In most social settings it will eventually come out: I am a minister.  And that makes people do the weirdest things.  Some hide their beer as though I had not been holding one myself.  Most replay the entire conversation quickly in their heads to remember how many times they cursed.  More often than not people will fumble out a statement that goes something like this, "Wow, I could never do that.  I could never lead a church.”

     I often remind folks of two things: first, there is nothing special about me, no holy water I drink each morning, no halo around my head.  I am just a man, a guy, a bit of a nerd, a football fan, who leads because I have been asked to lead by God.  And second, what I have learned is this: God is asking each of you to lead in some capacity, too.   

     God defines leadership as servanthood in this world.  And God asks each of us to love each other to the point of serving.  And that means you.  Yes, I spent eight years acquiring a college and graduate degree in theology and saturating myself with biblical study at the highest academic level.   Yes, I have seventeen years of experience in church leadership on my resume.  But what this experience and study has really led me to is a clear, faithful, Jesus-modeled landing spot on who 'leads'.  God only wants leaders who serve.  And God wants servants who give their best.  Beyond that, just as Jesus demonstrated in His ministry, there aren't really any barriers!  Women can serve and men can serve and therefor lead.  God needs young people who can lead and wise elders who can lead.  The church needs single people who can lead and married people who can lead.  And God even needs divorced and remarried people like myself to model servant leadership.

     As the church in America continues to shrink, we have seen, and I fear we will continue to see, a closing of the theological mind.   And if the church fails to serve with the best of the human mind and the human heart's capacity, as God created us to lead, as God commanded in the first Commandment, we, the church, fail.  If we, the church, tell 50% of our community that even though they run a business, or manage in company 6 days out of the week, they may not have a leadership or teaching title on Sundays because of her gender, we fail.  If we tell the 50% of our community that is divorced or remarried that we, the church, will forever define you and condemn you by your past, unlike our leader Jesus modeled, we fail.  And if the mission of God is sidelined by the failure of the church to lead, the blessing of God sorely needed by so many will be missed.

     Even as we have a leadership crisis in our culture I am hopeful for the future of God’s church.  God has a way of getting done what God wants done.  In surprising and unexpected ways, through mangers, crosses, and empty tombs, God will get done what He wants to get done, to shatter the darkness of earth with Love.  Let us move past the legalisms of the past that have and continue to shrink the church in America and move into God’s future where servant leaders lead and the mission of God trumps all.

What is the fastest growing religious group in America?  It might surprise you.  It is not the explosion of the polished mega church, though they are here to stay.  It is not Islam, though there are more Muslims in America than there are Presbyterians.  There fastest growing category is what researchers simple call 'None'.

Thom Rainer, President of Lifeway, recently wrote about the expanding segment of our country that describe themselves as 'None'.  When asked by researches if they are Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or Muslim, one in five said they are 'None'.  While there are Nones who have rejected theism for intellectual reasons, many more have rejected the structures of traditional religion.  

Nones, as a group, are big and only getting bigger.  If you also lump into this category the large and growing number of people who will give a nod to God on a survey or show up in their grandmothers church on an occasional Easter, the Nones + the apathetic offer a blistering critique of American faith. 

For those who are looking for solid research on the Nones I would point you to "UnChristian" by Gabe Lyons and David Kinnaman.  Speaking as born and bred Evangelical Christians, they confront the hard data regarding the perception of the church through the eyes of those not involved.   Their answers are not surprising but still painful.  The Nones perceive that the church is too political, too homophobic, and anti-women.  But I also have a few thoughts that press to the core of what the church is doing to multiply the 

I have had a lot of questions over the last week about what we believe, what we are trying to accomplish, who we are targeting at PneuProject, etc.  So let me introduce you to a concept we like to call, the big tent.

Big tent means everybody is welcome.  Our tent is defined by being Christian, so we are going to talk about Jesus.  And Jesus talks a lot about how to love, non-judgement, addressing your own issues in life, forgiving others, living with them gracefully, etc.

If we take him seriously, we aren't EVER going to be telling you what kind of food is wrong, which categories of people are evil, etc.  Because that flies in the face of the things that he taught (see above).

Now, in our church experience, that has caused a lot of consternation.  People WANT to be told what to do towards God, what to believe, what political party to vote, etc.  They want to be told what we believe, so they can decide if they are for or against US not Jesus. 

And if we were to do it, the biggest problem with us spelling out what we believe and requiring you to conform to it, is that essentially, it is requiring you to think, pray, live, LIKE US. 

And while we are REALLY confident about Jesus and his purposes for you, we are still very much works in progress, and we would like the same opportunity we are affording you - to grow as God leads us.