Reflection::The Gospel and Social Media

(There are many more profound articles on the use of Social Media and the gospel...this is NOT one...but a mere reflection on God's movement in my life recently and how Social Media has played a role)

Last Sunday, I went before a 200 year old church's session to share with them the mission and vision God has given us for this church plant.  One of the questions that was raised was how I was utilizing social media, and it made me recognize that Social Media plays a vital role in this mission.

I frequently laugh that it took my getting involved with a men's group whose average age was 43 to get hyper involved in Twitter.  Before the Blue Ridge Relay, our team of men from 34-47 sat at Chili's discussing the benefits of Twitter, while high school cheerleaders sat one table away lampooning the foolishness of Twitter.  However, I do believe that Social Media--when used effectively--can be harnessed for the Gospel's use.  

The witness of Jesus Christ is that God put on human flesh to enter into the world of humanity.  He met people on their turf and in their space.  It makes one wonder why God chose a technological infant era to penetrate the world, rather than use the media saturated culture we now live in.  The city of Jerusalem's total population was 40,000 people (less than Panther's Stadium), and Jesus never traveled more than 37 miles (Southpark to Davidson College)...yet He altered the realm of human history.

So how can the Church harness social media now?

I have found it relatively simple

First embrace it:  Become a city on a hill within the virtual world.  Use blogs, webpages, twitter, Facebook, Vine...and keep using them--they grow stale fast.

But then transform its use:  

We must acknowledge and realize that Social Media will allow people to peer into our lives, but it is not enough.  There seems be a cultural understanding on Facebook (and maybe it's just our Southern gentleness in the virtual world) that you can never say, "Oh I saw on Facebook that photo, status update, etc."  It's almost as though the virtual world and the real world should never collide.  

Ultimately though, for real faith to emerge it requires a face-to-face conversation over table fellowship.  This is what God's witness in Jesus Christ proves.  Transformation occurs not through virtual means, but genuine relationships.  No booming voice from heaven, but God's word came through a larynx and the vocal chords of Jesus Christ.

While many folks crank out their friends, web hits and followers, we have to recognize that most of those are booooogggggussss relationships.  If we are allowed to remain just connected on Social Media, no depth will occur.  We should use these tweets, updates, photos, blogs, reflections, as starting points for real conversations.

I have found that as I tweet, blog and Facebook it gives people an avenue to peer into my life and faith walk.  But it isn't until I saddle next to a guy on a run, or at the coffee house when they say, "What you wrote made me think..." that the Gospel transformation gets to take shape.

Therefore, I have recently begun to hear about VINE and started to wonder how my ministry might utilize VINE as a way to open up faith dialogue during the week for our community.  Anyone want to grab a coffee and help me flush that idea out?  

Tweet to me at @wbbarry

My Only Political Post (Ever)

Every few years, I post this political quote to remind us that this is all precisely part of the "Great American Experiment":

"Madison laid bare the heart of the new American system.  The theme was not unity, but countervailing interests; in contemporary terms, gridlock.  Federal versus state powers, executive versus legislative, and judicial versus them both: add the disparate economic interests of bankers and farmers, slaveholding southerners versus commercial-minded northerners, and thirteen semisovereign political units, plus indirect elections at the senatorial and presidential level to frustrate the raw, crude will of the people--and what you have is not chaos, as the critics might expect, but stability and above all liberty.
Gridlock at the public level guarantees liberty at the private level: this was the dirty little secret Madison dared to unveil in the Federalist Papers."

*From How the Scots Invented the Modern World

SCCPP: The Mission

I have had my boots on the ground the past two days and I am excited about The Mission.

Having been called to plant a church, and having found a vehicle through which to plan, I had one final question: where would God want to plant a church?

That's when I came across Acts 18:7 in which Paul leaves the synagogue to go next door to the house of Titius Justus a worshipper of God.  Around that same time, a church member appeared in my office to tell me about F3, a men's workout group in town that is seeking to reinvigorate male leadership in the community through fitness, fellowship and faith.  Hearing about the group, I was hooked--F3 was the perfect convergence of my life, ministry, and passion.

In the early morning workouts, I began to meet Godly men in Charlotte who I'd never met before...and men who'd left large established churches because they were uninspiring, men who have no faith life, men who were hungry for a faith life that actually requires something of them, and men who tag along with their wives who make them go to church (like the guy clutching his wife's purse at the Macy's dressing room)--in F3 parlance we call them "Sadclowns" because while they may be happy and the life of the party on the outside, deep down they slugging through life lonely and wondering if there is more to life than gathering paychecks and longing to be respected.

My wife's ministry in town has helped to define the female equivalent: the "PicturePerfect."  These are the women who appear to have everything under control and desperately want to be the best girlfriend/wife/mother/professional, to stay physically fit/calm/loving, and to prepare a home-grow delicious meal...while deep down wondering if there is more to life and having a hunger to be loved.

F3 opened my eyes to see I didn't have to cross an international border to be a missionary. Like Paul, I just had to leave the existing church structure, the ritual of the synagogue, the tediousness of security, the comfort of the stability and I had to simply risk everything by going where the people already are.  

So my mission is to "Equip men and women with the Gospel so that they may impact their places of influence."  Our mission is "to do less church activity and more Gospel living" so that faith is not just some passive spectator sport where we sit as "pew potatoes" but get out on the street living the adventure God has called us to.  Faith is not another bucket in our life...like work, family, hobbies...faith is the Bucket that undergirds and guides these other parts of our life.

Our goal is to create a community that is "a church for the overburdened and overscheduled by changing lives through genuine community, Biblical teaching and authentic worship."

We are looking to raise up 40-60 Trailblazers who want to commit the next 1-2 years helping to mark the trail, clear the debris, and set the path for this new church community.  We will be hosting some vision dinners in September to begin this journey.  I would invite the readers of this blog post to join our team, whether on the Prayer Team, as a Sponsor, or as a Trailblazer.

Hike Recap

While you can drive up to the top of Mt. Evans, I parked at the Summit Lake area for a 2 mile hike up and 1 mile hike down. The elevation change was about 2000ft to top out at 14,270ft.

Going around the lake, I quickly began to climb to the summit of Mt. Spaulding.  On the way up, I caught and passed about 7 other hikers.  As we chatted, they nicknamed me "Speedy" and were impressed that a flatlander from North Carolina caught them. 

From the summit of Spaulding, I dipped down onto the ridge to Mt. Evans. By this time I was trekking alone once again.  Also the trail disappeared and so I started having to follow the cairns.  It's here that Speedy got caught by a young coed who led me astray atop the mountain.

Crossing the ridge, I circled back to civilization to climb the final couple of hundred yards with the "tourists"-those folks who drove to the summit and claim they climbed a 14er by hiking the final 100ft up hill.

Atop the summit I was able to enjoy a PB&J and have devotion time.  Then I heard one teenager exclaim, "This would be a kick as place for quiet time.  Look, that man over there is reading his Bible."

On the return trip I passed the tourist trap area to find my trail down...unfortunately I missed the trail head. So my return trip was bushwhacking down the side.  Halfway down, I could see people easily trekking down the designated path and so had to begin traversing over there. 

Memory Lane: An Uptown Run

Friday night I stayed packing up my office after six years of ministry with First Presbyterian Church of Charlotte.  Called there in the summer of 2007, I remember touring the campus with Dr. Wood as he pointed to the skyline of Charlotte's emerging uptown condos while we discussed the tremendous opportunity to reach out and share the gospel in this city.

After loading the last box, I decided I would do one last uptown run.  This zig-zag map hit some of the highlights of my uptown ministry.

1)  I ran to the apartment Ellie, Lindsay and I shared when we first arrived.  Wanting to be "Uptown Cool" we found a fully furnished condo with concrete floors and brick walls.  The only problem...I found the condo on craigslist and never toured the place, so the "one bedroom" apartment actually was one giant room because the 12 foot walls did not reach the 18 foot ceilings.  This meant that 6 month old Ellie's cries, or my watching the Panther's lose was audible throughout the entire condo.
Not to mention the Subway across the hall so we would awake to the smell of Asiago Cheese-bread.

2)  Then I ran through Elmwood cemetery, were I had the opportunity to officiate a funeral.  Running among headstones, I was also able to connect with families and names in the city who have touched my ministry.

3)  Huffing past the Gateway YMCA and on down to Ray's Splash Planet, I recalled the Wednesday night runs I was introduced to by Kevin Griffith as my daughter practiced choir.  As well as the #RichieRun of F3.

4)  Heading off the trail, I went past the 3rd Ward home where we had a staff retreat last year when we anxiously wondered who the new person to lead FPC would be.

5)  Passing through the campus of Johnson and Wales, I remembered meeting students on moving week and welcoming them to Charlotte.

6)  Then I turned off to visit the old condo of good friends--the Smithwicks.

7)  By now I discovered something new--the tunnel to Bank of American Stadium.  Realizing I will lose the benefits of free parking for Panther games, I started scouting how I could get to the games.

8)  As Catalyst, Avenue and Trademark came into Vue, I thought about each of the members and visitors and young adults I had met over the years.

9)  And then finally, I went past the old sights for Theology on Tap (or after the Catholics sued me Untapped Theology): Cans, Feast, Press.

The run was an encouragement to see how my ministry had touched many different parts of this 4.25 mile run.

And how God is sending me off into a new (ad)venture in the same town!

Doing what I love

Now this is a solid day...doing what God designed me to do

4:30am::Wake up
5:30am::Workout with some solid guys of F3, running, bear crawling, backwards bear crawling all while griping but deep down knowing we all want to be out there getting stronger, faster, better.
6:30am::Bible study with some solid guys of F3, sharpening my faith as we dug into one of my favorite scriptures of Luke 5.
8:30am::Driving my boys to their school
10:30am::Having a Birthday lunch with Ellie, and her friends at school with Linz. Great fun to see her with friends, and the joy she got in giving out donut holes to her classmates.
12:00pm::The pure privilege of preaching God's Word.
3:00pm::standing out at the bus stop with a party hat to pick Ellie up. Of course as a kindergartener she thought it was funny. By next year she will quickly learn to be embarrassed by me.
4:00pm::Watching the boys helping her open all her birthday presents.
5:30pm::Birthday dinner at iHOP
7:00pm::tucking the kids into bed
9:00pm::prepping to fly and see my closest friends from seminary (landing at midnight)

God is good, and is was a total wheelhouse day of fitness, faith, and family.

Reinstitionalize

So begins the reinstutionalize of the PC(USA). Many supported the nFoG because it relocated authority to originate at the local congregational level, and allow context of ministry to matter.
Today the Presbytery of Charlotte, very subtly, made their statement against this move by voting to insert policies preventing interim and associate ministers to become lead pastors.
In practice I support this stance but am totally opposedpwe to the procedure of institutionalized policies that prevent exceptions.
By making this a policy the presbytery has trumpeted their authority once again in contrast to the nFOG ideals. Basically this circumvents any real discussion and discernment of a church, COM, and presbytery. and says that the Holy Spirit would only call a pastor through our procedures.
Clearly if any associate were to come forward to presbytery to be nominated for the lead role it should be strongly debated and argued as to why this is what the church community felt called and closely scrutinized. However, what these new policies do is basically say we don't know how to have honest, open and difficult dialogue so we'd rather just make a policy so we don't have to figure out what real community is like.
When is the last time a presbytery or COM voted against a church's call? Too awkward so we will make parliamentary moves to "just get along."

A Bachelor Life

I've appreciated all the inquiries about what I do all day when the kids are out of town.

7:30-wake up
8:30-9:30-8 mile run
10:30-Whitewater Center
11:00-Paddleboarding the Catwaba
1:00-Mtn. Biking
2:00-Rockclimbing and Boldering
5:00-walked Savannah
6:00-brewed beer
7:00-Lasgana Dinner
8:00-Movie

The Long Walk

Just finished King's first book (written not published)

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What a great read,

1984 rolled into an adventure race rolled into a existentialist dilemma.

And one of the best endings of any novel.

It's upsetting to see someone has been sitting on the movie rights but they'd butcher this novel anyway. 

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How thick is your bubble? quiz

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WTHeck Week

Monday

Day off...

discovered that one of my beer brews got over carbonated and exploded (hope that my Xmas presents to others didn't!)

Tuesday

Lindsay's car dies while in the carpool line

My cell phone battery is dead preventing me from get her distress call.

Wednesday

Realized I have lost my Starbucks Goldstar Card

Thursday

Lindsay's car won't start

I cannot get a computer in the office to hold a video conference chat

After 3 hours at the dealership they cannot figure out what was wrong with the car.

Friday

The garage door spring breaks and won't let me get my car out of the garage.

On the way home from Lowe's I get rearended by an old woman who refuses to get out of the car. She just roles down the window slightly and says, "Is it okay, can I just go? My slipper fell off and got stuck. Can I go now?"

Preaching Sunday...pray that it does not capstone the week.

Thou Shalt Nots...

2011 Goals Completed:

Give up one thing per month (cannot recall them all)

• January: Texting while driving
• February: Internet
• March: Soda
• April: Alcohol
• May: Processed Food
• June: Television
• July: Work Email after hours
• August:
• September: No Screens Past 8
• October: Credit Cards
• November: Coffee
• December: Shopping at chain stores

Ran 575.5 miles

(like going from Charlotte to Tampa Florida)

Biked 1779.18 miles

(from Charlotte to Phoenix--by air)

Swam 61.53 miles

(nearly from West Palm Beach to Grand Bahama Island)

Total of 2416 miles (Charlotte to LA)

Thou Shalt Not...

I fully admit this is originated from Outside Magazine, but I figured I would try a new form of New Year Resolutions: each month giving up something.

For January, I thought I'd start small but also with the hopes this will translate into a new practice year round.

1. No mobile device (phone, gps, texting) while driving

As my most recent text while biking proves, perhaps I shoul expand that to any wheeled mode of transport. Nah, that would be pushing it.

I'll update this in February to announce the next one (ps this is probably the most lame/common sense one) and followup on how I did.

I'm a Character!

in Stephen Frey's Book, The Fourth Order:

Things that Irk Me: Security

<li> Online Photo Sites whose login that require 8 characters, 2 symbols and an alphanumeric combination

I think "12345" should be a sufficient passcode to place orders at Walgreens.com--if someone wants my family photos they can steal 'em off of Facebook.

<li>  Costco's Video Camera's and Receipt Checkers...

To treat every costumer as a potential shoplifter does not make me interested in your establishment.  Don't legislate for the exception.

<li>  The invasive TSA image screening and pat-downs

 Ironically, the federal government is eroding the American principles of Human Dignity, Freedom and Liberty, in order to theoretically protect these same principles.

24HOB::Donation Game

Changing strategies

So they change their company name and agree not to advertise to
American kids. But they won't change their strategies.
What is sad is they are seeking to create a culture of smoking in
places where medical care has zero chance of fighting cancer and
absorb all (if any) disposable income.

Are there any better examples of humanity's greedy nature than Phillip
Morris and RJ Reynolds.
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4c_wI6kQyE&feature=youtube_gdata
" autostart="false"/>

<<Sent from an iPhone>>

Universalism Gone Too Far

Granted this may be based on my being raised in a Duke household.

 

Why do all of the commentators, SportsCenter, the Today Show, Facebook Status updates and basically all of America feel the need to sugar coat the Butler loss?

To say that “There were no losers out there on the court today” or “Both teams are champions in my book” is an offensive statement, not only to Duke but also for the Butler Bulldogs.  

They did not win; they played hard (and incredible), but they loss.  

They were in the lockerroom crying while Duke was hoisting the trophy and the commentators were trying to protect the kids’ fragile egos by calling them co-champions.  Those kids know the truth and will grow mightily from the experience of coming that close to a championship.  To water it down, to sugar coat it so that they may not feel heartbreak and disappointment only makes us (the observers) feel better. 

Why do we do it?

Because we cannot deal with the reality that in life there are winners and there losers.

Because we cannot deal with disappointments in our own lives and do not want to see others go through it too.

It’s like giving trophies to kids for showing up to tryouts.

It’s like saying all religions lead to the same god, and thereby negating the deep seeded differences in all religions.

It’s like Phil Keoghan announcing that this was a non-elimination leg of the Amazing Race; then why race?

 

Oh yeah,

K-4, Dean-2

Amazon Recommends...

These were today's recommendations for me:

A machete,
a book called "A Marginal Jew"
and a book on Career guidance...

hmm, is Amazon trying to tell me something.

Feeding the Family

Check my old seminary books

and other Christian books for sale.

http://www.amazon.com/shops/revwb

Email me directly and we will work a deal as amazon charges a ton to list with them.