In the current culture of church leadership and church planting there are several words that have surfaced as part of the essential dictionary of language for leading. Words such as postmodern, emerging, organic, authentic, transparent, community, etc...the list goes on and on. In fact, feel free to add to it with a comment. Over the past few years I have observed many leaders who believe that because they come together to smoke cigars and drink ale on Friday nights and flip pancakes on Sunday mornings that they are the authentic church. Pushing away from the neo traditional/contemporary church, they have sought to get closer to the heart of Jesus by being freer and less formal on the outside. However, I see a lot of guys that are much more theorists than practitioners. Jesus wasn't authentic because he had a tattoo, piercings, a goatee, a Levis brand tunic and wore Doc Marten sandals. People didn't love to gather with him because he had candles, as opposed to PowerPoint and served Starbucks (whoop-dee-do) in his foyer. What made him relevant was that he had a heart saturated in the heart of God and a merciful and compassionate disposition that drew others to him. It was what was inside him that caused others to flock...it had nothing to do, one way or the other, with what he wore or his worship style. He still hung out in the temple...was a friend of sinners (when was the last time we've been accused of that?) and was rich in holiness and authenticity. We just need to make sure we are working from the inside out...because, guaranteed, the outside will change. Music, architecture, media...its all faddish and trendy. Compassion and mercy never goes out of style and can't be faked just like you can't fake authenticity, though so many guys today are trying their darnedest to prove their authenticity...sounds somewhat oxymoronic, huh?
This picture is of Osei May and myself (Lance Ford) at the 2006 National New Church Conference. This really was a historic event. There were about 1000 leaders and church planters there. It was very collegial and was just a really good time. If anyone has any questions, ask away and I will try to pipe in on it. I will ask Osei and Bob Roberts to do the same.