The Dream (fc)

THE DREAM

Simply stated, our dream is to be the church. Wait, wait, 

wait...we’re not talking about a place you go or a group to 

join or even a new way to do the same thing. We want the 

stuff you see in the book of Acts—a group of people united 

at the heart by Jesus and His love. To be around them is to 

see Jesus—love, peace, joy, freedom, and miracles. They are 

constantly dependent on God for everything and constantly 

amazed at what He is doing through them. AND stuff chang- 

es. Neighborhoods and cities and whole nations change. 

We’re not okay with just going to meetings, hanging out, and 

hoping that one day God might do something with us. We’re 

not okay with racism and cancer and AIDS and poverty. We 

know things HAVE to change. We’re not sure how to do it, 

but we know it starts and ends with Jesus—He’s the one who 

changes stuff. But because this is our dream we are rest- 

lessly, anxiously, pitifully willing to risk and learn and grow 

and pursue a different way of living. THE DREAM IS THE 

KINGDOM.  

There’s a cool picture of what this looks like in the Bible’s 

book of Joel. It’s a prophecy that was fulfilled when Jesus 

rose from the dead and sent His Spirit to fill His people. It 

says that He will raise up an army of men, women, young 

and old. This army will hear from God and obey Him. They 

will have His supernatural power to change things. They will 

listen to Him. They will believe each one is equally valuable 

and they will honor each other. They will bring His presence 

to all peoples and HE will get the credit! The church IS that 

army, and the time is now—so let’s go change the world! 

Puerto Rican Tostones (really fb)

In fond remembrance of a business trip with Kubicek to San Juan we finally made some proper Puerto Rican "tostones."  Picked up some skirt steak from Morello's (best fajita meat in OKC) yesterday and noticed some nice, mostly black and yellow plantains.  These make an awesome appetizer or side for any latin meal.

Give it a shot:

Buy 2 Plantains (mostly black and yellow will give you starchy but with some sweetness that is awesome with the salt)

Peel the plantains and cut them into 1" chunks (like you would a banana)

Put some oil in a skillet and heat it up (375 deg or med-high).
 They don't have to float in it- just put 1/4" or so on the bottom of the pan.

Fry them for two minutes on each side then put them on a plate.  Using the bottom of a soup can press them flat - they'll be about 1/4" thick.

When they are all pressed put them back in the oil for about 1 minute each side.

Sprinkle with kosher salt

Enjoy the salty sweet goodness

We enjoyed with some home-made guac and beef fajitas.  Not a bad little Wednesday night throw together!

Relational Entrepreneurship (fb)

I just tweeted something I really like- that I've never said before- that I've never heard before.  I googled it and can't find a place where anyone else is saying it- but it IS what it IS.  Bloom I mean.  It's not just "social entrepreneurship" it's "relational entrepreneurship."  It is an entrepreneurial incubator based on, fueled by relationships.  Plus I just like the ring of it- I think people want to ask questions when they hear- "relational entrepreneurship" but when they hear "social entrepreneurship" it sounds like you're giving a lecture at some conference that nobody wants to attend.

What say you?

Sing Together (fb)

Stacy and I had walked the length of La Rambla- the most famous street in Barcelona.  It was a beautiful spring day and we were enjoying perhaps the greatest walking city in the world.  Suddenly we heard a sound...it was singing...we followed the sound off of the main drag, through the alley, around another corner...getting louder...suddenly, a courtyard, full of English people with flags singing at the top of their lungs, hundreds of them!  We later learned that they were in town for a proper "football" match against FC Barcelona.  If you're a European football fan- you're not in the family unless you know the songs.

My faith community has only existed for about 24 months.  My family grafted in less than a year ago.  Something is happening in our weekly gatherings.  I've asked a few friends and they agree- there is a fresh mojo flowing that is drawing us together.  It happens when we sing together.  We are starting to love singing together.  

So today I'm asking "why?"  It isn't because the band is great- most weeks there isn't one.  And it isn't because we are singing the "latest and greatest."  I do believe in my little community the God of the universe is drawing near to us in lots of ways- but there is a really practical thing that I think is hugely impacting this sing thing.  It's the same thing that enabled hundreds of English football fans to converge on a courtyard in the middle of Barcelona.  For the most part we sing the same handful of songs over and over.  These are becoming "our" songs- the way "we" connect to God and to each other.

At Christmas I attended a service at the church where Stacy grew up.  My in-laws still attend there, as do many high school and college friends.  It has never been my "church" but I've been there a dozen times over the last 25 years.  So I'm there at Christmas and I'm loving it and I'm feeling like "I'm part of the family- maybe I'm the cousin 18 times removed that doesn't come around much, but I a part of the clan nonetheless."  And I reflected then that a big part of the reason I feel at home is that I know the songs.  This church has sung the same three songs, in the same peculiar 70's style (the era of the community's founding), every week for the history of the community- and I know the songs!  So when everyone stands up and starts singing "To be alive..." I'm right there with them- which means- I'm in!

Music is the language of the heart- and singing together, throughout human history, has served as glue binding communities together- defining who is in and who is out.  It is SO powerful.  So I was thinking, how could we release that power in our families, our small groups, our neighborhoods, our businesses?  I know Wal-Mart has their sing-alongs when they open new stores and train new "team members."  I dunno- maybe at 3:00 every afternoon at our office we could gather 'round and sing a rousing version of Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle" or Van Halen "Right Now."  You laugh- where do you think so many of the great hymns came from.  That's right- guys getting off work, heading to the pub for a few cool ones, then someone would start singing and everyone would join in.  Those songs were so familiar that they made for great church songs (sans the original lyrics)- everyone already knew the melody.  That's the power of corporate singing for culture creation.  I'm just saying...

Half the Sky (fb)

It's January 2010 and, from where I sit, I am looking into Narnia or a Norman Rockwell painting or an Ansell Adams- kindof a combo of all three.  The snow and peace has given me the opportunity to do the thing I've wanted to do for a month.  I've been so excited but I didn't want a sip- I wanted to feast- so I've resisted the temptation to peek.  So this morning I took it in in one gulp and it is both satisfying and has left me desperately hungry, thirsty, restless.

For the last five years I've tried to piece together a case for the thing that God spoke to my heart.  I've spent hours pouring over the internet, clipping magazine articles, reading sociological studies that I could barely understand- trying to capture the hints and whispers in the media.  I have files on my computer and in my file cabinet.  But I still haven't been able to put my hands on a resource that put the cookies on the bottom shelf- until today.

If you want to understand the real reason that Stacy and I hit "reset" on our lives in our fortieth year, I have a resource for you.  It's called Half the Sky, a new book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.  Using stories, they build the case for the oppression of women as the core issue of our generation.  They equate the rising movement to bring liberation and empowerment to women with the anti-slavery movement under Wilberforce.  The focus is on three issues:  1.  Sex slavery, 2.  Gender-based violence and 3.  Maternal mortality.  They offer stories, statistics, and strategies to make a fuzzy picture clear and compelling.

If I could write an addendum to the book that would more fully explain my heart it would include things like....

The Father's heart for girls and women
The disproportionate share of suffering shouldered by dark-skinned women, particularly in Africa
The vulnerability of American women, including domestic violence, racism, AIDS, teen pregnancy, and sex trafficking
Megacities as the place of greatest oppression and opportunity
Entrepreneurship as tool of empowerment
What happens to a culture when women are freed
The treasure of women in church history
The Church as a model of hope in many of the most vulnerable places (and I would tell stories about amazing women church leaders in Turkey and how it must freak women out in the most wonderful way to see that the Church is a place for women to display their freedom, leadership, and gifts)
The "girl power" movement in Oklahoma City carried in the hearts of people like Amy Newberry, Kim Bandy, and Jenna Frank

Bloom is a freedom movement designed to glorify God throughout the nations.  It isn't the end, it's a means to an end.  It's the little part of the plow that I get to put my hand to.  In every world-changing freedom movement there is a person whose courage is so extraordinary that their name is associated with that movement- Wilberforce, Lincoln.  Maybe there will be a name connected to this one- if so it will be something like Ayan Hirsi Ali or Jacqueline Novogratz- but I sense this one will be more of a Joel two, nameless faceless crew- I long to be one of those.

I read around 25 books a year.  I love most of them- not because I love books but because I love ideas.  Half the Sky presents a world-changing idea that is in the middle of the heart of God.  Would you consider reading it this year?

Preacher- tell your story (fb)

I recently finished Brennan Manning's The Furious Longing of God.  It begins...

I'm Brennan. I'm an alcoholic
How I got there, why I left there, why I went back is the story of my life.
But it's not the whole story.


I'm Brennan. I'm a Catholic
How I got there, why I left there, why I went back is also the story of my life.
But it's not the whole story.


I'm Brennan.  I was a priest but am no longer a priest.  I was a married man but am no longer a married man.
How I got to those places, why I left those places is the story of my life too.
But it's not the whole story.


I'm Brennan.  I'm a sinner saved by grace.  That is the larger and more important story.  Only God, in his fury, knows the whole of it.


I've read everything Brennan Manning has ever written, most of his books multiple times.  He basically says the same thing in every book- God is "knocked out in love" with you not because of what you do but because of who he is.  His books are dripping with scripture but he doesn't teach, he tells.  Mostly he tells stories.  Mostly he tells his story.  One of these days I'll count the number of "Brennans" and "I's" and "me's" in one of his books- it would be a bunch.

The first time I was asked to speak publicly was when a business colleague asked me if I would speak at a baptist men's retreat at Falls Creek, Oklahoma.  I was asked to speak on the topic of "personal worship."  I was 25 years old.  I stood before that room of 30-40 "old guys" and absolutely poured out my heart- it was all about God and all about me.  How else can you talk about "personal worship" than to tell your story- the story of a God who is real and purses and speaks and loves and wants you to sense His presence and reflect back to him all of the glory he's pouring out on you?  Those guys sat there like, "huh?"  But a couple of them got it and, more importantly, the process changed me.

Before I ever became a "preacher" I sat down with Ron Johnson, church planter and founder of Pathways Church in Denver.  Pathways was one of the first urban church plants in the country really going after young "cultural creatives" in a large US city (I love pioneers!).  At the time there were many Christian leaders who were super concerned that churches like Ron's were in danger of watering down the gospel because of the emphasis on story and distance from traditional, didactic, exegetical teaching.  It bugs me when people vilify people and movements that they've had no relational connection with.  So I just called Ron, a pioneer, and asked if he'd meet with me.  "Ron, how do you approach preaching?"  He said "Lance, every week I stand up and tell my people what God is doing in my life- I tell the ongoing story of how God is changing me." That one sentence is probably the most freeing thing anyone ever said to me about preaching.

Last night I read the manuscript of a new book by a good friend.  He is only 25 and he wanted to shout from the mountaintops "God is real and good and he is mostly trying to make you new and he does that on the journey- so be excited about God and life and people!"  He did it by telling his story, his stories.  It reminded me of why I love Jesus so much.  I believe.

So preacher- tell us your story.  Don't be afraid- it will connect us with your heart and with His heart.  We need to feel how this truth is changing you- what it looks like in your life- how hard it is and how much hope it brings.  Sometimes you'll say it wrong- you'll say too much, or not enough- who cares- these people know you and love you.  "But I'll be exposed."  Hell yes you'll be exposed- we'll see your pride and your failures and we'll love you all the more for it.  Remember, God didn't call you to preach because he thinks you're talented.  He called you to preach so that he can make YOU more like Jesus.  "But I'm supposed to teach."  Then teach- do your prep work, pour over the text and the commentaries, pray over it with fear and trembling, and know what the hell you're talking BUT if we want the best teaching on your topic we'll read or listen to someone who knows it better than you.  Teach us through your life.   Preaching is worship- so model worship.  Pour your heart out before Him, before us.

I'm Lance.  I'm a sinner saved by grace.  That is the larger and more important story.  Only God, in his fury, knows the whole of it.

Oatmeal (on a lighter note) (fb)

Today was an oatmeal kind of day.  My British friends taught me to make the perfect oatmeal- it took oatmeal from "every once in a while" to "most winter days."  Enjoy.

1/3 Oatmeal (not instant crap, real oats)
1/3 Water
1/3 Milk

Heat until it begins to boil.

Finish with some combination of...

Butter
Brown Sugar
Honey
Cream
Fruit- especially dates

If you're doing it in the microwave it gets even easier.  Use "1/3" cup of each for 1 serving and heat on high about "3" minutes (but make sure it doesn't spill over).