More Than Stone

For those of you that are interested in what Mars Hill looks like, here’s a 2 minute video of the conference….

Lacey
C. Scott Andreas
Dave Crow
Nathan
Joe
Jonathan
Mr and Mrs Ashdown
Isaac
Josh
Brian
Aspiring Indie
Conversation Outside the Bubble
Top Ten reasons you know you went to a Rob Bell conference.
Community Planting

Mike (WHO, by the way, felt God calling his family to be part of Mars Hill and moved there.

Transformission

Let me know if I’ve missed someone, and I’ll add them!

Technorati Tags: Mars+Hill, Isn’t+She+Beautful, Rob+Bell

Some of the people you assume are in may be out and some of those you assume are out, may be in. Be VERY careful. You are on thin ice when you begin making judgments about who’s in and who’s out. We are called to invite people to trust Jesus. That’s it.

A definition of Salvation:
When one begins to live in conscious union with God. This, of course, grows and develops. Jesus makes it plan that this has to begin in our bodies, our lives, in our experience in this world now, and for that Jesus is surely necessary for salvation. Salvation is not a formula or a mere affirmation….it is a change of identity.

Salvation is learning to live to live in Shalom. Shalom is not simply peace, it is wholeness.

Shalom with our Creator.
Shalom with each other.
Shalom with Creation.
And..
Perhaps, Shalom with ourselves. No longer hiding from God and aware of the fact that we are naked.

Sin exists anywhere Shalom isn’t. God wants to dwell with us. We blew it in the Garden. Yahweh had the Hebrews build a temple so He might dwell with them there. Then He became flesh to dwell with us. Now, the bride is here and God dwells among us. The story does not begin with sin, it begins with Shalom and God’s purpose is that it ends with Shalom. History is going somewhere. The question is simply, will you be part of it?

rob bell
mars hill
isn’t she beautiful

Olam Haba=life in the age to come=eternal life

The Jewish sages would say, “How dare you speak of forever.” Who are we to know what lies over the horizon? Olam haba—living NOW in anticipation of what is to come. Living in harmony with God.

If you wanted to determine if you wanted to follow a particular Rabbi, you would ask the following questions:

1. What is the greatest commandment?
2. Teach me how to pray.
3. How do I attain olam haba?

How do I live now in anticipation of the age to come?

Acts 3:21 Restoration
Matthew 19:28 Renewal
Col 1:20 Reconciliation

The cross was about you and I, but it’s so much bigger than that-it’s as wide as the whole of creation!

rob bell
mars hill
isn’t she beautiful

What is the nature of salvation? Is salvation going to heaven?
Is the Gospel not about today? Our message only consists of fire insurance?

Is that the best God can do? Is that how we define salvation? Just getting out of here?

What about the person who “said the prayer” but isn’t living like he/she follows Jesus?
What about the person who “didn’t say the prayer”, but lives in the ways of Jesus?

Does our definition of salvation teach that the kind of person you are becoming is irrelevant? That’s funny, because Jesus talked about that a lot.

Of all the billions of people—us? Only us?

Do you believe in a God that creates billions of people only to watch them burn in hell? Or is it only a select few that happen to believe/confess/do only a few things that even they can’t agree on?

What if the missionary gets a flat tire? Sorry about that, dude, I guess you are going to burn in hell. That sucks.

Age of accountability? A baby goes to heaven, but the 13-year-old (you can substitute your own personal age of accountability here) atheist that dies in a car wreck burns in hell?

Setting: 14-year-old kid dies. At the funeral the question circulates….”Was he born again?” Many don’t think he ever “said the prayer” and the response is “So, there’s no hope.”

How is this grace? Grace trumps hard and fast rules of theology.

It’s grace!!!! All you have to do is….
Accept.
It’s grace!!! All you have to do is…
Say a prayer.
It’s grace!!! All you have to do is…
Do whatever it is you are supposed to do.

Its grace…all you have to do is say/believe/do…
And how is any of this grace?

If only we had the bible to tell us what salvation is…
Luke 7:1-10, Luke 18:9-13, Luke 23:42

The Roman centurion makes a speech about authority. He’s in.
The tax collector beats his chest and cries “have mercy on me, a sinner”. He’s in.
The thief asks Jesus to remember him. He’s in.

So, salvation is something you say?

If only we had the bible to tell us what salvation is….

Matthew 6:14, Matthew 7:21, Matthew 10:28, John 3, Luke 20:35, John 11:25, Acts 2:38

Forgive as our Father forgives. In.
Do the will of our Father. In.
Be born again. In.
Stand firm. In.
Be considered worthy. In.
Believe. In.
Repent and be baptized. In

So, salvation is something we do?

If we only had the bible to tell us what salvation is…

Luke 19
Zaccheus said he would pay back everything he had taken and then some.

So, salvation is something you say you’re going to do?

Mark 2:1-5

The friends cut a hole in the roof to lower the sick man down. Not only were the friends saved that day, but also the sick man.

So, you’re friend’s faith brings salvation?

I Corinthians 7:16 is the passage about the wife’s faith bringing the husband salvation and vice versa.

So your spouse’s faith brings salvation?

Is salvation something we do/believe/say?
Is salvation something someone else does/believe/says?

If only we had the bible to tell us what salvation is….
We would have lots of answers.

People stumble into the Kingdom in all sorts of ways.

Salvation is holistic in nature-Jesus wants to save us from hatred, debt, unforgiveness, love of money, racism, poverty, anything at all that hinders us from Shalom.

Do you have a destination theology? Out or in? Here or there?
Or do you have a journey theology? We can believe in Jesus and still be indifferent, selfish and hateful. Even the demons believe.

rob bell
mars hill
isn’t she beautiful

This was a session that Rob Bell shared some of his ideas about leading/teaching.

Sacramental Imagination:

My Father is always at work. John 5:17

We must begin to see that God is always at work. The job of a leader is to hear people’s stories and begin to see where God has been at work and point that out. We are in a God bathed world. We simply need to recognize it.

The art of tension/elimination/perspective/expulsion/turning off the edit button/risk/space.

Tension: The parables invite you to find yourself in them and begin a discussion. “What does this mean?” RB states that he hopes that he leaves the congregation hanging after a teaching. His hope is that they walk out unresolved. He believes that if he always resolves a teaching, it’s easy to walk out and simply forget about it.

Elimination: When putting together a teaching or a Nooma Video, Rob asks himself the following questions:

What is the controlling idea here?
If I only had a few words to describe the content-what would they be?
What needs to go?
What, in this message, is good, but not necessary because it doesn’t support the main idea?
What is this idea in its purest, most unadulterated form?
What’s the idea behind the idea?

Turning the edit button off: RB keeps a notebook with him where he jots down little thoughts, ideas, movies, quotes etc. He thinks that many great ideas never come to fruition because they are lost. Any little thing, any little thought. “Abandonment is central to creativity”

Expulsion: What is that thing that is burning inside of you? What is it that you have to get out or y0u will spontaneously combust? And why do you care? That thought, that burning feeling is there for a reason. Explore the above thoughts and then act on them.

Space: We need the space to let the ideas roll about in our head, the space to let our mind wander. Let a text or an idea just sit there. Give yourself the space to turn off “fast thinking”. Turn the text over and over, ruminate and meditate on it.

Risk: Be prepared. If you challenge people, be prepared for backlash. When Christians feel the need to defend God, Jesus or the Bible, things can get ugly. People will devote entire blog sites to discrediting you. (Hmmm…who could he have been talking about?) Put supportive protective people around you.

RB then put an email on the screen. The email was sent from a friend regarding the reviews and criticism of his book, Velvet Elvis. At one point, the letter said,

“ Be encouraged. For every negative you get, know that you are setting thousands of people free.”

While reading this, Rob Bell’s voice broke and he stopped reading. It’s clear that much of the criticism he’s drawn is still painful. There were a few moments of silence, as RB sat there, trying to compose himself, then slowly, people started clapping and within a few seconds, the whole crowd was giving him a standing ovation. He just stood there with tears streaming down his face. It was a powerful moment. I stood there as one who feels that his teaching has introduced an excitement and grace back into my faith. Though he had more to cover on his outline, he said, “I think I need to just finish up tomorrow”.

It doesn’t matter who you are—none of us are immune to being hurt by the church.

Technorati Tags: Mars+Hill, Isn’t+She+Beautful, Rob+Bell

Again, following are my notes and interpretation of the Q&A session with Rob Bell and Don Golden, the lead pastor of Mars Hill. Hereinafter referred to as RB and DG, respectively.

Question: There were a lot of questions how to put the body back together, how is it that leaders can prevent burnout and do something that is sustainable over the long term:

Answer: R.B. stressed the importance of Sabbath. He and his wife have been practicing Sabbath for several years and it has sustained him. Finding God in the everyday was also an important factor is sustainability. RB thinks that for those in an “up front” position, the stage can become addictive. Being up front is a rush that can cause the everyday-taking out the trash, making peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and the like, to become mundane. When those leaders in up front positions can only find God on the mountain, they may lose him at the base of the mountain, where we live our lives.

Question: How do you maintain a mega-church and keep it’s soul?

Answer: RB- “If you have doubts about the mega church, I have more. If you are cynical about the mega church, I’m more cynical.” Rob then went on to talk a bout how many things he did to try to thin out the crowds. After a time, he realized that this thing wasn’t going to go away, so he says that as long as this spotlight is on Mars Hill, he will use the platform to draw as much attention as he can to the poor and oppressed.

Question: We are at an affluent church, we don’t really know any poor or oppressed people. How can we move in that direction?

Answer: DG “If you don’t know any poor or oppressed people-I would suggest you shake in your boots. Do you even know Jesus? Go find Jesus where He is always found-among the poor and oppressed-you need to get through the eye of the needle.”
NOTE: This is my best paraphrase of Don Golden’s response. It may not be completely accurate, but I think I caught most of the words and definitely the spirit of what he said pretty accurately.

Question: What’s with not having a sign for the church outside?

Answer: RB– You’re here, you obviously found it, didn’t you? Mars Hill is not a church; it’s an old mall, a gathering place. We tell the kids –RUN!- this isn’t a church; it’s an old mall. The church is out there, not here. We tend to introduce people to Jesus and then tell them to be involved—come to this event or that event, serve on this committee, attend that bible study. Before you know it, they are at the church building 3, 4 or 5 times a week. The current church model we have in the US extracts people from their community and the world at large.

Question: There were also a lot of questions about function and mission.
Answer: From DG

3 Questions for your church

1. Who is Jesus among you? What does it mean to be Jesus here, in this place?
2. Why is Jesus here, in this community? Why did Jesus come to town?
3. How do we organize ourselves around those answers?

Technorati Tags: Mars+Hill, Isn’t+She+Beautful, Rob+Bell

I am reeling-so much information to process. The morning session entitled “This lovely, frustrating, intoxicating, painful, hard, compelling mystery called church and why she’s worth dying for”, blew my mind.

My notes and interpretation as follows:

Eu-well, good
charizomai-grant, give,
charis-grace, gift

Jesus was our good gift

We can’t have life without death. It is an endless cycle we see repeated over and over again. Death brings life. Perhaps when Jesus commands us in 1 Corinthians 11:23 to celebrate the Eucharist, maybe he was also telling us to BE the Eucharist. Pour out your blood, break your body. Be the Eucharist for the world.

2 Corinthians 4

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.

No life without death. The church is the only organization that exists for the benefit of its non-members. We are the Eucharist for the world. The power of the Eucharist is its weakness. Body broken, blood poured out. Perhaps if we were pouring ourselves out that completely, we would no longer have the energy to pretend.

Rob Bell asked the following challenging question.

If your church disappeared tomorrow-who would protest?

2 Absolutes to being the Eucharist:
1. Be true to your own journey with Jesus.
2. Once the body is broken and blood is poured out, you need to let God put you back together.

rob bell
mars hill
isn’t she beautiful

Technorati Tags: Mars+Hill, Isn’t+She+Beautful, Rob+Bell

We visited Mars Hill (Rob Bell, not Mark Driscoll) for their Sunday evening services. We knew that they were located in a mall. As we were looking for the church, we couldn’t find it. We could see a “Playworld” and a YMCA, but no Mars Hill. We knew it had to b e right there, because of the address. So, we pulled back into the parking lot of the mall. Tucked into the corner of the L shaped mall, there was an inconspicuous set of doors with a small sign that said “Mars Hill, A Jesus Community”. Other than that, there were no signs. My husband commented that he wondered how anyone found it.

We walked into the lobby area and it looked very much like an old abandoned strip mall. Other than a coat of paint and signs pointing to childcare rooms and such, there was very little done aesthetically to change the look of the mall. The sanctuary or “shed” was a huge room with a platform in the center of the room. Thousands of inexpensive plastic chairs sat around the platform. The musicians were placed around the platform all facing each other. Again, other than lighting and a sound system, the room was aesthetically bare.

As we sat, waiting for the service to begin, a man came to greet us. He asked if we were there for the conference and we chatted a bit. He said that he had been a pastor for 20 some years and was currently “taking a break” from the pastorate. He then said, “I came from a traditional Baptist background. This has been a place of healing for me.” He went on to say that he had never attended a church like this, but that Mars Hill was the real deal.

If you want to listen to the sermon, you can download it here. The service was very simple. Worship and teaching. It seems like Mars Hill wants to make it abundantly clear that this is a place the church gathers, but that the people are the church.

I’m psyched for the conference!