Accidental Pastor

From 1990 to 1995 I went to school, well not really. I had gotten intrigued with the concept of church growth and church planting and attended conferences and seminars aplenty, bought books and audio material, and, in general, immersed myself in the subject. I guess that is why I have always liked conferences, they can be great learning experiences.

There are two events happening this week, or ten days, that I would really have liked to attend. One is Soularize. This year it is in the Bahamas. A highlight for Jordon Cooper was his opportunity to swim with the sharks, literally! My friend Spencer Burke puts on a great event and there are some people there I want to meet some day.

The other event is Off The Map by my friend, Jim Henderson. If you haven’t attended a Henderson event, you must experience it at least one time in your life. It is part Conan O’Brien, part Charlie Rose, part Oprah, part Deal or No Deal, and just downright entertaining as well as inspiring. For some reason I just knew I couldn’t make those events this year, too much happening in the Wear Family, Inc.

Tuesday my 4 yr. old has an outpatient hernia repair. I take the red-eye to Tampa tonight and then return to California on Wednesday. It has been hard to sleep this week with all that is happening in the family. But a thought for my friends in the Bahamas and next week’s Off The Map in Seattle bubbles to the surface once in a while.

The last couple of months have been tough, there is no denying it. A few weeks ago my wife spent a few days in the hospital, and I was in California. On the first day of her admission, there was an hour when I didn’t know for sure who would pick Benjamin up at the pre-school he attends, and I was helpless. My favorite mentor had a special prayer for times like these, it was, "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God," uttered repeatedly with heartfelt passion. I think these are God’s favorite kinds of prayers. They are filled with too much hurt and pain to be very religious.

It seems to boil down to this. I just need to live through the next 24 days, then I fly back to Florida, we pack a U-haul and begin our cross-country trek back to California. Will that solve all of our problems? Not by a long shot. But at least our family will be together to help each other through the difficult times and to enjoy the good times. The last few days have been good, "Oh God, help us through the next 24 days…."

It has been great to spend a few days at the beach in Naples, FL just relaxing with the family. Saturday was cloudy and rainy, but even that was kind of fun. Yesterday was perfect. The right temperature, a Grisham book to read, and a great evening meal to top off the day. I was thankful all day…

I hate to even provide a link to this website, Pyromaniacs. The baby boomer in me loves their graphics! But then I read Phil Johnson’s October 25, 2006 post entitled "Fed Up.

In that post he flays both Rob Bell and Mark Driscoll, identifying them as from the emerging church "movement." The interesting thing is that both Rev. Bell and Driscoll pastor large churches. Bell’s church, Mars Hill Bible Church was planted in 1999. Driscoll’s Mars Hill Church started in Seattle in 1996. Both of these young ministers are pastoring churches that are ministering to their peers.

When I talk about their peers, I am talking about "young adults," you know the group that is nearly missing in action from the baby boomer churches? And yet baby boomer Johnson doesn’t wait long to label these preachers as follows:

"Bell’s message is not only unbiblical; it’s anti-Christian." "…The result is not merely trivial: it’s flat-out heretical. And in more ways than I care to enumerate."

…Driscoll’s smutty language and preoccupation with all things lowbrow are inappropriate, unbecoming, and dishonoring to Christ."

Here’s what I have to say to you Mr. Johnson, who died and made you the arbiter of heresy, bibicity, anti-Christianity, etc? Here’s a biblical quotation for you:

1Judge not, that ye be not judged.2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Matt. 7:1-3 KJV via Biblegateway.com

I have some bad news for you Mr. Johnson, the people who attend the Mars Hills that you have criticized in your post won’t ever attend John MacArthur’s church. They would not be able to relate to his teaching or his theology. Should they, therefore, never hear the bible taught and be encouraged to follow Jesus? For I can guarantee you that Rev. Bell and Rev. Driscoll are teaching the bible, to the best of their ability and with all of their flaws, and they are encouraging their listeners to follow after Jesus.

You know how I define the emerging church? It is the church that will be around after you, Mr. Johnson, and I are dead and gone. Our generation will pass from the scene and we will have to answer to God for how we communicated his loving gospel to our own peers. These young men, Bell and Driscoll, will come along, maybe 25-30 years later and will give their own account. From where I sit, they aren’t doing too badly.

I have a cold. I have been doing a lot of traveling on airplanes and that is a great place to catch something. I probably infected a bunch of people on my plane flight back to California on Tuesday evening. Sorry. No, really, I’m sorry. I feel pretty miserable and the cold medication one takes to relieve the symptoms make it really hard to do the kind of work I do (lots of reading, thinking and writing). But I have to keep trying to work, even though I am at about 50% efficiency.

It would certainly be great to always be “in the zone,” “in the pink,” “at prime,” or “at the top of my game.” I guess we spend most of our lives working in some other zone, some other color or in the middle of the game. This is one of those times for me. Feels like skateboarding up hill, but I am just going to keep pluggin.