Crazy Love

I just finished reading a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan, and I have to say, it's one of those unassuming books that packed more punch than I was expecting. The concept is simple; the ramifications are far from simple - they're crazy.

Here's what crazy means (dictionary.com):

• Mentally deranged, demented, insane
• Senseless, impractical, totally unsound
• Intensely enthusiastic, passionately excited
• Very enamored or infatuated
• Unusual, bizarre

I remember the moment at the Catalyst Conference last year when someone attempted to break the world record for highest dive into one foot of water. I watched, along with the more than 12,000 in attendance as Dana Kunze, who also held the world record for highest dive at 172 feet, prepared to make the head first plunge into 12 inches of water from 35 feet, right dead smack in the middle of the convention center.

I'm sure I can speak for just about everyone there that day - our stomachs were tightened, teeth clinched, all thinking the exact same thing - "This guy's crazy!".

Let's face it, no one was really expecting this experienced diver to fall to his death right in front of the main stage where worship was supposed to take place a half hour later. To his credit, it wasn't like this was the first time he had tried something so drastic, so crazy. He must have started practicing at 3 feet, 10 feet, 20 feet, 25 feet...and so on. No one decides one day, without any real experience that they're going to break such an insane record.

Yet there was still the thought - I'm sure everyone felt it - that said, "Oh my God, this guys about to die, right here, right now!". The thrill, the anticipation, the risk of failure...we were all clinched.

A world record was made that day. Dana Kunze was the first man in the world to dive head first from 35 feet into 12 inches of water. People cheered, and no doubt, some crazy person who witnessed the event or someone watching it on YouTube is going to try to do bigger and better.

That's why records are constantly being broken - every Olympics. It's in us, deep within us, to be great. It's in us, particularly in every man, to test the limits, to risk even our own personal safety just to see if we can do something that everyone else thought was, well crazy.

Yet, upon hearing Jesus words, "Whoever loses his life will gain it", "Sell everything you have and follow me", "Love your neighbor as yourself", most tend to respond in a similar fashion to the rich young ruler. Upon listening to Jesus tell him to sell all of his possessions and give everything to the poor and follow Him, the rich young ruler went away sad. He couldn't do it. There was too much to lose.

It's as if the drive in every human to be greater, to do more, to take risks and to challenge the status quo finds its end when it's no longer about achieving notoriety for oneself.

In his book, Francis Chan makes the following statement: "If one hundred people represented the world's population, fifty-three of those would live on less than $2 a day. Which is more messed up - that we have so much compared to everyone else, or that we don't think we're rich?"

Perhaps being born into the most powerful and wealthy superpower of all time has clouded our vision as to what's really normal and what's really not. For people around the world, what we spend at McDonald's on the dollar menu every week is crazy. And still, people starve, people die because of a lack of basic needs that we take for granted every day.

I remember sharing this story with a group of young people last year. There were about 500 of them and it was a cold December night. At the end of sharing the story of the rich young ruler I told them that I honestly believed that it was not the intention of any young person listening to my words to deny Jesus if He personally asked them to give up what they had in order to follow Him. I can't imagine anyone would think of themselves as walking in the shoes of the rich young ruler and not making the right decision.

Then, came the challenge. It was a test. I asked every one of the 500 plus young people to look down at their shoes and consider their value. I asked them to consider how much their shoes meant to them, how attached they were to something as trivial as their shoes, knowing full right that most of them probably had upwards of 10 or more pair sitting under their beds in their comfortably heated and fully furnished homes.

Then I asked them to do something that I knew would be gut-wrenching. And I hate to even acknowledge how gut-wrenching it actually is - but I asked them to take their shoes and socks off and leave them at the front of the stage so that we could give them to a homeless person in the community. For one night, all I asked was that this particular group of young people would go home cold and barefoot so that someone in the community who was without for 365 days a year could be blessed and walk in their shoes.

We had an overwhelming response - hundreds of shoes were heaped at the front of the stage. But after the night was over and I watched one after another leave the auditorium and head out into the cold, snow and ice covered parking lot, I noticed that though we had hundreds of shoes left for the homeless, there were still hundreds of shoes left on the feet of those who heard the message but failed to respond.

I talked with a few of them. Each had an answer. One young girl told me her parents would be angry. Come to think about it, I never got a call from an angry parent. If I had, I would have gladly bought their kid a new pair of shoes out of my own pocket. What's crazy? Me buying a kid a pair of shoes or parents complaining that their kid gave her shoes to a homeless person?

One young man told me that he didn't want to give out of obligation and because he felt pressured and his heart wasn't really in it, he concluded to keep his shoes until God spoke to him directly.

That explanation particularly angered me. Hasn't God already spoken? How much more clearly does he need to speak? How far from the truth have we gone? How blind are we? How deaf are we? How conditioned have we become toward the need and preservation of our great wealth.

The reality is, whether we acknowledge our wealth or not, being rich is a serious disadvantage spiritually. Jesus said that it would be as hard for a rich man to enter heaven as it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Not because the rich are bad people, but because it is so much easier for the rich to gain comfort in their wealth, to consider ways of preserving their wealth instead of ways of caring for the less fortunate, which is the message of Jesus. We are, in fact, the less fortunate, for which Jesus himself gave the most valuable and precious gift one could ever give - his very life. How much more then, can we willingly sacrifice for those who are without - without faith, without hope, without love, without the freedom of salvation in Christ?

Consider the priests of Malachi's day who thought that just because they were giving God something, it would be pleasing to Him. God rejected their offering. Why do we think it's okay to hand God our leftovers and feel no shame? We assume that God will be pleased because we give him something, yet we keep the best for our own personal gain.

Jesus doesn't say, "Come follow me and just do what you can"...No...

He tells us to dive in, head first, into seemingly 12 inches of water from a world record breaking height. He tells us to give him our best. Take risks, test Him, be crazy about it. Be intensely enthusiastic and passionately excited in what we give our lives to, what we spend our time and money on - holding nothing back.

There needs an awakening of Christianity in America. It's not going to come from people who just do what everyone else is doing. It's going to come through crazy people, people willing to challenge the status quo, take risks, dream big and follow Jesus with everything...

People with Crazy Love.

Stories from the Short North

We spent a few days in Columbus this week - Steve, Stephen, myself and a few friends and potential ministry partners...

We set up shop in the Polaris area at a really cool new hotel called Cambria Suites. If you're visiting Columbus, I'd recommend this place.

Anyway, we focused a lot of our time in the Short North arts district. It's situated between downtown Columbus and OSU. Just passing through, it's easy to overlook its glamor and appeal, but after parking our car and trekking through the snow we found it to be everything it's cracked up to be, and then some...

The Short North is overflowing with young, creative and innovative artistic types. Trendy and diverse dining opportunities, impressive art galleries, sweet coffee shops, local boutiques like What the Rock and Milk Bar...Let's just say, Stephen fell in love with the place and was wishing he had worn his blue mo-hawk! It's definitely the kind of place that's thriving with potential - a seemingly untapped market if you will.

As we walked along the street, appreciating the rich, dynamic culture that was oozing from everywhere, a friend of mine said, "Intelligent and creative people just don't like church - Church is just not smart and it's most definitely not creative".

It got me thinking. How can we, as a church, tap into the creativity and artistic passion of a place like the Short North? How can we engage the artistic community and provide outlets for them to use their talent within the church? How can the church partner with these people, these shops and support their creative passion? Maybe it's a lost cause. Maybe they're just not interested in church. Maybe it's like my friend said, church is just not smart or creative enough.

Then we met two guys that ran a sweet fashion boutique right in the heart of the district. As we combed through their unique selection and carried on a semi-casual conversation with the two owners, the question finally came up -

"So what are you all doing in Columbus?"

"We're starting a church", I said.
"What kind of church?", they asked.
"A different kind of church", I added.
"How's it going to be different?", they inquired.

We just kept it rolling. They were intrigued, interested, maybe even a bit inspired.

After a few minutes, one of the owners told us about a very prominent church in the area. He said at least 8 or 9 of his friends went there and that they all played instruments and were apart of bands and stuff in the church. I asked him if he ever went with them. His response -

"They never ask me."

"It's weird", he said. "They go to church all the time. And they're never like, yo, you doing anything tonight? You want to come to church with us? I'm always doing stuff, hanging out. Honestly, I'd go if they asked me to, but they don't. So I don't have any idea what that church has going on."

"We'll, I'm officially and personally inviting you to our church", I said.

I couldn't believe it. We left, I got their business cards. And I was at a loss for words.

For too many churches, community has become the mission. A bunch of people from this church or that church all get together and hang out, in community. They do things with each other, in community. When community becomes the mission, its easy to forget the people who are on the outside of your [church] community.

When community becomes the mission, we lose. They lose too.
We all lose.

Rather, community is a result of mission.

Mission is what drives community. Mission is what creates community. Community isn't then, a bunch of people who just want to hang out. Community is driven by people on a mission, the same mission, which brings them together, in community.

So what kind of church will we be?

Our mission is what drives us - to be a church for God, the city & the world.

Our mission is to see the lost and the hurting, the hopeless and the oppressed, the seeking and spiritually restless meet Jesus. That's our mission. And we should always be doing our mission.

The moment we just want to start hanging out together because its fun and safe, we need to hang it up, close the doors and not pretend to be a church.

A church is a community driven by mission, a mission to seek and save the lost. And the more we do the mission, the more our community will grow!