we are so Naamanesque

Naaman was a very successful and well placed dude that had a very ugly disease. There was a young, Spanglish sort of girl that worked for Naaman. She told him about a guy that she knew back home that she thought could cure him. It sounded like a great idea to Naaman so he went to his boss and asked for some time off. Since Naaman had an incredible track record, his boss gave him the time off and a bonus to help out with expenses.

Anyway, Naaman goes to see the guy in the foreign country. He walks up to the front door of the healer’s office anticipating that he will be seen by the man himself, Elisha. Instead, Elisha sends word to Naaman that all he needs to do is go to the public bathing area (definitely not from America) and wash seven times. Naaman gets really ticked and starts walking away. He’s all, “I came this far to see Elisha and he sends out his admin? I thought he would come out and personally see me and do his whole healing thing and make a big deal of curing the sick guy! Instead, he tells me to go bath in a public bathing area? For cryin’ out loud, the public baths are ten times better where I’m from than they are here. Who’s he kidding?” Naaman is beyond ticked now, he’s in a rage.

Some of the people in his entourage catch up with him and try to talk some sense into Naaman because he’s obviously lost it. One of his admins says, “Hey, think about it Naaman, you came all this way and were willing to do something extraordinary to get cured. Why aren’t you willing to do something simple to get the same result?” Naaman is busted, so he goes to the public bathing area and washes seven times. On the seventh time, he is miraculously cured.

Naaman goes back to Elisha’s place and Elisha meets with him this time. Naaman wants to pay Elisha for his trouble…very well. Elisha refuses payment. No biggie for Naaman. But, Naaman needs something to commemorate what just went down. Naaman asks for, and gets, some dirt to take home with him to build a memorial. After all, it was a spiritual moment for Naaman.

It was such a spiritual moment that changed the worldview of Naaman. He stopped worshipping the latest and greatest “designer” god. His life had been changed by the one true God and he made some huge adjustments in his lifestyle. He didn’t throw away everything, just the stuff that got in the way of him having a relationship with God.

Why is it that when God offers a simple, mainstream, even boring solution to our predicament we often scoff at it? Why do we think we have to see a mediator when God wants to talk to us personally? Why is it that we have a problem with God when he meets our needs but not in a way that we expect or want? Why do we have such a sense of entitlement and expect that God’s servants have to do things the way we want them to?

We are so Naamanesque.

structure should submit to Spirit…another core value

Structure should always submit to Spirit. It’s a core value of The Journey and it happens to be one of my personal core values.

I’ve never been one that liked much of what the traditional church had to offer, except God. It was full of structures that had lost their relevancy, efficiency, and spirituality. Boards, committees, buildings, business meetings, and church members that felt like the church had been built on their family name…all of these structures an invention of fallen men. The structures got more attention than God. In fact, the structures made the decisions and God was asked to bless the structures. How twisted is that? Unfortunately, there’s a lot of churches out there that still live in that world. These are the people that use the Scripture that says, “I the LORD do not change” as a mantra for inflexibility.

If most churches came to The Journey Church and sat through the business meetings we don’t have and see how much the leaders trust the people and vice-versa, we would have to call 911 because they would go into cardiac arrest. The upside is, we would still make our decisions the same way. The downside is, the cardiac arrest might not scare enough hell out of the typical church attender.

What blows me away is how the Church got so screwed up in its decision making process. I’ve known churches that have taken years to decide how one fund was going to be spent. The Biblical model is to pray, hear from God, then take the action that He gives. Oh yeah, did I mention that in the Scripture that the leaders got together, prayed, heard from God and then told the people what was going to happen? No votes. No committees (literally the name of a gathering of vultures). No business meetings.

The Church in the book of Acts turned like a modern day JetSki. Nimble, quick, and able to react at a moment’s notice from the Holy Spirit. A more literal analogy is that the early Church reacted to the Spirit’s leading like a body instead of a business. It moved together, in concert. Swiftly. Sometimes slowly. Always in unity.

When I talk about our land as the “next location” it makes some people jumpy. You see, after we move from the school to the “next location” of a rented property, our next move will be to our land which is another “next location.” Human beings are creatures of habit. We don’t really like change that much. When I talk about a “next location”, they want to hear something with a more permanent ring to it. They want their Promised Land. So do I, but God doesn’t do tabernacles, temples, or synagogues anymore. He does the Church through His people, the Body of Christ. That means buildings can and are used by God but frankly I think we’ve come full circle from the first century to a synagogue model of church. Jesus went to the synagogue to teach, but the bulk of His ministry was in the marketplace…but that subject is for another day.

Back to the subject at hand. Some want to know what the vision is for the next five years. I want to worry about today, because “tomorrow has enough trouble of its own.” Yes, we have a vision and we’ve made plans. We’ve planned out the details of what has been referred to by one person as “Starbucks meets church”. It’s going to be a fun place to invite people to hear about the claims of Jesus Christ. We’re also fully aware that the Spirit of the living God could tell us that we need to change it tomorrow. That means being flexible. Being willing to submit structure to the Spirit. To succeed at being flexible, you have to be close to the heart of God. Maybe that’s why change and flexibility is so hard for most of us.

how much should core values cost?

Core values. Every organization has them. They’re either stated or unstated. The stated core values are the ones you find on the “about us” page on a website or in an organization’s brochure. The unstated core values are the ones that really drive the organization. The key as a leader is to do whatever it takes to make sure that any stated core values are the same as the unstated core values. It’s easy to say who you are on paper and be completely different as an organization or as a person.

For instance, the unstated core values of any given organization are apparent by the way that organization interacts with their client. If that org. (I’m tired of typing the whole word so I’ll abbreviate it as org. from here on) is customer conscious, friendly, and helpful it’s evident that they value the client. The org. may or may not have customer care as a stated core value but it’s evident that the org. has developed a DNA that is other-people-centered. They care about the customer. In the orgs. that you and I have visited, there may not be a sign to say that they value you as a customer, you simply feel valued. That’s because the org. has trained its employees or volunteers that serving the client comes at a cost. The cost of a customer-oriented core value is: Replacing a bad attitude with a good one, setting aside personal issues, and positively interpreting what is happening in the org. that you don’t like that day.

Here’s an example from a company I’ve loved since I was a kid: Sonic Drive-In. Sure, there are some Sonics that have bad service. But overall, the customer service is very good. Even though not all of the carhops rollerskate to your car anymore, it’s still a great place to eat. Last Friday evening, they forgot the tomatoes on our cheeseburgers. With a push of the magical red button, our server came with six tomatoes. Ummmmm, extra tomatoes. No muss, no fuss. Just good customer service….with a smile, by the way. You could see that a customer-oriented core value had been adopted by this store. The manager had it and so did all of the employees. You could see that the cost of the customer-oriented core value was a price they were willing to pay.

I don’t want The Journey Church’s stated core values to be cheap, empty words on a page. There’s nothing worse saying you’re one thing and being another. I’ve even considered taking our core values off our website until we become more like our core values.

Since our core values come from the Bible, that means that they are attainable and sustainable. For Christ-followers, we know they’re attainable because we “can do all things through Him who strengthens us.” They’re sustainable because “He who began a good work” in us “is faithful to complete it.”

The cost of living Biblical core values is high. It costs us our right to claim church for our own needs. So how much should core values cost? It depends on what you want to pay. To put an old saying a different way….The customer gets what you pay for.