Missional Shift

Okay so it is late, but I cant go to bed right now, my head is spinning with ideas and I figured why not use this time write them down (and what better way than on my new blog. so here goes...

I have been going thru a bit of a shift in my thinking about mission. Mission is something that I spent a lot of time on when I worked with students. We spend countless hours (probably way too much) on thinking thru our mission, purpose, values, etc. (remember you have to have the ladder on the right wall before you start climbing!) All that to say, there has been some shifting going on in my head. And while I dont think are 180 degree changes, it is a fairly major shift.



I will still operate with making, being, and unleashing fully devoted followers of Christ (FDFC). However, I think the shift comes with understanding what it means to be a FDFC.

I am an engineer. I like lists. Deal with it.

Before
Emphasis on Great Commission
Emphasis (or Priority) on Proclamation
FDFC Characteristics:
Has Quiet Times (Reading Word, Praying, etc.)
Attends Church
Invites People to Church
Serves in the Church
Give to the Church
May eventually teach in the Church
Social Justice, Orphan Widow Care, etc. is Secondary
(or at least a means to an end)
(with the end being proclamation)

After
Emphasis on Great Commandment (Love God, Love People)
Emphasis on Proclamation and Demonstration
FDFC Characteristics:
Has Quiet Times (Reading Word, Praying, etc.)
Involved in local Church
Views life missionally*
Serves in AND outside of Church Walls
Gives Generously to Expantion of Christ's Kingdom
Sees Spiritual Growth as a means to pour themselves out to the world
Social Justice, Orphan/Widow Care, Prison Ministry, Creation Care, Development, Relief, etc. are all viewed as Kingdom work alongside Evangelism

Another way to briefly sum it up is from an experience I recently had when I listened to the Gospel of Matthew. After going thru it in a fairly short time (less than a 24 hour period), I had a new perspective when I reached the Great Commission. Jesus says (my paraphrase) Go make disciples! And then he explains, these are the types of disciples I want you to make: Fully devoted ones that understand and live out everything I have taught. Even more specifically, everything that Jesus taught the disciples within in the book of Matthew. I think I got this before, but the emphasis was always on the making of the disciples rather than the content of which the disciples were to be made of. Yet Matthew devotes many more words to what Jesus taught than to sending the disciples.

There is much more to say on this and much more clarity to be had, but it is now getting later and I and I am starting to get tired! I would love to know if any of this makes sense to anyone else (it is all still swimming around in my head!). So leave me a comment or send me an email.

-jonathan

April Fool's

Three years ago i pulled a prank on Kevin McKay for April Fool's day. This was a really fun time. It all started when i read about a prank that the BBC had done in 1976. They announced that all the planets were aligning for approximately 13-minute window. And that during this window scientists were reporting that it would be possible for us to feel a slight change in the gravitational pull for a few moments. Not enough of a change to cause damage, but one that we could feel.

I decided to tell someone about this and Kevin was the first one. In the process of telling him, i got the impression that he thought i was saying this was really going to happen. So i just went with it. I acted as thought this was supposed to happen some time between 11:45am - 12:00pm on Friday (which of course was April 1st). He was excited and had a great idea. He looked and me and said, "Maybe i could dunk! I have always wanted to and i can come fairly close, but maybe this is my chance." I thought sure, why not let's see where this might go. He then suggested that we get the whole thing on video and again i thought that it was a great idea!

We did have a minor setback when i realized that i had a prior commitment during that time. So I called Kevin and told him that i was mistake about the tim - it was actually going to happen between 7:47am-8:00am (a much more convenient time for myself). He was so excited about the prospect of being able to dance that he easily accepted the change. We decided the easiest place was West High School gym (due to his connection with the basketball team).

The morning of the 1st i started to get scared. I was sure that he would have heard it was April Fools Day somewhere (e.g. radio) and turn and pull another prank on me. I got to the gym with the camera and to my shock and surprise, he had told several students at West about it and they were all gathered together ready to try to dunk as well.

Here is the video:



my favorite parts are when he is holding the ball out in the air waiting for a sign for the loss of gravity and when he says that he thinks that we might have missed it because he thinks it might have felt it on the way over.

fun times,
-js

Back in Black

well actually i am not wearing any black today, but anyways. I am going to try and start putting out some of my thoughts. this is just a place for writing whatever i am thinking. or at least whatever i want you think that i am thinking. woo hoo. now we are getting deep. here is my post for today....

I was reading The Law of Rewards (check out the link over there on the right) and the following stuck out to me:

Luke 16:10 ¶ “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

God continually tests us in little things. (If a child can't be trusted to spend his father's money and return the change, neither can he be trusted to stay overnight alone at a friend’s house.)
This invalidates all of our “if onlys,” such as, “If only I had a million dollars, then i’d give it to my church or missions.” If I'm dishonest or selfish in my use of a few dollars, I would be dishonest or selfish in my use of a million dollars. The issue is not what i would do with a million dollars if i had it, but what i am doing with the ten thousand, one thousand, one hundred, or ten dollars, i do have. If we are not being faithful with what God has entrusted to us, why should he entrust us with any more?
This thought raises a sobering question: What opportunities are we currently missing because we've failed to use our money and our lives wisely in light of eternity?

After discussing this quote with a friend this morning - it got me thinking. I think we might miss a lot that God has in store for us in this regard.

And then something else happened...I was driving to work about 8:25am and i saw a kid walking down the road. My first thought was "I wonder if he needs help? Does he need a ride? School starts in 5 minutes. He wont make it at the rate that he is walking now. should i stop?" I determined that he was pleased with himself, walking very calmly and listening to his iPod. Then it hit me that i was carrying with me a rather weighty assumption. I was assuming that he was trying to get to school. This may not seem like a big deal to most people, especially here in the States. He looked about 15 or 16, and we all know those crazy youths should be in school. But with all i have been learning about Haiti, this is truly amazing. We take so much for granted. Education (regardless of what you think of our system) is a huge advantage. There are countless children in Haiti that everyday have unrealized dreams for a chance to one day go to school.

And then everything connected...While we might argue that we have been given only a little, more than 90% of the world would see us as extremely rich. Our calling to be faithful with the "little" that we have is huge.

-js

the rambling side begins

this is the blog that i still am in the process of developing

Here is the family blog i set up to keep everybody update on the scoonover family happenings.

just a short first post,

-js