the opportunity it provides both for my family and the organization this work will benefit. But as I walked through my neighborhood I couldn’t help but think of the contrast to what I was doing just a week prior. Last Saturday, sounds of thousands praising Jesus and shouting prayers filled every neighborhood in Port-au-Prince and Carrefour. Even as night fell and we rested in our mission station we could hear the loud speakers in the distance… people singing and praising well into the humid darkness. Yesterday, back home in my neighborhood– nearly silence. The only sounds heard were children playing soccer in the park.

One place was awake. The other asleep.

Paul doesn’t leave me there, he continues, “Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” Ephesians 5:15-17

My prayer while in Haiti were verses 15-17. I overlooked verse 14. My teammates kind of poked fun at me because I barely slept the whole week. I’d go to bed after they were asleep and they’d wake up and I’d already be up. It’s was this verse… I was doing what I could to make the most of every opportunity. I could sleep on the plane.

But it is verse 14 which stirs me now. Now I have to sort out how I can be awake to both realities.

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The Bible is Dangerous, But are You?

February 20, 2010

This message by Francis Chan will mess with you.

A trip to a third world country, in my case Haiti, will show you just how much syncretism we practice in America.

Here are some of the gods we mix with our faith.
- The safety god
- The comfort god
- The performance god
- The money god
- The staff god
- The building god
- The schedule god

I don’t point those things out to bring judgement on anyone. In fact, these are my gods, too. As I’m re-entering my culture I need to wrestle with these gods in light of the teachings of Moses in Deuteronomy.

The thing that God (the real God!) kept hitting me over the head with while in Haiti is that I live a life of dependency and faith avoidance. Before the trip, as I wrote about, I felt like God was calling me out and asking if I truly believed the things I told people I believed in.

I hope I lived up to the challenge.

And it turns out, coming home presents a new challenge of faith.

As Francis points out in this message, dangerous things could happen if we would just be obedient to what God teaches us in the Bible. Our faith can change things. But so much of that is conditional on whether or not the people are lifting God up above these false gods.

The fact is that believing the Bible is actually true is a step of faith.

But putting your complete faith in Christ and living as though the things of the Bible will happen in your midst… now that is dangerous.

The reality I am trying to reconcile is that I know God is calling me to live a dangerous life. But the life I know isn’t all that dangerous.

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A new kind of missions trip

February 19, 2010

I’ve been on a lot of missions trips. But never one that was three dimensional before.

The three dimensions of the Haiti trip:

  1. Going and experiencing for myself.
  2. Using Twitter and Facebook to tell stories live, sharing pictures and videos with thousands around the world.
  3. Watching the experience change my friends while they participate in the trip from their living rooms, offices, and cars.

Here’s how this scenario played out over and over again.

We would load up the team van and head to a destination. Whether it was a meeting of pastors, a prayer meeting where thousands spontaneously had shown up, or walking around a devastated community and meeting people effected by the earthquake.

All of a sudden, my iPhone became a powerful ministry tool.

I would post on Twitter a simple message.

And instantly, my friends were engaged in what we were doing.

As free moments were available, often times while walking or driving from one place to another I was able to update my Facebook status or post a tweet so that people could continue to pray for what we were doing… and more importantly join in the story of what God was doing.

It’s important to note that this wasn’t a distraction from what I was doing on the ground. I was deeply engaged in the moment. But as free we walked from one place to the next or as we drove, I was able to utilize that otherwise down time as ministry time. Doing these things didn’t distract, they amplified what we were doing.

Thanks to the power of Twitter retweets and hastags, there were now hundreds of people engaged in our ministry, watching every step of our journey. People gave us advice. Sent us links. Added our efforts to databases and websites. Encouraged us. On and on. This was missions far different from what is documented in Acts, when reports from missionaries trickled in from letters!

As the need for more specific prayer arose, I was able to update these friends… who were now looking for ways to pray for our team.

Read the updates from bottom to top, in sequential order

At this point in our day, I was in hog heaven. This was the convergence of all of my favorite things. I was engaged in social action as we advocated for people. I was engaged in social media as my cloud community prayed and sought solutions for the problems I was experiencing on the ground. And I was engaged as a pastor as we prayed and worked with people in the camp.

And social media was also documenting a miracle. (and my getting punk’d by Marko!)

Little did I know that the three dimensional missions we were doing had taken on legs of its own. My friend Tash was updating her radio audience in Auckland, New Zealand with my Twitter updates so people could pray. Tons of people retweeted and added commentary . Literally, people around the world were following this story and about to see God do something amazing.

Using $2000 we had raised on Twitter the night before. We were able to go to the only supermarket in Port-au-Prince and buy nearly all of the rice, beans, and baby food they had. (The money was given one day, utilized the next!)

While hundreds of people back home participated in our journey, we were able to continue pressing into what God was doing.

I don’t think this is somehow the beginning of a new age of missions engagement, but I do know that for our team this was a powerful way to tell stories as we went and amplify/report on what God was doing.

As a fellow youth worker, I know thousands feel compelled to respond to the humanitarian need in Haiti. But the concerns of safety and appropriateness will over-power the prompting of the Holy Spirit to take a team for most. (This is a faith issue, but that’s another blog post.)

It’s my hope that this new variety of missions will embolden many more to pray for Haiti, give to NGOs doing good work on the ground, and go to Haiti to see for themselves what God is doing.

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WFP on Letterman

January 20, 2010

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