Fish Tacos!

Ever had a fish taco? I agree the name is intriguing if not exactly enticing. I had the opportunity to have a fish taco while visiting Saddleback church a week ago. I spent the afternoon with Josh from Purpose Driven Youth Ministries and we opted for some typical southern California fare. I enjoy IN N OUT burger myself but "when in Rome..." and the opportunity to say I had tried/survived a fish taco was just to much to pass up. Pretty much the rule of thumb when eating a taco is never, under any circumstances look inside. It comes under the "what you don't know can't hurt you" type of mentality. Well - we ate at a place called Wahoo's (for more info you can check out their site below:

Wahoos

Anyhow - I loved it! The fish taco was definitley surviveable and the shrimp enchilada was amazing! But the whole vibe at Wahoos was what I really liked best! It was a very cool place. Surfboards and surf culture stickers dominated the walls and it was a place I could spend all day hanging out in. It totally appeals to what I like - the whole SoCal surf scene. As I sat there eating my fish taco and drinking my Dr Pepper - I thought - wow, it would be so cool to have a place like Wahoos with all of it's surf culture, back home where I come from. I could hang out there everyday for lunch and perhaps dinner too and if they decided to serve breakfast - I could be like Norm on "Cheers" at a place like that! Man, someone needs to open a Wahoos franchise back home. Maybe this was what I was meant to do. Perhaps God has wired me up to be the Canadian entrepreneur who will bring the fish taco to the rightful place at the top of the fast food pecking order it so rightfully deserves. Yes - this is what I was created to do! I can see it now on the cover of Fish Taco Illustrated. This will be huge! I can see people driving from miles around to be part of the culture they so desperately want and need. The papers will want to cover the phenomenon, it will inspire millions to reach higher and be a place where the human spirit will be lifted with each consumed taco. It will inspire childrens names and of course there will be the inevitable clothing line and reality TV show. This is it - I've finally found it.

There was just one thought that kept creeping into my mind as I considered all this - my home isn't anywhere near anyplace that anyone can surf at. Do I think that will be a big deal? I mean doesn't everyone want to be part of something that so obviously works and tastes great? I mean they've obviously perfected the fish taco "model" here in Southern California and it's been established since 1988 - that's golden man! So why wouldn't it work where I'm from?

As I rolled that over in my mind throughout the day I thought about how ridiculous it would be to say that just because I like something - everyone else should like it too. Or because something works in Southern California (or Timbuktu for that matter) it can be transplanted with a few tweaks to another location and prosper there. The more I thought about how that didn't make any sense to do something like that - the more I thought about how I have done exactly that over the years when it comes to youth ministry programming. I'd see a program that I liked - copy it and implement it in another location thinking that because it was dynamic, exciting and successful where I saw it - it will have those same qualities in my setting. At that moment I had an epiphany (or perhaps it was the reverberation from the fish taco) and I could see places like SOMA, IMAGO DEI, VINTAGE FAITH and SADDLEBACK for what they are - unique expressions of the body of Jesus living missionally in their unique communities. They have not sought to compare or implement someone elses strategies or structures in another location - but have instead sought to honour God by the way they lived their lives and instead of trying to "become" something they have sought to "be the church" by letting God love them, listening for and to God, asking some really great questions about their neighbours and community and then taking risks to love practically into that community relying on the Holy Spirit.

I love the freedom that characterized ministry in those settings. Freedom to incarnate the love of Jesus and live missionally by stacking hands on the purposes and then stacking hands on what the different expressions of those purposes could look like as they seek to find out what the cultural "rhythms" of their community are. The cultural rhythms of Tacoma, Portland, Santa Cruz and SoCal are unique and diverse - fish tacos totally "fit" one place but would cause indigestion in others.

The Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom!

As I said earlier I have enjoyed the chance to refresh, recharge and refocus on this sabbatical and our week in Southern California was incredible too. We visited Saddleback and had some time to hang out and laugh as a family at Disney. My mom flew in and met us for this week that we kicked off in San Bernardino at my Uncle Jim and Aunt Carolyn's place before heading to Disney and Saddleback.

I have always loved Disney and the idea that a place could be created where parents and children could have fun together. That was Walt Disney's dream and above all else Walt Disney was a dreamer of big dreams and has passed that legacy on to others. Disneyland is a place full of laughter, adventure, memories and stories. It was a blessing to be able to spend a couple of days there. I'm not good enough with words to be able to describe the wonderful looks on our kids faces as they hugged characters and connected with Mickey, Minnie, Peter Pan, Wendy and Goofie - characters they had seen in movies and on TV. But the physical connection was amazing to see.

Disney's dream was to create a world seperate from the world outside the gates where generations could play together and be inspired, challenged and encouraged.

As we rode the monorail from our hotel to the Magic Kingdom I caught sight of the hotels across the street that help to serve the nearly 6 million visitors that come here each year. As we moved on I couldn't help but feel sorry for the hotel operators, although they are most definitley profiting from the people coming to Disneyland. Here's what struck me - they are so close to the action yet no matter what they do to their hotels - they will never "be" part of the magic of the "kingdom" of Disneyland. They can offer large pools, free high speed internet, free meals, gourmet coffee, luxurious rooms - but they will always, always be "across the street from Disneyland".

"Across the street from Disneyland" - what a horrible place to spend life. I thought how sad to be so close to a place filled with joy, stories, laughter and energy and yet be on the outside looking in. Playing a necessary yet comparitively secondary role in the bigger story. Forgive me if my analogy is flawed but for me it hit home as I have been contemplating the role of the body of Christ (the church) as it expreses the kingdom of God in community and communities thoughout the world. For me the Kingdom of God is a beautiful "place/moment/time/people" full of adventure, risk, joy, sorrow, exhilaration, messiness and above all the peace, presence and love of the father - perhaps hard to express in words but yet you know when you have and are experiencing it. I believe we are called to live in and by the way we live - love those God loves - to the kingdom. The "kingdom" is an exhilarating place to live if we are doing so missionally and incarnating the love of Christ.

But when that "kingdom" becomes about personal preferences, expectations, rules and "culture" run amuck - we, the body of Jesus become like the hotels across the street from Disney. We easily make ourselves and the church, bit characters in the grand story. And that is sad - because it doesn't have to be that way. The kingdom is where the real story is being written and to be so close and to be doing many good things and providing many good services and yet missing out on what's going on "across the street" is profoundly sad and ultimately such a waste. Even worse - thinking that somehow by relying on our programs and events we have created something that resembles the kingdom. Perhaps that's the inherent sadness I feel about the older brother in the story of the prodigal son. The younger son - who left and returned - knew what it was like to "live" in the kingdom - whereas the older brother couldn't seem to experience the kingdom first hand and had instead gotten used to living "across the street from it."

Perhaps you don't agree with my analogy and that's okay - it was just something that caught me as I rode the monorail.

For me I want to live heroicly in the vast freedom of adventure that is the kingdom of God and I want to express that daily. To me that's where the church - the "body" of Jesus Christ is supposed to be. I never want to be the owner/operator of a "hotel" that's "across the street from Disney." I don't want to be part of any place that simply points people to the kingdom and yet doesn't live as part of it, instead has grown content with living near or "across the street" from it.

On the way home from Saddleback and Southern California we stopped by Palm Springs and rode the Aerial Tram up to the top of Mt San Jacinto! Awesome! 

Here's one of the breathtaking views of Palm Springs from the top of Mt San Jacinto. 

Here's the family at about 8600 ft above the desert floor at Mt San Jacinto. The desert floor was 115 degrees but at the top of the mountain it was an awesome 75 degrees! 

We all met a lot of characters at Disneyland and California Adventure - Gracie seemed to like these next 2 the best! 

Here's Gracie with the "bgad" - Big Guy At Disney! 

Here's the bunch of us at the end of our stay at Disneyland! It was an amazing time to be together as a family with my mom! 

Costa Mesa ...

Man, California is such an amazing place! We've enjoyed a couple of days hanging as a family at Disneyland (from which I need a couple of days to recuperate!) I'll get to some pics soon! Right now we're in Costa Mesa for the next couple of days checking out Saddleback Church and asking some questions of a large established church as to how they are handling the emerging culture in their community.

If you wanna check out their web site just click below:

Saddleback

Peace.

The Adventure Continues ...

When we began this sabbatical adventure a month ago it was Travis and I leaving early (for me) on Saturday June 4th to begin our westward journey. Last Wednesday Les, Leah and Gracie arrived in the early hours of the morning on a flight from TO to SF. Travis and I were there at midnight to welcome them to California to continue our adventure as a family! We have made our home in a fantastic trailer at my Dad's house provided for us by Eddie and Jodie Huber and Rachel and Cassie! It's been awesome! Amazing weather and blue skies everyday! Seriously, I haven't seen a cloud in two weeks!

So the sabbatical part of this adventure has been amazing. I'm reading and thinking and praying and listening to what God is saying about Himself and our journey together. I believe that God is always speaking and my difficulty is not being a) a good listener and b) quiet enough to listen. I have been able to work on the quiet environment a bit as mornings here are filled not with the sounds of trucks, cars and phones (not to mention the sound of my own agenda and deadlines for the day) but rather, with the sound of birds and sprinklers and the breeze. I'm working on my listening skills too as I've found it hard not to hear God speaking in the books I'm reading, the converations and interactions I've had as well as the movies I've seen (and plan to see!) All that to say - it's exciting as the chance to rest has brought some recharging and some refocusing!

So - as I looked over this blog, I realized that I had titled it "Radical Sabbatical" but it had become more of a "sabbatical" report at this point. I don't want this to become simply a "here's what I saw and here's what I did" kinda blah blah thing that is the written version of the family vacation movie. It won't, but I woke early this morning with a realization that there are those who will be reading this who may not enjoy anything else but some nice pictures and descriptions of what we are doing. I'll still include those because they are part of our experience out here but when I began this sabbatical blog it was my intent to put some thoughts together about what I was hearing and to have dialogue with those who may be interested.

Having "attended" church for the last 36 years and 9 months - I felt this sabbatical was a radical adventure to experience what the "body" of Jesus is about in different and unique expressions in unique and different places. I no longer want to "attend" church or "go" to church but rather it is time for me to lead in "being" the church (thanks to Dan Kimball for that phrase!) and that perhaps will lead (for some) to more "radical" thinking.

The blog has been quiet the last week or so because - quite honestly - I was/am afraid of someone reading my thoughts and getting annoyed because my thoughts don't line up with their perceptions of how the world of the "church" should be. It is most definitley easier to report facts on places visited and show pictures as it is less likely to offend anyone but I'd get bored if that was all this was about. And most likely you would lose interest as well.

So courage is the order of the day for me. Since this blog isn't sponsored by anyone and I don't speak on anyone's behalf but my own - you are free to read and not feel this is propaganda by any organization, because it isn't. And if you are comfortable with "church" as a "place where" people come and programs form the structure - that's cool, but I would brace yourself if you want to follow along here - because I don't believe that's a full picture of what the "bride" of Christ is. I would be careful if you come to this blog looking for new "programs" that I have seen - because I'm not looking at programs at the churches I am visiting.
If you are looking for some evidence to add to a list you are compiling that I am "losing it" or that I have gone off the deep end - then depending on your perspective you may just find it here but I'll leave that to you to decide if you want to read on.

I've been a youth pastor for 14+ years now and in that capacity have been given the opportunity to watch and experience trends and new approaches to ministry in an attempt to "shepherd", "guide", "lead", "attract", "inspire", "keep" and "grow" healthy young people to know who Jesus is and to experience His love yada yada yada. The most annoying part of that responsibility has been to counteract a prevailing culture within the minds of some people that the teenage years are simply a "holding pattern" for young people. I heard one youth leader say that very thing to me a few years ago, basically saying "if we can hold them steady for a few years and keep them coming to church then when they 'mature' they will become productive citizen's of God's kingdom." Well, basically that's a load of hooey (which is greek for baloney!) But buying into that "hook" mentality of providing exciting programs as a kingdom daycare is the way to keep most people happy. Flashy posters announcing the next "event" give a sense that "something's" happening - there's a lot of promotion going on. But is it an allusion? Is what's happening really just another meal for the church "culture monster"? Make no mistake - good things have and are happening but for me there is something missing. Something that feels incomplete. Why is it that so many young people seem to "leave" the "place where" of church looking for something else when the finish high school? I know there are many different reasons but one that sticks in my mind constantly is this - have they played the game we lead them in long enough and look around and say - "get real!" "The world around us (that Jesus called us into) is loved by God and there are so many ways to be "in" the world and yet we spend most of our time being 'in' the church culture and doing things that we find entertaining, distracting or fun - that have little or no impact on a world created by God that needs to hear Him calling their names."

My personal opinion is that young people are way smarter than that and are simply waiting to experience what it means to be the body of Jesus and we need to lead them to that authentic expression which includes more than we have seemed to have the courage to allow in years past. I think it's time for courage (for swinging for the fences as a friend recently shared with me) engaging a culture within the church that is way too much about 'me' and what 'I' want and to love God - experience His love and then love others in intentionally practical ways and let God's spirit do what He desires to do - reconnect with the hearts and lives of mankind. I think that the "place where" culture of church is good but incomplete. I think I have been part of a system of "experiencing church" that is out of balance and we need to bring balance by living missionally and "expressing the body". I think when we look for ways to do that we will "be" the church as Jesus gave His spirit to empower us to do and that the "people who" mentality of the body will profoundly affect the "place where" reality.

So if that puts the "radical" back into the sabbatical - that's the intent here. I hope you will follow along - feel free to comment and interact - that's also the intent. And if you enounter people who feel differently about what church should be like I hope you will engage them with humilty, honesty and integrity as we are all part of the body in which love is what binds us together. In all the expressions of church I have encountered so far on this sabbatical - I have not encountered complete agreement on all philosophies by those who are part of that body expression. But I have encountered an uncanny overdose of love by everyone remotely associated with that body. I have heard stories of people expressing Jesus' love that tells me again and again - the body and God's kingdom is not about a business philosophy or strategy and is messier and less structured but more profound, deep and lasting than anything a building or system can contain.

Tune in again as the adventure unfolds ...