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matt
liston,
lead
pastor
great
adventure
1.
How do you define the postmodern/emerging
conversation?
Good
question! When you figure it out...lemme
know!
I
don't know all the ins-and-outs of the
postmodern discussion...I just know that
it's life. It's what I live in and see every
single day. Postmodern thought is what 99%
of the people at our church grew up with.
There are others who can give a good
technical and heady definition to it...so
I'll spare you of my attempt. But to make it
quick and simple...pm can partially be
described as thinking about life from a
post-Christian perspective...where there is
no Center other than yourself and your own
interpretation on life and/or a belief. It's
not a disbelief in absolute truth, but
rather a belief that there are many absolute
truths. This affects everything in life
because everyone can look at the same idea
and walk away believing something different.
At the same time, even when a person takes
Jesus as their center and begins to make
life decisions based upon the truth of
scripture, they are still postmodern because
it goes beyond just "what is true for
me" to a lifestyle. It's a part of who
we are...the way we're wired. It's the way
you process information, the way you look at
life and relate to others...even as a
Christian. PM is a lifestyle.
The
"conversation" in the question in
my view is simply a way to describe
Christian people dialoging about this way of
processing life. Christian leaders have
finally become aware of the culture shift
because as PM's grew there was an obvious
disconnect between them and The Church. So
Christian leaders have been conversing about
this mindset and how to best engage people
in order to enhance the gospel. That's a
pretty surfacy description, but it's quick!
:)
2.
What makes adventure different from other
churches in the area?
Being
in California we are not the only purple cow
in the field...there are other churches in
our general area that are targeting the
postmodern person and are somewhat
"different" from what might be the
norm. However at the same time, there are
some differences that set Adventure apart
from the rest.
The
first and most obvious thing is the time
difference. We don't have a Sunday morning
service...rather we have our main worship
service on Sunday nights at 6pm. Because we
are targeting the person with the post-christian
mindset, we decided to have our service at
the end of the weekend instead of in the
middle. In the Silicon Valley, most people
take their "freetime" pretty
serious, and they fill up their weekends
with activities. So we decided to have our
service at a time that would allow people to
go do whatever with their friends and
family, and still make it to church if they
want to. Many in our "target" find
this time very appealing. We just recently
started another service on Friday nights for
people who are dealing with recovery issues.
It's been a great success so far.
Another
difference is probably our extreme casual
atmosphere. I typically teach in my shorts
and whatever T-shirt I happened to wear that
day. I hear that my teaching style is more
casual and conversational than most younger
pastors in the area. We have discussion
times that might happen in the middle of a
service if it will enhance the topic and
help people process a thought. We have
couches, coffee tables, lamps, and TV's to
enhance the feel in the room.
While
we sing some of the same songs as many other
churches, from what I hear, we typically
have more of an edge to our style...which is
intentional as we're trying to reach the
person on the furthest edges of life.
But
beyond all these types of things...I hear
all the time that what makes Adventure stand
out the most is our extreme openness to
absolutely anyone who walks through our
doors. In other words...our Love for people.
This is the difference that makes me most
proud...and this is why we've seen
conversions of buddhists, muslims, and
jewish people as well as former
anti-Christians! :) People know that at
Adventure we'll be honest with them and not
hide from their questions and concerns.
We'll lovingly and openly engage them in
dialogue and not try to cram our own
(correct! LOL) beliefs down their throats.
We don't hide the truth or the tough issues
of Christianity...rather we dialogue in a
loving way about it. This has been a very
effective way of reaching people for Jesus
in our setting because the conversion
experience is more of a process now than
ever before. I have heard it a hundred times
from people, that they've never felt such a
connection with other people. I had a Seik
tell me one time..."I don't believe as
you...but God is definitely in this
place." Why did he say that? He felt
God's love and presence. I feel like I'm
boasting a little, but I'm just so proud of
our people. Sharing the love of Jesus is
something that every single person who comes
regularly knows that we're to do every
moment...and they take it seriously.
Almost
a year ago one of our guys brought a friend
who had literally never ever been to church
in his life. He heard us do a POD song and
told his buddy, "They must be somewhat
normal here." As they left that first
night, he told his friend, "If that is
what being a Christian is all about...I want
to be one." Several months later he was
baptized into Jesus and is now a growing
Christ-follower! We have many similar
stories...
In
the first 5 months of 2004 we have had the
joy of baptizing 28 people into Christ. I
attribute that to God using our common
vision as a church. But it all started
because we genuinely allow God to use us as
we are in our own weird style.
3.
What would you say are the four major
problems facing the church today?
Others
smarter than me can address that in regards
to "The" Church, so I'll focus on
Adventure. I'll try not to bore you too
much, but I can think of three off the top
of my head:
The
Silicon Valley is very transient because it
costs a fortune to live here...so we have
lost many people to moves out of the area. A
couple summers ago we lost over 1/3 of our
committed people to move-outs of the area,
in a 3 month period!! That's a nice punch in
the stomach...and it hurt in many ways.
Another
problem, somewhat connected to the first, is
our money situation! What a surprise I know!
I'm sure I'm the only Pastor with that
problem! lol ...But since so many of our
people transition out of the area so often,
we've lost givers at a very high rate. Over
the years we've been incredibly blessed by
God...and we've reached many totally lost
people - many of whom never went to church
before. But that also means that the
spiritual discipline of giving is something
we have to work on. :)
Another
easy problem would be our facility issue. In
the Silicon Valley there is precious little
available property. It's basically one huge
slab of pavement here...so buying empty
property is pretty much out of the picture.
That makes rental space cost sky-rocket.
Even with the slow down in the economy, the
cost of renting warehouse space has remained
very high. In spite of this problem, we're
incredibly blessed to have a church (Trinity
Church) that believes in our vision and that
we can reach people they could never
reach...so they are very generous with their
facility. They've been a huge blessing!
4.
What do you see as the three major blessing
ahead for the church?
I'm
having a difficult time thinking of 3
things...but I can discuss some thoughts on
blessings for Adventure. We've already
baptized as many by May as we usually do in
a 12 month year, so I see God continuing to
bless us with many new converts. That's our
heartbeat and why I believe God brought
Adventure into being...so I know God will
continue to bless us by using our wierd
church to reach those on the edges and bring
them up in their relationship with Christ.
I've seen it happen over and over, and I
know that this will continue! I know our
Community Groups during the week will
continue to be a huge success. Most people
at Adventure are involved in a group during
the week...so our group percentage is very
high. Because of this I see the spiritual
depth and friendships of our people growing.
We're also very involved in church
planting...mentoring, helping financially,
with ideas and people...so I see this
continuing to be an increasing blessing to
us as time goes on. I could go on and on...
5.
What does adventure do to encourage
community service?
We
talk about it all the time...but even
better, we live it out weekly and monthly.
At Adventure people know that our faith
isn't just something you give mental assent
to, but it is something you live out daily.
We have both individual people actively
involved in community service each week as
well as more organized community service
events each month. <>
In
all seriousness, community service is more
of a lifestyle for many in our church, than
it is an organized ministry. From helping
the homeless to going on mission
trips...we're committed to serving people
outside Adventure. It's what we do...it's
who we are. It's who Jesus wanted us to be.
6.
What role does art play in the life of
adventure?
We
use creativity weekly in various ways. When
people think of "art" they imagine
some guy with a canvass and a paintbrush. We
don't have very many artsy fartsy people
painting amazing things during the service,
but we do have art/imagery in some form on a
weekly basis. One of our core values is
creativity so we are constantly engaging
people with as many senses as we possibly
can. It's art...but not always with canvass.
7.
How does adventure encourage people to get
connected with each other and grow in faith?
You
know...we encourage this every single
Sunday. This is huge for us. One of my
catch-phrases that I use all the time is,
"Life is a spiritual journey...don't
travel alone." We talk about it, teach
on it, encourage it...and provide lots of
opportunities to do it.
I
kinda touched on this earlier. Our Community
Groups are huge. It'd be safe for me to use
the cliche here...that we're a church of
small groups, not a church that offers small
groups. We have a very high percentage of
our people engaged on a weekly basis with
others in groups. The 80-20 rule of those
who make things happen in a church doesn't
apply to Adventure either. We have much
higher than 20% of our people involved in
ministry...so people are engaging each other
on a regular basis as a part of team. Then
there are also activities going on
constantly. That's the way it's supposed to
be! People involved in doing life together.
Again...Acts 2 kinda stuff...and stuff that
gets my heart raising.
any
closing thoughts?
When
I started Adventure, it wasn't about being
different or cool. It has always been and is
about being who we are, and allowing God to
use us. So our music and style, creativity,
terminology, and technology isn't programmed
to be a cool postmodern style church...it's
just, us. It's who we are. It was a great
day back in late '95 when God helped me
realize that he can use me as I am in all my
weirdness to reach people who are lost. I
don't have to fit into some pastor mold, or
some preacher style of teaching...but I can
be little ole me...and still be effective.
That is the style of Adventure today.
Nothing fancy. We're not out to impress or
be cool. We simply desire to connect people
with others like them who are on the same
spiritual journey, and connect them to God.
I've seen it over and over that God is
blessing us in both of these areas.
While
we are very far from being close-to-perfect
as a church and have much to learn, we've
been pretty effective. It's definitely a God
thing. He is ultimately the one who is
reaching people and changing lives at
Adventure. We're blessed to be able to play
a small part in his big plan.
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