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Thoughts on Evangelism, pt. 2: "4 Circles" Revisited

Guest Blog: Mike McDaniel, Ministry Assistant

I once heard John Piper pose the question: If you could go to heaven, have spectacular sunsets, no more disease, no more depression, all the friends that have gone before you, all the toys that you’ve ever wanted, but Jesus would not be there, would it be okay with you? Would you still want to go?

Now it may be easy to hear that and say, “Of course not,” but think about it…What do you crave? Love? Acceptance? Security? The praise of others? Success? What if you could have those things, just leave Jesus out of the picture?

I have to be honest – give me a smokin’ hot wife, a successful ministry, 2.5 kids, and some land to retire on in Texas – I can’t say I wouldn’t be tempted…which is probably why God will never give me all those things (I can only hope he gives me some of them).

I think this is exactly the flaw that JD was talking about in many modern evangelism techniques like James Choung’s “4 Circles” (see previous post). In attempting to be more relevant and attractional (not that there’s anything wrong with being relevant or attractional), such models fail to challenge one of the chief idols of the heart, self-centeredness. I come to Jesus because of what He can do for me. Now it’s one thing to begin there. Let’s not forget that Jesus often approached people on the basis of their need. The feeding of the 5000 is a great example. But Jesus didn’t end there – He made it clear that these encounters were meant to reveal something more important than their perceived needs – Himself. That’s why Jesus says in John 6:26, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” They missed the point. They came looking for another hook-up, and Jesus said, “I’m the bread of life.” Unfortunately, they were too concerned about their empty stomachs to notice their empty souls.

After all, isn’t that exactly the problem with a man-centered Gospel? It fails to take sin seriously. God is the Gospel, and it’s only by getting a proper view of God that we can get a proper view of our sin. And it’s seeing our sin more clearly that leads us to a greater appreciation of God’s grace. And that gives God the glory.

On the flipside, I agree with JD that there are a lot of positives to the “4 Circles” model. What are some ways that we could take this model and improve on it?

Sin and Blessing

Guest Blog: Charlie Dunn, Associate to the Pastor

Yesterday Pastor J.D. spoke to us on the destructiveness of sin and how it hinders God from blessing us. He demonstrated how sin is ultimately any passion/desire/idol which serves to override our willingness to walk in obedience to God. In other words, we find something of supposed worth in our lives and pursue it more than or to the exclusion of the presence and blessing of the Lord in our life. As Tim Keller has stated, these passions or desires eventually become for us, “self-salvation projects.” In other words, we come to believe that there is something in our life, apart from Christ, that we absolutely cannot live without. We need it to be happy, fulfilled, satisfied, comfortable or any host of things, but regardless we need it, even if it means unintentionally throwing Jesus under the bus to get it.

The “frustrating” thing about a sermon like today’s is that it reveals so clearly the depravity of my own heart and how if left up to my own devices, I will take almost any passion or desire and turn it into an idol, thereby forfeiting much of the blessing God would otherwise like to give me. How true was the great reformer John Calvin when he said, “our hearts are like idol factories,” daily turning one passion after another into mini-Gods.

As a result, some days I just long to see, not how others fight this temptation, or what some self-help book prescribes, or even the opinion of some counselor, but how Jesus fought the temptation to find his worth, acceptance, purpose, or pleasure, in anything but His Father.

I think John 2:23-25, a seemingly obscure passage, gives us a little insight. In this passage, we catch a glimpse of Jesus’ perspective regarding the tenuousness of those little “self-salvation projects.

By the time chapter 2, verses 23-25 come along, Jesus has been introduced and praised by John the Baptist, called his first disciples, performed a miracle at the wedding in Cana, established his authority in the temple, and demonstrated his glory so that many believed in him. One might say Jesus was living a successful and influential life. He had mastered The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People…thought I am sure that being fully God and fully man probably helped.

Yet in the midst of all these seemingly wonderful circumstances, the gospel writer lets us in on Jesus’ mindset when he says, “But (ie: despite all these circumstances) Jesus, on his part did not entrust himself to them (ie: those that were ‘believing’ in him and consequently praising him…those that were making his circumstances so positive) because he knew what was in man and needed no one to bear witness to man.”

Jesus understood three things that I consistently fail to understand when it comes to those “self-salvation projects.”

First, Jesus understood the beautifully, stable nature of being justified by the Father, or in our case, the Gospel, as opposed to his circumstances. He recognized that his circumstances could change at any moment while His Father’s love for, favor toward and blessing on him would remain. Consequently, he didn’t need his circumstances to give him anything. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about all the stuff around him; it’s just that he didn’t need a career, which may or may not be successful to make him important, or a relationship, which may or may not disappoint him to make him accepted, or a pleasure, which may or may not fulfill to bring him joy. Rather he had the perfectly stable and unchanging love of His Father, who was clear when He stated, “this is my son in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Likewise, we who have believed on Christ are as 1 Corinthians 6:11 and Romans 5:8 say, “washed (ie: innocent and clean), sanctified (ie: set aside and given purpose in life) and justified (ie: fully known and yet fully accepted) in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God…and while we were still sinners (ie: least deserved it).” The beauty of the Gospel is that before God we are both fully known in all our imperfection and yet fully loved and therefore free from requiring that everyone and everything around us contribute to our identity.

Secondly, Jesus also understood the repulsiveness and destruction of all false, functional gods…of all sin. When verse 25 says that Jesus “would not entrust himself to (ie: give himself to or be justified by) man because he knew what was in man, we see that Jesus wasn’t naively captivated by the truth, as a boy might be over an infatuation with a pretty girl. Rather, Jesus refused to entrust himself to anyone or anything except His Father because he knew the appearance of beauty, in this case the praise of men, ministerial success, or favorable circumstances didn’t  necessitate true beauty or blessing. Rather, Jesus recognized that what was “inside” man or anything of the world (ie: imperfection, selfishness, and sin) would eventually curse him. As Keller has again said, these passions/desires/idols make grand promises of purpose, fulfillment, satisfaction and prosperity if we would merely live up to them. Yet when we don’t we are left worse off than when we started. As one businessman once said, “I spent all my life climbing the corporate ladder of success, only to realize that when I got to the top the ladder was leaning against the wrong building.” The Gospel on the other hand doesn’t say “if you fail to reach me, you will die.” Rather it says, “If you fail, I (God) will die for you.”

Finally, Jesus understood that the ability to live in the freedom of the Gospel and apart from the captivity of false gospels requires a conscious decision. As the text says, “he would not entrust himself to man.” In other words, Jesus consciously resolved to be justified and directed by only the love and blessing of His father. Likewise, we are encouraged to “be transformed by the renewal of our minds” (Romans 12:2), whereby we consciously mediate on the beauty of the Gospel and the repulsiveness of all other false gospels so that we also can make wise and informed daily-decisions.

When we realize both the beauty of the Gospel and the repulsiveness of all other false gospels, the battle against sin becomes more a choice than a battle. After all, who wants to pursue acceptance and love through a passion which will ultimately only let you down? Who would dare want to enter into a marriage if you knew at the outset it would only end in divorce, or a career if it would end in bankruptcy or a pleasure if it would end in addiction? Jesus knew what was “in” these and consciously chose to walk in accordance with His Father’s will, which allowed him to live a perfect life, fully blessed by the Father.

The question then that I am forced to ask each day, if I am serious about wanting God’s hand of blessing on my life is, “do I believe that the Gospel, which is simply the good report that God became like me to save me from me ” is in fact true. If I can answer in the affirmative, then I need not pursue any other passion for the purpose of acceptance, dignity, value, or love. After all what else can actually promise to give me “everything I need for life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3) except Jesus and still deliver?

For information on groups that can help, click here and here

Church Planting in the USA

Guest Blog: Mike McDaniel, Ministry Assistant

Everybody wants to talk church-planting these days. It’s THE buzzword in Christian ministry circles, right up there in popularity with the blazer-and-jeans combo and the soul patch/goatee. When I was in seminary, it seemed like everyone I knew couldn’t wait to plant a church. I had a buddy who loved to talk about the mega-church he was going to plant (we had to regularly remind him that you don’t plant mega-churches).

Now, I can’t claim to be innocent here, but, like many of you, I was always a little skeptical about church-planting in the US. What about all the dying churches out there? Shouldn’t we be pouring resources into those churches? And what about the millions of people overseas who have no Christian witness?

I’ve since been convinced that church-planting is crucial to the future of the American church. Let me share with you some of the reasons why. I’m going to throw a lot of numbers at you, so bear with me…In 1990, about 52 million people attended worship each week in America. In 2006, that number was the same. On the surface that sounds okay – at least we’re holding our ground – but when you take into account that the population of America grew by 52 million during that time, a different picture emerges – the percentage of Christians who attend church is declining.

Many popular polls indicate that about 40% of Americans attend church. But recent research which is based on real head counts indicates the actual rate of attendance is less than half of that – about 17.3%. That number is expected to shrink to 14.7% by 2020. So why is church-planting the solution?

Without getting into the reasons, statistics show the growth rate of churches shrinks dramatically the older they get. Churches experience most of their growth in the first 10 years. It’s hard to revitalize old churches. Don’t get me wrong – I think we should be trying to revitalize churches. I’m proud to be a part of a church that is one of the exceptions. But statistics show it’s at least 5 times easier to plant a new church than to revitalize an old one.

Secondly, CP (that’s right, it has its own acronym) is necessary to keep pace with population growth. Here’s where the numbers get shocking. There needs to be a yearly net gain of 3205 churches to keep up with population growth. The current net gain is 303 churches. That means we need to plant an additional 2900 churches per year just to break even.

That’s why at the Summit we’re committed to raising up and sending out domestic church-planting teams. By the way, it’s also part of the reason we’re committed to a multi-site strategy (planting is most effective when done by a parent church within 5 to 10 miles of its own facility). That doesn’t mean we’re taking anything away from international missions. We just recognize that God has also called us to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria as well as to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Statistics taken from The American Church in Crisis by David Olsen.

Starbucks Offering this Sunday

Guest Blog: Brad O’Brien

Coming up this Sunday (May 18th) we, as a congregation, will give our starbucks offering. Over the past four or five weeks you have heard about this offering, but I wanted to use J.D.’s blog as a platform to explain it to you one more time and give you a glimpse of how we plan on using the money that we give this Sunday.

If you have been around the Summit for a little while you know that each summer we make a concentrated effort to love and bless our community. Our goal for the week of hope isn’t to give you a once a year experience of community ministry. Our goal is that the week of hope each summer will be a launching pad for you to find a way to participate in ministering to our community on a regular and ongoing basis.

As we thought about the offering that will help supplement this effort we wanted to give you the opportunity to experience something special. As a congregation, the Summit is very generous. That is actually an understatement. The Summit has proven over the past six years to be ridiculously generous. But our goal with this offering isn’t just to get you to write a check. We want you to experience the joy that comes from knowing that by sacrificing affordable luxuries in your life, others can be blessed.
What are affordable luxuries? For some of you they may include unused memberships, manicures, pedicures, eating out, going to the movies, $4 coffee drinks, bottled water, new shoes, etc. I am not sure what affordable luxuries means to you, but I know that we as a church regularly enjoy affordable luxuries while many of our neighbors don’t have enough to provide their families with the necessities for daily life. How is God leading you to sacrifice so that others can be blessed?

This summer we have several opportunities arranged for the Summit and other congregations in the RDU area to come together and serve our community. This summer we are working with three of our local elementary schools to meet some of the needs that their principals and staff have identified. At some of these schools we will be repainting hallways and classrooms, scrapping chewing gum off of desks, removing staples from cork boards, refreshing landscaping, and many other tasks. We plan to have more than 1,000 volunteers serve these three schools over two days (July 11 & 12). We are also arranging a free dental clinic and general health care clinic for the community of North East Central Durham. We are working with a couple of our local ministry partners to provide a free car care clinic for people that are in need  and just need someone that they can trust to look at their car and give them some help. We will continue to work on our Habitat for Humanity house that is being built in North East Central Durham to use our resources to provide affordable housing to families in need. An apartment complex in North East Central Durham has approached us and asked us to bless them by doing a beautification project at their property. We are planning to do some exterior painting, window washing, trash pick-up, and landscaping. These are some of the projects that we are currently working on for the body of Christ to mobilize in a concentrated effort to serve and bless our community. These are just a few of the efforts that will be made possible by the money we give this Sunday. Please prayerfully consider how you can sacrifice so that our community can be blessed in an intentional way!

Check for updates of projects and info at www.hopefordurham.com

Broken beyond repair?

Guest Blogger: Cynthia Mann, Summit Counselor

As Counselor on Staff at The Summit Church I have met a lot of different people. Actually, since marriage counseling is at least 70% of what I do, I’ve met a lot of different couples. I was excited to find out J.D. was preaching an entire sermon series on marriage. I knew many marriages were benefiting. But what if you are in a marriage that feels absolutely broken and irreparably damaged? Was being told to go have fun on a date, start communicating, start having sex, even how to love each other, enough to mend the relationship?

Recently I have seen a new trend in counseling couples. I am encountering men who are seeking help after their wives have walked out. These men are often surprised and confused by the depth of their spouse’s unhappiness, but they are also desperate to heal the relationship. But despite their willingness to go to counseling and work on the marriage, they receive no hope or encouragement from their wives. In their book, The Walk Out Woman, authors Steve Stephens and Alice Gray describe the hearts of many of these women:

“One woman we spoke to told us she had seriously thought about leaving her marriage nearly every day for more than two years. She was overwhelmed with feeling disappointed, hurt, misunderstood, and unappreciated. Several other women told us they were lonely and angry to the point of despair. They had lost all hope for their marriage…”

How can we as a church walk alongside these couples in a real and significant way? How do we help those that have been hoping, praying and waiting until they are exhausted?

If you are broken, there is help. Here are three immediate steps you can take:

1. Buy the book The Walk Out Woman. Give it a chance before you give up.
2. Talk to someone WISE, a fellow believer that will walk with you. This person may be a friend, a small group leader, a pastor, or a counselor. If you decide to see a counselor, go even if your spouse won’t! God can do amazing things in you even if your spouse never shows.
   
   
3. Finally, when you don’t know where to start or how to find God in your life, speak out, ask for help. We want to walk with you. Even when your spouse seems like your greatest enemy, God remains faithful. Psalm 36:5 says, “Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.” You might be broken and damaged, but you are never beyond repair.

If you want to help others, here’s a training event for you: on May 31^st Dr Sam Williams will teach Basic Biblical Counseling for the Lay Person. It’s for those of us who aren’t experts, but who live and share our lives in a community of hurting people.

Ultimately, brokenness in the Body of Christ requires healers at every level, not just the pastors. We may not all have suffered in identical ways, but we are all broken. Ministries like Celebrate Recovery and Counseling help, but true healing within a broken congregation comes when individuals within the body of Christ walk together. The phrase love each other is a part of our vision statement for a reason!

Guest Blog: Coming to Church Naked?

My excellent research assistant, Mike McDaniel, wrote a great piece in reflection on the connection between the Gospel and relationships in the Song of Solomon. Mike's a Gordon-Conwell grad, a native Texan (yes, one of those), and a relatively new face around the Summit...Sorry for the tawdry title, just wanted to get your attention :)

Have you ever had that dream where you’re standing in front of a room full of people and suddenly you realize that you’re naked? It’s horrifying…you want to cover yourself but all you can do is stand there, in all your glory…

This may just be a dream, but the fear is very real. Deep down, we have this fear of people seeing the REAL us, unclothed and uncensored – in a word, exposed. JD talked about it on Sunday. It’s a fear as old as the Garden of Eden.  We want to be fully known and loved, but we’re afraid of what people will think when they see us as we really are. Many experience this fear even as Christians. We know that Jesus died for us. And yet we are still haunted by the shame of our sins.

I had a revelation on this topic a while back. I realized that this fear is the result of not getting the whole Gospel. You see, Jesus didn’t just die to take away the guilt of our sins…He also died to take away the shame. This is seen most clearly on the cross. There the Son of God was stripped bare, humiliated, exposed – for all the world to see. Hear it in Isaiah’s words:

Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. (Isa 54:4-5)

Jesus took the humiliation of our sins upon himself, so that in Him, we can be fully exposed, but not ashamed.

Disclaimer: this does not mean you can come to church naked.

Working for the Weekend:: Brad O'Brien

Guest Blog :: Brad O'Brien

Working for the Weekend... When this classy anti-work anthem was released by the rock band “Loverboy” in the greatest decade of music ever, I was a three year-old. Now I am pushing 30, but nothing has changed in the way most people view work. Dolly Parton made it clear that she was only working from “9 to 5”, but something tells me it would have at least taken that long to do her hair and make-up. If you aren’t careful living a life of unfulfilled work in cubicleville can make you want to lead your co-workers in a chorus of “take this job and shove it”.

What is it that makes so many people dissatisfied with their jobs? Work was around before the fall, but many people think that work was a result of the fall. In Genesis 2:15 scripture says “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (ESV) God intended for us to work prior to the fall and it was a way that we would worship Him. After the fall of man, God sent Adam and Eve out of the garden and they were to work, but now the task would prove to be difficult. God’s desire is for us to work in such a way that it glorifies Him. It doesn’t matter what your “job” is. We are all in ministry together. The only way to fight dissatisfaction with your job is to work on connecting your job to the Kingdom.

One of our friends and an amazing pastor, Mark Driscoll, preached a message on this topic back in September. Just the other night while I was logging my 30 minutes of cardio on the stationary bike at the gym (gyms are another result of the fall), I listened to Mark’s message. You can find the audio and video to that message here.

Pastor J.D. and I have both recently been presented with a new model for doing community development. This model has been created and put into practice at Northwood Church in Keller, TX. Pastor Bob and Omar are new friends to us and we are grateful for our relationship with them. The model that they have created identifies several domains within society. Their premise is that the “gates of hell” have prevailed in all of those domains. (Medical, Educational, Family, Governance, Justice, Economics, Art & Communication, Science & Technology, and Agriculture) If we are going to engage our society in a way that brings about transformation and development, we have to permeate each domain with the power of the Gospel. This is where it really gets exciting.

On any given Sunday morning there are well over 2,000 people worshiping at one of our campuses. Each and every one of those 2,000+ people fit into one of these domains. Now... the question is: how can you use your vocation/passion to permeate your domain with the Gospel here locally and globally? I am currently working on different ways for us to encourage and equip you to “do the work of the ministry” in each of these domains, but I am a pastor... what do I know about work? I would love to have your help with this effort.

Action Steps:
1) If you are passionate about connecting with other people in your domain at the Summit and assisting us in mobilizing your domain for community development here in Durham and around the world, please let me know by posting a comment to this blog.

2) If you are a business owner and you would be interested in partnering with us to be a blessing to your office then we need you to post a comment to this blog and we will work together on finding ways to encourage and equip you to begin the process of permeating your workplace with the Gospel.

If you thought that the most exciting times to be at the Summit were in the past then I am going to challenge you to think again. Please continue to pray for your pastors as God is doing some amazing things and has some amazing new adventures on our horizon!