You were expecting to see Rick Warren in running shorts here, weren’t you? Sorry, my photoshop skills aren’t THAT good. Rick in a Hawaiian shirt floating eerily in a pool with a maniacal look on his face was the best I could come up with.

Ok, I admit it: the title of the post is inflammatory and manipulative, but it was “Purpose-Driven” so all is forgiven, right? It’s not Rick who’s running a half-marathon – it’s me! I am however going to see Rick the weekend after I run.

Here’s the deal: on September 26th I’m going to run my first half-marathon; the following weekend I’m taking a roadtrip to Minneapolis to attend Desiring God 2010. This year’s line-up of speakers includes Big Rick, Francis Chan, Al Mohler, John Piper, Kevin DeYoung, and N.D. Wilson.

I’ve created two ToDo lists for myself for the two trips. Let me know if you have any suggestion for my prep work for either event.

Rick Warren describes a church ministry philosophy that I’ve been privileged to learn about first-hand since coming on staff at AEMMC. This article is right in so many ways. I have no idea if this is the way things are done at Warren’s church – I’ll assume that they are, but I think he’s right on.

For too long “ministry” has belonged solely to paid professionals on pedestals. We do our share, but the main focus of our work, after cultivating a deep relationship with Christ, is to discern and discover the ways in which He is calling those in our care to serve Him.

I am thankful to be employed by a church that understands this and supports me in knocking myself off any pedestal I’m put on as often as needed.

Structure your congregation to encourage more ministry

By Rick Warren

I love my congregation and so this past weekend I told them I needed to be honest: “If you just want to sit around passively over the next 10 years and waste your life on things that won’t last, you probably want to find another church because you’re not going to really feel comfortable here. Because if you’re in this church, I’m coming after you to be mobilized.”

I want them to know that a non-ministering Christian is a contradiction of terms. God calls all believers to minister to the world and the church.

But here’s a common mistake I’ve observed over the years with churches who want to mobilize their members: we teach our people that every member is a minister, but then we take the brightest and best and turn them into bureaucrats! They aren’t able to mobilize for ministry because they’re too busy attending meetings about the budget or taking care of the building. They have no time left for frontline ministry.

You can drain the life out of people by scheduling a constant string of committee meetings. In fact, when I meet cantankerous and critical Christians, I usually discover that they’re not involved in a ministry that fits their shape, strengths and abilities. Yet, I’ve seen again and again that all it takes to change their attitude is to get them directly into ministry where they can see how God uses them to change lives.

Here’s what I want you to think about — most churches are structured where the lay people do church maintenance and the paid staff do ministry. So you end up with, say, two hundred members responsible for the maintenance of the church while one pastor is supposed to do all the ministry! How stupid is that? This kind of structure will not only burn-out the pastor, it will also keep members, who God gifted to minister, from being mobilized to serve.

This is how we’ve conditioned people to think that their responsibility as a church member is fulfilled by simply voting on church business!

If you’re serious about mobilizing your members for ministry, you must create a church structure that maximizes their opportunities to engage in ministry. The more organizational machinery your church sets up, the more time, energy, and money it takes to maintain it. That is precious time, energy, and money that could be invested in ministry to people instead. The kind of structure your church has does not cause growth, but it does control the rate and the size of your growth.

If you release people for ministry, and relieve them of the maintenance, you’ll create a far happier, harmonious, high-morale church. Fulfillment comes from ministry, not maintenance.

Rick Warren:

“I love my congregation and so this past weekend I told them I needed to be honest: ‘If you just want to sit around passively over the next 10 years and waste your life on things that won’t last, you probably want to find another church because you’re not going to really feel comfortable here. Because if you’re in this church, I’m coming after you to be mobilized.’

I want them to know that a non-ministering Christian is a contradiction of terms. God calls all believers to minister to the world and the church.”

Read the whole thing here.

Resisting writing about this was the greatest temptation during my writing break.

Piper’s invitation to Warren doesn’t infuriate me or upset me and I find the spectrum of reactions quite amusing. I love that Piper is upsetting some of his followers, causing them to turn away from his leadership. Those who would make him judge and king over Christendom act as if they’ve had their hopes dashed by yet another false messiah.

I doubt that he was oblivious to the potential consequences of inviting Warren to his conference. So this is not a mistake but rather a strategic move to sift the harsh and unruly band of followers who claim Piper as their king.

Piper invited Warren to his conference, therefore Piper endorses every word that Warren has ever said and everything Warren has ever done – so goes the logic for some.

I hope this does send Piperettes running for the exits. Please go… go find a messiah who actually desires your unmitigated affection.

John Piper is not that messiah.

When I wrote about Rick Warren including Isa as an equivalent name for Jesus in a previous post, a decent discussion erupted. What a learned from this discussion is that there are regional variances in the use of the word. My point was (from speaking to a Muslim co-worker) that Isa is the name used for Jesus by at least some Christians in Arab and Muslim countries.

For a few examples:

“It is clear from wikipedia and many other Arabic Christian resources that the differences between Isa of the Quran and the Jesus of the Bible are very different and that they are indeed differentiated by those Christians in the Arab world. “

“I got one response so far from my wife’s cousin’s husband who is Muslim (not sure of his nationality)… according to him all of the Arabic Christians HE knows refer to Jesus as Yeshua.”

From a related post at Phoenix Preacher:

“This is ridiculous. I’ve got on my desk 3 testimonies from Arabic speaking believers (which I cannot share more details of) who referred to Jesus as “Isa.” There are a lot of Arabic Christians in the world who have come out of Islam that call Jesus “Isa.” Are they any less saved than those of us who call upon the English transliteration of the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name Yeshua?”

“Strictly speaking, ‘Isa’ is the Arabic name for Jesus. However, it is not the name that is ever used in Arab churches – at least, not mine. I believe the reason for that is to distinguish our beliefs from those of Muslims. To the Muslims, “Isa” is a prophet born of the virgin Mary. To the Christians, “Jesus” is the Son of God born of the virgin Mary. There is a big difference between the 2, and to avoid any confusion, Isa is never used.”

“I am extremely surprised to hear this – I have lived in African and Gulf Arab countries for many years, and have never – and I repeat NEVER – heard a Christian refer to Jesus as ‘Isa’.”

“It appears that Warren wanted to be explicitly clear that he was praying in the Name of Jesus Christ and no other name. He probably consulted many former muslims and would have chosen the word they recommended. Regardless, the muslim world knows that Warren was regarding Jesus (Isa, if you will) as God.”

“I lived in Malaysia, a Muslim country, for six years, and ‘Isa’ is the one and only word in the Malay language used to refer to Jesus. This word was borrowed from Arabic hundreds of years ago, and has long been a mainstay in the Malay language. The handful of former Muslims I had the privilege to know, who are now genuine followers of Christ, continue to use “Isa” to refer to Christ. Their understanding of who He is, of course, has dramatically changed, and they affirm with conviction that He is God and the Son of God.

In my interactions with Muslims there (speaking in the Malay language), I did use ‘Isa’ to refer to Christ. With many of my friends, quite honestly, I would have received a blank look had I attempted to use the English name “Jesus” or any other alternative to ‘Isa.’”

For those of you who don’t know, Rick Warren was asked to pray at Barack Obama’s inauguration. He closed his prayer “I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life—Yeshua, ‘Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus—who taught us to pray:” followed by The Lord’s Prayer.

Contrary to this report by Daniel Cordell which seems to be making the rounds, I spoke to a Muslim immigrant friend this morning and posed the question “Who is Isa?” Without hesitation, his immediate response was “That’s Jesus in Arabic. That’s the word used for Jesus in Arabic countries.”

This deserves more research, but one to one I think I’ll take the word of an observant Muslim immigrant on the issue.

In Arabic countries, Isa is the name for Jesus and Allah is the name for God. Without prompting, my Muslim friend also said that Christian preachers in the mid-east commonly use Isa and Allah to refer to Jesus and God, and when they do this their meaning is clear to both Christians and Muslims.
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Here is Mark Driscoll’s take on Warren’s Prayer.

What do you think?

What would you call it based on the coverage you watched or listened to?

The more I hear, the more I like:

Click Here

A quote from Driscoll’s blog:

“And, I learned a lot watching Rick Warren behind the scenes and over meals. Not being part of the Purpose Driven Network, I was humbled by how eager he was to bring in leaders from many networks and denominations to share ideas and help influence in his Purpose Driven Network pastors for the cause of Jesus Christ. After spending some time with Rick I am convinced for four things. One, a lot of Christians are jealous of his success and they account for a good percentage of his critics. Two, he really loves the Jesus of the Bible. Three, he really loves pastors. Four, he really loves the church of Jesus in all of it’s expressions, even those who are not doing the Purpose Driven methods he extols.

To be honest, Rick has a brilliant mind that shines even when he sits down and simply lectures from a chair for an hour as he did at the conference. But, what really struck me is how much he loves pastors and churches and how much he wants to serve pastors and their churches by giving away resources and encouragement lavishly. And, it is his affection for Jesus, pastors, and churches that has in my observation endeared him to so many Christian leaders. For those who criticize his methods, it would behoove them to also share in his effort to do something to help pastors other than criticize those who are trying to help. I do not agree with him on everything. But, I also find him to be a servant leader who is willing to learn which is rare among those who are very successful and in that I rejoice.”