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1.
we ask this of everyone, how do you define the
postmodern movement?
To
me postmodernism has been a breath of fresh air.
The advantage as I see it is that we are
rediscovering the idea of community. It is
very first century in its orientation.
First century theology was worked out in
community, and life centered on the community.
Somewhere in the enlightenment we traded community
for an oratory on Sunday. The weakness in
postmodernism is everything is subjective.
Truth is not always accepted as truth. Being
a community of faith we often have to work harder
to instill truth and have it accepted as truth.
However, from a missiological standpoint
Christians that function from a postmodern mindset and
holding to biblical truths are often better
equipped to introduce people to Christ
cross-culturally.
2. the jesus experience is located in las
vegas; how different is ministering in las vegas
to other areas you've ministered
in?
Las
Vegas has proven to be a challenge. My wife
and I moved here from San Francisco. In San
Francisco life was generally tribal. I have
not found Las Vegas to be as tribal as San
Francisco. I've heard the average stay in
Las Vegas is around 2 years. It is
hard for a since of community to develop in that
amount of time. Believe it or not Las Vegas
doesn't really have a local scene.
Everything centers on the Casinos. If you
want to go to a movie you go to a Casino. If
you want to go to a concert you go to a
Casino. It is really hard to distinguish
locals from tourists. I often use the
analogy that in San Francisco tourist come to
watch the locals play, and in Las Vegas locals are
here so the tourist can play. This creates a
problem in building community if you are a church
planter and new to the city.
3. knowing that "je" has a
large university grouping; how does "je"
maintain community during summer?
Being a church plant it would be hard to call
anything large at this time. However, the
majority of our people have connections to UNLV in
some form as being students or alumni. Since
only 10% of the student body lives on campus at
UNLV it means that the majority of our members
will be in town during the summer. Some move
off for the summer, or in one case their Marine
reserve unit was activated. We enjoy our unlimited
minutes after 9p.m. on our cell phones to keep up
with them. However, the majority live here
in town year round. When possible we make
trips to visit those that aren't in town,
especially if they live near the beach.
4.
how do "house churches" fit in at "je?"
We
are in the process of changing our entire
structure. We are letting our community
be defined by our home fellowship or house
churches rather than by the big worship event. It's
amazing how many people will come over to your
house for a meal and a discussion, but
wouldn't dare show up at a formal
"church" meeting. We are finding house
churches to be the most vibrant part of our
community. Outside of our
"members" our circle of friends are not
followers of Christ and are often hostile to the
idea of following Christ. So it just works
out better to say, come over for a meal or a
party rather than, "hey wanna go to
church"?
5.
what makes "je" unique in the las vegas
community, and is "je" connected with a
denomination?
In
the words of Solomon, "There is nothing
new under the sun". There are a
couple of areas that may be considered unique. One
of the unique aspects would be that we meet on
Sunday nights in a Sushi Bar.
"Only half of our church likes Sushi."
Another
would be that we are very multicultural.
Anglos would be in the minority in our church even
though I am an Anglo. This was not
intentional but having lived in Asia and having an
Asian wife we tend to attract Asian Americans.
One
that I hope is not unique to us but is one of our
core values is that we were established to send
people to carry the message of Christ around the
world. To facilitate this vision we are
offering trips each summer to another country to
share the vision. We made our first trip
this past summer and are already planning again
for next summer. If anyone is interested in
going with us, give us an email.
Oh
yeah, I almost forgot. We are a cooperating
church of the Southern Baptist Convention.
6.
what are the three largest concerns facing the
"je" community?
Leadership
- In any church leadership is very important.
However, in a postmodern church it is very
critical. Since we are based on community and
relationship driven it is necessary to have
several that are leaders both in structure and in
acceptance by the community. Each person
is limited in the number of relationships they can
successfully fulfill. In order to reach
optimum effectiveness as a community and grow,
there needs to be several leaders to maintain
these circles of relationships.
Commitment
- Add consumerism and relativism together and you
have a mixture that doesn't have much longevity.
Planting a church is extremely hard work and
can be very frustrating. Praise God! He has
given us a core that has been willing to endure.
We pray for more people to come along side of us.
Vision
- That we would always be faithful to
the vision that God has for our church.
It is really easy to say we need this and we need
that, but if that is not what God has intended
then we don't need it. There are so many
models of churches and so many seminars telling us
what to do. We desire to look past all the
hype of postmodernism and be faithful to God
leading us in the path he has for us.
7. as a church planter, what would you
share with those who desire to plant a postmodern
outreach?
Start
with a team. It will save you a lot of
headaches, and sleepless nights. For some
reason when denominations recruit church planters
they don't tell them about all the stress.
They usually stand there with a gleam in their eye
and move you to tears with stories about what
a joy it is to start a church. I am in
complete agreement it is a joy to start
a church. It's just a lot less stressful and more
likely to succeed if you share that joy with a
team. If you have a team, leadership is
already in place. If you don't have a team
it may take a couple of years to find people that
can be or are willing to be leaders. If a
church starts without a team it spends several
years just fighting for survival.
Don't
expect things to happen over night.
Enjoy the process and enjoy your people. If
you stress your self wanting a mega church by next
year you miss the joy of the people and they miss
the joy of their pastor. Let God take you
where He wants you, and enjoy the people he gives
you. Whether it is 10 or 1000.
any
closing thoughts?
Today
try to experience Jesus and share that experience.
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