A Missional Icon...that few know about

Think missional is something new? Think again. It may be the fashionable new word of Christians striving for biblical authenticity but I was fortunate to have a Mom and Dad that were missional. They kept missional company like my Uncle Ed (image left) who, to me, is a missional icon.

Uncle Ed just turned 90 years old last month. I was able to go back to Oklahoma and spend some time with him. While his vision has faded with age, he still has an amazing missional mindset. While he's been a missionary to Mexico for sixty years Uncle Ed began living a missional lifestyle before he ever decided to be a missionary. There's too many stories to tell so my conversation below will reflect the results of Edgar Stone's missional lifestyle.

Me: So Uncle Ed, exactly how long have you been doing mission work?

Uncle Ed: Fifty-nine years. It'll be sixty next year.

Me: How many churches have you planted?

Uncle Ed: I've planted eight-eight churches, but we have two missions we've started in the last couple of months. A couple of the buildings have been blown away by hurricanes over the years but the work is still going on there.

Me: That's amazing.

Uncle Ed: The hurricanes?

Me: No, that you're still planting churches at your age?

Uncle Ed: What am I supposed to do? I don't think you can retire from doing the Lord's work.

(I cracked a huge smile and got emotional. Bring it in, Ken...)

Me: I guess the Bible School that you built is going strong?

Uncle Ed: Yep. We've graduated 575 pastors.

Me: Do you know how many churches they've planted?

Uncle Ed: No, but plenty I guess. I don't keep track of that. I've got enough to say grace over.

Me: And the sewing school...how many ladies have gone through that?

Uncle Ed: Over 800 now. They get a certificate of completion that means something to the Mexicans. It gets them jobs that pay $7 or $9 dollars a day instead of $2 dollars a day. A lot of the pastor's wives have gone through so they can earn money so their husbands can do ministry and plant churches. Some of them go through just to start their own business or get a better paying job.

So here's a guy that's ninety years old that's lived a Great Commission life - a missional life. Of course, there were revival meetings and crusades and the typical evangelism events that were the norm for his generation. But I know from personal experience that his opportunities to persoanlly share the Gospel didn't center around holding meetings. It centered around relationships that he built with people every day. It happened because he practiced social justice and was a pioneer in "business as mission." Then there's the mentoring of 575 pastors and their personal impact and who knows how many churches have been planted as a result.

That's a missional lifestyle.

Perez Hilton's and Miss California's "firestorm"

So Perez Hilton, the celebrity blogger, asked a question to Carrie Prejean (Miss California) pertaining to California's same sex marriage law and followed up with, ""Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not?". Not only did he say that her answer (born from her values and spoken with authenticity) cost her the title, he then vilified her by calling her a "dumb *%$@#"

"If you can't say anything good..."
Let me start by saying that I think the structure of Mr. Hilton's question was solid. Great setup, good application, and then a qualifying wrap. My appreciation for his interview skills and as a reputable blogger and especially a beauty pageant judge pretty much ends there.

"Just because you can doesn't mean you should."
So it seems that just about anyone can be a judge at a beauty pageant. I mean after all, I could be one. I blog. I'm a guy. I'm a pretty good judge of beauty (you reading this Michelle?). I am a student of popular culture and have been told I have some mad relationship skills. I haven't even gotten to my signature square glasses and my ever evolving "doo". My question is, "When do I get my phone call to get that gig?"

The answer will be, "Never". Mostly because I'm happily married and Michelle would slap me into next year. Another stellar reason is that just because I have the same qualifications as Mr. Hilton doesn't mean that I should take the gig. In fact, even though I have one more qualification than Mr. Hilton I shouldn't take the gig. You see, I'm not gay and he is. I have one more qualification than Mr. Hilton does in this instance.

Out of sheer curiosity I ask the question; Why would a beauty pageant ask an openly gay man to be a judge for a clearly heterosexual event? That's like inviting a livestock judge go to the Westminster Dog Show. It just doesn't make sense. Don't get me wrong, I'm far from homophobic. Quite the contrary. I have gay friends. It just seems stupid to have a gay man judge a beauty pageant.

What's worse is to have an inconsiderate, under-qualified judge at a competition that's clearly lost any relevance that it could possibly have ever possessed.

Oh yeah, the whole just because you can doesn't mean that you should thing comes from an ancient spiritual text that says something like "everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial." Smoke some of that.

As a side note, I'm positive that if someone called Mr. Hilton a "@#&^%$# whatever" for responding with his clearly biased opinion of Ms. Prejean's answer, he would use his media leverage to smear someone else.

Another blogging cycle begins

It's evident that I blog in cycles. I think it's more about workload than commitment. Seth Godin will remain forever the Blog King in my mind.

A new cycle/season in my life has begun. I've taken a job (9 months into it now) as the Maturity|Missions pastor at Chestnut Mountain Church. The title is a bit confusing. It's really an executive pastor kind of gig. What it boils down to is that I manage people so our senior pastor doesn't have to. There's been a reorganization with student's and children's ministries reporting directly to Jeff. I still have plenty to do...

In the last nine months I've traveled to Uganda, Kenya, and Germany for mission trip stuff. Interesting to say the least. I must admit that Germany was my favorite. Not because it was 1st world. If anyone reads this that knows me, you know that I prefer difficult mission work, both physical and spiritual.

Germany has a desperate need for more church plants. There's some cool stuff going on, but young adults in that country are starving for relevant churches. I'm still praying about how I can help out there. Pondering...