Why A Black Conference? Is it genius or foolishness...

On October 24th there will be a conference called the Voice of Legacy Conference for black people only.  This means that only black people are invited(in case that wasn't clear).  When me and a handful of other black leaders decided to put this on this conference I INSTANTLY knew the questions that would come up.

• Is this segregation?
• Is this reverse racism?
• Isn't this unbiblical?
• There can't be anything good in this, can there?

But these questions do not make me hesitate.  Not even a little.  Because I have spent the better part of 13 years trying to be intentional in living out reconciliation and the last 6 years building multiethnic communities on college campuses.  I expect these types of questions to come up.
My short response to the questions is:

• Is this segregation? No, I can't nor will I ever force non-black people to not attend anything that is black specific. I only ask that you give us the space to do so.
• Is this reverse racism? Most definitely not.  Borrowing from Beverly Tatum, racism is "a system of advantage based on race" where privelege plus power combines to enforce a racist system or propagate a racist ideology.  To be clear, we don't have the power to do that nor would we ever do this. 
• Isn't this unbiblical?  Actually no.  If anything the Bible leads us to investigate the wisdom in temporary ethnic specific gatherings.  Jesus spent around three years closely teaching only jewish disciples.  This led to a multiethnic movement.  We have to leverage the wisdom in this. 
• There can't be anything good in this, can there?  The legacy of ethnic specific gatherings in InterVarsity and the Underground has led to deep relationships that cross ethnic barriers. In my experience this has led to a lot of good. 

So what is the genius in having ethnic specific gatherings? Among many, there are three realities that ethnic specific gatherings give us access to.  

The first is communal humility.  Allowing ethnic specific gatherings(when they are requested, not forced) is a powerful way for a multiethnic community to say that they acknowledge that there are differences and needs that can't be addressed or met for every ethnicity represented.  It is an act of humility to recognize and acknowledge that you probably won't achieve Revelation 5 type worship any time soon but that you can try to get close.  Now it is in this "trying to get close" that humility needs to rule the day.  Any multiethnic community has to confess that as they "try" it is difficult.  This can be tiresome and tough for minority cultures in a multiethnic environment.  There is still so much of their culture not seen or empowered.  And it isn't that it is disempowered but rather that it is not seen.  Omitted.  This is hard to deal with.  Could you imagine how you would feel if every song played during worship had bagpipes as the lead instrument and the people in the crowd never talked to one another.  How weird would that feel. This is sorta how it feels for me in a multiethnic setting.  Just different.  Worship is a far cry from my black MB church and I am used to call-and-response type preaching where we talk back to the preacher as he goes. Communal humility is acknowledging this reality and, in response to it, allowing ethnic specific gatherings to restore the value of every culture.  

The second reality that ethnic specific gatherings give us access to is communal empowerment.  One of the best ways to say I believe in you, I trust you and I need you to help us navigate multiethnicity is ethnic specific gatherings.  To make this clear I will use my ethnicity as an example.  There are so many non-black opinions that I've heard through out my life that assume they have the best solution for how I, as a black man, should navigate a majority white environment.  This is like me telling my pregnant wife(just an example, Steph isn't pregnant), I know exactly what you are going through so let me give you the best tips.  Instead, I should probably refer her to other women who have been pregnant.   When we allow ethnic specific gatherings, we escape the trap of egocentrism that disempowers and embrace a learning posture that empowers. 

The last reality that materializes when we allow ethnic specific gatherings is a strong multiethnic movement.  I make this statement strictly from experience.  If there is one thing that was a constant in my journey with my current InterVarsity/Underground community, it is ethnic specific gatherings.  Both informal and formal.  We would meet informally to talk about what has been hard in pursuing true reconciliation and encourage one another to keep going.  We would find peace in people of our ethnicity who understood us deeply and from this place push each other back into our cross cultural relationships.  We would gather formally to check on each other and enjoy being in a space where we could just be who we were without questions or eyebrows being raised.  We always knew this atmosphere was temporary and it always sent us back into our multiethnic communities stronger and grateful for the ethnic specific space.  These gatherings helped us be fully who we are and I believe it's because, in these gatherings, we are reminded that God made us beautiful and strong.  We see it in those who look like us and carry the same values and heritage.  Everything that is omitted in our multiethnic gatherings is brought to light and constantly repeated by God.
And it is in hearing God that we find the hope of Revelation 5 reborn.  Why a black conference? Because we know God wants to lead us deeper into his multiethinic church...and though it seems counterintuitive, in ethnic specific gatherings, this happens.  And that is God's genius. 

Honor Where God Says it is Due

When Kobe Bryant came into the National Basketball Association out of high school, he had scored an 1100 on his SAT's, he spoke two languages fluently (after a chunk of his childhood was spent in Europe due to his father's professional basketball career), he had taken famous singer Brandy to his prom and by the time he was 19 he was playing in the NBA All Star game where he was matched up with arguably the best player in history, Michael Jordan.  This can go to your head.  And it did.  When Phil Jackson, a coach who had coached Michael Jordan and was now coaching Kobe, wanted to help Kobe mature his basketball skills in a healthy way.  Bryant had been in the NBA for 3 years and Jordan was retiring after a long and illustrious(some would say legendary) career.  Jackson thought sitting Kobe down with Jordan would be a great idea.  Here is how the meeting started:
"...Jackson said that he asked Michael Jordan to talk to Kobe Bryant shortly after Jordan's second retirement in 1999. One might expect a young player to be a bit star-struck when meeting a legend like Jordan, but this is Kobe Bryant we're talking about here. Jackson said the first thing that Kobe said to MJ upon meeting him was ''I could kick your ass one-on-one.'' " [ESPN]
Kobe's comment was most certainly said in jest but the fact that He thought it ok to approach Jordan in this way says something about his view of reality. Even though this was one of the first times He was meeting the living basketball legend in this way, he thought his status was worthy of being able to joke with Jordan.  We who grew up in the "Jordan era" know that Kobe should have had a more humble posture. 
This is not a personal attack on Kobe.  There is no scandal that came of this story but this story has everything to do with how we view honor.  After doing an exercise with my staff team on defining honor, we came up with the following list.

When we did a deep introspection of our hearts we realized that our generation that is largely enthusiastic about independence and proving ourselves(this may be more related to our age), honor can be fleeting.  But honor is a chief character trait that we need in order to fully engage the calling of God on our lives.  Why?  Because there are those who lead us who are God's prophet's in our lives, those who have seen more of God's grace and power simply because they have been around longer.  But also, because their lives show they are leaders who God has gifted us with and who are worthy of being admired.  We realized that our want to be honored can sometimes cause us to kill the leaders in our lives.  Not physically but, even worse, in our hearts.  And what is in the heart can always be noticed on the surface even with the best cover job.  

But where does honor come from?  Is it earned?  Are we called to honor everyone?  I like Paul's words in Ephesians 5:21-6:9.  He tells wives to submit to their husbands, children to honor their parents, slaves to honor their masters("obey with respect").  Likewise, husbands are told to love their wives like Christ loved the Chruch, parents are told not to irritate their children, and masters are told to treat their slaves with respect and fear(some inductive study in needed to see this). There is honor through out this passage and I believe Paul is very intentional in making sure these aren't "if then" statements.  Honor is not earned neither is it conditional upon recieving it.  In the kingdom, it comes from Jesus.  Paul says to submit(honor) to each other out of reverence for Christ and even ends these verses by saying to masters that "you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven..." Honor ultimately comes from an honoring of God.  Even though we could respect those who have come before us by their accomplishments alone(many of those I honor most have lived lives that merit more respect than I can give), we choose to see deeper than that.  We choose to recognize that God has placed a special authority in them that should be honored.  We choose to recognize our own short comings and that we can never measure up to the standards our hearts put on those we view as leaders in our lives.  We recognize that we need prophets who have seen more of God knowing that this does not equate to our relationship with God being worth less.  We choose to get out of our heads and out of God's way and honor those who challenge us, push us, teach us, who, with love, help us grow out of shame into humility, out of hurt into toughness, and out of immaturity into unshakeable passion.   

In the age of the "selfie" we want to be those who constantly take pictures of the sky because there is a God beyond who deserves our full attention. Maybe my generation's greatest achievement will be to get out of the picture so that our heads won't be in the center but rather God or those who God has placed in our lives.  We will be those who make frames for these pictures and who hang them in the most honorable place in our hearts.  In the name of Jesus.

The First being Last Doesn't Mean You Should Try to Be Last

I remember playing dodgeball in middle school and never being really great because I had the muscle strength of a 3rd grader.  I was agile but not a threat which made me get really good at avoiding lots of fast approaching balls at once.  This tactic often caused me to get out quickly.  Getting out first in dodgeball was like coming in last for a race.  Something I would say to myself is that the "last will be first and the first will be last". 
As I was reading Matthew's account of Jesus' teaching about the first being last I had a total paradigm shift.  Maybe I haven't been reading the passage close enough but I realized that when Jesus says "the last will be first, and the first last" it is a statement of equality.  If you grew up like me you always interpretted the scripture as an instruction to be ok with being the last one to get food, or the last one to get a gift.  My interpretation of this saying was infused with years of hearing it out of context and so I thought I needed to be ok with finishing last which a lot of times is just an excuse to not strive as hard.  Shame on me(can I get a witness or at least someone who is with me).  And how was this statement logical?  If the last will be first what happens when the last gets to the first position.  According to the saying the "first will be last" so there is this tragic cycle of never being able to be first and so it seems first should be avoided.
When Jesus wants to explain what this first last business means he tells a parable about a master of a house who went out early to hire people to work for his vineyard for him.  Going through the market place he hired people who needed work and agreed to pay them a days wage.  The problem was that this master payed everyone the same wage no matter when He hired them.  So at the end of the day, the laborers who worked the whole day were upset that they received the same pay as those who had only worked an hour.  The workers who had worked all day approached the master angrily saying "you have made them equal to us ".  The reply of the master uncovers a great truth about God's Kingdom that is true today.  The master replies:
  
Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.”  -Matthew 20

The first will be last is not a trading of positions but a promise of God that no matter when you choose to follow Him and do the everlasting work of laboring in His kingdom, he will give you just as much as he does those who you see as "Jesus Superstars".  The first will be last means that the pew is just as sacred as the pulpit, the children's minister is just as critical as the executive pastor, the student leader is just as valued as the campus minister and the faithful neighbor just as important as the civil rights icon.  In God's kingdom he rewards us for our faithfulness no matter how long we've been laboring.  This is good news for us who have chosen to give our lives as missionaries.  And I am talking about the everyday missionaries who have chosen to be intentional at their jobs, in school, in their homes and in their neighborhoods.  This is good news for those who are thinking about following the call of Jesus to start something that God has called them to.  You may feel that you are "last" in someways.  Know that you are first in an eternal way.  

Denial, Submission, and the Pursuasion

In order to come after Jesus we have to deny ourselves and take up our cross DAILY and follow him.   Not my words.  Those are Jesus' words as told by Luke. This scripture is one of the most difficult scriptures I've read.  On first read it seems to be the worst recruitment I've ever seen.  When I think of asking someone to be like me, I wouldn't think to ask them to forget who they are.  But this is Jesus' first request.  His second request seems to be an even crazier.  Take up a cross.  Take up a crude torture device and live with it on your back.  Live as if you are willing to die for the one you are walking after at a moments notice.
This is such a pressurized moment.  In reading this Jesus asked his disciples to forget themselves and be willing to suffer and die for the one who told them to forget.  This is Jesus' persuasion.
And it is this persuasion that has caused a history of disciples to deny themselves and be willing to die for Him.  What?
This is a reality that we almost have no way to connect to.  It is partially because if we began to let our parents, pastors, friends, mentors, and family know that we are willing to die for God's call on our life to the campus, office, classroom or whatever place we feel called, we would possibly be admitted.  To die for Jesus is not the "in" thing anymore.   But reality is that, among Christians, it never really was the in thing.  It was what came with carrying a cross.  To the early church Peter wrote:

Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.   

To this community enduring persecution, this would have been hard words to live out.  But this is not the full view of Paul's heart.  In Acts 4, Peter and John are advised by the rulers, elders and scribes to discontinue teaching in the name of Jesus.  But Peter and John answered them,“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” 

In this case Peter himself denies the religious institution and this causes the rulers, elders, and scribes to look for a way to punish them(even though they couldn't).  But there are those who are our ancient predecessors, our spiritual heroes and family, who died because of these kinds of stances. They were persecuted not because they were looking for it, but because they carried a cross on their backs and there were those willing to kill them for it.  This is complete self denial; a willingness to take on the burdens, abuse, misunderstanding and suffering that come not because of who they have denied themselves in order to gain Jesus.  We can imitate this, whether here in America or in a hostile country.

And if we do, we enter into space where walking on water and calming storms are part of the deal.  It is in this space, where we totally deny our hopes, dreams, aspirations and loves, and allow God to give us his hopes, dreams, aspirations and love for us.  And when he does this, we find that we were made to serve.  We were made to be fully submitted to the needs of others.  We find that who we were made to be is eternally intertwined with a historic community of believers and a special group of people Jesus calls us to serve.  It is here that we find ourselves and we don't even care as much about finding ourselves as we do for those we are called to.  This is the persuasion of Jesus.  Joy in knowing who you are while being overwhelmed by how He uses your "broken self" to love those around you.  And this can only be found in Him.  And when we submit to that truth, we begin to understand that Jesus was right when he said that "there are some who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God" and, while on this earth, we enter this kingdom with a crosses on our back.

Steadfast

She approached the throne with a nervousness that had escalated to deep physical stress.  She was scared.  No one had ever approached the king without being summoned and lived to tell about.  And even as the queen she knew it was risky.  But she remembered her words to her uncle.  She remembered she said, "Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”
With this heart, Esther approached King Xerxes knowing that she was going on behalf of her people.  So that they might have justice.  And she found favor with the king and eventually won justice for her people.
Fasting is living with a steadfastness in order to invoke God's closeness and power.  When we search scripture we see fasting that causes kings to change their mind, God to respond, and justice to prevail.  In the old testament, whenever there is a severe problem, God's people usually engage the discipline of fasting.  Going without food or drink, or both, for a certain period of time.
But it is not the discipline of fasting that causes change.  When fasting, it has to be sincere, it has to be from a contrite heart, it should come from a life that pursues Jesus-centered justice(not just want it).  Isaiah(58) warns about fasting with a insincere heart.

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
    and exploit all your workers.
⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
    and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
    and expect your voice to be heard on high.

 In InterVarsity at SPC, we don't claim to be experts on fasting but we do know that it is an ancient discipline that we have seen used as novelty.  We want to find the righteous center between the tension of fasting because of tradition and fasting as novelty.  And so we invite you to fast and pray for the next 2 weeks for Jesus to move on our campus.  

Our King is one whose throne we can approach boldly and freely.  We approach like Esther, accept the threat of death is not our greatest hinderance, it is often the idols in our lives, anything that we give more time to God.  And so fast from one thing that gets more attention than God and use the extra time to pray that God would move on campus and in our lives.  Pray that we are able to reach every campus and every corner of campus with the Gospel of Jesus.  Pray and expect God to honor our steadfastness with his steadfast love.

The Wages of Surrender

The wages of sin is death.  The payment for sin is death.  Meaning if you work for sin you will get payed death.  The alternative is to work for righteousness and get payed life.
These are simple interpretations but what does working for the reward of death look like?
This is only one perspective but I've recently learned that usually your job is a small one.  Entry level.  Barely noticeable.  You are the janitor for Enron.  You aren't the bad person.  You can't be.  This is just entry level evil.
This is verbal abuse, received or given.
This is hatred, expressed and internalized.
This is the abuse of a small amount of power.
This is selfishness with a little.
This is ignoring your children just a little.
This is taking small advantage of those who you lead.
This is watching soft porn for only a little while.

This is only entry level stuff.

But before you know it you are appreciating promotions.  Getting away with more.  In less control.  You are climbing the ladder of evil's empire and you don't notice the small parts of you dying.

Until you sit.  Quiet.  And ask God...where is evil in me and will you cleanse me?

This initiates soul wrenching transformation.

Then you realize the alternative to working for sin is not working for righteousness but it is instead a gift of eternal life.  A life where you are able to be free from evil.  Not only free but a destroyer of evil.  Internally and externally.
This is recieving healing from abuse and offering healing words.
This is love expressed and internalized.
This is the giving away of power whether large or small.
This is selflessness with a little or a lot.
This is loving your child and discipling her in Jesus.
This is honoring those you lead.
This is standing up for justice while alone or when injustice is eminent.

This is eternal level stuff.

The wages of surrender to Jesus is life.  A free gift from Him to us.

Thank you, Jesus.


 

Prayer. Life. Learning.

In my life, prayer has always been a rare commodity.  In my best thinking, it is valued beyond measure but in practice it's hard to come by.  The discipline of prayer is tough for someone like me who wants to work hard, finish tasks and do whatever is necessary to get things done for the sake of the Kingdom.  And in some dysfunctional way, prayer doesn't always fit into this.  What does prayer accomplish?  What ministry task requires prayer?  Does prayer help my paperwork get done, does it make a discipleship curriculum, does prayer give a 30 minute talk?  You see, rarely have I prayed and the perfect talk just miraculously appeared.  Rarely have I prayed and I felt a burst of energy to do administrative work.  I am not saying that it's bad to pray about these things or that prayer can't give you the perfect talk.  But what I've learned is that prayer is not necessarily meant to complete an earthly task.  How narrow minded of me.  Our prayers do the work we cannot do.  Our prayers complete spiritual tasks that we cannot complete.  You see, I cannot produce love in someone's heart, I cannot create Jesus-infused courage, I cannot speak sacrifice into existence in someone's life...but what if my prayers could?   I believe they do.  Not the prayers themselves but what comes with them.  When we pray we admit that, under our own strength, we are powerless to do what is necessary to bring about change.  Our prayers for God's intervention is an admission that our efforts are not enough.  Our prayers are a cry for God to come quickly.
But when we don't pray, what are we communicating?  As we see some success without prayer, how are our souls deceived?  I feel like the worst offender.  I complete task after task and yet I pay less and less attention to my prayer life.
Over the past couple months I've been working to correct this deficiency.  The most recent occurrence in this was with the InterVarsity leaders at SPC where we've been going through Psalm 23 and engaging both prayer and meditation.  We've learned that Jesus is so much smarter than us!  We looked at Jesus' call for us to pray in Luke 18 and Matthew 6, and we also looked at James' thoughts on prayer in James 5 and we've been convicted to pray more often and more consistently.  Knowing that what we want to see at SPC cannot be done through completing a bunch of tasks but only by the power of God, we pray.  Our prayers are our admission that we need Jesus.  Our prayers are are our hopes whispered into the ears of the Holy Spirit.  We pray because we cannot.  We pray because God can.
And the more we pray, the more we realize we need to pray...and so we pray.