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Defenseless: Responding to God’s Call

Orginally published on Monday, March 05, 2007 at 6:00 AM
by Earl Creps

In my last MMI article, I reviewed some of the factors that led to our decision to become church planters in The Peoples Republic of Berkeley (California). What goes unsaid in an article like that, however, is that at some level we have to believe that our “decision” is really just a reaction. If we pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10), and if we believe Jesus when he said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you…” (John 15:16), then we are responding to God’s decision. After a visit to Berkeley, my wife Janet said, “we have no defenses against this.” She reminded me of Peter’s report after preaching to the household of Cornelius: “Who was I to think that I could oppose God?” (Acts 11:17) One week in to our new adventure, I can see a few things that worked to minimize our defenses to this call:

1. Relationships: One of the benefits of being older is that we know so many people I don’t understand how my Outlook “Contacts” folder keeps from having a breakdown. These connections not only created the initial awareness of Berkeley in our minds, but dampened the defense that says, “We don’t have a network out there.”

2. Circumstances: Another advantage of being old is that you start thinking about how you want to run your last lap. Mid-life crisis is in the rearview mirror which clears the way to consider how we want to finish. Our heart is to bring the gospel to post-Christians, to form young leaders while we learn from them, and to catalyze networks of new congregations. This perspective neutralizes the, “But how are we going to retire to Florida?” defense.

3. History: The call to plant has changed our interpretation of much of our ministry history. The decade we spent among post-Christians in northern New England now seems like ten years of schooling. The college student church we pastored was huge fun at the time, but while we thought we were training them it is now clear they were training us. Seeing the past through a new lens turns the, “None of this has really meant anything” defense against itself.

4. Jazz: My friend Glen Davis, an AG campus missionary at Stanford (http://www.glenandpaula.com/), said to me last week that, “life is jazz” so it’s all about working it out as you go. He is right. We are improvising our lives an hour at a time right now, with our future sometimes hanging on the next phone call or meeting. Although a lot of planning, budgeting, etc. will come later, I get the sense that the improvisation will never stop. Becoming a jazz lover helps us get over the “We have no way of knowing whether this will work” defense.

5. Courage: I have already had enough advice to start five churches—and that’s in just the first week. Yesterday I told Steve Pike, who heads up national church planting for the AoG (http://www.churchplanting.ag.org/), that I am already fighting to protect the DNA of what I feel the church should be, “that’s the job.” He laughed in agreement. Standing up for the vision God has given you is a great antidote to the, “But no one will understand what we’re doing” defense.

6. Learning: I’ve never felt like I’ve known less in my whole life, and never enjoyed it more. In that same talk with Steve, he gave us some amazing insight. As he spoke, I was mentally checking off the mistakes I would have made without his input. Later that day, I told a Curt Harlow, who started this whole business, that I felt like a character in the Matrix bending in slow motion to let the bullets sail by. Embracing ignorance as an ally is a wonderful therapy for the, “We don’t know anything about this,” defense.

What if God is calling all the time, every minute, so that calling is really in a condition of surplus, not scarcity. And what if the issue for us is not that God is silent, but that we need time to lay our defenses down?

About the Author:  Earl Creps has spent several years visiting congregations that are attempting to engage emerging culture. He directs doctoral studies for the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, Missouri (http://www.agts.edu).  Earl and his wife Janet have pastored three churches, one Boomer, one Builder, and one GenX. He speaks, trains, and consults with ministries around the country. Earl’s book, Off-Road Disciplines: Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders, was published by Jossey-Bass/Leadership Network in 2006. Connect with Earl at http://www.earlcreps.com .

 

 


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