Next2Lead

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

One of the highlights of what I get to do these days is to meet amazing saints, doing extraordinary things for the sake of the Kingdom of God in the most obscure and ordinary of places. In September, over a very nice dinner, in a very nice restaurant, I met with one such saint and as she told her story of how God called her and what God called her to, I knew that I would NEVER look at the manger the same again.

My wife and I knew that we were in the presence of humble greatness as we listened to the mighty, soft spoken woman of God show us Our Creator’s heart for the lost and the least. With Luke 18:16 as her Scriptural framework, “Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God,” Dr. Ananthi Jebasingh described the timeline for God’s creation of Friends of the Good Samaritans in Delhi, India. Their mission statement is “Uplifting the unprivileged of India by involving the privileged of the world.” Their missional calling is to take initiatives for the needy and marginalized in India and restore them to confident living.

You can read more about this incredible ministry, how it was started and what it is about today by visiting their website:http://www.friendsofthegoodsamaritans.org/

Be sure to take the time to see and hear more of the story…

Friends of the Good Samaritans

For this blog, I merely want to focus on one moment in this ministry’s history. After growing out of space in her home, Ananthi was given free space, an empty room, in the public toilet complex where for the next decade; she faithfully was the conduit for God’s heavenly transformational, loving power to give orphans and poor children a hope and a future now and forever. Eventually the Friends of the Good Samaritans School grew to hold 600 children in four rooms of a slum toilet complex!

At one point in her recounting when she was given the toilet classroom, Ananthi remembers telling the Lord “I can’t teach here, it is too disgusting!” (think of the “Slumbdog Millionaire” public toilet scene for a mental image).  She recalls the Lord impressing on her dissatisfied heart that if God, the all-powerful and perfect Creator of all, was willing to take on the fullness of a human, being born into a dung-filled cave for animals, then she should be willing to serve her Lord and Master in such a place. Ananthi’s story reflects the Christmas story; that God shows up in the most unassuming and disgusting of places miraculously for the purposes of redemption.

This year, as I look at a the antiseptic manger on our mantle, I remember that God, the Almighty, Sinless and Everlasting, broke into creation in the lowliest of places, on an ordinary day, in a most ordinary way to begin an extraordinary earthly journey that would end in even more extraordinary spiritual rescuing of human kind from the eternal, dreadful consequences of our sin.  Jesus was born in a place no better than the public toilets of the slums of Delhi, and he willingly entered this lowly situation to transform us and give us a hope and a future!

I am so hopeful for you in this next generation of saints that are responding to a missional call without a Western capitalistic expectation.  Many of you, like Ananthi, are obediently following Christ into lowly places, like the dung-filled manger, to love the lost and the least.  You do this because you are convinced that out of such places, extraordinary, redemptive love can break through and shine among those they serve for the sake of Christ. Merry Christmas and …

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Keep up the great work!

The effective prayers of a righteous man avail much.

 James 5:16b

 I have recently come through an “abundant” 60 day stretch that has included a post-arthroscopic surgery blood clot, a flooded basement on our 21rst anniversary and a flooded upstairs bedroom on my birthday.  However, this all started in a split second when I made a left hand turn without seeing the oncoming pickup at 55mph.

Looking back, it could have turned out way worse than it did – the family of four and I walked away without a scratch despite me totaling two vehicles. In many ways that was a defining moment for me as it gave me perspective.  Just that morning I had read in Isaiah 38:5 where Hezekiah was supposed to die and God had granted him 15 more years to live.

I had shared with a few friends shortly before my accident how much more fully Hezekiah must have lived his remaining 15 years knowing that he was on borrowed time. The fact is that we all are on borrowed time and that sustained life is both a miracle and a gift from God.  As I made a left hand turn at that traffic light (one that I had made literally a thousand times before) I was unaware of two things. The first was, obviously, the oncoming pickup at 55 mph, but the second was that my friend—who had just spent the afternoon with me—was sitting behind me in his van watching the whole scene unfold.  He later told me that as I pulled ahead and he saw the oncoming truck that I did not, he had enough time to cry out three words “Help Him Jesus”, then he said goodbye to me, convinced that I would be struck and killed.  God honored those three words and like Hezekiah, extended my life.  I am now living on borrowed time!

For emerging leaders I encourage you to get a few people who you know will have your back in prayer when you are caught in a blind spot (both literally and figuratively).  Who will cover you in prayer and will be praying for you specifically, both bearing your burdens and then casting those burdens to the Lord?  I meet with a friend who I have know for the past eight years and we share our hearts, ask tough questions of each other and pray for each other. I recently shared with him about how I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by all that was happening around me and his response was life giving.  He said, “You aren’t supposed to do this alone.”  We aren’t supposed to do it alone! I knew that he had my back as well.

So I ask again, who will have your back in prayer as you take the reigns of missional leadership?  Who will make sure you are not doing it alone?  Make sure you find those people today so that you can keep up the great work!

Birthday/Labor Day Weekend 2011

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. 
Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.                                                                                                Proverbs 31:8-9 (NIV)

This weekend, I turn 49 years old, which means I am about ready to enter my 5^th decade of life!  It is amazing to me that the exterior and the birth certificate screams 49, yet I sill feel like I look out at the world through the eyes of a 13 year old at best.

I am a big fan of Birthday’s.  My friend Elizabeth would always send me a card and it would say, “I am glad that you were born”!  I loved hearing that – so much so that I have adopted it as my own and love to wish it to others on Facebook.  The older I get, the more I am passionate about that fact that everyone deserves a birthday and that every life matters.

I had a friend once who was a chef at a higher education dining hall. We got talking one day about how to handle complaints. His response was that every morning he would start his day by saying out loud “Jesus loves me and nobody can take away my birthday”.  This has become my mantra for courageous leadership – giving perspective of what really matters and who the ultimate audience is when you want to take on a monumental challenge. Surely there is much opposition, but if God’s heart is for the defenseless and our call is to defend the defenseless, than perspective will need to be certain so that opposition will not overcome.

The sad thing about “freedoms” in our country today is that it is allowable and legal for people to have the right to take away people’s birthday’s. According to an August 2011 report from the Guttmacher Institute, there have been 50,000,000 legal abortions since Rowe v Wade allowed people to take away birthdays in 1973. This makes me wonder what talent and what leadership are missing in the mix of humanity that could be contributing to solutions in our world.

Recently I have been partnering with organizations that are trying to raise awareness of this issue in a manner that does not militantly confront folks but asks good questions.  With that involvement, I know that it is a complicated issue, it impacts vulnerable single moms to have a harder road to raise a child, it calls on reform within the U.S. Foster system and to streamline adoption in process and pricing (I am aware of a recent U.S. adoption that cost nearly $35,000). This issue has put so much blame on the mother when that is the very person that we should be assisting and encouraging, not villainizing. This is the challenge that someone in this rising generation of leaders needs to take on and establish solutions for the sake of the lives lost but with the sensitivity of the women who will ultimately bear the burden.

In a recent Rolling stone interview, Justin Bieber received a lot of criticism for saying what he felt about life. “I really don’t believe in abortion. … I think [an embryo] is a human. It’s like killing a baby.”  I find this a bit interesting in the “whatever” postmodern culture of tolerance; that one’s opinion would be criticized. Never the less, I am proud that The Biebs is willing to speak up for those who are unable to speak for themselves.

The fact is that you Emerging Millennials leaders—the correctors—will need to figure out what you stand for. As Rosa Parks said, “Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today’s mighty oak is yesterday’s nut that held it’s ground.”

In the recent past, you of the rising generation have been figuring out how to combat the sex trade industry, bring clean water to the thirsty, shoes to those without and so much more. I am confident that there are some of you out there that will take a stand and not avoid the subject because it is controversial.  I am also confident that you can figure out a way to reverse the genocide of the unborn—those who cannot speak for themselves—in a way that is non-violent, highly effective, sensitive to the mother and will protect every life from someone taking away their birthday … Keep up the great work.

How Blessed are those who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but their delight is in the law of the LORD, and they meditate on his law day and night. Those people are like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season. Psalms 1:1-3

This is one of the first Old Testament Scriptures that I memorized and twenty plus years after the fact, I am just beginning to understand it. I live in a city of 6000 that is known for a lot of things including Asbury University and Asbury Seminary. In addition, this Mayberryesque village is also known for a crazy traffic intersection affectionately called the “Y’. Now I grew up in Jersey, so I get crazy traffic patterns (do I get an “amen” for the old Airport Circle?), but this intersection is somewhat of a case study of what not to do in traffic patterns and has remained unaltered although the source of accidents and complaints.  The only upside to the “Y” is that it has become the tangible teaching spot for my children as new drivers trying to understand the concept of “yielding” to oncoming traffic.

When faced with yielding in traffic for the first time there are various options that a driver could take; they could stop and not proceed because it appears too dangerous and to be paralyzed to accelerate for fear of failing, they could close their eyes and go for it mimicking stunt drivers and seeking the exhilarating rush of narrowly escaping danger if they do, or they could proceed with caution and awareness and give in to the flow of traffic when a space opens up and they ease into that space at the appropriate speed.

Interestingly enough it appears that these three options for yielding mirror those taken by  three most recent generations  as they have encountered entering into the dangerous world of adulthood. Those who sociologists anticipate paralysis to yield are the newest group to be identified – The Homeland Generation, paralyzed by outside fears and threats.  These are those currently in pre-school up to Middle School, the oldest of whom  will soon hit puberty. The Gen X and Gen Y have already proven themselves to be navigating their entrance in the flow of adulthood as those who would close their eyes and gunning it – throwing caution to the wind. However, it is the Millennials (those currently 15-25 years old) that are most poised for yielding onto and successfully navigating the tricky road of life ahead of them. This generation of “Correctors” not only need to yield appropriately into adulthood, but those who are followers of Jesus find themselves in an apostolic age of great opportunity to affect Kingdom change on earth and to impact many around the world who don’t yet know the love of Jesus but are waiting to see it demonstrated through action and authenticity.  In order to flourish in this opportunity, Millenials will need to learn what it means to “yield” to God’s power in the Holy Spirit – like a tree tapping into nourishment deep along the riverbank. It will require a new expression of trust for God’s provision. In many ways this generation of emergents have seen the moral failure and of leaders from many arenas in their lifetime – from business to politics to sports to religion.  Consequently their suspicion is raised for human help but there is a clear openness to the unseen mystery of the Spirit of God working in and around them (much of which is fueled by Postmodern deconstruction of the empirical and the tangible.)  Nevertheless, yielding is the only way to tap into this invisible source from on high.  The best imagery I have seen for yielding like this comes from this scene in Finding Nemo.

The result of yielding for a tree is indeed the yielding of fruit. This time of year, at my house, we become visually aware of another kind of yielding. The first Peach Tree that I planted along the side of our house 7 years ago just yielded 12 bags of delicious peaches that we shared with our neighbors (see photo above).  The tomato plant that I sunk deep into the soil, fertilized, weeded and watered since St. Patrick’s Day, is yielding the first red tomato.

Yielding or abiding or remaining (which we often see in the Bible) all mean to give in to something – but yielding also means to give forth something new!  So the sequence is to give in to God and then give forth Godly fruit! I want to create a bumper sticker that says “Fruit Happens!”

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:4–5

For those in emerging into Missional Leadership, the sooner you realize that yielding to the Holy Spirit will yield a great eternal harvest the better.  In many ways, you live in a new day of ministry that is more collaborative, less institutional, more action oriented and less word oriented, and more led by God’s Spirit and less driven by tradition or organizational structure.  Therefore it is critical to learn what that means to lean in to the mysterious power from on high and listen to the still small voice and then have the courage to follow. If you do learn to yield into the power from on high, then I guarantee that you will yield spiritual fruit – and it won’t be a minute too soon.

Keep up the great work!