(First a funny/sad side note. Have you noticed the name of his church has the word “Dove” in it? Hmmm?  Maybe just me, but I found that strangely ironic).  Anyway….

While most of America may think burning a Qur’an in public is not a good way to do what pastor Jones says is “sending a message to the radical Muslims that we will not tolerate them,” I do wonder if many of us have a little bit of that kind of thinking down deep inside.  Let me suggest the following possibilities:

1. The majority of Christian Americans I meet (both locally and as I travel) are very suspicious and thus fearful of Muslims’ intentions.  Fear never leads to anything productive.

2. The majority of American Christians (unlike the rest of America) do think that Obama is secretly a Muslim.  And that thought breeds fear

3. The Majority of American Christians do not think a mosque should be built near Ground Zero. They are suspicious and fearful of this new mosque and its “agenda.”

4. The majority of Christian Americans are very concerned that Islam is actually taking over.  Europe for sure, and eventually America. They are fearful that we will lose our way of life.

FEAR.  It’s wherever I go. It’s palpable.  And Christians seem to succumb to It’s grip more than others.  Pastor Jones’ has let this fear grip him to the point of burning a Qur’an.  But I get emails daily from well-meaning (afraid) Christians from around the States and Europe who are “concerned” about Islam.  Videos. Blogs. News casts.  Books and articles.

Here’s an image to remember ­ I actually believe that the Lord spoke this to me a few years back (you don’t hear me talk like that much, but in this case, it’s true, so….).  Islam is  like a huge castle.  On the outside (where we stand observing it), we see a huge banner over the castle. It says, “Keep out. Be Afraid.”  And we are. Afraid, that is.

But for those who have the courage to walk up to an actual Muslim (in one sense, there is no such thing as “Islam.” There are only Muslims), and talk to him or her ­ we soon find out the castle is made of paper. And we can stick our index finger right through it.  The castle is a paper castle. Nothing at all.  And the people inside are the nicest (confused, but wonderfully nice) people you will ever meet.  But someone has to have the courage to poke the castle and not be afraid.

DO NOT FEAR.  Probably the clearest command in the Bible. Do not be afraid. Go ahead, touch the castle. No need to burn it. Just touch it.  Find a Muslim and give them a big hug.  Maybe on Saturday we should start “International Hug a Muslim Day.”

Do a little self-quiz right now ­ three questions:

1. If you knew everyone in the world was saved, would you still share your faith…and why?
2. Have you ever felt pressured into talking about Jesus?  Made to feel guilty?  You ought to…theology?  What do you think of that?
3. Do you connect your motivation to share ­ i.e. your intention or agenda ­with how it will be received?

I know for myself, the more I’ve felt “the need to evangelize” the less I’ve openly talked about Jesus with people. Because it’s often so awkward.  The less pressure I feel, the more natural I am ­ and the more effective. BUT…this cannot be a “strategy.”  You actually have to believe it.

Your thoughts?

One thing I’m sure of, at the heart of this discussion is how we view ourselves, others and ultimately the fabric and fiber of God’s Kingdom.  It is NOT primarily a discussion about whether or not Muslims have the right to build a mosque there (or anywhere). It is NOT primarily a discussion about freedom of religion in America.  I think those have been answered.

So what’s driving the passion in this debate?  Why have Sarah Palin and Barack Obama weighed in? Why is every Christian author, speaker. Blogger in America writing about this?  And what are they missing?

The Answer: they are doing exactly what the first 12 followers of Jesus did? Asking the wrong question about the wrong topic.  They continued to ask ­ right up until Jesus was taken back to heaven in Acts chapter one – “Are you going to restore the Kingdom to Israel?”

It was a question about David’s Kingdom. About Jewish rule.  About the temple.  It was a relevant, literal question. “When will we get to be in charge of our own destiny again.”

And they asked it often of Jesus.  Throughout his three years with them.  If you are the Messiah, the Savior, the Restorer of All, when is it going to happen and what will our position be in this Kingdom.

His answer has relevance to this discussion: “My kingdom is not of this world, it is within you.”  Or his last answer before he left us was, “You will be filled with God’s Spirit and will be witnesses of me to everyone, everywhere.”

Once again, he didn’t really answer the question but redirected them to the real issue ­ his kingdom. His rule. His way.  That we would be filled with his spirit and be a witness. Not the judge. Not the jury. A witness.  Simply telling what we’ve seen and heard and experienced.  Witnesses.

So…what about the mosque?  Do we make a fatal error when we care too much about a piece of property?  Any property?  I know of churches that have fought city councils for years in order to build a building somewhere. Are maybe it’s about “holy land” in the Middle East. Or an “unholy” mosque in NYC.

What if those of us who try to follow the way of Jesus would see this as a wonderful opportunity to love our fellow Americans (thus obeying the second half of the Great Commandment) and somehow see Jesus lifted up because this Mosque is built?  What if Jesus were to fill that Mosque?  What if we so loved these Muslims that are leading the effort that they asked some of us to visit?  To even preach there? To lift up the name of Jesus INSIDE the mosque? And glorify God because of it. Why not?

Because the Kingdom of God is not held in, or withheld from, any building! It comes with those who are submitted to its King.  Come King Jesus. In a Mosque. In a Church. In a Park.  On the streets. Come.

Here’s the link:
http://www.withinbrokenborders.com/Projects/From_The_Eyes_Of_Hope.html

The word church in the bible is used in two senses. A local “church” and the universal “church” which is all who believe in a follow Jesus.

The Big C Church is interesting.  Anyone who is part of the family of God is “in” this Church.  From New Testament scripture we understand that anyone who has said a “yes” of faith to Jesus as his Master and Rescuer, is part of this new adopted family of God.  So there are all kids of folks in this Church. Protestants and Catholics. Orthodox and Pentecostals. And others who have believed from Muslim, Hindu, Jewish or other religious backgrounds. We don’t know everyone who is “in” this Big C Church.  Makes it kinda fun….  (This Big C Church is what Jesus established – it’s his).

I think most would agree with the above paragraph. Not too much controversy there.

The little c “church” is a bit harder to define. It’s what we usually refer to as “church.” They are localized gatherings of people in a given area made up of the Big C Church.  Anyone is welcome to attend these churches, but the backbone are the believers.

They often meet at least weekly.  They have some type of recognized leadership.  (People called and gifted by God to teach and train the people in the little c church).

They vary in size from a handful to 10’s of thousands.  The Apostle Paul gave a bunch of instructions to these little c gatherings in his letters to the churches.

Where we get confused is threefold:

1. We keep thinking of church as a place or event. We say things as we drive to lunch on Sunday like:  “So…what you’d think of church today?”  Or “What’s the name of your church, we might attend. We heard the pastor is a good speaker.”  This is a linguistic problem because the word “church” has become a noun.
2. We focus on form over function.  If you have a building with a sign and you call it a church, then we assume it is. But the people who meet in that building may or may not be doing or believing anything like what a real gathering of committed followers of Jesus should be doing…  On the other hand, there may be 25 people across the street who meet regularly and act and think much more like Jesus, but don’t call themselves anything.
3. And then we get lost in the debate about what “real church” is.  I know some mega-churches that are tearing it up. They’re awesome.  And I know some small home group churches that are small for a reason (as in, no good and ingrown).  So the size doesn’t matter – either way.  That’s never the issue.  Paul doesn’t talk about it. We don’t every know how many people were in any New Testament church.

In the end, I think the last verses of Acts 2 accurately describe what “local church” looks like.  The components were:  biblical teaching.  Fellowship (hanging out together, eating and just spending time), prayer (and I think we could surmise some sort of “worship”), power, sharing/giving, and outward-focused mission.

I find it unlikely that a “church” of 2 or 3 could fulfill this. Jesus is surely present in any size and type of gathering that bears his name, but it’s not necessarily what the New Testament calls church. On the other hand, when a church gets too big there may be a decreased percentage of people involved in the above activities.  (There are things a huge church can do that small ones can’t and things that a small gathering can do that big ones can’t).

Finally, living things grow. If the local gathering of believers is not growing (both internally/invisible and externally/visible), then I think something’s amiss.  Things that are alive always grow.  And to take a wild stab – just for fun – here’s my ideal….

Depending on the context, a local church grows and multiplies every few years. Maybe it multiplies at 50, 500 or 5000.  But it multiplies.  Sends out.  Grows.  From my experience an effective size would be between 100 and 500.  Just my personal observation.

Lots to talk about in this one – feel free….

“Terrorism” is the use of violence against non-combatants in order to intimidate and coerce a population for political (or religious) purposes. A terrorist is someone who does that.  The organizations behind terrorism are typically not official governments or religious bodies, but groups of loosely formed zealots seeking power, while sometimes using larger organizations or governments as cover.  (All my definitions).

Terrorism and Terrorists can never be excused or justified. They may have their reasons for doing what they do, but their reasons are always and by definition inexcusable and illegitimate.

Finally, as part of the introduction to this difficult topic, I must say that Evil exists.  Real, unfiltered, satanic evil.  I have seen it firsthand.  Its flames are fanned by the one true enemy we all share – the Devil (and his legions).  Satan is real. Demons are real.  Evil is real.  And the spiritual war against us is real.  Never underestimate this reality.

So…back to the question – what do we do with terrorists as followers of Jesus?

First we should never over generalize a population.  I’m not talking about the gross and embarrassingly simplistic overgeneralizations like “All Muslims are terrorists.” All but the most imbecilic know that’s not true.  I’m speaking more of the seemingly wise variety of over generalization like “The Hezbollah are terrorists.”  Or, “The Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran are working together to drive Israel into the Sea.”

It’s those kinds of over generalizations that are most unhelpful. Because they are often said with such conviction and made to sound true.  When I point out to audiences here in the West that the Hezbollah and Hamas have almost no goals in common and totally mistrust the other, people are shocked.  Hezbollah are all Shi’ite Lebanese while the Hamas are all Sunni Palestinians.  (Those are major differences for them and that’s just the start).

Calling the Hezbollah a terrorist organization (as our government does) is partially true. But partial truths are almost always unhelpful. The Hezbollah is also the largest humanitarian organization in Lebanon.  They are part of the Lebanese political mainstream.  They run schools and build roads and “help little old ladies across the street”. And they also bomb civilians in Israel from time to time.  And have a fairly open view of Islam that is quite tolerant of other faiths.  Their actual fighting force only numbers a few thousand (most estimate that between 2 and 4 thousand are ready for battle at any time).  Many of our friends in Lebanon were part of the Hezbollah.  They were normal working class Lebanese who wanted a good education for their kids.  Many of the Hezbollah elite send their kids to college at the American University of Beirut to get a good Western education.  How is that for complex and confusing?

Point is, when we oversimplify or over generalize it either clouds or prevents the real discussions that need to happen.

Secondly, we must understand the terrorists and their organizations. Some feel we give them legitimacy when we speak to them. I disagree.  I don’t legitimize an inner city drug dealer by going to visit him “in the hood” and sharing with him about Jesus.  Understanding an enemy or a “bad person” is simply a good strategy in learning how to love them.

Terrorists have reasons. They may be nationalistic. Religious. Power/control. Money.  Whatever. But they have their reasons. Trying to figure out what they are and then fight the battle at that level makes a lot of sense.  So lets look at a few examples:

The Drug Lords in Columbia. Why do they terrorize the population with gross killings, often of innocent people?  Is it because they are Catholic? We’d guess, probably not.  Because they are trying to win some land back?  Not that I can tell.  So it doesn’t seem nationalistic or religious. So…why?  Maybe it’s just good old fashioned power and money.  That’d be my take.  So how do you fight someone who lusts for more power?  And is greedy for more money?  (I don’t know, by the way, I’m just asking the questions here)!

What caused the Hutus in Rwanda to kill approximately 800,000 Tutsis in 1994?  Many of those doing and assisting in this terrorism would have called themselves Christians. Many would have been Anglican. So was it Anglican Terrorism?  No.  Was it nationalism?  Somewhat. Fear?  Yes. Power and money? Yes.  Racism? Yes.  Were there events that led up to the killings that could have been recognized if the world was paying attention? Yes!

What about Burma? Congo?  Zimbabwe?  Northwest China? Parts of India?  Sri Lanka? Inner city gang violence?  Just a few years ago in Northern Ireland?  Stalin? Hitler?  Has it ever occurred to you that most extreme violence that has terrorized whole populations in the last two generations have NOT been in Islamic countries?

So why do groups like the Taliban and Al Qaeda exist in the first place?  Where did the Islamic Brotherhood, Hamas and Hezbollah get their roots?  What was the Iranian Revolution of Khomeini all about?  Why has this kind of extremism risen only in the last 30 years?  And mostly in the last 15 years.  These are the questions we should be looking at.

And then…what do we do as individuals who are trying to act and react like Jesus would have us? You and I don’t run governments, so what do we do?

Here’s my proposal:

1. We look at the clear commands of the scriptures and focus on those.  Do good to those who harm you and pray for those who persecute you. Do not repay evil with evil, but return evil with good.  Give to your enemies (Jesus says to loan to them without expecting repayment – I think that’s called a “gift”).  Pray for them. Love them.  These are the clear commands from Jesus and Paul (who before he became an Apostle was a religious terrorist). Start there.  Actively think how you can implement those commands.
2. Find some materials written by those sympathetic to the cause of whatever organization or group you’re looking at and learn about them.  Go ahead. Don’t be afraid to learn something from their angle.  You may think they’re even crazier after having read it, but that’s ok.
3. It’s hard to love those you don’t understand and it’s hard to understand those you don’t know.  So meet a terrorist.  Seriously.  Start where you are – go slow.  Maybe a gang member (not the leader) of a not-so-bad-gang in your city. Sit down with them and try to understand why they do what they do and let them know you are motivated by the love of Jesus to get to know them. You’d be surprised at the similarities between inner-city gangs and the Hamas or Taliban.
4. Put as much effort into thinking of creative ways to love and bless these bad guys as you have (in the past) put effort into thinking about how you’d like to “Nuke ‘em”.  Really. Seek God in prayer and put on your thinking cap with a few friends and come up with some wild strategies.  Who knows how God might lead you..  Think of them as your wayward kids and you’re trying to win them back. Bombing your son when he goes off the rails won’t likely bring him back around, so why do we think a “get tough policy” will win the hearts of the terrorists.
5. Get involved in any one of a number of organizations who work with these kind of people. There are diplomatic entities like my friend Chris Seiple’s, Institute for Global Engagement. Another is run by a colleague Doug Johnston called The International Center for Religion and Diplomacy.  And if you want it to be more clearly and overtly Christ-centered, get involved in what we do.

And in the end, loving and blessing, at least in the biblical sense, is not wimpy passive non-action.  Quite the contrary.  If you see Jesus that way, then you’ve got the wrong Jesus. He was a man’s man.  Tougher than nails.  All the way to the cross (carrying it on his back, by the way).  Never think of love as being passive.  It is the strongest and most assertive of all forces.

Go ahead just love the hell out of the bad guys!  It could even be fun!

Basically the answer is, we’ve prayed and told people the need when they’ve asked.  As you’ve seen, we also suggest every once in a while, in a general email update, that you could pray for provision – or something like that.  It’s an indirect way of saying “help” I suppose.  We really do believe, however, that when we and others pray, God provides.  And he always has!

Our total budget is small.  I’ve had many people comment over the years at how surprised they are by the size of our budget as compared to the amount of “work” God seems to accomplish through us.  That would actually be a goal of ours – to stay small, mobile, simple and get a lot done.  Because we work with and through so many others, we can get by on the bare minimum.

I want to constantly be reminded that it’s not about us. Not about money. Not about the size of our organization. But about God getting lots and lots of glory, fame and honor.  It’s by, for and to Him!

Legally, we’ve always been accountable to our non-profit board. That has remained constant.  We also have an additional “core group” of three couples who know us well and meet with us regularly to inspect and encourage every part of our lives.

We have also been relationally part of the Vineyard churches and Frontiers for all of these years.

I have several who help me out administratively. Mainly my wife Chris.  She does a lot of bookkeeping, emails and general administration for all we do. It’s almost a full time job.

Scott Gore (In-fusion Consulting Services) helps me with travel and my speaking engagements. He lives in the Phoenix area.

Nate Schaub is my web guy who does all kinds of media related stuff for me. (Mindflint Media).

Rick Malouf is the one I probably do most of the Middle East stuff with from here.  We plan, pray and think together every step of the way. And we do our Middle East trips together. A great partner.  (Phoenix).

There are several others who become part of the “we” as is appropriate. Chris and I help Rick and Fran Love on the Vineyard team that is thinking how to bless the Muslim world.

There is a whole National Prayer Breakfast team that works together from about October through the first week of February every year.

As I have been involved  in helping to launch some film and media projects, the “team” becomes whomever I’m working with on that.

I have become a firm believer in the statement:  “If you don’t care who gets the credit, you can get a lot done.”  Our “team” is whomever we can serve with to accomplish the stated goal.  We are more often then not, behind the scenes, rather than the obvious out-front leaders.  More gets done this way.

In the Middle East, it’s just as broad.  There are a handful of people there that we love and respect and have worked together with for years. We do almost everything in the Middle East with and through them. The three countries where we have the most impact, because we have the most relationship, are Lebanon (we lived there for 12 years), Jordan and then the West Bank. We wouldn’t do anything in one of those countries without doing it with those who live there.

That’s it. Not a typical way to work.  No big or growing staff. No desire to “grow a ministry.”  Simply working with like-minded people who love God and are trying to follow Jesus in this part of the world. We want God to get the credit and the name of Jesus to be famous!

Churches planed. Souls saved. Baptized.  Or even conversation hours logged with those you’ve shared your faith. Maybe how many bibles or Jesus Films you’ve given out in the last year. How many homes you’ve visited. These are the things many ministries focus on.

First let’s try to answer why most ministries do that.  Why do you think they do? Here are my thoughts:

1. They quantify everything because that’s the way it’s always been done. You’d be surprised at how much of the ministry world operates on this principle.
2. It is a way to motivate the troops.  What doesn’t get measured won’t grow – is a common axiom.  So Ministries monitor what their people are doing out there.  If you’re not “succeeding” then maybe something’s wrong and it needs to be fixed (and maybe that’s true)!
3. It’s just easier to use numbers then to always try to explain your ministry objectives in other ways.  It’s simple (and effective) to say “this year we led 32 to Jesus and baptized 18 of them.  With three new house churches planted.”  That works well. It gives everyone a clear mental picture. Fair enough!
4. Numbers raise money. That is unless your numbers aren’t good. And then you focus on “faithfulness” and “perseverance.”  Oh, don’t think I don’t know the game well.  Played it much of my life.  People want to know exactly where their money is going and how it’s being used. Again, fair enough.  So numbers are the easiest way to quantify those things.
5. And some would even say that quantifying things is biblical.  Acts uses specific numbers at least twice – 3000 and 5000 “added to the number.”  (Although surely it wasn’t exactly 3000, as compared to 3076 or something.  I’d guess those were estimates).

So….then, all sounds good to me, you say. Now why don’t you do that?    J

Here’s why I don’t:

1. I just don’t like to.  It’s not my personality and I try to have integrity with how God created me.  I have used numbers in the past, but always felt funny when I did.
2. The temptation to stretch numbers is immense.  Almost every time I speak at a church, a pastor will say something like “Usually we have more folks then we do today. Must be something going on.”  Why do they need to do that?  Why do churches measure their attendance by the high water mark weekends and include children, cats and dogs.  Why was I always tempted to make everything sound a little better (numerically) then it was?  I guess it’s our insecurity and need for approval.  Well, my little war on that, is to not get caught up in it in the first place.
3. I’ve realized that sometimes I could count the same person twice since he seemed to enter the Kingdom. Oops. I mean left the Kingdom.  Oh, look at that – he’s back.  So how many times does he count?  In other words, whenever I’ve said “yep, looks like we’ve got a good little church thing going here,” it would fall apart.  And the ones I’ve never counted are doing great.  So practically, it’s hard to know how to count anyway.
4. Mission agencies and denominations are in constant discussion about things like “What constitutes a real church?”  And then qualify and quantify it.  I’ve heard it should be about 12 adults. Gathered weekly.  Doing all that Acts 2 says a fellowship should be doing.  Etc.  But where does that start and stop? Again, who gets to decide what’s real?  And are we spending way too much time thinking about all of that, and not getting out and loving people for Christ’s sake!

So part of my reasons are practical and part are spiritual. It’s a discipline for me to NOT count.  And practically, I don’t think it works that well anyway.  For those who are counting – go for it. No problem.  Your heart is probably more pure than mine, and if you have grace to do that, fantastic.  Just remember to pray for me, your weaker brother.

So here’s a biggee – “What about Israel?”  I was recently almost disallowed from speaking at a Promise Keepers event because they weren’t sure I was “pro Israel enough.”

I’ve already written one blog on this – it was a few months ago. You can find it under the name “Israeli for the sake of the Gospel.”  Here would be my main thoughts:

1. We are to love everyone. There are no exceptions and there are no favorites.  If you lean pro-Israel, great. Just be sure you’re practically loving Arabs. (And vice-versa).
2. The promises of God to Israel from Deuteronomy through the prophets were always conditional.  As far as God’s side goes – they stand. But they must be accepted (appropriated) by Israel for them to be effective.  God often said “if you do this…then….I will do this.  If you do not….then….”
3. The oft used verse about blessing Israel is a misquote from Genesis 12:1-3 where God says to Abram, I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.  It was to Abram not Israel.
4. The land was given to the descendants of Abraham – his descendants are Isaac and Ishmael.  The descendants of Abraham, do in fact, live in the land. God has fulfilled this promise!
5. God seemed very concerned with Israel (of the Old Testament) treating the foreigners in their midst with respect and justice. Justice is big with God!
6. Jesus, nor Paul, nor any other New Testament writer mention the Land.  In fact, any time a disciple or follower asked Jesus a question about restoring some kind of physical Kingdom, he was very clear to say that his kingdom is not of this word.
7. Romans, Galatians and Ephesians all make it quite clear that the promised “seed” of Abraham was singular not plural and that the seed or offspring was Jesus. That everything promised to physical Israel was fulfilled in Christ.  In fact Paul says “the descendants of Abraham are NOT the physical ones, but the spiritual ones.”  (Galatians 2 through 5 and Romans 9-11).

What do this all mean?  What do we then do/believe about Israel and/or the Palestinians theologically?

1. We continue to bless Israel and the Jewish people because they are loved by God. They do have a significant place in divine history and we should honor that.  But we don’t need to “love” them in a way that might hurt someone else. Or “love” them out of any kind of guilt because of our past lack of love.  We love them as a mature brother who we respect. Sometimes that love is direct and hard, other times it’s soft and pliable – just like with anyone else.
2. We do not fall into the error of thinking all the land promised in the book of the Law now belongs to the modern country of Israel.  It’s bad theology and it’s dangerous to the nearly 50 million Arabs who live there.  (Whom God also loves and who are also recipients of a wonderful promise made to Ishmael).
3. God does seem to have a particular plan for the Jews at some point. According to Romans 11, “when the full number of Gentiles come in” then he will soften the heart of the Jews.  Want to effectively love the Jews – bring Gentiles into the Kingdom to provoke a godly jealousy.
4. God doesn’t need us to help him fulfill his promises. Those who support the Jewish settlements on Palestinian lands or those who give money to anything Israeli – thinking they’re hastening the return of Christ – are misguided and actually end up hurting the very Jews they’re trying to help by encouraging them to rely on monetary support from Western Christians, rather than out of desperation, return to God.

Possibly the greatest thing we could do to actually help/love Israel would be to encourage their Palestinian neighbors in practical ways.  The Palestinians feel hurt and neglected by those of us who follow Jesus in the west. Let’s reach out to them in love. Some practical ideas would be:

1. If you take a Holy Land tour, make sure you’re company lets you spend real time in the West Bank cities of Bethlehem, Hebron, Jericho and the like. Stay there even. It’s cheaper and very secure.
2. Realize that you have 100’s of thousands of brothers and sisters in Christ that are Palestinian.  They need your encouragement.  Visit them. Write to them.
3. Be pro-active politically when you hear your Congressmen say things out of ignorance about Israel or the Palestinians. Your voice does matter. They get bombarded by the Israeli lobby in DC and seldom hear Americans standing up for the rights of the Palestinians.

Once again, the hope for both sides is the good news of Jesus Christ. He is the final and true peacemaker, but he has called us to follow him into this activity as well. The one time we are called “Sons of God” is when we are Peacemakers.  Don’t think “it’s always been this way, so why try.” Not true at all. The Middle East has NOT always been this way.  Both sides are longing for a true and just peace. And the body of Christ are the most obvious ones called and equipped to bring it!