Real conversation heard Friday morning, about 15 hours before the Mega Millions drawing:

“I’m going to win ½ billion dollars today.”

“Why don’t you make it a full billion?”

“I’m talking about the lottery tonight.”

“Yeh, but if you’re dreaming, you might as well dream big.”

“Somebody’s going to win it.  Might as well be me!”

We feed people 6 days a week out of our building.  Obviously they don’t have a lot of money and need every penny.  Why in the world do we allow our states to generate income out of the desperate hearts of America’s most vulnerable?

The Washington Post reported that folks had a greater chance of…

…being hit by lighting,

…being wiped out by an asteroid,

…getting a royal flush in a five card draw,

…having identical quadruplets,

…being killed by a bee sting, or

…dying in a plane crash.

Great wealth makes us independent…isolated…and lonely.  It’s a vanishing hope.  Lord, make us wise.

Kyle

We live from an authentic passion: the Father’s love for all he has created.  We kill the vampire when we live from the reality of that love.  We declare without apology or compromise that Jesus came to save that which was lost.  To know him intimately is to share his passion for getting the truth out that God is grace.  He loves all, died for all, and calls us to live for all, with his passion.

With that message we put a stake in the heart of the Secularization Myth.  We can know the truth and the truth will set us free.  We’re not buying the simple silliness that everything is relative, that we can’t know what is true, that “it’s okay for you, but not for me,” that we can live for ourselves without a burden for others. We put deeds behind words, validating the truth of God’s active presence at work in the world today.

We roll on from there equipping people to take responsibility and lead in a culture in the grip of the paralyzing, life-denying Secularization Myth, that taints everything but few really believe.

Tomorrow begins our first History Makers Journey in the USA.  Pray for us as we focus the hearts of the emerging generation on the task at hand.

We are more isolated than ever...and in great peril.

Found this over at churchmarketingsucks.com.  “Peter” is Peter Haas from Substance Church  in Minneapolis.  Kevin Hendricks is asking the question.

 You’ve also said that today’s generation is more socially isolated than any previous generation. What do you mean by that and what does it mean for churches?

Peter: Americans are more likely to live alone than any other nationality on earth. Studies are starting to show that we are some of the most socially isolated people on planet earth. We’re also more likely to move away from our families than any people group in the world, and move further distances, and with greater frequency than any other people group. And even when we “plant ourselves,” we commute longer distances than just about any other nation. Then we work longer hours and participate in more socially isolating entertainment experiences than almost any other nation on earth.

And maybe you’re thinking: “But who cares if we’re isolated?…What difference does it make?”

Well, studies show four jaw dropping ramifications of isolation:

1.      Life expectancy for isolated people is dramatically less.

2.      Your statistical odds of happiness will virtually wither up and die.

3.      Both crime rates and violence tend to increase in direct proportion to a societies’ relational isolation.

4.      Individualism necessitates materialism. Because you’re isolated, you have to buy your own chain saw rather than borrowing one. This requires more debt, which requires more work hours, which compounds your isolation.

 In other words, people have less community than ever before. This must change the way churches need to think. The most valuable commodity the church can peddle isn’t Bible information or even church services, but community.

 Although I’m uncomfortable with the notion that churches are supposed to “peddle” anything, I do like Peter’s take on the need for community.

This from Reuters on Friday, March 09, 2012:

Demand for 'survival services' rises in US cities

(Reuters) - Many cities across the United States are still scrambling to help their residents overcome the economic recession that officially ended more than two years ago, according to a survey released on Friday by the National League of Cities.

The league, which represents hundreds of civic officials, found that demand for "survival services," such as food banks and housing shelters, had increased in 31 percent of cities over the last six months. It had fallen in only 8 percent of cities over that time.

Paul was pretty clear about the practical implications of our salvation:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.  (Ephesians 2:10)

So…what are you doing to provide “survival services” in your community?

Kony 2012 is up to 52.5 million this morning, four days after launching onto the web..

Produced by Jason Russell of Invisible Children Inc, in a high production quality, documentary style, Jason and his team's goal was half-a-million viewers by the end of the year.  Their aim was to “make Kony famous,” (Joseph Kony, very bad guy from Uganda, now in Congo). 

 Their vision is a world without Joseph Kony, built upon the eternal value of justice.

The moment has caused quite a stir.  Some simple observations:

1. Kony 2012 highlights the potential of social media to move masses of people.

2. Kony 2012 focuses on a clear villain with a clear vision: "Stop him!" 

3. The true story isn’t as easy to convey and would have never gone viral.  (See Kevin's comment from yesterday's post.)

4. Kony 2012 offers a sense of unity for the emerging generation, giving a sense of purpose, meaning, and identity around a perceived justice issue with easy ways to get involved: post the video, wear a bracelet, donate a few dollars.

5. Commend Russell for his passion, but why Joseph Kony? As evil as Kony is, he is a spent force,yesterday's news, if the Ugandan's are to be believed. There is much more in the world to be concerned about. For example, many more children die of starvation than are affected by Kony's LRA. clean water, sex trafficking, energy issues, Chinese labor practices, economic disparity, godless consumerism, are greater evils.  Oh yeah, and billions without Christ.

6. Where is God in all this?  Without a shared commitment to Christ and his kingdom with the discipline of participation in a discerning community, what we see are millions touched by the media savy of a effective team, yet lacking the discernment to track with truth and hear what the Lord would have.

The Kony Craze gives us a great opportunity to pause and ask, What are the best ways to process this kind of viral intensity? 

My son Nick called from college to get my take on the latest viral action driven by Facebook and Twitter, Kony 2012.

He was concerned by what he experienced as kids on campus getting caught up in a frenzy to stop an injustice, but not taking the time to check out the facts, look into the details.   Jason Russell of Invisible Children Inc., produced the video.

Here’s Nick:

Their strategy is to have strength in sheer numbers and unify our generation in a worldly cause. I just don't want people to fight for a cause that glorifies a "tower of Babel" scenario. It is scary that a video like this can do so much in the church. I'm mainly concerned that God is not involved. It’s what gave rise to the Nazis, bad propaganda.

Nick has jumped on a key concern when he labels the Kony Craze a "'tower of Babel' scenario."  Social media provides the power to start a stampede.  Slow down, take a breath, is the Lord in this or not?  We've reached a place where it seems "nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them" (see Genesis 11.)

Since this Tuesday (yes, March 6^th), the video has been watched by over 26 million people reports Youtube.  Russell’s goal is “to make Kony famous” so the US government will be pressured to keep the pressure on Kony.  The problem is the issue is far more complex and nuanced that Kony 2012 makes it.  According to Youtube It is most popular with girls aged 13-17, young men aged 18-24, and boys aged 13-17, not the most discerning cohorts.

I’ll have more tomorrow.  For the time being, go to The Guardian in the UK for the best reality check on the aims and claims of Kony 2012. 

It’s the “Peter Pan Principle:” boys who don’t want to grow up.

Tony leads engineers designing the stuff the Air Force uses to defend America.  A leader valued by the Department of Defense, he also serves to lead a variety of companies in developing internships to equip budding engineers soon to graduate from Cal State, Fresno.  He does that on his own time.

But that’s not his true passion.  Tony sees the crisis of an America without fathers and he is moving to change the world.  His vision is to transform a generation, one boy at a time.  He leads his church in working to turn boys (of whatever age) into men.  He’s paying attention to what’s going on in our culture, and he’s not content to let somebody else solve the problem. 

Tony’s not delusional.  He knows the difference between a pipe dream and a vision.  (He's an engineer after all.)  He’ll tell you, unless we’re praying, we’re just playing games.  He recognizes that if God doesn’t move, we are all lost.  He also knows that a praying people can move the hand of God.

You may think he’s crazy.  I think he’s inspired.  And I think he’ll change the world because it is the Lord who is at work in him to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Tebow is a more conventional  phenom, if there is such a thing.  He led the Florida Gators to two BCS National Championships (2007 and 2009) and was the first sophmore ever to win the Heisman Trophy.  College football fans certainly had Tim on their radar screen long before he grabbed national attention with his “miracle wins” this year with the Denver Broncos and his “Tebowing,” taking a knee to acknowledge the Lord of his life “in front of God and everybody.”

Jeremy Lin is different.  Jeremy appeared out of nowhere.  Without a scholarship coming out of high school and undrafted after playing for Harvard, he burst onto the scene with the New York Knicks in February.  You can catch up on the narrative at Wikipedia.

What’s fascinating to me is that Lin is an “ABC,” an American Born Chinese.  Mondy Chen, pastor of the Chinese Christian Church in Davis, CA, focused my attention when he mentioned him at a recent Global Impact Celebration.  Not only is China rising and the Chinese church booming, the ABCs are rallying with a passion for the harvest and a burden for the land of their forebears. 

Catch a glimpse of the fire at KC Liu’s Passion for the Nations missions conference, happening March 17th in LA.

Kingdom leaders come out of unlikely places.

There’s the single mom who volunteers at Head Start where her pre-schooler gets a hand up.  She gets asked to be on a local committee, simply because she’s rarely late and never misses.   Her simple faithfulness gives her influence.  She’s a budding leader in the community, but at church she’s overlooked.

How ‘bout the Hispanic janitor at work?  Nobody sees him, but he sees everybody.  I’ll bet he has got some insight into the lives of people we bump into everyday, but never really see.

If we are reading the Bible well, we realize that it was the people everybody else overlooked who became the church and changed the world.  Who might you see if you looked just beyond the focus of the world?  How might you build into their Intimacy with God and instill in them a Passion for the Harvest?

Run, John, run, the law demands,

But gives me neither feet nor hands.

Better news the Gospel brings,

It bids me fly and gives me wings!      

                             John Bunyan.