A few days ago the BBC World News featured the work of The Marin Foundation in written and audio form! Above is a screenshot I took of the BBC’s home page on their website… And that’s us as the feature story! It’s been crazy since it went live. We have gotten tons of folks reaching out from all over the world. This impact of our story is being felt! It’s such a humbling thing to have happen, and it’s definitely surreal to know that our bridge building message is getting spread across the globe through the most internationally trusted media company in existence. Just unreal.

You can read the full article here

You can listen to the 30 minutes segment the BBC ran on us here (and you have about 30 days to download it to keep it if you want)

Yesterday I got an email from the BBC and they gave me the following, crazy, update about our stories since they went live:

—Our radio segment (which has also been featured throughout America on NPR) is the most listened to segment of any from the BBC World Service

—Our radio segment is the most downloaded segment of any from the BBC World Service

—Our article is the 2nd most shared article of any story on any of the BBC websites

—Our article is the 3rd most read article on any of the BBC websites

I have to thank Christopher Landau so very much. He was the producer of the segment, as well as the writer of the article. Christopher was the one who fought for this story to be done! Even after some higher-ups said no to his initial proposal, he kept at it over almost 1 full year (!!!!) before they finally said yes. And now look what is happening! Brenda and I first met Christopher while I was speaking in London earlier this year. He had read my book when it first released in 2009 and as he said, “kept it in the back of my head to do a story on it for just this time.”

I’m not the most trusting person when it comes to media folks… They never seem to quite tell the truth in how they are going to present or edit something. But Christopher did exactly what he said he was going to do. A stand up man. A balanced journalist. And now a person ever so dear to not only my heart, but the millions his work has reached around the world.

Just absolutely amazing what the Lord is doing with this.

No matter the outcome, faithfulness always wins out.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

Here is an article I wrote for Youthworker Journal about the future of college ministry. It’s all about the need to shift relational paradigms from the 21st Century back to the 1st Century in order to continue making an impact in the ever-changing world of college campuses.

What do you think about the philosophy change I sketched?

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

Thanks for all of your great insights yesterday on what you believe is the Gospel! I loved reading them, and I generally like to think that the people that read this blog are at least 82.6% smarter than people who read any other blog Maybe it’s just that the people who have thought about what the Gospel means are the only ones who commented, but man, preach those definitions my brothers and sisters!

In the broader Christian world the word Gospel is thrown around so easily and quickly without a clue what it actually means. “Gospel” is now a part of the Christianeze language that, when someone says it, is to be automatically assumed they are: 1) A great Christian; 2) Totally know what they’re talking about. I would tend to say that neither of those points are accurate.

In fact, I physically cringe when I hear people say the word Gospel. I cringe because I know when people say it, that’s all I’m going to get from most of them when it comes to that word … just a bunch of lip service. This is kind of what I feel like when I hear most people talking about the Gospel:

Let me try and make this as clear as I can:

“Gospel” is not a word, it’s a way of life.

It’s not an understanding. It’s not a theology. And it’s sure not something that should ever be said lightly. Yet it has turned into all of those things.

In fact, I think the word Gospel should never be said.

You heard me right. Never. It should be lived. No one out there (especially those who are not Christian) cares about an over-used, under-impacted word that Christians say as the password to get in the club. However, through the message of Jesus living through you and I, we will be the hands and feet of Jesus’ reconciling work to bring ourselves and others into a restored relationship with God, each other, and have the strength to live a daily faithfulness of what it means to establish Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus references the word translated to “gospel” seven times, five of them coming in the book of Mark. Five of those seven times Jesus says something to the effect of “preach the gospel.”  Narrowly looking at the phrase “preach the gospel” it would assume most Christians are right today in their spoken usage of the word. The problem comes in to play when looking at the whole of Jesus’ life and ministry. His overtly intentional incarnational ways (not just as the God-man but also in the way he went about ‘living in the neighborhoods’ doing good deeds) were the presupposition to his earning the right to speak about what people call ‘the Gospel’ today.  

There is no such thing as a Capital-G Gospel. 

I say this because the capital letter denotes a person or a name; a label. You could argue that Jesus (a person) is the Gospel (a label to Jesus’ work). But the problem I see with that is that Jesus the person commanded us to live as he lived – not just label as he lived. So many times throughout Jesus’ life the roadblocks people encountered with him were because they weren’t ready to live as he lived (the Rich Young Ruler, the Pharisees, etc).

The “Gospel” is based on a life lived, not a construction of how to get saved.

The Gospel is meant to be a verb that describes an action; not a label of the ideal of someone’s actions for us.

So please, I ask you to stop saying the world Gospel and instead just faithfully live your life. The “Gospel” will be felt with more impact through active unspoken mediums than any intellectualized ones.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

In April 2010 I heard a man I know and respect greatly, Scot McKnight, speak about his understanding of the Gospel. Scot is a no-joke theologian and someone that when he talks, people (and I) listen. His talk about the Gospel peaked my interest because I had never really thought deeply about what I believed the Gospel is. My whole life I hear Christian folks constantly talking all of the time about:

preaching the Gospel

teaching the Gospel

spreading the Gospel

presenting the Gospel

After much reflection and study on my part since April, I have some very strong thoughts about what I believe the Gospel is. But before I post mine tomorrow, I would love to hear your thoughts first. Don’t worry – this isn’t a test and there are no right or wrong answers

What do you feel the Gospel is?

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

Photo credit to Michelle at MalAdjusted Media

You HAVE GOT TO READ the powerful story of why this man in his underwear is hugging us! It’s one of the most powerful experiences I’ve encountered in a long time. Thanks to Nathan Albert, Director of Pastoral Care for The Marin Foundation, who chronicled this on his blog.

Here is the picture of the same guy who just jumped off his float, sprinting towards when he realized what we’re sorry for to give us his hugs and tears! Wow…

UPDATE: The man in his underwear is named Tristan, and he commented on Nathan’s blog! He said:

“Thank you so much for kind words and beautiful actions. I am Tristan (the man in the underwear). You are a breath of fresh air in this world. With so much hate and intolerance around us it is amazing to open your mind and heart in such a loving way. Again thank you and this was an amazing read and something I will never forget!”

There were 20 of us. Gay and straight. Black and white. Male and female and transgender. Christian and non-Christian. Old and young. Parents and children and siblings and friends and co-workers. No matter what, we all had one thing in common: Humility.

Please click on the link above to read Nathan’s account of this life changing moment for all of us.

It’s crazy what’s happening through this…

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

This is literally what Christian Outreach to the LGBT Community looks like:

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org  (Picture Credit goes to Michelle from Maladjusted Media)

For those of you that missed Part 1 of this post, this is in no way an endorsement of street preachers so head on over and read the first part before reading this post. This is Part 2 of Kevin Harris (Director of Community Relations for The Marin Foundation) posts on our upcoming Chicago Gay Pride Parade events.

“I’m not sure what your reaction is to or what you think of street preachers, but my guess is that if you’re reading this blog you’re probably not a big fan of them.  So in the name of practical application, I’ve written out a short prayer while thinking about Ruben Israel (above) as he was at the pride parade in Chicago last year and will most likely be there again this weekend. If you have a minute, take the time to read and say the prayer with me. If you can’t bring yourself to pray for Ruben or street preachers in general, then maybe take a minute to ask God to start to work on your heart to foster some feelings of compassion and love for them so you can one day pray for them if you feel being led to do so (considering that you’re a Christian).

I try to avoid praying that God would change others hearts and the way that they present their message, as that is already a given that often seems to play into feelings of moral superiority and pity for the person that I disagree with. Although it is important that his approach would change as I assume that it has caused a decent amount of hurt and bitterness in those that come in contact with it, we often seem to focus on this aspect instead of affirming others humanity as a child of God and praying for their mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being.

God, I lift up Ruben and pray that he would continue to come to a deeper understanding of how great your love is for him

that he would more fully grasp how wide and long and deep is the love of Christ

that you would continue to bless him with the joy of his salvation

the hope that you have called him to

assurance in his identity as a child of God

contentment in his relationship with you

comfort in his times of trouble

and your peace that surpasses all understanding

while revealing what your will is for his life and how he should walk out his faith

While he is away from home I ask that you would give him safe travels

and be with his family until he returns

I ask that you would forgive me for the feelings of contempt that I have felt towards him

and I acknowledge him as my brother in Christ regardless of my feelings

as you alone have the knowledge to fully know

and the authority to determine the salvation of your children”

Do you have any specific prayers that come to mind when you think of street preachers that tell you or someone that you love that they are evil and going to hell? What about others that have hurt you in the past?

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

In gearing up for The Marin Foundation’s two events at the Gay Pride Parade, Kevin Harris, Director of Community Relations for The Marin Foundation, wrote the following 2 Part Series to ask God to help us Bless the Street Preachers:

“To be honest from the start, there are few things that cause my do not judge button to get jammed like a fire and brimstone street preacher. I am a pretty laid back person; alright a very laid back person, but they have managed on a number of occasions to make my blood boil and arouse anger in myself that I am not that accustomed to. And I’m not talking about the righteous anger that preachers love to talk about on a Sunday morning, but more the “I want to kick you in the face” type anger.

Now I have talked to street preachers in person and online along with reading up on their theology and motivations as to their reasoning for presenting their message the way that they do. I have come to believe that most of them are not the hateful bigots that they are so often written off as and they genuinely believe that telling others that they are wicked sinners destined for hell is going to bring them to have a relationship with Christ. But despite my perception of their good intentions, the fact does not change that I think they make it harder for others to discover the unconditional love of Christ and would often like to see God go Old Testament on them with some good ole wrath. But instead I am often reminded that Jesus, like that annoying school teacher that assigned homework on Fridays and actually expected you to do it, drew parallels between anger in our heart towards our brother/sister and murder (Matt. 5:21-22) and he even went further in the same chapter to say that we must also love our enemies and pray for them. Seriously Jesus, come on now.

Even though this theory of enemy love does not seem plausible when the requirement manifests itself in my life, I’m slowing starting to see some connections between it and prayer. And I’m not sure that the Biblical mandate to do it just because Jesus says to, although important, is the only reason it is required of us. I am still working on my anger when it comes to street preachers, but a while back I felt like I was hurt by a friend and we had somewhat of a falling out. I did not want to let go of my anger but was reminded of some of the verses I listed above along with the scripture that tells us to not sin in our anger and give the devil a foothold by letting the sun go down on our anger (Eph. 4:26-27). I was angry and couldn’t bring myself to pray for the friend, so I just started by asking God to give me the desire to want to pray for them. I slowly got to the point where I could pray for them, although my heart really wasn’t in it, and over time I actually started to mean some of the words that I was saying. Reconciliation had yet to come about between us, yet somehow in the process of praying my heart was being molded and I was starting to care more about them.

I am beginning to see that in connecting with God and admitting our dependence upon God in the face of anger that seems insurmountable, it is there that God starts to conform us more fully into the image of Christ as we are pushed through the painful process of sanctification. In praying for someone, we cannot help but to acknowledge and dignify their humanity. When we invest time in someone in this way our lives become intertwined if only in a mental and spiritual sense, and we start to care about them and recognize their worth as a person made in the image of God. From the point of acknowledging the intrinsic worth inherent in even those we are really angry with and persisting in prayer, it seems that we give room for God to work in our lives and shape our hearts. This does not seem very enticing living in a culture that encourages and even celebrates instant gratification at times. So unlike just going to the supermarket and picking up some vegetables, I am slowly starting to find that the process of working through anger and loving another person more accurately resembles a garden where the food is cultivated over a significant period of time.

I am by no means there yet with street preachers, but hopefully if I run into some of them at the pride parade this weekend in Chicago I won’t want to kick them in the face, just the shins.

What about you? What are the thoughts that come to mind when the topic of praying for someone that angers you comes up?”

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

When people ask me about other books out there that focus on bridge building that I would endorse, I have responded with the same answer every time:

“Unfortunately, and quite sadly, I haven’t found another book that I could get behind that I believe is a true bridge building book.”

That was my answer until now. Friendship at the Margins: Discovering Mutuality in Service and Mission by Christopher Heuertz and Christine Pohl is as real and honest of a confession of bridge building as Love is an Orientation. While I was reading it I kept thinking: It’s as if I wrote this book. They just put into words many of the exact things I have been thinking in my own head.

Heuertz and Pohl speak clearly and poignantly about true reconciliation; diving deeply into living in tension, personal sacrifice, human dignity and what it means to befriend someone not as an evangelism opportunity but as an opportunity to know freedom in being authentic where authenticity is the last thing expected.

This short book (142 pages) is packed with so much brilliant deep reflection and revelation, that every person needs to not only read it, but soak it in and implement its words. If this is done, I promise our culture will look totally different!

In my opinion, this book is required reading for anyone who is serious about building a bridge.

This is not a shameless plug for a friend, it is a serious petition because I know this book will make a significant impact for the Kingdom and advance this bridge building work. And the unique part to Friendship at the Margins is that “margins” can be whatever group is opposite to yourself, no matter where you’re coming from!

I will be starting a devotional series on this book shortly, diving deeper into some of the points that I feel are indispensable. You can purchase Friendship at the Margins here.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

This weekend I am speaking at a Salvation Army conference on my theological and missiological understanding of Scripture in regards to bridge building. Here is a small intro to what I will talk about. And thanks to this United Kingdom series I coincidentally was asked the exact question:

Are there particular biblical principles of mission and evangelism which shape your work?

I delve deeply into what I call the Theology of Bridge Builders: The Big 5, in my book, Love is an Orientation.[1] Instead of just repeating what I wrote in my book, I will focus here on a few other biblical principles I rely heavily on.

The Kingdom of God is inherited through belief (John 3:5-8)

I feel that so often, especially when talking about the GLBT community, theological conservatives focus so intently on behaviour modification that they completely forget about what it means to live and thrive in a baseline belief in God through Jesus Christ. I mentioned this in response to an earlier question, but what does it mean for us to be a true come-as-you-are-culture that works on God’s timetable, not on ours? I am not saying that any and all behaviours are biblically acceptable but what I am saying is that looking generally at Christendom, the proper progression of faith is not starting in the right place.

Faithful commitment over time is success (Proverbs 16:3)

What if a GLBT person never agrees with a conservative interpretation of Scripture? What if they accept Jesus Christ and then pronounce they are a gay Christian? What if they say they hear God clearly tell them that living in a same-sex, committed and monogamous relationship is a blessed, God-ordained way of life? Have you not done your job? Did you fail? Are you not fulfilling even the most baseline of Christian standards? The answer is that a faithful commitment to God is already a success. The more accurate translation of Proverbs 16:3 is, ‘commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will be established’. Success in God’s eyes is completely different from our modern understanding of the term. The fallout from this incorrect alignment leads to a creation of false expectations for ourselves in comparison to God’s biblical promises.

There are two main Kingdom differences between establishing and succeeding. First, establishing is rooting your motives and actions in God’s unknown process while succeeding is beating the competition with tangible outcomes that the mainstream (whether secular or religious) deems worthy. Second, establishing is the spiritual understanding that there is personal contentment in faithful commitment. This is not an excuse to be lazy but it is the Kingdom parallel to the flesh’s second version of succeeding which is having contentment in knowing the outcome. Christians today set themselves up for this disconnect because most of us only use a model of success versus Failure, a model created with the rise of an ‘advanced’ Western mindset of philosophy, evolution and business. All of those have since led us further from Christ’s metric of success.

All sins are equal (James 2:10)

I believe the Bible is the Word of God, breathed by the Holy Spirit through human authorship. With that as my framework, Romans 3:23 communicates that all people have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. In addition to each of our imperfections as humans striving to be formed closer to God’s image, we must also remember James 2:10: from a Kingdom perspective, if you commit one sin it is as if you have committed them all. So then, biblically speaking, what separates my sin from anyone else, whether purposeful or not? Nothing.

A humble servant is an effective leader (1 Corinthians 9:22)

‘I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some’. This was lived out by Paul and modeled first by Jesus (Matt. 7:1-6 among many other references). It’s such a simple concept and yet so difficult to live out. Proverbs 16:7 says that if your ways are pleasing to the Lord even your enemies will live at peace with you. This verse is not saying that you just live at peace with your enemies. It is saying that they will reciprocally live at peace with you. Is your life and your love permeating so much that even your enemies recognize and revere the God behind it? This is the type of humbleness that relentlessly pursues, serves and loves despite social, cultural, political or religious norms, doing so until they can’t see you anymore because they can only see Christ in you and, because they are at peace with that, they are also at peace with you. All possible means that I might save some …

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

I just started reading the book of Ezekiel (as you can tell by My One Sentence Bible from today) on my yearly trek to read the Bible from cover to cover. To me, the overarching principles of the book of Ezekiel speak loud and clear about what it means to live a faithful Christian life—to God, to yourself and to the life you have been put here on earth to live. The more I continue to live my life and deepen my walk with God the more I am realizing that faithfulness, no matter what the outcome, is the only way to live as close to God as possible. One of my favorite slogans recently is:

God doesn’t only work when we know what the outcome is going to be.

And the beginning of the book of Ezekiel clearly contextualizes exactly what that statement means. Four times within the first 25 verses in Chapters 2-3 the Lord says to Ezekiel:

“Whether they listen or fail to listen.”

This is showing us that the outcome is not dependent upon the messenger.I speak often about knowing our Kingdom Job Description—It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge and my job to love. The messenger’s job is faithfulness to what the Lord has asked. This is the reason why I believe that a faithful Christian walk is about ‘living in relation to someone else’ and/or ‘living in relationship with someone else’ – No matter what the outcome a faithful servant has acted as a faithful servant toward what God has laid forth, not acting toward a desired outcome that has tried to be obtained. As the old saying goes, you can only control what you can control. It is so true, yet has become so cliché because our Christian culture has mixed up the understanding and expectations of what we actually can control. Let me be very clear on this,

Someone else’s outcome is not something we can control. Any other thought than that is not biblical.

God never said: It’s your job to convict, your job to judge and God’s job to love. And yet that is exactly what today’s Christian feel is their Kingdom Job Description.

God also never said:

I am sending you to a nation that is rebellious, obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, This is what the Sovereign Lord says, you will convince them they are rebellious and because they listen to you they will turn away from their evil ways. You will speak and they will listen.

Nope. Never happened. In fact, God’s commands for a ‘faithful engagement of communication’ are the exact opposite:

Ezekiel 2: 3-7

Such is the same experience for any prophet throughout Scripture. And in some way, all believers today are prophets because through faith in God through Jesus Christ we have inherited the right to live a faithful Christian life in relation to, and relationship with others. Culture today looks too much toward the action hero (biblical or otherwise) as a model of faithfulness because they are the successful ones who accomplish (or win) desired outcomes. That paradigm is backwards.

What God created as the normal trend for a Christian life is today looked at as countercultural. Strange how that works.

Ezekiel is one of the boldest people recorded in all of Scripture. Even though God told him in detail the horrific tortures he will have to endure for no other reason than repeating what God spoke, Ezekiel never acts as a martyr (as so many Christians do today in “speaking the truth”), but incarnationally lives within a people faithfully focused on his Kingdom Job Description, whether they listen or fail to listen.

This is my understanding of New Evangelism—which in actuality is only ‘new’ because the original understanding has been lost in power-hungry, outcome driven generations of Christians trying to take credit for what is not of any of their power or ownership. By today’s standards God set up Ezekiel for failure, giving him an unfairly porportioned hard life with no way out of the murderous ending set forth. And yet because Ezekiel faithfully showed us what faithfulness to God’s call means, today’s standards of understanding evangelism and faithfulness once again prove to be wrong. 

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org