Carpe Culture

Just thought I'd share some random observations. In his book, The Post-Capitalist Society, Peter Drucker says: "Every few hundred years in Western history there occurs a sharp transformation. Within a few short decades, society rearranges itself. Fifty years later, there is a new world. And the people born then cannot even imagine the world in which their grandparents lived and into which their parents were born. We are currently living through just such a transition."The tectonic plates of culture are shifting.In a sense, everything has changed. The way we gather information has changed--the Google effect. The way we listen to music has changed--the iTunes effect. They way we get a date has changed--the eharmony effect. The way we shop has changed--the amazon effect. The way we make friends has changed--the myspace effect. The way we entertain ourselves has changed--the YouTube effect.And that's the tip of the cultural iceberg!Here are some off the cuff thoughts on cultural shifts. These aren't prescriptive. They are descriptive. Some are good. Some not so good.1) Incarnation is more important than Explanation2) Authenticity is more important than Perfection3) Context is more important than Text4) Paradoxy is more important than Orthodoxy5) Experience is more important than ExpertiseI think those five cultural realities shape the way we lead. Leaders need to be: incarnational, authentic, contextual, paradoxical, and experiential.Here are a few more macro-observations:The church is subject to what I'd call Creative Inflation. We're surrounded by a rising tide of creativity in the retail world. And it's upping the creative ante! I really believe that the future belongs to right-brain leaders who do ministry out of imagination. There are ways of doing church that no one has thought of yet. The church needs to celebrate innovators who lead the way.I think our society-at-large suffers from Attention Defictit Disorder. It is harder to grab attention. And it is harder to keep attention. Studies have shown that emerging generations have shorter attention spans. There minds are like a remote control--if something doesn't demand attention they simply change channels.The good news is this: our generation has an unprecedented opportunity to fulfill the Great Commission. But we've got to redeem technology and use it for God's purposes! Maybe iTunes, MySpace, and YouTube need to be seen as evangelistic distribution channels?Carpe culture!

Resolute or Resolution?

Happy New Year! Every year at this time, people all over the U.S. take time to celebrate the passing of the old, and the excitement of the new year. There are many New Year's traditions that are celebrated, maybe some of which are special to your family. One of the more infamous traditions is the setting of New Year's Resolutions. It is at this time that we decide to quit one or more unhealthy habits, to pick up a few healthy ones, and to become better in a decided area of our lives. What inevitably happens is that we lose our motivation, forget our new found excitement, and leave behind our promises to, "really, really, do better this time." Unfortunately, this is the case with our spiritual lives as well. We go from one religious high moment to the next promising God that this time we will keep our promises to Him: that we will be better Christians, that we will take our faith seriously.
There is a big difference in being resolute, and making a resolution. In being resolute, we can refuse to move, bend, budge, or break from where God has brought us in our relationship with Him. Romans 11:20 urges us to stand firm in our faith. In other words, Paul was saying that we need not make new promises or declarations to God. After all, who is better at keeping promises, we people who can't get to the gym 3 times a week, or a God who tells us that nothing ; "not death or life, or angles, or principalities, or things present, or things to come, not powers, not height, not depth, not any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of our God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39
This year, don't make any new promises, rather, rest in the one who will keep all the promises that He has made you.