More Than Stone

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.

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