I must be nuts!

The thought crosses my mind with frightening regularity. The way I've come to think about life and ministry and community seem so different from where I came from. I pedal my bicycle past numerous churches on Sunday mornings (fewer cars on the road to deal with) and I can honestly say that there is nothing in me that longs to return to that world.

Ironically though, my faith is stronger, more real and vital than it's ever been. The disconnect makes me wonder if I'm just a bit nuts. Then I come across an article (John White's Denver story in a recent issue of Time Magazine) or a book,(Revolution; by Barna) and I realize I'm not alone.

Thank God!

I just finished reading Barna's book this morning and I have to admit, I'm looking forward (with lustful pleasure I might add) to the fallout from conventional church leaders. But more importantly, Barna ends the book with a sort of personal manifesto that sounds hauntingly like my own.

Here is a sampling of the "affirmations" he makes:(the whole list begins on p. 128)

God does not need me to fight His fight, but He invites me to allow Him to fight through me...

I do not need to save the world; Jesus Christ has already done that. I cannot transform the world, but I can allow God to use me to transform some part of it.

I am not called to attend or join a church. I am called to be the Church.

Worship is not an event I attend or a process I observe; it is the lifestyle I lead...

There is strength in relationships; I am bound at a heart and soul level to other Revolutionaries...


Barna makes one other comment a bit earlier in the book that provided enormous relief. As a consequence of following Jesus on this journey, I've made the shift BACK to a "tent-making" lifestyle. I'm sure many would see this as a huge failure professionally. I don't really care about that. In the past year, I've invested a significant amount of money to open a business in my community so that I can wean myself off "ecclesiastical assistance," (that is being a paid, professional pastor) I thought I was crazy until I came across Barna's words;

"Tent-making - the practice of working at a non-religious job as a means of paying the bills while facilitating one's desire to be a genuine representative of Christ in the world - moves from a quirky, first-century idea to a defining, personal lifestyle."

Crazy?

Maybe I am.

Maybe that's good!