MikeZook.com

The 10 Worst Movies About Jesus

Danny Gallagher at The Wittenburng Door makes a post about the 10 worst movies about Jesus (not counting The Passion - which I liked - and not just because I know the actor that played Jesus). HT: Tall Skinny Kiwi

Schools For Conversion

It's a shame that a few conservative evangelicals have had a monopoly on the word conversion. Some of us shiver at the word. But conversion means to change, to alter, after which something looks different than it did before - like conversion vans or converted currency. We need converts in the best sense of the word, people who are marked by the renewing of their minds and imaginations, who no longer conform to the pattern that is destroying our world. Otherwise, we have only believers, and believers are a dime-a-dozen nowadays. What the world needs is people who believe so much in another world that they cannot help but being enacting it now.

Then we will start to see some true conversion vans - vehicles that run on veggie oil instead of diesel. Then we will see some converted homes - fueled by renewable energy - and laundry machines powered by stationary bicycles and toilets flushed with dirty sink water. Then we will see tears converted to laughter as people beat their swords into plowshares and weld their machine guns into saxophones, and as police officers use their billy clubs to play baseball.

For even if the whole world believed in resurrection, little would change until we began to practice it. We can believe in CPR, but people will remain dead until someone breathes new life into them. And we can tell the world that there is life after death, but the world really seems to be wondering if there is life before death.

There is a kind of conversion that happens to people not because of how we talk but because of how we live. And our little experiments in truth become the schools for conversion, where folks can learn what it means for the old life to be gone and the new life to be upon us, no longer taking the broad path that leads to destruction. Conversion is not an event but a process, a process of slowly tearing ourselves from the clutches of the culture.*

*Shane Claiborne, "The Irresistible Revolution: living as ordinary radicals" (Zondervan, 2006), pg. 150-151

Has Evangelicalism Shifted?

My good friend (and soon to be co-practitioner) Mike Brantley writes a very insightful post about evangelism and "what, when and how" this REALLY works in our post-modern world. The title of his post is, "Do they need "the Word" given to them?"

There is a very modern way of evangelizing that Christians in my generation (and previous) grew up being taught. But is it the only way? Is it still effective? Most fundamental Christians hold true to a simple belief that if you present pagans with the correct scripture verses, in the correct order (usually in a neat little pamphlet), that somehow the words written on the page will be enough to supernaturally conform a sinner into a magical state of belief in Jesus as the Messiah.

This technique worked in the modern era! Billy Graham and others made careers out of evangelizing to the masses in this way. Individuals were trained on how to give out the "spirituals laws" that governed a Christians life. In fact my Mom's faith is a direct result of going to one of Billy Graham's crusades back in the 60's, which in turn ultimately shaped my Christian upbringing. But does this technique still work? Yes, in some pockets of our culture, but that approach to evangelism is no longer the norm, but rather it is the exception. Churches are not growing anymore because of this approach.

The Barna Group states that,

"More than 80% of the current growth registered by Protestant churches is biological or transfer growth – very little of the growth comes from penetrating the ranks of the unchurched. Once you understand the values, attitudes, beliefs, religious practices, demographics, life goals, and spiritual expectations of the unchurched, you will have a better chance of relating to them in meaningful ways. "

This research statement points to what Mike Writes about in his post. The modern way of evangelizing, sharing your faith, church growth, witnessing, call-it-what-ever-you-want just doesn't seem to be working when it comes to the majority of our population (which is not Christian). Statistically the Christian Church seems to be shrinking. But is it? Again, read Mike's Post and tell me, because I think there is a shift happening in Christianity that is changing the landscape of how the church will behave in the future. It appears that the Christian church, that started with Jesus, is reinventing itself and is morphing into a new Biblically-based/Early-Christian expression of the Church. The end goal is the same. The Bible is still the guide. Jesus is still Lord. But our context in which we live is changing and it is changing fast!

Again, read Mike's Post.

The Tangible Kingdom

"The Tangible Kingdom:Creating Incarnational Community." This is the next book on my must read list and it was written by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay who lead CRM’s Missio team in Denver. Sam Metcalf, President of CRM says, "it is a challenge to the Christian movement to live out its missional, incarnational calling. It is illustrated with loads of personal experiences from Hugh and Matt’s own journeys as practitioners."

Here is a video that promotes the book:

Church Style Conversation...

I've been engaged in an email conversation with Gavin Knight and Mike Brantley regarding Conventional (Attractional) vs. Missional (Incarnational) church styles. Mike posted our dialog on his blog. It's long and I would not expect anyone to read it all but it all started from a post that the Tall Skinny Kiwi posted on his blog titled Missional Church: Where is the Fruit? The debate is about measuring success and how do you do it? Conversions? Attendance? Offering? When you link back in this discussion through a few blogs it seems to be that Missional-Incarnational churches are being criticized because they do not have the number of conversions needed to justify themselves as a legitimate ministry.

One might dismiss this notion and say, "who cares?" But, I think this is an important discussion as we are clearly shifting into post-Christian culture in the West, and the reality is that more and more of our emerging post-modern generations are not going to church. They simply do not see church (let alone the Christian church) as a viable means to encountering God. So what do we do? Do we have to "change" the way we do church? Do we just have to get better at what we are doing and work harder? Or do we need to re-examine the way we define success?

Here is a related article by Andrew Hamilton: Incarnational vs. Attractional that I think is well written.

From my experience being in both the market place and in the professional church setting, I have seen some alarming parallels of our cultures economic structure and the Christian church (I am using this term as a whole and in no way represents all Christian churches). As we have observed the Wal-Mart, Costco, Sams-Club, Home Depot, Best Buy, Dicks Sporting Goods and Lowe's (just to name a few) of our culture spread to every market in our economic landscape you can see a subtle yet direct influence these companies have had on consumers mentality. These companies have set out to bring convenience to the consumer's buying habits, shape their expectations about service, price, product choice, and geographical location (there are 6 Home Depot's in 3 miles of my house). They do this all to gain market share, customer loyalty and economic growth.

www.thezookcrew.com

Well it's official...Brenda is blogging (and I will be a co-blogger with her) at our new site www.thezookcrew.com.

This site will be our family site where we will chronicle our journey into full-time missions. Check it out. There are several tabs at the top that you can click on to find out more about what we will be doing in mission.

Also for those of you that have this blog linked under "Mike & Brenda," you may want to change the link to be www.thezookcrew.com. This one really is my own rantings and if you keep me as a seperate link then I would suggest that you link to www.mikezook.com since I may change host sites some day and I can take www.mikezook.com with me.

Lucky Thirteen!

Babe - I love you! Thank you for 13 years of faithful commitment to me. You are area wonderful partner and a great Mom to Devin and Makenna. Last year I listed 12 things I have learned from you in our marriage. I will add one more thing for this year.

I have learned (am still learning) to appreciate you for who you are. You show compassion for others. You love deeply in your relationships. You value peace in your relationship more than you value being right. You are loyal. You care for others needs before you care for your own. Everyone is equal in your eyes regardless of their background. You love God. You worship God. You trust God. You are tender and thoughtful in your words to others, especially in conflict. You are intentional in your time spent with our children. You are valued by others for you honesty, warmth and encouragement. You are patient with others.

Happy Anniversary!

It's Just Tennis.....

I saw this on the tennis channel the other day. Don't ask me why I was watching this channel - I think my wife had it on. But I couldn't believe what I saw. I think this guy is a little too critical of himself. What do you think?

A sign of the times???

I think this is becoming too culturally relevant....

Connection Metro Church in Denver, CO has chosen to "abandon ministry all together to focus on coffee" by transforming their 8 satellite campuses into a coffee chain.

CLICK HERE to read the article at LarkNews.com.