From the Ashes

A friend and I were discussing the late Christian musician Rich Mullins a few weeks ago. We both were impressed by his ministry and his love for Jesus in spite of his raw humanity. A commenter on one of my older threads on Phoenix Preacher recently shared her story about Rich, and so I thought it might be appropriate to revisit a biography I wrote about him some time ago and take another look at a man whom many people might think left this world for glory far too soon. - BrianD

Richard Wayne Mullins (October 21, 1955 - September 19, 1997) was a singer/songwriter who gained his greatest fame as a performer in the contemporary Christian music industry. Mark Allan Powell says in The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music that Mullins

at the time of his death…was the most beloved troubadour in (CCM) and probably came as close as anyone else in the field for being regarded as 'a saint'. Mullins was famous for his gentle demeanor, his simple lifestyle, his love for children, and his overwhelming compassion for the poor.

Two of Mullins' most popular songs were Awesome God and Step by Step; he also is remembered for his albums Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth; The World As Best As I Remember It, Volume One; and A Liturgy, A Legacy, & A Ragamuffin Band. His songs have been covered by such notables as Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant and Jars of Clay, and he was a songwriter who not only wrote much of his own material and co-wrote with his friend and traveling companion Beaker, but also wrote hit songs for other musicians in the CCM genre, including Grant (Give Your Praise to the Lord).

Mullins was primarily a pianist, though he was known for using instruments rarely heard anywhere else in the genre - the hammered dulcimer, the lap dulcimer and the Irish tin whistle, for example.

Mullins was born and raised in Indiana and grew up attending a Friends church. That denomination's emphasis on social justice and peace would later be a strong influence on his songwriting. Mullins began his musical career in the late 1970s, and wrote Sing Your Praise to the Lord for Amy Grant, which became a CCM hit in 1982 and soon became a classic in its own right. His self-titled debut album, Rich Mullins, was released in 1986, and neither it nor the follow-up, Pictures in the Sky, was successful financially. Mullins' third album, Winds of Heaven… was much more successful, and helped make him a star in the CCM scene. One reason for this is that Awesome God, which would become another classic of the genre, was on the album.

He followed up with The World As Best I Remember It, Vol. 1 and 2, in 1991 and 1992, respectively, and with A Liturgy, A Legacy, & A Ragamuffin Band in 1993. Brother's Keeper was released in 1995.

As an artist, Mullins became a star in the CCM world. His celebrity was irrelevant to the way he lived his life, and he seemed to live a life that in some ways was atypical of his peers.

From Wikipedia:

Mullins was seen as an enigma to the Christian music industry. Often barefoot, unshaven, and badly in need of a haircut, Mullins did not look like the average American gospel music writer. He was very much at home among the ungodly, and unafraid to name his own sin and inadequacies in public, often baffling the American Christian culture that he seemed oddly a part of. His lifestyle was unquestionably marked by devotion and discipline, yet his simultaneous refusal to buy-in to contemporary Christian niceties made him a bit of an uncomfortable presence in a music culture marked by artificiality. Although he achieved a good amount of success on Christian radio, he never received a GMA Music Award until after his death.

Unlike most artists in Contemporary Christian music, Mullins did not consider his music his primary ministry, but rather a means to pay his bills. Instead, his ministry was the way he treated his neighbors, family and enemies. Taking a vow of poverty, he accepted a small church salary and spent the last years of his life on a Navajo reservation teaching music to children.

Mullins was a supporter of Compassion International and Compassion USA. 

During his concerts, Mullins would talk between songs about the song, or one of the instruments, or one of his band members, or about God, or about life, or other things. This portion of a transcript of a concert he gave in Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1997 shows a small example of what he'd talk on during his concerts:

A lot of people say, you know, gee, because people like what I write and stuff, you know, they always say, "So when you write, do you sit down and try to think of something really heavy to say to people?"  I'm like, no, actually, no.  They say, "Well, what inspires you?"  And I always say, well, you know, I have a lot of pagan friends, and I talk to them a lot about the inspiration of the Scriptures.  How as Christians we believe that they were breathed out by God, and that they are inspired by God.  So, if I say my songs are inspired, I think that confuses people.  Because then I think that they think that my songs should be canonized, and the Canon has been closed for several years now. (laughter)  So I always like to say that I believe the Scriptures are inspired and our songs are provoked.  And then people say, "Well then what provokes your songs?"  And the honest answer is, bills.  (laughter) What provokes you to go to your work?  (laughter, applause)  And you know, you hope in the course of writing something that you're gonna say something that's gonna encourage someone to do something good, but man, I tell you, there's so much great music out there, that none of us need to write any more good stuff.  There's just more great music than we could ever listen to, if we lived to be a hundred.  And it's a great, great privilege to get to do what I do for a living.  And it's a great  honor that you pay someone when you listen to them and I sure appreciate the way you've been listening tonight.  You've really honored us, and I hope we have something to give you back. (credit: Calling Out Your Name) 

Towards the end of his life, Mullins looked into Catholicism, and apparently decided to convert.

Associated Press religion columnist Terry Mattingly wrote in a May 6, 1998 column that

At the time of his death in a Sept. 19 car crash Mullins was taking the final steps to enter Catholicism.

"Rich had made up his mind and he wasn't hiding anymore," said (Father Matt) McGinness, chaplain of the Newman Center at Wichita State University. "But I really don't think it's fair to make him the poster child for Catholic converts. …The key to Rich is that he was searching for a deep, lasting unity with God. He was such a reflective man and that quality brought him both peace and a great deal of anxiety."

"…Rich didn't know for sure if he was called to ministry, which in the Catholic context would be the priesthood," said McGinness. "He also feared that converting to Catholicism could mean losing his audience. … He knew there might be rough days ahead."

In 1997, shortly before he died, Mullins taped nine songs on a cassette player with only he and his guitar intended to be demos for an album called Ten Songs About Jesus. After Mullins died, the members of the Ragamuffin Band joined with a number of musicians, including Michael W. Smith and Ashley Cleveland, to record those songs for The Jesus Record (the tenth was Rick Elias' Man of No Reputation).

On September 19, 1997, Mullins and his passenger, Mitch McVicker, were thrown out of Mullins' jeep when it flipped over on Interstate 39 north of Bloomington, Illinois. Neither Mullins nor McVicker wore a seat belt; McVicker was seriously injured but survived and recovered. Mullins died when run over by a tractor-trailer swerving to avoid the Jeep.

He was honored posthumously with the Artist of the Year award at the Gospel Music Association's Dove Awards in 1998.

Mullins' albums are available at christianbook.com, as is a collection of columns he wrote for Release Magazine in the 1990s and a biography written by James Bryan Smith called An Arrow Pointing to Heaven. A video collection of comments and remembrances from friends, family and people in the industry called Homeless Man has been posted on YouTube (this link goes to the part 1, and the remainder of the video can be accessed on the right hand side of the page)

Sources: Wikipedia; the Calling Our Your Name website (note: to access Mullins' transcripts, on the home page click on The Words on the menu, then click on Concert Transcripts); and The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music by Mark Allan Powell. Thanks to Lutheran Ex CC for the link to the Mattingly column.

Have you ever been asked if you had one wish, what would that be? For years, I have answered the same thing: I wish I could understand exactly just what it is my now-teenage kid is saying to me each time we speak and that this aging, worn down parent would be understood in return by that kid.

But now, I want to change my mind. My new wish would be that everyone would tell the truth when asked or spoken to. Just that. That’s pretty revolutionary, I admit. After all, the enemy is referred to as a liar and a murderer in the same sentence (John 8:44). I know we have all kinds of fun competitions for the best lie but the truth is that there will never be a “best lie.”

There will only be hurtful, destructive lies.

Somewhere in there, even the so-called “white lies”, do damage. A partial sin is still sin, just like partial obedience is still not getting it done for the Lord, either.

A very dear friend of mine is being lied to. And what makes this hurt worse is that my friend probably understands that but chooses not to acknowledge it. And I and those who love my friend are considering what way would be best to help them through what will be a very tough time once the lie is out openly.

That bugs me too. My small group is prepared already to deal with lies. A couple of us are really good at dealing with them. Why is that? Why should that be? Why is lying so very prevalent amongst ourselves?

I have done this too, with the very best intentions. I simply did not want to hurt someone’s feelings with the truth. But when the truth of a situation came out, there was all the more hurt because my own lie came out. What a vicious cycle. Who got spared there? No one.

Is the truth so bad? The Lord has denied me things that I have later learned would have been very bad for me had He given them me. I am thankful for that. The Lord tells us the truth, no matter how skillfully we try to twist it and get this: it’s for our good, all the time.

More and more, we convince ourselves that sparing someone a hurt via our words or actions is going to be the best choice for a situation but that’s not always true. The Lord tailor makes our trials for us to go through them, for our good and our growth.

Like it or not, there is great good intended to come out of our pain. There are many examples of that in the Bible, the greatest of which is the cross of Christ.

Not all truths are painful. But our lies are creating more pain in this life than the Lord ever intended for us. The Lord speaks only truths to us. Let us do the same to one another with the same loving touch He has.

Have you had a hard week?  Have you really been looking forward to the weekend?  I hope it’s a good one for you. It can be really hard when we have an expectation of rest and relief, and if it doesn’t pan out, then the trial seems to become twice as bad.  Unmet expectations can be devastating.

Have you ever had a really hard day at work, and all the home, all you can think about is sitting down in a favorite chair or the couch, getting something cold to drink, taking off your shoes, reading something at your leisure, having dinner, just taking it easy…

But instead of the relaxing scene that you had envisioned, you come home, and there’s a strange car in the driveway, you open the door and kids want to tell you everything that happened that day, and the dog is jumping around, and the strange car brought unexpected visitors, and you’ll have to grill because the chicken’s not thawed, and here’s this letter from an attorney, and this lady from the bank has been calling all day, here’s her number, and something might be leaking from the upstairs…

Read the rest of this entry »

More from The Charismatic Century on Aimee Semple McPherson:

Picking back up at p. 142, we learn that "(f)rom 1915 to 1921 Aimee crisscrossed the nation by car and rail, accompanied by her mother Minnie and often her two children." (That helps answer the questions raised in the comment thread of last week's post on what happened to McPherson's kids while she was out ministering.)

By 1921 she "was becoming a sensation everywhere" as an evangelist, and was filling the largest auditoriums in whatever city or town she came to (sound familiar? Oral Roberts? Benny Hinn?). Her core message was forgiveness of sins through a relationship with Jesus Christ and the Pentecostal message of baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking with tongues.

Healing also became part of her crusades, though the authors note that McPherson "steadfastly maintained" she was not the healer, that Jesus was. They also note that she often prayed "for hours over the sick until each one had received a personal touch, leaving her exhausted by the end of the service." (143)

She began publishing The Bridal Call in 1917, and it helped popularize her teachings and build support for her ministry.

In 1918, Aimee, her mother and her two children moved into a home in southern California (the property and money to build the home were provided for her), and a nanny was provided so McPherson and her mom could travel without taking the kids. Two years later, she "felt drawn" to a place called Echo Park and she drew up a rough sketch for a church building on a plot of land there. The land was purchased and the building of the church was announced in McPherson's The Bridal Call newspaper in 1921. 

Plans for the new building changed from a 2,500-seat structure to 5,000-plus. In 1922 she incorporated the Echo Park Evangelistic Association in Los Angeles to "support her expanding operation". On January 1, 1923, the new building - named Angelus Temple, built at a cost of $1.5 million dollars - opened with great fanfare (147). The cornerstone of the building had inscribed on it a theme ("Dedicated unto the cause of interdenominational and World Wide Evangelism") that caused McPherson trouble with some Pentecostals.

Next week: How Aimee reached out to the community and how she was seen by other Pentecostals.

The latest thread in The Charismatic Century series, our second on evangelist and Foursquare denomination founder Aimee Semple McPherson, will be up later today and may be online by the time you read this.

Meantime, I want to ask you if you're enjoying FTA, and what you think of what we're doing?

Are we doing just fine like we are? Or should we do more, like post more articles, for example?

I'm convinced there's a place for us in the blogosphere, but want to make the best use of what we have. 

I want to bring attention to two of our other writers - Barton and Buster.

Both have been with us for a long while and write excellent original articles that are worthy of your attention. 

Go down the home page and look for their bylines, then read their work. You won't be disappointed.

Has anyone joined Weight Watchers?

I have, this week.

After years on the American fast food diet, I realized that staying on it would not end well for me.

On the recommendation of my doctor, I forked over $65 for three months of Weight Watchers Online. I joined their "Core Plan", which designates most fruits, vegetables, grains, and fat-free dairy products and other non-fat, non-sugar foods as core foods to build an eating plan around. These foods do not have the famous WW "points" assigned to them, but you are taught to eat in moderation.

You are given points for non-core foods you can eat during the week if you choose, but the way it's set up doesn't give you much leeway for that weekly Whopper you may have been counting on and makes it practically impossible to eat sugar, fatty foods, fast food day after day. 

Basically, you're set up to eat a diet full of fruits, veggies, lean meats, fat-free dairy products and have something like a cup of ice cream, a small bag of chips or a hamburger once or twice a week - but not as much as you probably ate before joining the Core Plan.

It has been a godsend for me.

I chose the Core Plan over the Points Plan because I needed to eat healthy and needed structure. The Core Plan gives me that, and forces me to eat healthy. I've already noticed a difference, and even if I choose the Points Plan later on I'll probably make the Core Plan foods as my base going forward. 

Much better to defrost a chicken breast, then grill it on the Foreman grill and live, than to go thru the drive-thru at Wendy's, get a triple-cheeseburger, and die, I say

Finally I want to commend a few blogs to you for your edification and enjoyment.

One is Chad Lewis's blog. Chad is an elder at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville and a former singer-songwriter, and writes about faith from a Reformed perspective, with a healthy dose of grace and a dash of Rich Mullins and Brennan Manning. I should also say I know Chad personally, but he did not pay me a dime for this endorsement

Bible Money Matters addresses personal finance from a Christian perspective. Many of the personal finance blogs don't have an openly Christian perspective; BMM does and it is a fine blog in its own right.

With that, I am…waiting on the real start of football season in a few weeks

Ed Stetzer is a well-known missiologist and author, his most recent book being Compelled by Love, co-written with pastor and church planter Philip Nation.

The co-authors have been on a blog tour as of late to promote and discuss their book, answer questions about the book and the subjects it addresses, and also speak with any commenters on that particular website.

 This week, the blog community of From the Ashes and Phoenix Preacher are please to have Nation and Stetzer come here and discuss their work with you!

Here is a summary of Compelled by Love from the book's website:

Missional and love are two words that need to be spoken together. Love is one of the key ideas taught in scripture. In fact, God describes himself as love in 1 John 4:8. As that is the case, it is essential to seek an understanding of love if we are to live like Christ - especially if we are going to join him on his mission.

Missional is a new word to many readers. Simply defined, it is living like a missionary no matter where you are in the world – home or foreign field – focused on and living for the mission of God.  We believe that the church needs to take on a missional attitude in our ever-increasingly unchurched culture.  But, just as we would send out missionaries to foreign lands to love the people and lead them into a relationship Christ, we must fulfill both parts of the equation as well.

Compelled by Love has been written to reorient people to the biblical portrait of love in the heart of God, the establishment of the church, and the formation of individual believers. When the ethic of “love” is combined with the attitude of “missional” in the church, believers will follow after the mission of God.

You may purchase the book at your local bookstore or through Amazon.

The rest of the lead article of this thread will be a question-and-answer format. Stetzer and Nation took the time to answer 15 questions about the book and related issues, four of those from PP readers.

After reading their answers, you can discuss and comment in the comments field. Both men will step by one or both of the blogs as their schedule permits in the next few days, so don't hestitate to interact with them!

Now, on to the Q&A.

What led both of you to write on this specific topic - living one's life in a missional sense, with a mindset of love for neighbors, coworkers and anyone else one sees in their part of the world?

Ed: First, let me thank you for allowing us some time with the readers of the Phoenix Preacher Blog.

We saw a need for Compelled by Love because so much of the missional material available to church leaders dealt with practice rather than motivation. In fact, much of my previous writings have dealt with the need to find our way out of the milieu of traditionalism and back to contextual Gospel ministry. To do that, the church must have the proper motivation. Love stands as one of the propelling forces for the church. We don’t think it is a mistake that the scripture says that “Christ’s love compels us” and “we should no longer live for ourselves.” (2 Corinthians 5). That is key to missional living.

Philip: We also wrote on this topic to give average Christians an entry-way into missional living. For the most part, the books and conferences highlighting missional living are directed toward pastors and church planters. We thought it would be helpful to give all Christians an accessible book about missional living.

Missional is defined differently by various Christian groups. What is your definition?

Ed: To put it simply, I define it as living as one who is sent. Jesus was sent by the Father and then he sent us (John 20:21). In more complex terms, missional means applying missiological principles to any and every context in order to more easily communicate the Gospel.

The terms like missio de,and incarnational are helpful and I use them all the time. But at its core, it is about sentness.

Is love for one's neighbor, and/or city, and the people in that city, the key factor in having a missional mindset?

Philip: Not completely, but it has major implications.

Love is a key to missional living because God reveals himself in terms of love (1 John 4:8). The primary responsibility of believers is to glorify God so our lives should deeply reflect his love.

When this is applied to living out our faith, love becomes a necessity because of the object of the mission – sinful people and a lost and hurting world. It will take a great deal of love to make the sacrifices necessary to reach a neighborhood, community, or city with the Gospel.

Ed: As Philip has said, love is necessary. But we would both be quick to say that it is a portion of God’s glory and revelation of himself to us. We are called to love in a myriad of ways and, therefore, love must be properly understood as serving others in Jesus’ name (Luke 4 ministry) and seeking man’s redemption for God’s glory (Luke 19:10 comes to mind).

Are you telling us, in Compelled by Love, that each of us should act as missionaries to the part of the world we live in and/or are called to, whether that’s our hometown or some place in Africa?

Ed: Yes – that is exactly what we are saying. Now, we know that there is a technical definition of a missionary, so I don’t want to get stuck there. But, it is the missionary impulse that we need.

Most of our churches have grown accustomed to a definition of missions as “somewhere over there.” Now, the Western church must see its cities and countries as a mission field.

On page 56, you reference people who are losing faith in the church and see it not as a place of love but of judgment. On this blog, there are people who can tell you stories of different kinds of abuse they received at the hands of fellow churchgoers and church leaders. What can we do to make our churches places of love, not abuse and pain, for believers and nonbelievers alike?

Philip: I have been in church my entire life and know that we as believers have often failed in the arena of love. It simply comes down to the type of service we are willing to render. Christ could not have been clearer when he called us by his own example to serve rather than be served (Mark 10:42-45).

When we are willing to fulfill the law of Christ and bear one another’s burdens, then abusive relationships in congregational life will become a distant memory. But as long as we demand our own needs be met first, then abuse will continue. All of our churches could use a season of self-examination and repentance. As we allow the Spirit to uncover our self-centeredness, then we can learn to live for the spiritual needs of members and the lost.

Ed: I preached last Sunday from Jesus’ parable about the wheat and the weeds—and how they two are indistinguishable until later on. So, there are a lot of people in the world who look like and talk like Christians but do some pretty ungodly things.

Three things come to my mind:

First, we need a realistic expectation that there will be hurt and pain. That is part of being in community with others. They hurt you and I am guessing that I have hurt many people because I am sinful and fallen. The church is a mess and will remain one.

Second, we have to make it “not O.K.” to call yourself a Christian and be a jerk, not love the hurting, and not show and share Christ. We have made this religious bargain that if you hold to right beliefs and hate your neighbor, you are orthodox. You’re not.

Third, I think churches need to restore internal accountability through church discipline. You cannot be a scriptural church if you cannot practice church discipline.

If I realize that I don't have that love for others you talk about in the book, should I question my salvation or affirm it and try to get 'on track' and ask God to fill me with that love for others?

Ed: We need this question to be asked on an individual basis. As you read 1 John 3 & 4, it is clear that believers love and when love is absent then we are walking in darkness. As a person reads Compelled by Love, we hope they will allow a scriptural examination to take place as to the state of their soul. If they are outside the kingdom of God, then repent and believe in Christ as the Messiah.

Do you really think the culture is "waiting to be embraced by love"? (p. 17)

Philip: My short answer is an emphatic “yes.” Think of the best-selling books of the moment: The Twilight Saga, The Last Lecture, A New Earth, &The Shack. Much of pop-culture, politics, and the arts constantly swirl around the emotional idea of love with its personal effects. As believers, we have experienced the only true love from God himself. As the Lord has “set eternity in the hearts of men,” then we should aim friends and neighbors in the direction of the one who can fully solve their inner longing.

How would implementing the missional mindset you suggest change the way many evangelical churches operate, including those that emphasize verse-by-verse/expositional teaching; programs to attract believers and nonbelievers alike; and practice such traditional methods of evangelism as passing out tracts, crusade-style evangelism, street witnessing, etc.?

Ed: Well, if you have read any of my earlier books, you probably know I have opinions on all of those things. But, the change that we suggest changes the hearts of the people rather than dealing with methodological change. But, I believe there will be both.

God is using all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people. I tend to be pretty generous in some of these areas, trusting that God is guiding individual churches to the unique expression he has called them to.

That being said, I think some of our methods have produced consumers and consumers can be some pretty unloving people when their needs are not being met. On Sunday, I told my church (a little over 3000 attendees on Sunday) that big shows produce consumers that throw a few bucks in the offering plate and then complain they are not getting the show they wanted. I called them to be involved in small things (preaching from the parable of the mustard seed and the yeast). I think that small face-to-face ministry has to be a part of any of the things you mentioned above… and, if it is not, we produce a show and not a ministry.

By operating with a compelled love as described in 2 Corinthians 5, the change occurring first will be that of perspective towards other people. We will view them as people in need of mercy rather than interlopers wanting to change the way we “do church.”

Philip: In planting my current congregation, I had to change many of my perspectives. Like many ministers (and unlike my pagan-background friend Ed), I grew up in church, went to a Christian college, straight to seminary, and right into full-time ministry. Once I entered the world of church planting, my family was no longer safely inside the Christian sub-culture. Unless we took upon a merciful attitude toward outsiders to the kingdom of God, we would have given up early and gone back to a brick and mortar bunker-mentality congregation. Missional living moves beyond stylistic preferences and seeks to discover the best method to reach a neighbor with the power of the Gospel.

Like Jonah, we can become angry at the world and self-centered in not wanting to get out of the 'safety' of the Christian bubble. Why should we have a caring, redeeming and forgiving attitude towards the world?

Philip: For the greatest reason of all – Christ will be glorified when we lift up his name to the nations of the earth and call them to the salvation he offers. Beyond that lofty reason, there is a more personal one – because God left the splendor of his heavenly realm to show care toward us. As I have said to our church many times, God’s mission included reaching you with his mercy but it did not end with you. He has now invited us to join him in the work as he makes his appeal through us (2 Corinthians 5:20).

From Eric: Do you think that the Emerging/Missional church is a combination of the Lutheran ideal of being a missionary to your neighbor, and the evangelical ideal of sharing your faith through active evangelism?

Ed: Hi Eric. Love that question.

Let me leave off the “emerging” since that adds another element. But, Lutherans were way ahead on missional ideas. It was a Lutheran, Georg Viceodom, who helped shape many of these ideas.

The article is here:

http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-1287608_ITM

The article explained:

It was another German missiologist, Georg F. Vicedom, who has the honour of having developed the concept of missio Dei in a way that seems to be consistent with the more classical missiology that preceded Willingen, and quite different from the more radical missiology that, under the same label, was worked out during the 1960s. In his book Missio Dei, Vicedom emphasizes that mission is God's work from beginning to end. God is the acting subject in mission. However, Vicedom does not thereby exclude the church from the mission of God but includes it: "The mission, and with it the church, is God's very own work". (8) Both the church and the mission of the church are "tools of God, instruments through which God carries out His mission. (9)

In other words, it was a Lutheran who wanted to ground the idea of the missio dei in a Biblical understanding of mission. That is key today. (see my blog series on this here: http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/the-meanings-of-missional.html).

You will see missio dei instruction in Missouri Synod Lutheran schools. At one Concordia they say,

THY 572 Missio Dei - 3 credits
Based upon Jesus' announcement of the Good News of the Kingdom of God, this course develops a Lutheran theology of mission that motivates Christians to proclaim the kingdom. It builds an understanding of the mission among the lost and hurting. Resources will include the Bible, the Lutheran Confessions, and missiological texts.

And, this is not new. Lutherans have been talking about the missio dei long before the modern missional movement.

So, yes. It is a combination of some of those ideas.

Missional living is an emphasis on the personal responsibility of each believer to show and share the good news of the gospel and the Kingdom.

From Eric: Could it be this new move of God toward Missional thinking is His way of showing us what He meant when He walked the earth?

Ed: I want to be careful about presuming upon the mind of God. I believe that the missional thinking we currently engage in is a continuation of what God has been doing for a long time. It is arrogant to think that, because we have a new word, we have discovered a new idea. We are just joining Jesus in His mission and people have been doing that a long time.

Now, I like what you ask because I think it does relate to the Kingdom of God, which was exceedingly evident when Jesus walked on the earth.

The early church operated in an openly hostile culture to Christianity and therefore had to live differently and took their faith more seriously. In our current day, we have too often been softened by Judeo-Christian society which has led us to believe everyone either believes or at least understands the claims of the gospel.

Missional thinking today is helping us to relearn Christ’s manner of incarnationally living his truth among neighbors. Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of John 1:14 in The Message remind us of that purpose– “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” Missional thinking will ensure that we recognize the neighborhood in which we live.

From brian: The 21st century has given us a view of the world that was not possible before; the universe we view is not the same as when the Bible was written. Given our modern view how do we engage the younger generation who have many questions of origins, relevance, truth, and shall I say, have the most important human need, love?

Ed: I am currently finishing my next book regarding the younger generation entitled Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and Churches that Reach Them. Through my work on it and Compelled by Love, I have found that the questions the younger generation has now are similar to the questions which all generations have held out in the past. The difference lies in how they process information and prioritize issues.

Moving into their thought patterns is at the very least difficult for people of our generation (Last year, I crossed the threshold into my 40’s and Philip is right behind me). But, it can also be completely frustrating because this younger generation actually enjoys holding competing truth claims in their minds as equal to one another.

We will simply need to realize that they are farther from God than previous generations; much more like Mars Hill than Jerusalem.

Philip: I would add that we need to take hold of the younger generation’s stated desire to “save the world.” Every week, we hear about a new initiative to save the planet, save the environment, solve world hunger, end genocide, and the like.

The church should be the one entity on earth that cries the loudest for justice. In fact, we should weep when it is absent.

As we engage this generation, the majority who do not know Jesus, we can reach them through the relevant means of declaring justice as important to the God who authored it. Such a declaration will persuade them to Christ and open eyes to their sinful estate.

From Tim: I'm wondering if the authors could describe what they feel like the difference is between "missional" and "emergent/emerging."

Ed: Hello Tim and thanks for the loaded question. Grin!

Missional is a missionary perspective regarding Christian living. As I have said, it is “living sent.”

Emergent is a “conversation” (see “movement”) among different kinds of churches, some of which I find orthodox and some of which I do not.

Here is what I wrote in my book, Breaking the Missional Code:

The “emerging church” movement is a dynamic movement and worth understanding if a church takes serious the idea of breaking the missional code. Emerging doesn’t necessary mean missional, nor should we confuse missional as necessary meaning emerging. Churches can be missional and never be referred to or seen as part of the emerging conversation. On the other hand many emerging churches reflect wonderfully what it means to be a missional church, while other emerging churches like many traditional or more program churches have very little in common with what we are referring to as missional.

One of the challenges to understanding the emerging church like so many of our church expression it can’t be put into a neat box. To understand the emerging church we must avoid our temptation to lump them all together and to assume they represent one of two extremes—and some evil movement within the church or the salvation of the church. There are serious concerns about some segments of the emerging church. Thus, while we do embrace the desire of churches to connect with emerging culture, we do think that must be done without compromising the faith.

When we talk about missional churches we are not referring to a certain form, expression, model, type, or category of church… the issue is not what kind of church are you: modern, post-modern, seeker, emerging, traditional, house, etc.

So, I would say that a lot of churches called “emerging” would be far from “missional” in many communities. However, there are a lot of great emerging churches engaging their communities in missional ways.

I probably could say a lot more on that, but that would probably send the conversation another direction. In the next few days I will release a research paper on the subject as well.

From Victorious: How would you adjust church planting expectations, strategies and actions in an area such as Western Europe where you are most likely not going to enjoy the labors of those who have gone before you but are going to have to break up fallow ground and lay a foundation?

Ed: “Victorious” – now that’s a screen name!

I was just in Barcelona this Spring and will be in Krakow and Rome in the Fall. It is tough soil. You are not calling people “back” to church.

Let me say that I always avoid giving missiological advice in a culture I do not know. So, I am not sure about the specifics.

I would say that, generally, church planters in Western Europe should expect to labor longer in order to see disciple-making fruit. However, they can also expect to find a blanker canvas on which to paint the gospel. The population of Western Europe is a place where patient workers can hope to see a great production of disciples as they begin at Genesis and work people through God’s redemptive history.

(Last question) Without giving away too much of the book, what are some suggestions you have for people to become missional within their spheres of influence?

Ed: I would be remiss if I did not say that we should return to our first love. As I finished Compelled by Love, I was forced to think through the issues on an intensely personal level. My family had just moved to Nashville and we were putting down roots in a new community. As I did then, I would ask the reader to examine what they love and why. Missional living should choose to love a neighbor or coworker enough to put down relationship roots in their life. I hope that our readers will survey their personal relationships to ensure the Gospel has a clear path to every person they know.

Philip: Compelled by Love was born out of personal ministry; not vocational ministry. I would want to ask your readers one question: “when your neighbors or coworkers think about who they want to hang out with on the weekend, is it you?” In looking at the life of Christ, he was the man who sinners, tax collectors, and the infirmed wished they could be near. As his ambassadors, our homes should be the refuge of the hurting and our lives should be a comforting presence of the gospel’s power to the saved and compelling conviction to the lost. Missional living comes down to a personal investment into your own community. Where do you stand with the people who live around you every day?

Thanks again for allowing us to visit with you and your readers. I hope our book and this discussion will encourage them to living missionally in every arena of life.

Philip will be by to interact more when this is posted. Ed is speaking the morning of the 13^th at a pastors conference at Liberty but will try to drop by between flights.

Today it's the Linkathon, which usually is posted at Phoenix Preacher but, due to the Compelled by Love blog tour there this Wednesday, is hosted here this week.

We'll start with a great and very helpful post from Jared Wilson on how Joel Osteen's theology plays out. Here's a teaser:

…Osteen and his variety of prosperity gospelism position Christian identity — to be better, higher, more favored by the world than anybody else. It is a position of entitlement.

And it is the antithesis of grace. Because they believe they deserve special treatment. The camera incident cited there comes from an anecdote in Your Best Life Now, where Osteen describes being told by a clerk that he would have to check a camera with luggage, that it couldn't be carried on. He basically argued with her, got nowhere, and then the pilot, who overheard, tried to placate Osteen by offering to stow it in the cockpit. Osteen writes (p.36):

The woman behind the counter glared at me and shook her head, clearly aggravated. I just smiled and said, "Sorry, ma'am; it's the favor of God."

No sir. It's being an ass.
And I imagine after that incident, that clerk didn't come away thinking, "Wow, God is awesome to favor a believer that way." She was likely thinking, "Wow, what a jerk your followers are, God."

Ed Stetzer on Obama.

Barton on the race we all run as Christians.

Perry Noble with a great post on verses for all of the "wrong things we've done".

iMonk has a word for Todd Bentley. He also talks with IX Marks' Jonathan Leeman about church membership and weighs in with his own take on the subject.

Steve Brown on truth.

Sam Storms on why God doesn't always heal.

Tony Morgan lists reasons from several Twitter users why they use the micro-blogging service.

Tall Skinny Kiwi gives his thoughts on being missional.

21st Century Reformation gives some tools for the task of understanding theologian N.T. Wright.

Allie. Allie update.

Conservative Reformed Mafia on the Olympics and our presecuted brothers and sisters in Christ over in China.

Josh Harris has a helpful post for pastors and teachers on preaching notes, starting with one of Mark Dever's sermons on Isaiah.

Newly added links (1 p.m. 8/13)

Have an iPod you'd like to donate? Check out iPods for Africa.

Steven Curtis Chapman and his family on Larry King Live (YouTube videos compiled by Justin Taylor).

Mark Driscoll had a conversation with Wayne Grudem.

Chad Lewis on our identity in Christ.

iMonk reviews a book on practical theology for women by a Mars Hill Church (Seattle) Bible teacher, Wendy Alsup. He also had a post titled "The Suburban Jesus Hates Me".

Jared Wilson links to a White Horse Inn radio broadcast discussing some evangelical pastors' advocacy of Christians practicing "self-feeding" when it comes to Bible knowledge.

Dave Ferguson on Bill Hybels' teaching on decision making.

I love the Olympics. I love sports and those two weeks are always a special time for me. Such amazing stories come out of the Olympics. They’re why many people watch them, the struggles and triumphs behind the athletes are just riveting as we watch people doing things that many of us cannot. It’s inspiring.

Sometimes, I get a little uncomfortable with my comfy position on the couch when I am watching people far more in shape than I will ever be strive to not necessarily to win, but to finish. And then I get to thinking: would I do something like that if I knew I might not win? I mean, is that not the point in the first place?

Hebrews 12:1-2 (NKJV) says:
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I don’t know about you but sometimes, my race is more like a trot as I get weighed down with the cares of life. And when I get discouraged, I can get to wondering what the point is of all this faith, all this obedience (or so I am thinking in that moment) if I am not getting anything out of it. How silly I am!

Those verses are so convicting to me. Here I am looking for some reward for doing nothing and Jesus still kept on toward the cross, knowing that nothing remotely resembling a reward was waiting for Him. But still He went. He persevered to finish, no matter the cost. Just like those athletes I admire so much.

How shallow my commitment to Him can be. I am so comfortable watching people give all they can for a single moment in time, I don’t even see all the moments I can give it all for Christ passing by me. And He’s right there with me, watching as I let another opportunity pass by. It must sadden Him but He chooses to love me and provide more opportunities for me each and every day.

That’s when I think that for all that we hope we will enter Heaven with our heads held high, sure of our contribution to the Kingdom, we will enter looking far differently. I think that I will enter Heaven on my knees, struggling to make it that last length to the Lord and He’ll be there to scoop me up in His arms, gentle and loving. Rather than imagining myself alongside those fierce and honed athletes, I need to see myself as I really am, weak and in need of Him but with the Lord at the finish line, arms open, rooting for me to finish.

It’s time to get off the couch and into the race, even if everyone else around you is going a different speed than you are. We will all get to be received by the Lord of All Creation at the finish line, we just need to keep striving toward Him.

Some quotes from his book, “The Church before the Watching World:”

The Scriptures teach that we must practice, not just talk about, the purity of the visible church.

If we stress the love of God without the holiness of God, it turns out only to be compromise. But if we stress the holiness of God without the love of God, we practice something that is hard and lacks beauty.

We do not believe, as some modern theologians would have it, that God’s holiness only means his being God. Rather, it means that there are some things that conform to his nature, and some things that do not.  God’s holiness, in other words, involves moral content.

…The fact that God is holy means something to the individual and it means something to the group.  It demands holiness in our personal life and holiness in the church in both life and doctrine.

And yet we must immediately respond that we fall off the opposite cliff if we forget that God is love…. We can, therefore, fall into heresy in two ways. We can forget either God’s holiness or his love, and we cannot say which of these is worse.

In his fight against the concept of a static perfectionism, the careful theologian will insist that we sin daily in thought, word and deed.  But woe betide us if we count this our norm. That is totally destructive. There is a difference between the declarative statement that we sin daily and the normative statement that such sinning is acceptable.

Picking up on page 140 of The Charismatic Century, we begin our series on Aimee Semple McPherson, best known in Christendom as a somewhat flamboyant evangelist who founded the Foursquare denomination, by looking at what co-authors Jack Hayford and S. David Moore say about her early years.

She was born Aimee Elizabeth Kennedy on October 9, 1890 on a farm in Ontario. Her mother we are told was part of the Salvation Army, and that group's culture, including its uniforms, bands and theatrics, left "a deep impression" on young Aimee.

Aimee's wit and verbal skill emerged and she became an able defender of creationism. She was torn between a desire to socialize within the small town of Ingersoll and the "more rigid faith" demands of the Salvation Army code.

Her first major exposure to Pentecostalism came in December 1907 when evangelist Robert Semple hit town. She was "fascinated" by not only the message of spirit Baptism and speaking in tongues but also by Semple and his "Irish lilt". It led her to come under conviction to fully surrender her life to Christ "even if it meant forsaking the social life she loved." (p. 140)

After several days of struggle Aimee yielded to God's leading and not long afterwards was baptized in the Spirit and spoke in tongues. She believed God was calling her to become an evangelist. When Semple proposed to her in 1908, she accepted, and became his bride in August 1908 at her parent's home. They planted a church in London, Ontario later that year, and came to Chicago the next year. (p. 140-141)

Last week we learned of the tragic end of Aimee's marriage to Semple. On page 141 we're told Aimee relocated to New York City with her infant daughter, Roberta. She and her mother served together at a Salvation Army mission. In New York, she met businessman Harold McPherson, and married him in October 1911 after moving to Chicago. She raised Roberta and her son by McPherson, Rolf Potter McPherson (born in 1913) for the next three years. (141)

In winter 1913 Aimee was hospitalized with a serious illness; the co-authors say that in her struggle to recover, she believed God was "signaling" to her that she had to recommit to her call to evangelism. Her husband objected to it, and in July 1915 they briefly separated. They eventually ministered together for a time, with Harold helping organized Aimee's public ministry. 

The ministry began with the purchase of a tent. They traveled the evangelistic circuit in a "Gospel Car" covered with Scripture and slogans. The family barely survived on the small offerings they received, and Harold realized the hard life he and Aimee were living was not one he wanted for himself. Aimee was "insistant" of her calling; both agreed to part, and though Aimee hoped for a reconciliation, Harold divorced her in 1921. Neither spoke ill of each other for the rest of their lives. (142)