Big Hair Preacher

One Prayer

This weekend, we're flying to Oklahoma to visit with our peeps at LifeChurch.tv!  The crew at LifeChurch.tv are kindred spirits-- they are a creative, out-of-the-box church that will do anything short of sin to reach people for Christ.

They're also the brains behind our current series One Prayer at Liquid.  One Prayer is inspiring churches around the world to stand together as ever before.  Using video & web technology, thousands of believers across the globe are uniting for a month of focused prayer and fasting.

Currently, 1480 churches representing 830,000 people in 27 countries are standing together sharing their One Prayer for the church.  I'll be writing a devotional for the OnePrayer.com blog-- you can read it there along with other stories, post your thoughts, and see what God's up to all over the world!

Lunch with Andy

I had lunch today with Andy Stanley which was pretty cool.  Andy is a gifted communicator and the Senior Pastor of Northpoint Church.  He's also one of the most influential church leaders & visionaries of our generation.

(Not exactly sure why he invited me to lunch-- maybe because we brought a big group to Drive?-- but it was cool to sit and pick his brain for a couple of hours!)

What I appreciate most about Andy are not his relevant messages... but his restless spirit.

Although he's accomplished much, Andy isn't content to sit back on his laurels and put things on "cruise control" (even though Northpoint is at the vanguard of creative ministry & he's turning 50-- sorry, Andy ;-)

Rather, Andy continues to ask the dangerous questions "Why?" and "What's next?"   He's constantly searching for new ways of doing ministry that connect with an increasingly post-Christian culture... and this totally inspires me.

At the closing session of Drive, he shared 2 thoughts which I'm still turning over in my mind:

"To reach people no one else is reaching, we must do things no one else is doing."

"When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near."

Wow.  I love the invitation of those 2 quotes-- to risk BIG (we serve a BIG God)!  And to keep dreaming (rather than do ministry "by memory").  Life is too short to settle for the status-quo or do things a certain way "because we've always done it this way." 

After meeting with Andy and soaking in the Northpoint DNA, my prayer for Liquid is this:

"Lord, make us dangerous.  And keep us dreaming."

Drive.

  This week I'm in Atlanta at the Drive Conference hosted by our friends at Northpoint Church.  Northpoint is a church that is truly hitting it "out of the park" and really reaching unchurched people and communicating the Gospel in a relevant and creative way.

Whenever we visit with our friends at Northpoint, we feel like we're with kindred spirits... and this is a pivotal week as we plan & explore options for the Fall including going multi-site & launching our Internet Campus.

We've brought most of our Staff Team down for the trip to soak up the atmosphere, stimulate out-of-the-box thinking... and just laugh, learn, & let our hair down together!

Steve Fee just rocked a high-octane worship set-- the music & media here are so powerful.  As you can see from the pic above, they keep the Cross front-and-center in all they do.

Rock on, Northpoint!  Liquid appreciates you! ;-)

Q: The Fray

I'm sitting a few yards away from Isaac Slade & Joe King of the alternative rock band The Fray.  They're here at Q to do a little acoustic set for everyone.   The Fray blew-up bigtime last year-- listen to the radio, watch Gray's Anatomy, and you'll run into their music everywhere.

The Fray is just 2 tonight-- Isaac on piano, Joe on guitar.  They're running through "How to Save a Life" right now... but they've also introduced a couple new songs that will be on their next album. Their music is haunting and searching-- definitely more in the "lament" than "rejoice" vein.

(Slade laughed as he told the story of how The Fray were originally rejected by the Christian music industry because their music wasn't "explicily" Christian-- not enough "Jesus's per minute" as he put it ;-)

In between songs, they're talking about how this past year has really been a mix of pain for the band as they've tried to adjust to constant touring and the isolation, unreality, and lack of community that come with it. 

Both Slade & King are believers-- they grew up in the church-- but they lament the fact that they have no church to go to right now.  They listen to some podcasts and have talked with U2's pastor... but that's about it.

It's weird to feel sorry for them (they're rock stars!), but I do.  Amidst the incredible talent, globe-trotting, fans & moola, these guys seem sad.  They wish they had family & community in a church, but only know jets, buses, and the passing blur of strange cities.

That's the underbelly of musical superstardom, I guess. 

Some folks say beauty is born out of pain-- maybe that's why their music is such a raw & elegant expression of authentic, searching faith.

Q: Thank You, Tim Keller

This whole Q conference is turning into one big "THANK YOU!" to my personal heroes and people who have impacted me throughout the last 10 years!

Just finished chatting with one of the most influential people in my personal journey-- Dr. Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church.  Simply put:  Keller is one of the main reasons I became a pastor.  When I graduated from Wheaton, I had no interest whatsoever in ministry... mostly because I had never seen a Pastor who held the Bible in one hand, the New York Times in the other... and knew how to synthesize the 2.

Enter Tim Keller.  When Colleen & I moved back to New Jersey (circa 1993-95), we started attending Redeemer in Manhattan.  We were part of the bridge-and-tunnel club (racing through Central Park on Sunday mornings to pay $17 for parking).  But it was at Redeemer, under Tim's incredible preaching, that I first learned how Faith & Culture is not only compatible-- but elegantly integrated!  Dr. Keller is one of the most brilliant theological minds you'll encounter in current Christianity-- one of those guys who you're guaranteed an "A-HA!" moment every time you hear him speak.  (Here's a blog featuring his resources.)

His new book The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism is currently on the NY Times best-seller list... and it's serving as a primary resource for our Reasons to Believe series at Liquid.  I can't recommend it to you more highly-- here's what Tim has to say about it:

Anyway, here at Q, Tim just finished speaking on the need for Christians to live in the City if they're serious about impacting culture.  Just a brilliant talk.

I had a chance to chat with him afterward and thank him for the influence & impact he's had on my own life.  He seemed puzzled at first when he heard the name "Liquid Church" but reached back into his memory banks and was grateful for the connection.

Thanks Tim Keller for all you do... and the humility with which you do it!

Scott's Stuff on YouTube

Just ran into my buddy Scott Harrison at Q-- Scott's the founder of Charityis.org and is coming to speak at Liquid this summer (our church is partnering with Charity on a water project in Africa).

Scott's all fired up (moreso than usual) and here's why:  Charity's newest PSA featuring Jennifer Connelly is being featured on the homepage of YouTube!  Check it out here:

It's gotten over 320,000 hits within 48 hours... which means a lot of donations and a lot of volunteers.  Just awesome.

Scotty sent me the PSA rough a couple months ago and if you watch it, you'll see immediately why it's poised to go viral.

The other cool thing is that the PSA is featured on this week's on American Idol.  Now, I'm no fan of Idol (mind-numbing)-- but this week's episode of "Idol Gives Back" will highlight Charity's work (which is spirit-inspiring).

Anyway, I can't wait to have Scott share with us in person at Liquid this July!

Q: Louie, Louie

One of the cool things about Q is the chance to GIVE THANKS in person to folks like Francis Collins and Louie Giglio.  As a communicator and Lead Pastor, I am so indebted to so many of these great minds & teachers.  And so I'm taking the opportunity here at Q to thank them personally!

Case in point: The message I shared a couple weeks ago at Liquid (Creation: Do Science & Faith Conflict?) was indebted not only to Collins' work, but also to a message preached by Louie Giglio originally titled "Indescribable."

This afternoon, I got the rare chance to thank both these men in person for their work.  Both Collins & Louie were, predictably, humble & appreciative-- but it was awesome to be able to give them credit and thank them in person for their inspiration and leadership! 

Q Report: My Brain Hurts!

Wow.  My brain hurts.  I'm here at the Q Conference in NYC sitting a few feet away from some of the great minds & Christian thinkers the world has to offer.  We just experienced an incredible presentation from Francis Collins about reconciling Faith and Science. 

He showed us an amazing visual comparison.  On top, you see what a DNA molecule looks like split in half "looking down its barrel."  This is from 21st-century genetics research.

Below is a picture of the Rose Window (stained glass design from 12-century York Minster cathedral).

Notice any similarities? ;-)

As the Head of the Human Genome Project (and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his ground-breaking research), Collins makes the case that Spirituality and Science are not as incompatible as we might think.  More than that, they may be CLOSELY RELATED as these 2 pictures suggest. 

Why must we choose between the two?

Through his ground-breaking research, Collins sees incredible evidence for a Creator (specifically Jesus Christ) who likely chose evolution as an "ELEGANT" process by which to create complex organisms from simple.

To embrace evolution as a biological process does not mean adopting it as a comprehensive worldview (that says there's no Creator!)

Can you find God in a research lab?  Just as much as in a cathedral, says Collins.  Compelling.

A Black-&-Tan with Len Sweet

Tonight I had the chance to hang-out with my friend Len Sweet from Drew Theological.  Len asked me to come speak with his church planting class and there was an added bonus-- they were meeting at The Dublin Pub in Morristown for a "supper seminar" (so that's what the Methodists call it ;-)

I had a great time raising a Guinness with a long table full of wild-eyed church planters who dream about taking the Gospel to pagan strongholds like Boston and the Poconos (anyone for a baptism in a champagne glass hottub?)

Len is one of the most creative, paradigm-shifting, curve-jumping leaders I know.  He is a true futurist and Renaissance man-- the master of the metaphor.  He's been a mentor to me through so many of his books (Soul Tsunami was earth-rocking when I was in seminary) and I'm grateful for his encouragement and friendship.

It boggles me that the story of Liquid Church is helpful to anyone-- it was so unplanned and God-directed; we did just about all we could to blow it along the way.  But I guess that's the point-- it's about God doing big stuff, not us-- and that seemed to encourage Len's students.

Lunch with Screwtape

Just got back from lunch with Max McLean and was totally pumped to hear that he's bringing "The Screwtape Letters" back to Broadway!  Colleen and I had the chance to see "Screwtape" last winter and it was mesmerizing.  Max has the perfect, devilish, lip-smacking bravado for the Lead Tempter's role... and it's a fantastic introduction to C.S. Lewis' brilliance.

Max is a hugely gifted artist whose passion to integrate the arts & faith was an inspiration for me throughout college. (Still is!)  He said the run this October will be housed at the historic Theatre at St. Clement’s in NYC, which will allow for a larger set design & dynamic production... Lewis would be proud.  Curtain goes up October 18th-- you can get tix here.

Max visited Liquid earlier this summer and calls Morristown home as well.  Don't let the Elizabethan baritone fool you-- he's a huuuuge Rutgers football fan, too!