The Goings on and Work of Sam Mahlstadt

I have had several conversations about homosexuality and the church’s response to homosexuals over the past few months with Steven. I will be responding to this from my perspective tomorrow, but in the time being, I would love your responses. Here is Steven’s perspective:

Rules for Being a Gay Christian, According to Christians I’ve Talked To:

1. Don’t be gay.
2. If you’re gay, don’t fall in love. That kind of love is sinful and immoral.
3. If you’re gay and you DO fall in love, we’re not going to let you legally marry that person so you can visit them in the hospital, make medical decisions for each other, etc.
4. If you object to us banning you from having the same legal rights as us, see Rule 1: Don’t be gay.
5. P.S. God loves you.

The Conversation: In the Beginning

The Conversation: Science vs. Faith or Science & Faith?

The Conversation: Worldviews

The Conversation: Rules to Being a Gay Christian (Response)

I began a new job yesterday in the headquarters of one of the nation’s largest home mortgage companies. Part of my job requires customer correspondence on behalf of the company’s executives. Of course, with this type of sensitive communication, training is huge.
The first day of our two-month training process began with two different managers, followed by our trainer communicating the same important message:

You are important.

You are important to this office. You are important to this department. You are important to this company. You are important.
It is such an empowering thing to hear.
And it made me wonder; does the church have something to learn from the business training process?
How often does church leadership say to their staff, ad especially to their volunteers, you are important? You are important to this church. You are important to this vision. You are important to the kingdom of God.
Empowerment is hugely important to achieve buy in and ownership of a job or cause. Whether a church or business, the most important thing leadership can do is empower the people around them. I got a great reminder of that from my trainer. Who knows what we will learn today…

I have seen two comments popping up on Twitter at a rapid pace lately that are eerily similar.

“Apple sells out of iPads!”

“(enter church name here) sells out of tickets for Easter service!”

1. We don’t actually know if either one of these statements are true.
2. They are most likely being spread around to drum up interest – because we all want what we can’t have, or is no longer available.
3. They are projecting an image of wild success – Apple sold a gazillion iPads, church gave out a gazillion tickets to their show* service.

*note: this is not sheer cynicism, just a touch of frustration mixed with a good dose of observation. On cynicism, read this post by Donald Miller, but I digress.

Justin Wise asked a similar question a few months ago regarding Christmas, and presented pros and cons to the ticket game. You should read that post.

Have you encountered this ticket game with a church? If so, what was your reaction? If not, would you consider going to a service that required a ticket?

I asked a couple weeks ago what you would love to hear preached. While I would still love to hear your answers to that question, I would like to now extend this question: what is the one thing you would like to see removed from church services? Another way to think of it would be to finish this sentence: I hate ________ in church.

Many pastors operate like CEOs, and run their churches based off of the business model. I have heard cases for and against that mindset, and for now, that is neither here nor there.

However, when a pastor functions like a CEO, I tend to get nervous. Usually, these men (or women) have strong personalities and are business-savvy. Again, all well and good. The trap I see for these leaders, however, is an unnecessary pressure to produce the results that would be required of a CEO. Companies have a bottom line, and it is radically different than the Church’s bottom line. In corporations, revenue is king and stockholders need to be kept happy.

You may already see where this is going…

If profits dip and growth slows down under a CEO, that leader gets replaced.

In a church, however, if a pastor’s attention is largely budgetary and their efforts are spent coddling the big givers, the church will die. The numbers may not fall off right away, but the church will rot from the inside out.

What happens when pastors become the center of the church’s attention is volatile, because the church was never meant to be centered around one person. When Jesus uses the word “church” when he’s talking to Peter in Matthew 16:18 is the Greek word “ekklesia.” This is a borrowed word from the Roman Empire that speaks of a group of followers – all ruling with and under the Caesar’s authority.

I truly believe the next major movement in the local church will be grounded in collaboration, many hands involved, working with and under the authority of Jesus.

Pastors at the Center of Attention pt. 1

Pastors at the Center of Attention pt. 2

Genesis 2:15 “Then the LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.”

Scripture clearly lays out the responsibility of our role in creation. To serve and take care of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring creation is central to the existence of humanity. Rather than a ploy to keep humans busy, serving the Garden brings us to a place where we see value in creation. We are creation, and we create everyday, necessitating the observation of value in creation. When value is stripped from creation, we lose a piece of our humanity, and we distance ourselves from the Creator who set it all in process.

This is another piece of a writing project I am working on; it’s a creative theology.

A Creative Theology 1

A Creative Theology 2

I have a baby on the way, I’m working on a book, and I have a baby on the way.

These three two things have me in a state of serious introspection right now.

I find myself asking questions about my legacy, my involvement in the right causes, and my personal life story.

Enter: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
(affiliate link)

I have been devouring this book, and have plans to read it a few more times before it finds its way to the bookshelf.

A Million Miles, appropriately subtitled, reveals a glimpse into Miller’s life after being approached to turn his hugely successful memoir Blue Like Jazz (affiliate link) into a movie. As he learns, a movie has to tell a clear story in order to hold an audience’s attention. And while his book was popular, the story of his life was boring.

This is a great fear of mine, perhaps even my greatest fear. I do not want to live a boring life. This is partly why I am deathly afraid of cubicles.

The danger in living by this fear is becoming over-involved, over-extended and never fully present. As much as I am afraid of office buildings, I also try to avoid chasing my tail, never accomplishing anything. Because busyness is just a mask for a boring life.

I am trying to live in the tension – to be fully present and engaged in a few major things that matter the most.

As Andy Stanley would say, I am the only person on the planet who can be my wife’s husband and my baby’s father. So I’ll start there.

Here’s to living in the tension, living good stories.

Thanks, Don, for the reminder.

…we are ready to give you our courage

During my trip to Ghana, West Africa last year, I saw firsthand the devastating circumstances that many live in daily. Preventable circumstances. Clean water equates to life.

I am now wondering how hard it would be to raise $90,000. If you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them…

The Gateway Church in downtown Des Moines played this video as their call to worship last week. I didn’t see it live, but I imagine the impact was great. I never considered myself a fan of spoken word, but I may just be after all…

via Kretzu

Sometimes, our attention can turn toward a person in a suit behind a pulpit, or a person in a sweater-vest pacing around, or a person in flip flops using edgy language instead of the Person they are talking about. It’s because they are good at what they do, and we are insecure because we have bought into the lie that disintegrates a nation of priests.

Maybe, though, in an age of leadership pedestals and communicator envy, we need to focus on our following skills and ability to become small.

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

Pastors at the Center of Attention Pt. 1

Pastors at the Center of Attention Pt. 3