Another great ZOE Conference

Nina and I were able to go to the ZOE Group Worship Conference in Nashville again this year. It was an incredible experience! Besides the thrill of worshipping in song with over a thousand others, and the blessed times of fellowship and sharing with friends from all over the country, and the meals we enjoy at Cracker Barrel, we were challenged by the missional theme this year.

What is "missional?" It's a current church buzz-word, to be sure, but the people who use it are, by and large, trying to get us to wake up and be the people of God, instead of just being the people who support a church. It's about "going into all the world," instead of waiting for people to come to our church buildings and special events. It's recapturing the Great Commission of Jesus as our own mission, recognizing that we need to be doing Jesus' business in the world -- reaching out with hands to help, listening to people's stories, and pointing the way to the Great Physician. It's not about making more church-goers, but making disciples, apprentices of Jesus. While most of our churches claim to be doing this, we spend way too much time and energy on operational and logistical issues of running a congregation than we do getting out to touch the people who are hurting. You don't need a program, project, or even a "ministry" to do it on your own, but we can't seem to do anything without organizing a committee, or hiring a minister to do it for us.

Leonard Sweet challenged us to give our churches an "MRI scan" -- changing to being Missional instead of attractional, Relational instead of propositional, and Incarnational instead of colonial. I'm not going to describe all of that here, but it describes a major change in the way churches work. It's going to be a hard change for most of us to make.

Larry James of Central Dallas Ministries convicted us about how we avoid dealing with the poor, treating them as if their status is a disease instead of an opportunity to learn what's really important in life. He said that when we look at the poor, all we see is their need, because of our materialism. We don't see their assets, and we completely ignore their dreams. Poor people are the most generous, both with their money and their time.

Mike Cope's biggest contribution to my thinking and faith this weekend was a quote he borrowed from a book called "Unveiling Glory" -- "Living like Jesus is not something we do to get salvation -- it IS our salvation." And his retelling of the Sermon on the Mount is one of the best things I've ever heard in a sermon.

Randy Harris got one of my biggest "AMEN"'s this weekend. He said, "People need to stop complaining about new things in church making them 'uncomfortable.' Where do we get the idea that we're supposed to be comfortable in church? We're standing in the presence of the living God! That ought to make anyone at least a little uneasy!"

Jeff Walling portrayed Matthew instead of just preaching. He told us about the messy Messiah we follow, about the disgrace that Jesus lived in all his life. We've romanticized Jesus' story; he was born in scandal, he died in scandalous fashion, and for his whole ministry he was unpopular and laughed at by the "polite folks" of his time. It was the underprivileged and outcast that he surrounded himself with -- the very people we do so little for today. Very convicting.

Brandon Scott Thomas and the ZOE singers gave it their all in leading worship, as usual. Randy Gill and the praise team from Woodmont Hills also gave it up during the leadership conference. They were able to include some instrumental praise in various sessions, which really added to the whole experience.

Michael Card gave a short concert on Saturday afternoon, and it was such a thrill to be able to meet him. His music has been very special to me for 20 years, and he has such a great servant heart.

And it was great to spend time with our extended family of friends: Owen Burgess and his daughter Becca, Dan Dalzell, Chris Lockhart, Rob and Clarissa Cox, Gary Bruce, and Shane Coffman. I also got to meet and re-meet in person several folks from the blog world and Worshipforum: Dwight and Jeanna Powell, Andrew Batiselli, Wes Bedwell, Bret Morris, Mitch Fewell, Eric Livingston, Chris Helterbrand, and so many others. What a blessing.

And so now, I return to my everyday life, but a little more focused on being less everyday about it, and more intentional in looking around to see where people need the touch of Jesus. I'm sure that will be a gradual change for me, but I can't see turning my back on it now. I'll let you know how it goes...