The Generation Of Greater Things or The Hopeless End?

The internet is POPPING with tons of blogs, articles, videos and status updates declaring that the world is falling apart or that the end of the world is coming.  It doesn't take much observation to see why people are responding the way they are with the natural disasters that pepper the last year's calendar.  No matter your faith world view or cultural world view, one thing most are agreeing on is that something significant is on our door step.  We're on a global bubble.  What happens when it pops?  The entire world is searching for answers.  As sectors of governments, markets and cities crumble at our feet, many are sitting and wondering where stable ground is.  What is going to remain if the social structure we all currently know breaks free like an ocean levee?

John wrote in his 14th chapter... "The person who trusts me will not only do what I'm doing but even greater things..."

One of the greatest values that is offered to us thru Jesus is that we are all able to operate from a place of victory, not just hoping for victory.    Those that have gone before us have toiled for quite a long time just trying to convince the church what this looks like.  Many generations of Christians have spent countless seasons of life in a lack of rest just because they don't really believe that we win in Christ.  Do we want to the "head" or the "tail".   

Jesus simply said that we would be not even just "like" Him, but that we would have the chance to do greater things.  If there's ever been a time in the earth that "greater" things are needed, it's today.  Our need for God is greater today than any other time in history.  

What's exciting is that we have a generation of young people that from a young age have been told that the walk of faith toward God leads to victory and great hope for our future, not us all running into the hills in fear over the big bad scary world.  A god that requires you to hide doesn't sound like a winning contender and this doesn't match what we know of the character of our God. 

I look back at my life, remembering all the incomplete stories and broken versions of how Christianity was supposed to work out in my life.  It was really depressing actually and not something people would acknowledge as "greater".  It wasn't a life of rest  or true peace and it really crippled my world view.  I needed to understand that the followers of Christ weren't going to be less visible in the times to come, but would rise to the occasion and lead.  Jesus made it possible for us to lead and be the example of life in the midst everything falling apart.  If we can't show the world what real peace is and where answers to the most difficult questions can be found... what's the point of living the life we do? 

I'm excited that we have generations rising all over the world that are not looking to hide, but looking to engage.  Looking to give... and more importantly looking to love unconditionally.  These are the core values that create the moments for greater things to be possible.  Young people, will you be a person in fear of the times or will you stand on the security of Jesus Christ?  It's sooo possible because it already IS.  It's time for the next generation to take their place!  Historically, the world shifts when youth unite for a cause.  Will your cause be responding in fear or will you respond with embracing a message of victory thru Jesus Christ and the life of greater things? YOU get to choose.  

ATTN Gen X: Business as UNusual

As a sports enthusiast, I love watching and playing within good competition.  There's just something great about contending and fighting for what you believe in... even if it's that you believe your team is better than another.  One of the greatest traps to dominating teams losing big games is that they generate a massive lead early on and begin playing "not to lose" rather than keeping their edge of attack that brought their lead in the first place.  This is similar to the business as usual mentality that creates a trap of being caught by surprise by elements you lost respect for in everyday life.  Generation X is rising in the ranks of influence and we are at a pivotal time of transition between the baby boomers and their children.

Blockbuster Video.  Borders Books. Automotive Big 3. Major Record Labels.  Big Banks & The Fed.  Business as usual found these on their knees begging for mercy.  Anything that grows quickly with mass appeal always finds itself at a pinnacle moment of either transitioning into what is becoming a redefining season or business as usual.  It's life and death are predicated on the choices made during these critical moments.  Some are obvious, others catch you completely by surprise.

Mega-churches.  I know.  Before you assume my position... please continue reading.  This is not a church bashing written effort.  I'm completely FOR the church.  Let's just ask a few questions and explore where we honestly are at.

There are 56 million people attending evangelical (mostly protestant) services at the 300,000 locations of worship country wide.  Over 50% of christians in the US are attending only 10% of the churches.  These churches represent attendance marks of 350 people or more.   The rise of the mega-church has found a visibility for the church unprecedented to times in the past.  More people giving financially into the same ministries have allowed churches to pay for the expenses it requires to make a little bit of noise and as a result continue with the popular trends of big box saturation.    As a result we have 30,000 leaders each week speaking to the majority of the protestant church.  30,000 people is a big number of people, but in contrast that's a speaker:listener ratio of 866:1.  WOW.  What great influence a relatively small amount of people have with the church on a weekly basis to speak into their minds and spirits.  It really is a massive responsibility.

While you could see this mass appeal to mega-church as  unifying process of people gathering under similar heart and worship, it also creates a peaking that if a shift happens quickly, over half of the protestant church could be shaken in a moment.  How would the church respond?  The signs in the world are that voices are being lifted and the earth is shaking. We have enemies that can't be seen, cries for social justice and freedom are no longer faint, financial deficits that will haunt for generations along with poor energy habits draining our remaining resources. We have more education in the world than any other age and yet we have less answers.  How long can we (baby boomers?) just turn our head? While it doesn't take a rocket scientist to wax the evident times we live in, there is a distinct reality of what God has allowed to happen in the earth.  All the fruit is ripening... Darkness and Light.

While Baby Boomers (age: 47-65)  are the predominate supporters of the mega-church movement, Gen Xers (ages: 28-46) are rising in influence and are kind of a handful.  They are stereotyped as full of pessimism, devil's advocacy and the need for proof.  Whether just a stereotype or not, the question I want to ask is with the BBer's doing mega-church business as usual, where will the Gen Xers take the church?  Will they support big budget church?  Mega-Church has been predicated on man made kingdoms thru new communications with celebrity leaders.  While the individualism (thank you self esteem movement :/ ) of celebrity leadership appeals to Gen X, they also want it to be authentic.  They really are caught between two realms.  Do you continue the current pattern of "success" that you didn't lead or embrace the next generation who is already making a stamp for a different pattern?   Gen Y or Echo Boom (ages: 11-27) is massively known for it's broader compassion, communal mentality and awareness for social justice. Collectivism is on the rise. Due to inheriting the financial sins of their fathers with little awareness of how it came to them, we know they will abhor most of current systems used to get us where we are today.  Let's face it, we are already seeing financial and governmental institutions  crumble to the ground.  So the institution of the church... how will it respond in this season?  Will BBers empower GX?  How will GX respond?

It's a pivotal time in the church.  A time of when generational unity is needed like never before.  While I see plenty of gaps in the foundation of the mega-church movement, you can't deny it's influence and power of massive corporate gathering.  My challenge is to Generation X.  The "nothing" generation.  The victim mentality generation that generally is ticked of and in need of a lot of approval that BBer's will probably never be able to satisfiy.  Gen X - It's time to step up and lead.  There's an identity crisis on our hands and we MUST have resolve.  There's an audience like never before and we have a responsibility to take it to the next level.  We MUST know who we are in Christ and be willing to count the cost.  The generation below us is rising with unity and are a new breed of leadership.  How will we handle being in the paradox of what the boomers established and what GY is already establishing.   With so few people having such large voices (866:1), when we speak it will be heard.  Will we take the church to places of new life? Even if there is a shift out of business as usual mega-church, what does business as UNusual within the mega-church look like?

I have great hope  and love for the church, but I am not ignorant of it's inadequacies.  I pray that we as a generation, turn our hearts to the ONE who does have the answers.  We are here and we can not be distracted by business as usual.   The shift is beginning and leadership is going to be needed like never before.  We can not play to simply not lose.  We must be forward in our thinking.  Anchored in the word of God.  Resisting individualism by living in extravagant giving and unconditional love.  It's our time to choose.  Who will we be and what will we be known for?




Event: The Call with Lou Engle will be in MI on 11.11.11 .  It will be a fantastic effort of rallying the state of MI to prayer and break thru for our area.  There is a rally entitled The Power Of You for this effort that Transformation MI, EACHtoday.com and Mt. Zion have collaborated on  March 18 & 19th.  You don't want to miss these times of gathering.  They will be powerful!