Meeting with the Mayor

This past Thursday the Monterey Park pastors group met with the mayor of the city. It was refreshing to hear a committed Christian share his unlikely journey from a small town in Saskatchewan to having an office in the city council. I was impressed with his candor and honesty with the often grey and cutthroat world of political life, and how integrity and clear ethical boundaries were needed to survive without compromise.

But when we asked what it would mean for the churches to be more involved in the city, I don't think it was necessarily the "magic" answer that we may have expected. Perhaps we expected "the top" to have the best ideas and wisdom. Maybe we had thought it was going to be an easy "this is the most important priority for our city, please help us."

Instead, we got what is reminiscent of Jesus' words, "the first shall be last." Getting involved with various organizations like the PTA or city events was his main suggestion. Getting back to the grassroots, to our local neighborhoods. "But whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant" (Mark 10:43). Jesus said this in the context of the disciples jockeying for positions of influence. We too can be seduced by the desire for more influence and access to the corridors of the powerful, even as we seek the Kingdom in our city. So I liked that reminder that the way up is always down.

The Risen Christ Got There Ahead of Me

Eunice my intern and I started a "Missional Living" Sunday School class last week at my former church in Monterey Park. I spoke from Scripture how God is a missionary God, that mission is part of his inherent nature in the Trinity, and one significant implication for us is to recognize that God is already up to something before we arrive to "do mission." I'm excited to see how the class can be a space to excite people's imaginations for the Kingdom. I'm excited to see how the two pictures can make sense rather than seem like two unconnected worlds!

Read another devotion from Eugene Peterson today (an excerpt from Under the Unpredictable Plant) that relates to this truth about mission flowing from the heart of God:


In every visit, every meeting I attend, every appointment I keep, I have been anticipated. The risen Christ got there ahead of me. The risen Christ is in that room already. What is he doing? What is he saying? What is going on?

In order to fix the implications of that text in my vocation, I have taken to quoting it before every visit or meeting: "He is risen,...he is going before you to 1020 Emmorton Road; there you will see him, as he told you." Later in the day it will be, "He is risen,...he is going before you to St. Joseph's Hospital; there you will see him, as he told you." When I arrive and enter the room I am not so much wondering what I am going to do or say that will be pastoral as I am alert and observant for what the risen Christ has been doing or saying that is making a gospel story out of this life. The theological category for this is prevenience, the priority of grace. We are always coming in on something that is already going on. Sometimes we clarify a word or feeling, sometimes we identify an overlooked relationship, sometimes we help recover an essential piece of memory--but always we are dealing with what the risen Christ has already set in motion, already brought into being.

If we are all ministers of Christ, we are "always coming in on something that is already going on." To me, it's a relief to know that it's not all up to me to make something happen; the risen Christ is already there! Can I get an AMEN?!?

"Among the Laity"...is a Revolution?

This CartoonChurch.com cartoon originally appeared in the Church Times and is taken from ‘My Pew: Things I have seen from it’, published by Canterbury Press.

Despite the cartoon above, here is a recent devotional piece called "Among the laity" from Eugene Peterson in Living the Message (September 7):


Spirituality is of mostly concern among the laity, the men and women who are running markets, raising children, driving trucks, cooking meals, selling cars, believing in God while changing a flat tire in the rain...

Contemporary spirituality desperately needs focus, precision, and roots: focus on Christ, precision in the Scriptures, and roots in a healthy tradition. In these times of drift and dilettantism, evangelical Christians must once again serve the church by providing just such focus and precision and rootage. That it is primarily lay Christians who are left to provide this service to the church is not at all crippling. The strength and impact of evangelicalism has often been in the laity--transcending denominational divisions, subverting established structures, working behind the scenes, beginning at the bottom.


It's not fashionable to use the clergy/laity split in some circles these days, but I think Peterson still makes a worthwhile observation that real movements of change can not be (and have not been) based solely on charismatic leadership.

The last line in particular resonates with me in particular as to what being a city "catalyst" is about: "transcending denominational divisions, subverting established structures, working behind the scenes, beginning at the bottom." But this quote reminds me that catalyst should not become another title for leaders to appropriate for themselves and unwittingly create yet another (unhelpful) division between "we the elite" and "you the masses." "Catalyst" needs to remain a function, not a position. There are many catalysts in each of our cities, and I am meeting more and more of them--and not all of them hold position or influence, at least not the way we typically think of those things. And catalysts hold the seed of revolution in their hearts--and I'm hoping for us to hear more of their stories in later posts soon!

Waiting for Transformation

Welcome to yet another blog! Blogs are considered passe now in our Facebook/Twitter universe, but I hope this blog can be a real encouragement for all of us who are seeking the 'shalom' of our cities of Alhambra and Monterey Park by sharing our stories about what God is doing here in us, through us, and perhaps despite us! We at Kingdom Causes want to share and hear the stories of transformation in our communities, so here goes!

To start off, I've shared this story to some already, but it's worth repeating for the fact that it bears further reflection on our desire for transformation.

My first meeting with a Monterey Park pastor connected me to a group of pastors/ministers in the city who just started meeting. At their second meeting which I attended, the convening pastor shared how she had been praying for TEN years for this group to form, and only now has it borne any fruit. Another seasoned pastor mentioned that he had seen groups like this come and go, spark and fizzle in his twenty some years pastoring in the city. And not much really happened from any of those groups.

While it's still early to say that this time around is really going to stick (but I sense the Spirit in it), this made me think a lot about our desire for transformation as Christ followers: why does it seem like we always end up waiting on God?

I know there's a lot of good reasons why we end up waiting, theological and otherwise. I know we live in a fast-paced modern world where instant access is expected and available with the right phrasing on Google. I know I'm the kind of future oriented dreamer guy who doesn't like waiting to begin with. But after hearing those two pastors share, it made me realize that waiting for transformation creates a space for humility to root in us. Even if this pastors group becomes greatly used by the Lord for His glory in the city of Monterey Park, I can't shake the fact that seemingly nothing happened for at least 10-20 years before this year. And because I can't shake that fact off, it helps to keep me humble that God's been working in people and His city long before I showed up. We wait for transformation because we can't generate it in a vacuum or in isolation.
We wait for transformation because it creates dependence on God to lead the way.