Launching Grace--#1
Walt and I officially announced the launching of Grace on Sunday, January 16, 2005. We were set to hold our first service on Easter Sunday, March 27. That gave us about two months to put everything together. And I was to be gone a couple of weeks--one to Rwanda and then one to Hawaii.
Obviously, we had several balls in the air at one time. We set about putting a board together and figuring out a budget. We had to find a place to worship. We needed to get all of the equipment necessary for a worship service from sound systems to communion sets and so on. And we needed to figure out how to finance all of this.
We started weekly Wednesday night prayer meetings for those who were coming to Grace. We also held 3 visioning experiences to begin to talk about our mission together.
Jeff and I spent a lot of time driving around trying to find a place to hold worship services. Phoenix is a prime spot for launching new congregations so everywhere we looked was already booked from schools to small community centers. We didn't have much time. Finally, we found a school that was willing to let us worship Sunday evenings as they already had a church there on Sunday mornings. But that church was in the process of building and it looked like their building might be done before our first Sunday. We actually signed papers on the school the day Steve Talmage called me about the land for the first time. Our third visioning meeting was actually held at Sunrise Mountain High School, on a Sunday evening, to give us a chance to practice and get a feel for it.
Financially, Joy had made a commitment of $50,000 to get us launched. That was a huge help. They also provided offices for us for 2 years and the resources of copy machines, etc. (When we moved out to our new office they also gave us all of the recording studio equipment.) But we were on our own financially after that. We had to be self-sufficient from day 1 so we put together a very tight, conservative budget (which has been our MO since then. In 4 years we've so far had no payables and have been able to build up some reserves. It's taken sacrifice and generosity but I really appreciate the financial stability and integrity of the congregation.) The new congregation really stepped up and ensured that we would be able to make it financially.
On March 9, just a few weeks away from our launch, I was about to leave for Hawaii for a week. It turned out that the church using Sunrise Mountain in the morning was not going to be out of the school until June at the earliest. So we had to scramble to find a new place. Jeff contacted Zuni Hills (1/2 mile from where our land is). The church that had been renting there had moved out. So we were able to move in. Perfect! This all happened while I was in Africa.
While Zuni looked to be a go, we still needed to get the janitor to sign on. He had to agree to come and open, lock up, and clean up. He said it looked good, but as I was about to board the plane for Hawaii Jeff called to say that the janitor would not be available. That meant we couldn't get in. But...2 of the women who worked at Zuni who said they'd be coming to Grace volunteered to be the "janitors" and let us in each weekend. Zuni was back on!
3 days later, while I was sitting on the beach, Jeff texted to say that Zuni was off again. The two women had backed out. The principal, however, said that if we could find some teachers from the district who would take responsibility, he would let us in. We were able to identify 5 teachers. So Zuni was back on again. With a couple of weeks to spare. In the end, the principal gave us the keys and the code. We make sure each week the building is cleaner than when we got in. It's saved us the janitor fee!
Being at Zuni has been a real gift. And we've worked hard to be a blessing to the school, as well, through donations, clean up days, providing coffee for the teachers, etc. The school has been great in letting us store our stuff there. Not all is perfect. Our nursery is in a closet and Sunday school takes place in locker rooms. But it's not about the building. It's about mission. And Zuni came along at just the right time!
Finally, everything was in place. On Palm Sunday evening Joy held a special commissioning service for those of us headed to Grace. Pretty emotional stuff for me. Over 20 years of my life had been spent in that very very special place. I am who I am as a pastor in large part due to Joy, and especially due to Walt and his friendship and partnership. I worked with some amazing people over the years at Joy from staff to the congregation. Saying goodbye was bittersweet. I knew that the busyness of Grace would probably keep us from connecting with Joy much. At the same time, I was very excited about the new venture.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--12
Leaving Joy--#2
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, for good reason, has procedures and processes in place. Organizations, including churches, need them to prevent chaos, misunderstandings, and preventable problems. Admittedly, Joy was not always good at playing within the rules. It wasn't because we were anti-establishment or believed that we knew better. When you're a big congregation things move quickly and you usually end up asking for forgiveness because you forgot to ask for permission.
My call to start Grace was such a whirlwind that we had the ball rolling before we could meet with the Bishop and get his approval. We finally set up a meeting but he had to cancel. So on January 13, 2005, 3 days before Walt and I were going to officially announce the new start to the Joy congregation, we met with the Bishop. To my relief, he was extremely affirming, in fact very excited. When we told him where we were thinking of planting the new church he mentioned that there was some land out there for a new church. Walt and I had heard about it and we assumed the ELCA owned it. The Bishop also said that his Assistant was the one in charge of new plants and she would need to get in the loop. He would have her call me. But all in all, Walt and I took it as a good meeting and felt we could make the announcement.
More than a week had gone by and no call from the Assistant to the Bishop. So I called her. She was not nearly as affirming as the Bishop, understandably so, as we had been working outside of the system. She also didn't really know what was happening so she said that perhaps we could talk about a new church start in Anthem. She also said the Synod had no money for new church starts. When I told her we were going to take a group of Joy people with us and that Anthem was too far she had two reactions: 1) She was pretty shocked that we had already announced the new church start and 2) When I shared with her where I thought we might want to go, knowing there was land available, she told me that two other Lutheran churches owned that land and intended to start a new congregation there on their own. That's when I was shocked, as now we had bumbled into a partner congregation's mission area. We'd have to find a new area to meet. And, we had no access to Synod funds to get us started.
I was a bit panicked, to say the least. We had lost our ministry area and we had hacked off the Assistant to the Bishop and probably a couple of our partner Lutheran congregations and pastors.
That afternoon, Steve Talmage, then the Pastor of Peace Lutheran and one of the congregations that owned the land, left me a voice mail. He had heard about our new vision from the Assistant to the Bishop (who had set up a meeting for us for the following month). He was very affirming on the phone but he did want to chat.
I called him back immediately and quickly apologized for what seemed to be our encroachment into their area of ministry. Nothing like a big Mega-church seemingly doing its own thing with little regard for anyone else. But that wasn't what we were trying to do. I told him we had misunderstood about the land and that we would find a new area for ministry. At that point he said that things were perhaps changing in their minds; that perhaps rather than them starting the church, they would give the land to a Lutheran congregation that might start in that area. He said, "Perhaps God is bringing us together for a reason!" That phone call was an especially powerful gift in what could have been a very difficult situation.
After a year of meeting with Steve (who is now our Bishop) and Mark Huggenvik, former pastor of American Lutheran, the other congregation who purchased the land, their two congregations voted unanimously to give that 9.5 acres to Grace. What a day! What a God thing--to think two Lutheran churches bought a piece of land 4 years before Grace was a dream in my heart.
But the excitement, setbacks, and adventure were just heating up.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, for good reason, has procedures and processes in place. Organizations, including churches, need them to prevent chaos, misunderstandings, and preventable problems. Admittedly, Joy was not always good at playing within the rules. It wasn't because we were anti-establishment or believed that we knew better. When you're a big congregation things move quickly and you usually end up asking for forgiveness because you forgot to ask for permission.
My call to start Grace was such a whirlwind that we had the ball rolling before we could meet with the Bishop and get his approval. We finally set up a meeting but he had to cancel. So on January 13, 2005, 3 days before Walt and I were going to officially announce the new start to the Joy congregation, we met with the Bishop. To my relief, he was extremely affirming, in fact very excited. When we told him where we were thinking of planting the new church he mentioned that there was some land out there for a new church. Walt and I had heard about it and we assumed the ELCA owned it. The Bishop also said that his Assistant was the one in charge of new plants and she would need to get in the loop. He would have her call me. But all in all, Walt and I took it as a good meeting and felt we could make the announcement.
More than a week had gone by and no call from the Assistant to the Bishop. So I called her. She was not nearly as affirming as the Bishop, understandably so, as we had been working outside of the system. She also didn't really know what was happening so she said that perhaps we could talk about a new church start in Anthem. She also said the Synod had no money for new church starts. When I told her we were going to take a group of Joy people with us and that Anthem was too far she had two reactions: 1) She was pretty shocked that we had already announced the new church start and 2) When I shared with her where I thought we might want to go, knowing there was land available, she told me that two other Lutheran churches owned that land and intended to start a new congregation there on their own. That's when I was shocked, as now we had bumbled into a partner congregation's mission area. We'd have to find a new area to meet. And, we had no access to Synod funds to get us started.
I was a bit panicked, to say the least. We had lost our ministry area and we had hacked off the Assistant to the Bishop and probably a couple of our partner Lutheran congregations and pastors.
That afternoon, Steve Talmage, then the Pastor of Peace Lutheran and one of the congregations that owned the land, left me a voice mail. He had heard about our new vision from the Assistant to the Bishop (who had set up a meeting for us for the following month). He was very affirming on the phone but he did want to chat.
I called him back immediately and quickly apologized for what seemed to be our encroachment into their area of ministry. Nothing like a big Mega-church seemingly doing its own thing with little regard for anyone else. But that wasn't what we were trying to do. I told him we had misunderstood about the land and that we would find a new area for ministry. At that point he said that things were perhaps changing in their minds; that perhaps rather than them starting the church, they would give the land to a Lutheran congregation that might start in that area. He said, "Perhaps God is bringing us together for a reason!" That phone call was an especially powerful gift in what could have been a very difficult situation.
After a year of meeting with Steve (who is now our Bishop) and Mark Huggenvik, former pastor of American Lutheran, the other congregation who purchased the land, their two congregations voted unanimously to give that 9.5 acres to Grace. What a day! What a God thing--to think two Lutheran churches bought a piece of land 4 years before Grace was a dream in my heart.
But the excitement, setbacks, and adventure were just heating up.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--11
Leaving Joy--#1
In the summer of 2003 Walt headed out on a 3 month sabbatical. He sensed God was up to something new at Joy and he wanted the chance to visit some new kinds of ministries emerging in the States and around the world. One of the places he visited early on was Sheffield, England and the ministry of Mike Breen. Walt invited Jan and me to join him. We caught a glimpse of what God was stirring in Walt's soul.
When Walt came back from his sabbatical he began to talk through what this new way of doing ministry might look like for Joy. Mike Breen moved over to Phoenix to help us in the transition.
As is true with any culture/vision change, Joy, especially the staff, went through a period of transition and chaos as we tried to figure out what God was up to and what it all meant.
In 2004 we made a shift in worship. I sensed my time as the overseer of worship was done so I stepped down from that responsibility. Out of that came a new way of viewing worship. We moved from a seeker model to a worshipping community model. In this new model, each pastor took responsibility for one of the worship services. The concept was for each pastor to be the pastor of that "congregation." So I took responsibility for the 9:35 service. I was now responsible not only for worship at that service, but for building that service into a community.
For me, the change brought a new energy. For most of my time at Joy I had a more manager type role. This new shift would free me up to pastor a group of people. In addition to worship we had picnics, I started a weekly 935 email letter, I began to meet with leaders who would eventually develop smaller groups out of the 935 worship service, to name a few things we did to build the 9:35 worship service into a missional community of people.
Then Joy was hit by a financial crisis. We were going into the hole financially and needed to stop the bleeding. More often than not, that means staff restructuring and pay cuts. As it became evident we needed to do something significant, Walt called the pastors together and invited us to pray about our call to Joy. He told us he was going to the board to hand in his resignation and would be willing to leave Joy if the board felt he should. Each of us needed to take time to discern if God was affirming our call to Joy or if this might be a time for change.
I was absolutely enjoying my time as the pastor of 935. So I didn't feel I needed to pray about it. I felt like I would be at Joy until I retired.
An aside: When Joy called me back in 1984 it was with the thought that I might plant a new congregation five years later. We actually started looking at land near where Joy ended up relocating. But Walt and I enjoyed ministry together so much that nothing really came of it.
Then the ELCA invited Joy to take the lead in planting 10 churches throughout the US--10 congregations that would be created from the start to be mega-churches. My role was to help train the lead pastors and staffs of these new congregations. As we were getting ready for the first site in Yorba Linda, CA, I woke up one morning sensing that I was to pursue the lead pastor role for that church. I told Jan about it and she said I should go for it. Walt was very supportive as well so Jan and I, along with my brother Jeff and his wife Diane, started the interview process. We headed out to Yorba Linda for a few days to see the area, look at homes, and meet with some of the pastors in the area. We drove back to Phoenix pretty certain that we were going to do it!
During the interview process we were holding one of our evangelism conferences. For whatever reason that week I had several pastors ask me when I was going to leave Joy and become a Senior Pastor! Little did they know.
What I didn't know was that Lyle Schaller, the great church consultant and our speaker for that week, pulled Walt aside and said that my leaving was a bad idea. First, he said Yorba Linda was one of the toughest places in the country to start a church. Second, he said the Lutheran church needed a strong model of a healthy growing church and a strong, healthy staff. In essence he said that together, Walt and I could build a more significant ministry than the two of us could do on our own. (Walt didn't tell me this until after we had made our final decision.)
Convinced we were headed to Yorba Linda we decided to visit it one more time. And something odd happened. As we crossed into Yorba Linda all four of us (me, Jan, Jeff, and Diane) felt the door shut. We headed back to Phoenix and pulled our names out from consideration. The ELCA went ahead with the project and it was a spectacular...failure!
I was never quite sure why I had such a strong sense to apply for the job only to have the door shut, but it did renew my commitment to Walt, Joy, and its mission. I really believed I would be there for my entire ministry.
Back to the fall, 2004. I continued to enjoy every minute of my new responsibilities. But then, seemingly out of the blue, I woke up one morning in November (not unlike that time years ago when thinking about Yorba Linda) with the strong impression that God wanted me to plant a new congregation out of Joy. The only way I've been able to explain it is I heard God's whisper. When I told Jan about it that morning she immediately said, "I think that's right!"
I set up an appointment with Walt to try the idea out on him as I was headed out of town for 10 days. The day before that meeting I bounced the idea off of Mike Breen whose excitement for the idea was a nice, affirming gift of grace. Walt, too, was extremely supportive of the idea. I told Walt the staff I'd like to take with me (which would also help with the financial challenges Joy was facing) and we began the process of making the transition.
I was headed out for a few days of vacation right before Christmas so I pulled Michelle Halonen aside and asked her to be a part of the team. She didn't even blink an eye when she said yes! I was meeting Jeff and Diane, Terey Summers and her husband, Jimmy, in Disneyland. I took them to lunch and told them I was leaving Joy to start a new church. After a nice dramatic pause, I asked them to join me.
Because this was all happening around Christmas it was hard to get to all of the people I felt an obligation to talk to personally about this (and then I got sick on Christmas Eve and was out for a week) so the news leaked before I could get to everyone.
Christmas night, at our Wright family dinner, we announced it to my family. Talk about a Christmas surprise!
Christmas weekend we held an informal meeting with some key leaders to share the dream. Then Walt and I held a forum with some of the main leaders of the 935 community. Finally we were able to get to the Joy staff, but by then most of them had heard the rumors.
In early January Walt and I did a joint sermon announcing the new venture. We invited the people of Joy to pray about the mission with us and if they were interested in joining us, to indicate so on the card. At the end of the service when I introduced the Grace team, the 9:35 service gave them a standing ovation--a very cool act of support and a demonstration of Joy's passion for mission.
We were off and running. We now had about 3 months to put a new church together, find a place to worship, and get going.
But we forgot one main thing...we forgot to get permission from the Bishop.
In the summer of 2003 Walt headed out on a 3 month sabbatical. He sensed God was up to something new at Joy and he wanted the chance to visit some new kinds of ministries emerging in the States and around the world. One of the places he visited early on was Sheffield, England and the ministry of Mike Breen. Walt invited Jan and me to join him. We caught a glimpse of what God was stirring in Walt's soul.
When Walt came back from his sabbatical he began to talk through what this new way of doing ministry might look like for Joy. Mike Breen moved over to Phoenix to help us in the transition.
As is true with any culture/vision change, Joy, especially the staff, went through a period of transition and chaos as we tried to figure out what God was up to and what it all meant.
In 2004 we made a shift in worship. I sensed my time as the overseer of worship was done so I stepped down from that responsibility. Out of that came a new way of viewing worship. We moved from a seeker model to a worshipping community model. In this new model, each pastor took responsibility for one of the worship services. The concept was for each pastor to be the pastor of that "congregation." So I took responsibility for the 9:35 service. I was now responsible not only for worship at that service, but for building that service into a community.
For me, the change brought a new energy. For most of my time at Joy I had a more manager type role. This new shift would free me up to pastor a group of people. In addition to worship we had picnics, I started a weekly 935 email letter, I began to meet with leaders who would eventually develop smaller groups out of the 935 worship service, to name a few things we did to build the 9:35 worship service into a missional community of people.
Then Joy was hit by a financial crisis. We were going into the hole financially and needed to stop the bleeding. More often than not, that means staff restructuring and pay cuts. As it became evident we needed to do something significant, Walt called the pastors together and invited us to pray about our call to Joy. He told us he was going to the board to hand in his resignation and would be willing to leave Joy if the board felt he should. Each of us needed to take time to discern if God was affirming our call to Joy or if this might be a time for change.
I was absolutely enjoying my time as the pastor of 935. So I didn't feel I needed to pray about it. I felt like I would be at Joy until I retired.
An aside: When Joy called me back in 1984 it was with the thought that I might plant a new congregation five years later. We actually started looking at land near where Joy ended up relocating. But Walt and I enjoyed ministry together so much that nothing really came of it.
Then the ELCA invited Joy to take the lead in planting 10 churches throughout the US--10 congregations that would be created from the start to be mega-churches. My role was to help train the lead pastors and staffs of these new congregations. As we were getting ready for the first site in Yorba Linda, CA, I woke up one morning sensing that I was to pursue the lead pastor role for that church. I told Jan about it and she said I should go for it. Walt was very supportive as well so Jan and I, along with my brother Jeff and his wife Diane, started the interview process. We headed out to Yorba Linda for a few days to see the area, look at homes, and meet with some of the pastors in the area. We drove back to Phoenix pretty certain that we were going to do it!
During the interview process we were holding one of our evangelism conferences. For whatever reason that week I had several pastors ask me when I was going to leave Joy and become a Senior Pastor! Little did they know.
What I didn't know was that Lyle Schaller, the great church consultant and our speaker for that week, pulled Walt aside and said that my leaving was a bad idea. First, he said Yorba Linda was one of the toughest places in the country to start a church. Second, he said the Lutheran church needed a strong model of a healthy growing church and a strong, healthy staff. In essence he said that together, Walt and I could build a more significant ministry than the two of us could do on our own. (Walt didn't tell me this until after we had made our final decision.)
Convinced we were headed to Yorba Linda we decided to visit it one more time. And something odd happened. As we crossed into Yorba Linda all four of us (me, Jan, Jeff, and Diane) felt the door shut. We headed back to Phoenix and pulled our names out from consideration. The ELCA went ahead with the project and it was a spectacular...failure!
I was never quite sure why I had such a strong sense to apply for the job only to have the door shut, but it did renew my commitment to Walt, Joy, and its mission. I really believed I would be there for my entire ministry.
Back to the fall, 2004. I continued to enjoy every minute of my new responsibilities. But then, seemingly out of the blue, I woke up one morning in November (not unlike that time years ago when thinking about Yorba Linda) with the strong impression that God wanted me to plant a new congregation out of Joy. The only way I've been able to explain it is I heard God's whisper. When I told Jan about it that morning she immediately said, "I think that's right!"
I set up an appointment with Walt to try the idea out on him as I was headed out of town for 10 days. The day before that meeting I bounced the idea off of Mike Breen whose excitement for the idea was a nice, affirming gift of grace. Walt, too, was extremely supportive of the idea. I told Walt the staff I'd like to take with me (which would also help with the financial challenges Joy was facing) and we began the process of making the transition.
I was headed out for a few days of vacation right before Christmas so I pulled Michelle Halonen aside and asked her to be a part of the team. She didn't even blink an eye when she said yes! I was meeting Jeff and Diane, Terey Summers and her husband, Jimmy, in Disneyland. I took them to lunch and told them I was leaving Joy to start a new church. After a nice dramatic pause, I asked them to join me.
Because this was all happening around Christmas it was hard to get to all of the people I felt an obligation to talk to personally about this (and then I got sick on Christmas Eve and was out for a week) so the news leaked before I could get to everyone.
Christmas night, at our Wright family dinner, we announced it to my family. Talk about a Christmas surprise!
Christmas weekend we held an informal meeting with some key leaders to share the dream. Then Walt and I held a forum with some of the main leaders of the 935 community. Finally we were able to get to the Joy staff, but by then most of them had heard the rumors.
In early January Walt and I did a joint sermon announcing the new venture. We invited the people of Joy to pray about the mission with us and if they were interested in joining us, to indicate so on the card. At the end of the service when I introduced the Grace team, the 9:35 service gave them a standing ovation--a very cool act of support and a demonstration of Joy's passion for mission.
We were off and running. We now had about 3 months to put a new church together, find a place to worship, and get going.
But we forgot one main thing...we forgot to get permission from the Bishop.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--10
Interlude #3--BJ Thomas (he gets his own post)
My parents weren't all that crazy about the new music coming out in the 60's--that radical stuff like "I wanna hold your hand" sung by 4 guys wearing suits but with sort of long hair and hordes of screaming girls around them. But you know how parents are--beg them enough and they eventually give in. So we eased into the Rock scene with 45's like Daydream Believer from the Monkees and Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head by BJ Thomas. My brother, Jeff, was really the early BJ Thomas fan. I think he was the one who purchased one of the first albums of BJ hits. But I remember listening to the album over and over again as well. As my parents feared, that lite rock music led us to the deeper stuff...like Kenny Rogers and Neil Diamond!
By the way, BJ is the only artist to have #1 hit songs in Pop, country, and Gospel music. He's sold over 80 million records. He's a big deal in the music biz.
In 1976, while I was at LBI, rumors started circulating that BJ Thomas had converted to Christianity. Not long after he released his first album of Contemporary Christian Music. The album was huge! BJ has one of those voices that brings a high level of professionalism to the recording and his talent/success in pop music gave CCM a big boost.
I first heard BJ in concert in Tacoma, Washington. After the opening act BJ came out and it was electric. He sang hit song after hit song. I'd forgotten the huge hits he had had. Then he moved into his new Gospel music. In so doing, he shared his story, his life of success, drug addiction, his death on a flight between islands in Hawaii, and how he'd been brought back again. The nurse standing over him told him God must have something important for him. BJ called his wife, from whom he was somewhat estranged. He didn't know she had become a Christian. But when we went home, she and some of her friends shared Jesus with BJ and Jesus caught ahold of him. In that moment BJ was freed from his drug addiction.
BJ started putting out both Gospel and "secular albums." But his Gospel stuff started taking over. And some Christians weren't all that happy about him singing secular stuff. BJ always maintained he was a singer who was a Christian, not a Christian singer. That God was using him to sing for and talk to people whom the church couldn't reach. It didn't take long, however, before it turned ugly. During concerts a few well-intentioned but clueless Christians would heckle him and yell out--sing about Jesus! I saw this happen several times. One time, in St. Paul, the heckling was so bad that BJ actually walked off stage. It as heartbreaking. He actually received death threats from Christians. Some Christians even bashed in the windows of Christian bookstores that carried his recordings!
The heckling began to sour BJ on Christianity (understandably) and soon he distanced himself from the whole Christian scene.
He fell back into addictions, one time due to a pain med, and went through some tough years.
Many people have an artist they connect with. BJ is that artist for me. Something about his music, something about his voice and his soul always moves me. I can't explain it other than that. In those years I would take every chance I could to stick up for the guy, whether through a letter to the editor of a Christian music magazine or through the radio show Steve and I did.
I kept up with his career as best I could. I took in his shows whenever he was in town. The amazing thing to me was that he still continued to sing some of his Gospel songs in every one of his shows. He often gave a disclaimer to distance himself from the judgmental Christianity he had experienced but he still sang about Jesus in every venue, in every concert.
In the mid-90's I read an article that suggested BJ and his wife Gloria were trying to reconnect with Christianity. So I decided to see if he might be interested in doing a concert at Joy. I called his agent who said BJ would be delighted to do such an event. I said I didn't want a Gospel concert. I wanted him to do what he does! (BJ later told me he didn't want to do it. It was too painful. But his wife explained that we didn't want a Christian concert but a BJ concert and that he should pray about it.)
We booked the concert. Words can describe how excited I was. I knew the people of Joy would welcome him with grace and love. I wanted Joy to hear BJ and wanted BJ to experience at least one Christian place where people would accept him for who he was.
I can't tell you how nervous I was to meet him. Little did I know how nervous he was to be in a church. He came out to a full house, standing ovation. He sang a few songs and the response to him was overwhelming. He jokingly said to his band early on--boy, it wasn't like this 14 years ago! It was evident he was a bit nervous at first but as the evening wore on, he relaxed, opened up, and even had some very emotional moments on the stage. My friend Janie, a BJ stalker, said normally BJ does about 75 minutes of music. If he goes over that, it's a good night. He went 2 hours! One of the reporters who wrote about the event said there were 7-8 standing ovations during the show. As he walked off of the stage for the final time that night he reached down and shook my hand and gave me a heartfelt thanks.
After the show I had the chance to interview him for a small group of people. It was an emotional interview for me (this is my singing hero) and for him as he had had a healing experience after all those years of hurt heaped on him by Christians.
As a result of that first concert, we became friends. An odd friendship as I had to pay to see him all the time, either by going to his concerts or bringing him to Joy! :) But once in a while he'd call. But almost always, when I'd attend his concerts, he'd invite me backstage to chat for awhile. If he knew I was in the audience he would dedicate a song to me. He is a genuinely nice guy!
Once word got out that he had done a few concerts at our church, other churches wanted to have him. But BJ insisted that the only church he did was Joy. I remember one pastor calling me asking about booking BJ. I got the impression they wanted a Christian concert out of him so I did my best to talk the pastor out of it.
One of the big highlights for me came a few years back when he recorded two live, in concert CD's at Joy. One featuring his pop/country hits and the other his Gospel hits. On both BJ albums I introduce him. And on both, he gives a shout out to me. Very cool!
BJ was kind of enough to do an in-depth interview with me for a book I wrote.
Since I left Joy I haven't had the chance to see as much of BJ and we've lost contact a bit. I'm hoping that once we get our new building up I can bring him in once more for all of us oldies to enjoy his unique talent.
My experiences with BJ were among the highlights of my highlights. Having the chance--through Joy--to bring some grace to a guy I admire so much, who had endured so much abuse from a few Christians, and becoming his friend was and is very, very cool.
My parents weren't all that crazy about the new music coming out in the 60's--that radical stuff like "I wanna hold your hand" sung by 4 guys wearing suits but with sort of long hair and hordes of screaming girls around them. But you know how parents are--beg them enough and they eventually give in. So we eased into the Rock scene with 45's like Daydream Believer from the Monkees and Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head by BJ Thomas. My brother, Jeff, was really the early BJ Thomas fan. I think he was the one who purchased one of the first albums of BJ hits. But I remember listening to the album over and over again as well. As my parents feared, that lite rock music led us to the deeper stuff...like Kenny Rogers and Neil Diamond!
By the way, BJ is the only artist to have #1 hit songs in Pop, country, and Gospel music. He's sold over 80 million records. He's a big deal in the music biz.
In 1976, while I was at LBI, rumors started circulating that BJ Thomas had converted to Christianity. Not long after he released his first album of Contemporary Christian Music. The album was huge! BJ has one of those voices that brings a high level of professionalism to the recording and his talent/success in pop music gave CCM a big boost.
I first heard BJ in concert in Tacoma, Washington. After the opening act BJ came out and it was electric. He sang hit song after hit song. I'd forgotten the huge hits he had had. Then he moved into his new Gospel music. In so doing, he shared his story, his life of success, drug addiction, his death on a flight between islands in Hawaii, and how he'd been brought back again. The nurse standing over him told him God must have something important for him. BJ called his wife, from whom he was somewhat estranged. He didn't know she had become a Christian. But when we went home, she and some of her friends shared Jesus with BJ and Jesus caught ahold of him. In that moment BJ was freed from his drug addiction.
BJ started putting out both Gospel and "secular albums." But his Gospel stuff started taking over. And some Christians weren't all that happy about him singing secular stuff. BJ always maintained he was a singer who was a Christian, not a Christian singer. That God was using him to sing for and talk to people whom the church couldn't reach. It didn't take long, however, before it turned ugly. During concerts a few well-intentioned but clueless Christians would heckle him and yell out--sing about Jesus! I saw this happen several times. One time, in St. Paul, the heckling was so bad that BJ actually walked off stage. It as heartbreaking. He actually received death threats from Christians. Some Christians even bashed in the windows of Christian bookstores that carried his recordings!
The heckling began to sour BJ on Christianity (understandably) and soon he distanced himself from the whole Christian scene.
He fell back into addictions, one time due to a pain med, and went through some tough years.
Many people have an artist they connect with. BJ is that artist for me. Something about his music, something about his voice and his soul always moves me. I can't explain it other than that. In those years I would take every chance I could to stick up for the guy, whether through a letter to the editor of a Christian music magazine or through the radio show Steve and I did.
I kept up with his career as best I could. I took in his shows whenever he was in town. The amazing thing to me was that he still continued to sing some of his Gospel songs in every one of his shows. He often gave a disclaimer to distance himself from the judgmental Christianity he had experienced but he still sang about Jesus in every venue, in every concert.
In the mid-90's I read an article that suggested BJ and his wife Gloria were trying to reconnect with Christianity. So I decided to see if he might be interested in doing a concert at Joy. I called his agent who said BJ would be delighted to do such an event. I said I didn't want a Gospel concert. I wanted him to do what he does! (BJ later told me he didn't want to do it. It was too painful. But his wife explained that we didn't want a Christian concert but a BJ concert and that he should pray about it.)
We booked the concert. Words can describe how excited I was. I knew the people of Joy would welcome him with grace and love. I wanted Joy to hear BJ and wanted BJ to experience at least one Christian place where people would accept him for who he was.
I can't tell you how nervous I was to meet him. Little did I know how nervous he was to be in a church. He came out to a full house, standing ovation. He sang a few songs and the response to him was overwhelming. He jokingly said to his band early on--boy, it wasn't like this 14 years ago! It was evident he was a bit nervous at first but as the evening wore on, he relaxed, opened up, and even had some very emotional moments on the stage. My friend Janie, a BJ stalker, said normally BJ does about 75 minutes of music. If he goes over that, it's a good night. He went 2 hours! One of the reporters who wrote about the event said there were 7-8 standing ovations during the show. As he walked off of the stage for the final time that night he reached down and shook my hand and gave me a heartfelt thanks.
After the show I had the chance to interview him for a small group of people. It was an emotional interview for me (this is my singing hero) and for him as he had had a healing experience after all those years of hurt heaped on him by Christians.
As a result of that first concert, we became friends. An odd friendship as I had to pay to see him all the time, either by going to his concerts or bringing him to Joy! :) But once in a while he'd call. But almost always, when I'd attend his concerts, he'd invite me backstage to chat for awhile. If he knew I was in the audience he would dedicate a song to me. He is a genuinely nice guy!
Once word got out that he had done a few concerts at our church, other churches wanted to have him. But BJ insisted that the only church he did was Joy. I remember one pastor calling me asking about booking BJ. I got the impression they wanted a Christian concert out of him so I did my best to talk the pastor out of it.
One of the big highlights for me came a few years back when he recorded two live, in concert CD's at Joy. One featuring his pop/country hits and the other his Gospel hits. On both BJ albums I introduce him. And on both, he gives a shout out to me. Very cool!
BJ was kind of enough to do an in-depth interview with me for a book I wrote.
Since I left Joy I haven't had the chance to see as much of BJ and we've lost contact a bit. I'm hoping that once we get our new building up I can bring him in once more for all of us oldies to enjoy his unique talent.
My experiences with BJ were among the highlights of my highlights. Having the chance--through Joy--to bring some grace to a guy I admire so much, who had endured so much abuse from a few Christians, and becoming his friend was and is very, very cool.
Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--9
Interlude #2--Jaw Dropping Name Dropping
Joy's mission was to create a church where those turned off to the church would want to come to or would feel comfortable coming to. One of the ways we tried to draw people in was through concerts and events. We would book well-known artists and then encourage our members to bring their friends. Since I was the guy booking and overseeing the events, I usually booked people I wanted to meet and see.
Our very first concert, back in 1984, was Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul, and Mary. He came with his band, Bodyworks. What a concert. We had Noel back several times over the years and he always inspired us, entertained us, and moved us. There's something magical about folk music--how it sounds, what it says, and Noel knew how to use it. He would do some of this Peter, Paul, and Mary stuff and many of his own songs, which talked about his faith in Jesus--a faith he came to as an adult. Jan and I had many chances to visit with him after his concerts at Joy and when we'd see him with Peter, Paul, and Mary. He's one of those genuinely good guys!
Another biggie, at the time, was Debby Boone. Debby had had a hit with "You Light Up My Life," and had also recorded some best selling Gospel albums. Debby has an incredible voice and a riveting stage presence. She came in 3 times, I think.
One of Walt's all time favorites is Pat Boone, Debby's dad. Walt brought Pat in for the big grand opening of the new worship center at our first campus. We brought him in again to do a concert at a capital fund raising event. I had the opportunity to drive him back to the airport. A few years ago, when I was flying home from seeing BJ Thomas in Nashville, Pat Boone sat in the seat next to me!
Philip Bailey, of Earth, Wind, and Fire, is a deeply committed Christian. We had him in only one time but he was awesome. A very humble but articulate artist.
Dean Jones, actor in many of Disney's biggest hits in the 60's, had done a powerful one-man play called, St. John in Exile, a drama about the author of Revelation. Jan and I had a chance to see him perform it live. Because of the tremendous work it took to do the show, Dean filmed it and then came to churches like Joy and showed the film then shared his testimony. He was a hard living guy, good buddies with Steve McQueen. But God captured Dean's heart.
One year we brought him in for a Letterman-like talk show event. He was downright awesome. One of Dean's early films was Jailhouse Rock so we brought in an Elvis impersonator as one of our "guests." Dean had lots of great stories to tell. One of the memorable ones had to do with a song he had turned down. Backed up by the Good News Band he sang what turned out to be a Frank Sinatra hit, "That's Life!" And he sang it big!
We also brought in Gospel artists to introduce our congregation to some of the great musicians in that field--people like Chris Christian, David Meece, Larnelle Harris (who blew the socks off of us during one of our Evangelism Conferences), Andrus and Blackwood, First Call, to name a few. (Dating myself with those guys but this was back in the '80's and 90's.)
One of the more controversial people I brought in was John DeLorean. (Yes, that John DeLorean, or for you movie buffs, the designer of the DeLorean used in Back to the Future.) DeLorean had just released his autobiography about his career, his legal troubles, and his conversion. Some on the Joy board were a bit miffed that we were bringing that "crook" to Joy. I said that he hadn't been convicted of any crime, that in fact, the judge ruled no crime had been committed and that the government had tried to entrap him. But some of the board said he was guilty and had gotten off on a technicality and he shouldn't be coming to Joy. (I guess we forgot about one of our early heroes, a terrorist and murderer named Saul who had a transforming encounter with Jesus.) But we talked it through and got on the same page. And the event was outstanding. A full house. DeLorean was humble, articulate, fascinating, and interesting. After his 1 hour talk people lined up for 2 hours to shake his hand and get his autograph. The sincerity of his faith in Jesus was profound.
We also invited well known people to our worship services for interviews as a way to draw people into our church to hear about Jesus. So I had the privilege of interviewing sports people, politicians, and business people. People like Ron Wolfley and Garth Jax of the Arizona Cardinals, Mark West and Tom Chambers from the Phoenix Suns, singer Naomi Judd, congressman Trent Franks, basketball great Jerry Lucas, a few Miss Americas, Lisa Welchel (Blair from "Facts of Life),to name a few of the many. One thing I learned over the years, always keep control of the mic as sometimes the interviewee could get a bit long winded.
I also had the chance to meet a lot of great people and actually hang with them for awhile--people like Robert Schuller, Rick Warren, Ken Blanchard, Bill Hybels, Mayor Elaine Scruggs of Glendale, AZ, Jay Bakker (son of Jim and Tammy Faye), to name a few.
For a kid from St. Louis Park, MN, I've been fortunate to meet some really outstanding people, many of whom I look up to. And of course, because I've met them or know them, that makes me an important person! :)
Joy's mission was to create a church where those turned off to the church would want to come to or would feel comfortable coming to. One of the ways we tried to draw people in was through concerts and events. We would book well-known artists and then encourage our members to bring their friends. Since I was the guy booking and overseeing the events, I usually booked people I wanted to meet and see.
Our very first concert, back in 1984, was Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul, and Mary. He came with his band, Bodyworks. What a concert. We had Noel back several times over the years and he always inspired us, entertained us, and moved us. There's something magical about folk music--how it sounds, what it says, and Noel knew how to use it. He would do some of this Peter, Paul, and Mary stuff and many of his own songs, which talked about his faith in Jesus--a faith he came to as an adult. Jan and I had many chances to visit with him after his concerts at Joy and when we'd see him with Peter, Paul, and Mary. He's one of those genuinely good guys!
Another biggie, at the time, was Debby Boone. Debby had had a hit with "You Light Up My Life," and had also recorded some best selling Gospel albums. Debby has an incredible voice and a riveting stage presence. She came in 3 times, I think.
One of Walt's all time favorites is Pat Boone, Debby's dad. Walt brought Pat in for the big grand opening of the new worship center at our first campus. We brought him in again to do a concert at a capital fund raising event. I had the opportunity to drive him back to the airport. A few years ago, when I was flying home from seeing BJ Thomas in Nashville, Pat Boone sat in the seat next to me!
Philip Bailey, of Earth, Wind, and Fire, is a deeply committed Christian. We had him in only one time but he was awesome. A very humble but articulate artist.
Dean Jones, actor in many of Disney's biggest hits in the 60's, had done a powerful one-man play called, St. John in Exile, a drama about the author of Revelation. Jan and I had a chance to see him perform it live. Because of the tremendous work it took to do the show, Dean filmed it and then came to churches like Joy and showed the film then shared his testimony. He was a hard living guy, good buddies with Steve McQueen. But God captured Dean's heart.
One year we brought him in for a Letterman-like talk show event. He was downright awesome. One of Dean's early films was Jailhouse Rock so we brought in an Elvis impersonator as one of our "guests." Dean had lots of great stories to tell. One of the memorable ones had to do with a song he had turned down. Backed up by the Good News Band he sang what turned out to be a Frank Sinatra hit, "That's Life!" And he sang it big!
We also brought in Gospel artists to introduce our congregation to some of the great musicians in that field--people like Chris Christian, David Meece, Larnelle Harris (who blew the socks off of us during one of our Evangelism Conferences), Andrus and Blackwood, First Call, to name a few. (Dating myself with those guys but this was back in the '80's and 90's.)
One of the more controversial people I brought in was John DeLorean. (Yes, that John DeLorean, or for you movie buffs, the designer of the DeLorean used in Back to the Future.) DeLorean had just released his autobiography about his career, his legal troubles, and his conversion. Some on the Joy board were a bit miffed that we were bringing that "crook" to Joy. I said that he hadn't been convicted of any crime, that in fact, the judge ruled no crime had been committed and that the government had tried to entrap him. But some of the board said he was guilty and had gotten off on a technicality and he shouldn't be coming to Joy. (I guess we forgot about one of our early heroes, a terrorist and murderer named Saul who had a transforming encounter with Jesus.) But we talked it through and got on the same page. And the event was outstanding. A full house. DeLorean was humble, articulate, fascinating, and interesting. After his 1 hour talk people lined up for 2 hours to shake his hand and get his autograph. The sincerity of his faith in Jesus was profound.
We also invited well known people to our worship services for interviews as a way to draw people into our church to hear about Jesus. So I had the privilege of interviewing sports people, politicians, and business people. People like Ron Wolfley and Garth Jax of the Arizona Cardinals, Mark West and Tom Chambers from the Phoenix Suns, singer Naomi Judd, congressman Trent Franks, basketball great Jerry Lucas, a few Miss Americas, Lisa Welchel (Blair from "Facts of Life),to name a few of the many. One thing I learned over the years, always keep control of the mic as sometimes the interviewee could get a bit long winded.
I also had the chance to meet a lot of great people and actually hang with them for awhile--people like Robert Schuller, Rick Warren, Ken Blanchard, Bill Hybels, Mayor Elaine Scruggs of Glendale, AZ, Jay Bakker (son of Jim and Tammy Faye), to name a few.
For a kid from St. Louis Park, MN, I've been fortunate to meet some really outstanding people, many of whom I look up to. And of course, because I've met them or know them, that makes me an important person! :)
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--8
Interlude #1: You wouldn't believe where I've been. The cities and towns I've been in...
As the story and mission of Joy began to gain a wider audience so to speak, Walt began to receive all kinds of speaking invitations, many of them overseas. He was gracious enough to invite Jan and me to join him on most of those trips. His graciousness allowed us to do some world traveling that I never dreamed of before.
My first overseas trip was actually a missions trip. Walt, Tom Eggum, and I headed over to South Korea to take in a conference at the world's largest church (they hit 500,000 members the week we were there back in 1985.) Then we headed into China, specifically to Beijing and Shanghai. We smuggled in some religious literature and handed it out on the streets. It was an amazing trip both seeing that huge church in Korea and then seeing China in the early stages of its dance with capitalism. We had the chance to visit a state church (so boring that a woman in the front row fell asleep and thumped into the aisle). But our guide, a non-Christian, couldn't stop talking about the stories he had heard, like the one about a man thrown into a lion's den and how God protected him.
Our first real overseas trip to speak was to England. Walt had been invited to speak at a large conference held in Brighton. So he took me and Jan, Paul and Carol, Tom and his wife, and of course, Walt took his wife Mary. The 4 of us guys spoke about the mission of Joy. And that one hour talk opened up several new speaking engagements overseas.
We spoke in Strasbourg France on a couple of occasions. (Jan and I took our kids one of those trips. I had been out all day and when I got back to the hotel that early evening I found Jan and the kids in bed, absolutely soaked with sweat from sitting in a hot, hot room with no air-conditioning all day long. I thought it was pretty funny. They didn't. On the last night of our time there we were walking through the city when someone yelled, "Jan Wright." There, in the middle of Strasbourg, Jan ran into an old work friend from St. Louis Park, MN!)
We made several trips over to Germany. Usually we were invited by the "Charismatic" Lutheran movement as the State Church Lutherans weren't all that keen on Joy or our mission. Our first invitation was to a major event in Nuremberg which attracted thousands of people. From then on, our speaking opportunities were usually to smaller groups of about 30-40. In those years Willow Creek and Bill Hybels were doing conferences in Germany drawing 5,000-7,000 people. We heard how the Germans flew Bill into Germany in first class and even brought him to one event in a helicopter. Walt and I, and our wives, on the other hand, flew over in coach and drove a rental car. One time we spoke in an old converted palace. As we were dragging our own luggage up 3 flights of very narrow stairs we had a laughing fit about what big potatoes we were. Truth be told, while it's always invigorating to speak to large crowds, the change to speak to smaller groups and hang out is usually more rewarding.
A couple of interesting (to me) notes: We had the chance to go into what had been East Germany. We spoke at a Lutheran convent (yes, Lutheran nuns) in Magdeburg to a group of "East German" pastors. These were men who had been beaten down under communism for all of their lives. When Walt talked about vision and dreaming they had no idea what he was talking about. There was a sense of oppression and hopelessness during those few days. One of the tougher conferences we had been a part of. It was gratifying on the last day to hear some of them begin to dream.
(My daughter often travelled with us. And often she celebrated her birthday overseas. In Magdeburg the nuns put some flowers together for her and did a little mini-concert for her. Very sweet!)
One year we finally had the chance to speak to State Church Lutheran Pastors at a Lutheran seminary in Celle. (We were there when the big train crash happened in that city). This was another tough speaking gig. A few of the pastors were extremely hostile to us. Outside of the conference room was a whiteboard where people could write comments on the conference. As we walked by it, Rudy, our interpreter, read some of them and groaned. We asked him what they said. He didn't want to tell us. Finally we forced it out of him. Some of the pastors were accusing us of being like Hitler. We sensed they didn't really like us! However, the next day the couple of pastors who were angry with us left. The rest of us had a great time. I showed them a video of our opening worship service on our new campus (the one with the Trash can guys). Some of the pastors stayed up until the early hours in the morning watching it over and over again.
We had the opportunity to speak in Norway (what a beautiful country) and Finland. We took a side trip into Russia and brought in some medical supplies. We were crammed into an old fashioned ambulance and driven to the care facility where we had a chance to spend some time with the children there.
We also had a chance to go to Australia. Jan and I actually went 3 times. One of our favorite countries. We've got great friends there. I became a big fan of Australian Rules Football and the Adelaide Crows!
As in Germany, we had our critics in Australia. This time it was the Lutheran Seminary, the control center of the Lutheran church. On our first visit they sent out letters telling people not to attend our events because our theology was so bad (mind you, they'd never met us or talked to us or read any of our stuff!). It didn't stop people from coming, however.
On our second trip over the same thing happened. On our first day there one of the pastors said we had caused quite a stir because I didn't believe in communion. When I laughed he said he was serious. An article, written in St. Paul, Minnesota, had made its way to Australia. The author had used my book to prove that I didn't believe in communion. But he had taken every sentence out of context. (When I got back to the States I found I was the topic of a discussion thread online. Friends of mine were talking behind my back wondering why I had bad-mouthed communion. So I wrote to the author of that article and provided the full quotes from my book which were actually extremely affirming of communion. I sent it off to the discussion thread as well. The author wrote me back and said, "I don't care what you wrote. I know your intent!" Lovely man!)
Finally, Walt and I got to meet with the seminary powers that be. It was such a sad meeting. They were fellow Christians. But no welcome. No prayer. They simply interrogated us for a couple of hours. No apology for making untrue claims about us. No apology for making claims when they hadn't read any of our stuff. Our host was so ashamed he lovingly but forcefully took the group to task for the way they treated us. But in the end, the congregations still came out and we had some great meetings.
Our third trip included a stop over in New Zealand. At the time I told people I was speaking at a seminar for all of the Lutheran pastors in New Zealand. Sounds great but there were only 12 of them. But what a great bunch of leaders. (In the morning I went out for a run down a dirt road when suddenly a huge dog charged me. I thought I was dead. It bared its teeth and barked over and over and over. The "charming" owner stayed in the house and yelled at the dog for about 3 minutes before the dog decided I didn't have enough meat on my body!)
Those overseas speaking engagements were great highlights in our ministry. With a few exceptions we had the chance to hang with other Christians in other cultures and dream together about how to reach our countries and world for Jesus. We met some truly awesome leaders.
Two other opportunities stand out:
Several years ago several denominations came together for a conference on the Holy Spirit with an emphasis on evangelism. We were invited to speak to the Lutheran part of the event. Both conferences (the leaders event and then the general conference) were held in New Orleans. I was asked to speak at another such event in Indianapolis and was able to bring the Good News Band along.
I mentioned in an earlier post that one of the seminal conferences for me was the Robert Schuller Leadership event. Walt spoke at it almost every year. One year he asked me, Paul, and Tom to join him. We had the chance to speak for a few minutes from the pulpit of the Crystal Cathedral, one of the most recognized churches in the world. I was so nervous I could hardly breathe. I told people that for a preacher to speak from that pulpit is like a pilot of a single engine plane getting to fly a 747.
A year later we actually got to model our seeker service during one of the Schuller conferences. It was a memorable experience for me and to the Good News Band, to do our thing at that great church.
Over the years Jan and I have had the chance to go to Israel twice. I never had any big emotional faith experience in Israel. But I can say that the land got into my soul. It became a spiritual home.
And I've been to Rwanda 3 times. Words are always hard to come by when talking about the Rwanda experience. All I can say is I've fallen in love with the country (such amazing beauty) and the people (such amazing spirit!).
As the story and mission of Joy began to gain a wider audience so to speak, Walt began to receive all kinds of speaking invitations, many of them overseas. He was gracious enough to invite Jan and me to join him on most of those trips. His graciousness allowed us to do some world traveling that I never dreamed of before.
My first overseas trip was actually a missions trip. Walt, Tom Eggum, and I headed over to South Korea to take in a conference at the world's largest church (they hit 500,000 members the week we were there back in 1985.) Then we headed into China, specifically to Beijing and Shanghai. We smuggled in some religious literature and handed it out on the streets. It was an amazing trip both seeing that huge church in Korea and then seeing China in the early stages of its dance with capitalism. We had the chance to visit a state church (so boring that a woman in the front row fell asleep and thumped into the aisle). But our guide, a non-Christian, couldn't stop talking about the stories he had heard, like the one about a man thrown into a lion's den and how God protected him.
Our first real overseas trip to speak was to England. Walt had been invited to speak at a large conference held in Brighton. So he took me and Jan, Paul and Carol, Tom and his wife, and of course, Walt took his wife Mary. The 4 of us guys spoke about the mission of Joy. And that one hour talk opened up several new speaking engagements overseas.
We spoke in Strasbourg France on a couple of occasions. (Jan and I took our kids one of those trips. I had been out all day and when I got back to the hotel that early evening I found Jan and the kids in bed, absolutely soaked with sweat from sitting in a hot, hot room with no air-conditioning all day long. I thought it was pretty funny. They didn't. On the last night of our time there we were walking through the city when someone yelled, "Jan Wright." There, in the middle of Strasbourg, Jan ran into an old work friend from St. Louis Park, MN!)
We made several trips over to Germany. Usually we were invited by the "Charismatic" Lutheran movement as the State Church Lutherans weren't all that keen on Joy or our mission. Our first invitation was to a major event in Nuremberg which attracted thousands of people. From then on, our speaking opportunities were usually to smaller groups of about 30-40. In those years Willow Creek and Bill Hybels were doing conferences in Germany drawing 5,000-7,000 people. We heard how the Germans flew Bill into Germany in first class and even brought him to one event in a helicopter. Walt and I, and our wives, on the other hand, flew over in coach and drove a rental car. One time we spoke in an old converted palace. As we were dragging our own luggage up 3 flights of very narrow stairs we had a laughing fit about what big potatoes we were. Truth be told, while it's always invigorating to speak to large crowds, the change to speak to smaller groups and hang out is usually more rewarding.
A couple of interesting (to me) notes: We had the chance to go into what had been East Germany. We spoke at a Lutheran convent (yes, Lutheran nuns) in Magdeburg to a group of "East German" pastors. These were men who had been beaten down under communism for all of their lives. When Walt talked about vision and dreaming they had no idea what he was talking about. There was a sense of oppression and hopelessness during those few days. One of the tougher conferences we had been a part of. It was gratifying on the last day to hear some of them begin to dream.
(My daughter often travelled with us. And often she celebrated her birthday overseas. In Magdeburg the nuns put some flowers together for her and did a little mini-concert for her. Very sweet!)
One year we finally had the chance to speak to State Church Lutheran Pastors at a Lutheran seminary in Celle. (We were there when the big train crash happened in that city). This was another tough speaking gig. A few of the pastors were extremely hostile to us. Outside of the conference room was a whiteboard where people could write comments on the conference. As we walked by it, Rudy, our interpreter, read some of them and groaned. We asked him what they said. He didn't want to tell us. Finally we forced it out of him. Some of the pastors were accusing us of being like Hitler. We sensed they didn't really like us! However, the next day the couple of pastors who were angry with us left. The rest of us had a great time. I showed them a video of our opening worship service on our new campus (the one with the Trash can guys). Some of the pastors stayed up until the early hours in the morning watching it over and over again.
We had the opportunity to speak in Norway (what a beautiful country) and Finland. We took a side trip into Russia and brought in some medical supplies. We were crammed into an old fashioned ambulance and driven to the care facility where we had a chance to spend some time with the children there.
We also had a chance to go to Australia. Jan and I actually went 3 times. One of our favorite countries. We've got great friends there. I became a big fan of Australian Rules Football and the Adelaide Crows!
As in Germany, we had our critics in Australia. This time it was the Lutheran Seminary, the control center of the Lutheran church. On our first visit they sent out letters telling people not to attend our events because our theology was so bad (mind you, they'd never met us or talked to us or read any of our stuff!). It didn't stop people from coming, however.
On our second trip over the same thing happened. On our first day there one of the pastors said we had caused quite a stir because I didn't believe in communion. When I laughed he said he was serious. An article, written in St. Paul, Minnesota, had made its way to Australia. The author had used my book to prove that I didn't believe in communion. But he had taken every sentence out of context. (When I got back to the States I found I was the topic of a discussion thread online. Friends of mine were talking behind my back wondering why I had bad-mouthed communion. So I wrote to the author of that article and provided the full quotes from my book which were actually extremely affirming of communion. I sent it off to the discussion thread as well. The author wrote me back and said, "I don't care what you wrote. I know your intent!" Lovely man!)
Finally, Walt and I got to meet with the seminary powers that be. It was such a sad meeting. They were fellow Christians. But no welcome. No prayer. They simply interrogated us for a couple of hours. No apology for making untrue claims about us. No apology for making claims when they hadn't read any of our stuff. Our host was so ashamed he lovingly but forcefully took the group to task for the way they treated us. But in the end, the congregations still came out and we had some great meetings.
Our third trip included a stop over in New Zealand. At the time I told people I was speaking at a seminar for all of the Lutheran pastors in New Zealand. Sounds great but there were only 12 of them. But what a great bunch of leaders. (In the morning I went out for a run down a dirt road when suddenly a huge dog charged me. I thought I was dead. It bared its teeth and barked over and over and over. The "charming" owner stayed in the house and yelled at the dog for about 3 minutes before the dog decided I didn't have enough meat on my body!)
Those overseas speaking engagements were great highlights in our ministry. With a few exceptions we had the chance to hang with other Christians in other cultures and dream together about how to reach our countries and world for Jesus. We met some truly awesome leaders.
Two other opportunities stand out:
Several years ago several denominations came together for a conference on the Holy Spirit with an emphasis on evangelism. We were invited to speak to the Lutheran part of the event. Both conferences (the leaders event and then the general conference) were held in New Orleans. I was asked to speak at another such event in Indianapolis and was able to bring the Good News Band along.
I mentioned in an earlier post that one of the seminal conferences for me was the Robert Schuller Leadership event. Walt spoke at it almost every year. One year he asked me, Paul, and Tom to join him. We had the chance to speak for a few minutes from the pulpit of the Crystal Cathedral, one of the most recognized churches in the world. I was so nervous I could hardly breathe. I told people that for a preacher to speak from that pulpit is like a pilot of a single engine plane getting to fly a 747.
A year later we actually got to model our seeker service during one of the Schuller conferences. It was a memorable experience for me and to the Good News Band, to do our thing at that great church.
Over the years Jan and I have had the chance to go to Israel twice. I never had any big emotional faith experience in Israel. But I can say that the land got into my soul. It became a spiritual home.
And I've been to Rwanda 3 times. Words are always hard to come by when talking about the Rwanda experience. All I can say is I've fallen in love with the country (such amazing beauty) and the people (such amazing spirit!).
Monday, February 23, 2009
Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--7
Community Church of Joy: Moving Day
Joy finished and moved into its new worship center on its first campus in 1983. I came back to Joy after graduating from Seminary in March of 1984.
It wasn't many years later when Walt began to talk about moving. We had about 10 acres at that time and had basically built out the campus when we added the family life center. So in the early/mid 90's we started looking at relocating. We found a piece of land in Arrowhead Ranch. At that time Arizona was in a financial slump. Arrowhead Ranch had been especially hit and parcels of land were being foreclosed on. Walt found a piece of land that would eventually be bordered buy a major freeway. He began to walk it and pray for it. Tucked in the back of the land lived an older couple. Walt eventually learned from them that they had been praying for decades that a church would be built on that land. Eventually, through many twists and turns, including the conversion of the man who picked up the land and then sold it to us, Joy purchased the property. At one point Joy had almost 200 acres of land!
I can still remember some of the initial meetings on that land as we gathered some leaders to pray. I remember Joy hosting a big community event with Robert Schuller, on what was to be the freeway next to the church. The planning, the dreaming, the praying, the preparation was all very exciting.
It was during that time that Lyle Schaller recommended that for the sake of Joy, we create a new entity called the Joy Company. The purpose was to ensure that the ministry of the congregation continued without being too sidetracked by the new campus. So I became the Executive Pastor, responsible for the on-going mission of Joy and Walt and Paul focused on getting us to the new campus.
It was a massive undertaking--to clean out an old campus and move to a new one. And while ministry continued, it was at times quite stressful. But finally the big day came for the move.
On our last Sunday we ended the service by going dark and then leading the congregation out by candle light. Then one of Walt's long time dreams came true--we had a parade/procession from the old campus to the new one.
During the time of the move, my dad had a major heart attack. He was not expected to live. But 11 years later he's still here!
The following Saturday evening, March 7, 1998, was to be our first worship experience on the new campus. Unfortunately, the building was nowhere near ready. Due to el nino, the project was way, way behind. For our first weekend all we had were cement walls and a ceiling. No electricity. No window/doors, no restrooms. But we had to meet there as we had sold the old campus and the new owners were worshipping there on March 7.
There was no way we should have been allowed into that building. But we were. So on that Saturday/Sunday we had generators with power cords and lights all over the place, many of them running through puddles of water. We set up a portable sound system, screens and projectors, and had our first worship experience. Our Trash Can guys started things off and we walked in carrying the two candles that had led us out of the last service on the old campus. Not the best of circumstances, but a memorable experience none-the-less.
Over the next several months we came back to worship each week and a bit more of the worship center and campus was done. I think we finally finished everything in September!
Before moving we expected two things to happen:
1) Within 6-12 months we would see an increase in every area of ministry by about 50%. In fact, our worship attendance shot up immediately but then settled back down to a point higher than on the old campus, but not at a 50% increase. Our adult ed stuff actually imploded on us. We didn't see the anticipated growth in really any areas of ministry even through some experts had said it would happen. Then we heard from a congregation that had relocated as we had done. They told us to expect to actually go backwards for awhile. Some will leave because the drive is too far. Others will leave because it doesn't feel the same any more. And that was our story, too in the early days.
2) We expected the transition to be filled with chaos; that people would have a hard time adjusting to a new campus. But it didn't happen. We expected it in the first 6 months. As we neared our first year and things seemed good we thought we had dodged the bullet. But after about a year it all hit. And for some, it got nasty. We were in a new land, and the old familiar campus and experiences were now very different. Even though worship styles and preaching and teaching hadn't changed, it still seemed different. Rather than realizing it was the campus that was different, many turned it into a spiritual issue saying we had watered down the Gospel. Mind you, these were people who had come to Christ through our particular style of ministry on the old campus. But we weren't in Egypt anymore and some wanted to go back.
While lots of good things happened during that transition, it was one of the more painful times of ministry for me and for the entire staff.
About the time we started hitting our stride Walt had a heart attack followed by a six-bypass surgery. It essentially took him out for a year. We did the best we could holding down the fort but it's tough when the main leader is out of the game for awhile.
So the move was filled with both blessings and challenges. But to keep perspective, the move was massive. And it takes people of massive faith and vision to pull of something like that and to move it through the sure-to-come frustrations. I give huge credit to the Joy faithful who gave sacrificially, prayed unceasingly, and saw the campus as a tool God could use to continue to impact people for the Gospel. And in the end, challenges aside, that's exactly what happened with the campus.
We were able to do things on the new campus we couldn't do on the old one. And it gave us the space to reach new people and launch new ministries, including a new Christian school. That entire adventure of moving to and into the new campus is one I'm glad I was a part of. It was and continues to be a testament to God's faithfulness and the commitment of people passionate about sharing Jesus with the world around them.
In our 25 years Jan and I have been a part of building two campuses so far: We financially participated in Joy's old campus and in the new one. Long after we're gone, people will be worshipping in and doing mission out of those two campuses. Who knows, we may build a third one for Community of Grace in the near future. There are few things more satisfying than knowing we had a small part in mission centers that will impact the world for Jesus for generations to come.
Joy finished and moved into its new worship center on its first campus in 1983. I came back to Joy after graduating from Seminary in March of 1984.
It wasn't many years later when Walt began to talk about moving. We had about 10 acres at that time and had basically built out the campus when we added the family life center. So in the early/mid 90's we started looking at relocating. We found a piece of land in Arrowhead Ranch. At that time Arizona was in a financial slump. Arrowhead Ranch had been especially hit and parcels of land were being foreclosed on. Walt found a piece of land that would eventually be bordered buy a major freeway. He began to walk it and pray for it. Tucked in the back of the land lived an older couple. Walt eventually learned from them that they had been praying for decades that a church would be built on that land. Eventually, through many twists and turns, including the conversion of the man who picked up the land and then sold it to us, Joy purchased the property. At one point Joy had almost 200 acres of land!
I can still remember some of the initial meetings on that land as we gathered some leaders to pray. I remember Joy hosting a big community event with Robert Schuller, on what was to be the freeway next to the church. The planning, the dreaming, the praying, the preparation was all very exciting.
It was during that time that Lyle Schaller recommended that for the sake of Joy, we create a new entity called the Joy Company. The purpose was to ensure that the ministry of the congregation continued without being too sidetracked by the new campus. So I became the Executive Pastor, responsible for the on-going mission of Joy and Walt and Paul focused on getting us to the new campus.
It was a massive undertaking--to clean out an old campus and move to a new one. And while ministry continued, it was at times quite stressful. But finally the big day came for the move.
On our last Sunday we ended the service by going dark and then leading the congregation out by candle light. Then one of Walt's long time dreams came true--we had a parade/procession from the old campus to the new one.
During the time of the move, my dad had a major heart attack. He was not expected to live. But 11 years later he's still here!
The following Saturday evening, March 7, 1998, was to be our first worship experience on the new campus. Unfortunately, the building was nowhere near ready. Due to el nino, the project was way, way behind. For our first weekend all we had were cement walls and a ceiling. No electricity. No window/doors, no restrooms. But we had to meet there as we had sold the old campus and the new owners were worshipping there on March 7.
There was no way we should have been allowed into that building. But we were. So on that Saturday/Sunday we had generators with power cords and lights all over the place, many of them running through puddles of water. We set up a portable sound system, screens and projectors, and had our first worship experience. Our Trash Can guys started things off and we walked in carrying the two candles that had led us out of the last service on the old campus. Not the best of circumstances, but a memorable experience none-the-less.
Over the next several months we came back to worship each week and a bit more of the worship center and campus was done. I think we finally finished everything in September!
Before moving we expected two things to happen:
1) Within 6-12 months we would see an increase in every area of ministry by about 50%. In fact, our worship attendance shot up immediately but then settled back down to a point higher than on the old campus, but not at a 50% increase. Our adult ed stuff actually imploded on us. We didn't see the anticipated growth in really any areas of ministry even through some experts had said it would happen. Then we heard from a congregation that had relocated as we had done. They told us to expect to actually go backwards for awhile. Some will leave because the drive is too far. Others will leave because it doesn't feel the same any more. And that was our story, too in the early days.
2) We expected the transition to be filled with chaos; that people would have a hard time adjusting to a new campus. But it didn't happen. We expected it in the first 6 months. As we neared our first year and things seemed good we thought we had dodged the bullet. But after about a year it all hit. And for some, it got nasty. We were in a new land, and the old familiar campus and experiences were now very different. Even though worship styles and preaching and teaching hadn't changed, it still seemed different. Rather than realizing it was the campus that was different, many turned it into a spiritual issue saying we had watered down the Gospel. Mind you, these were people who had come to Christ through our particular style of ministry on the old campus. But we weren't in Egypt anymore and some wanted to go back.
While lots of good things happened during that transition, it was one of the more painful times of ministry for me and for the entire staff.
About the time we started hitting our stride Walt had a heart attack followed by a six-bypass surgery. It essentially took him out for a year. We did the best we could holding down the fort but it's tough when the main leader is out of the game for awhile.
So the move was filled with both blessings and challenges. But to keep perspective, the move was massive. And it takes people of massive faith and vision to pull of something like that and to move it through the sure-to-come frustrations. I give huge credit to the Joy faithful who gave sacrificially, prayed unceasingly, and saw the campus as a tool God could use to continue to impact people for the Gospel. And in the end, challenges aside, that's exactly what happened with the campus.
We were able to do things on the new campus we couldn't do on the old one. And it gave us the space to reach new people and launch new ministries, including a new Christian school. That entire adventure of moving to and into the new campus is one I'm glad I was a part of. It was and continues to be a testament to God's faithfulness and the commitment of people passionate about sharing Jesus with the world around them.
In our 25 years Jan and I have been a part of building two campuses so far: We financially participated in Joy's old campus and in the new one. Long after we're gone, people will be worshipping in and doing mission out of those two campuses. Who knows, we may build a third one for Community of Grace in the near future. There are few things more satisfying than knowing we had a small part in mission centers that will impact the world for Jesus for generations to come.
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