Don Miller’s Closing Benediction at the DNC

Just thought some of you may enjoy this. Be blessed.

I’m honored to deliver the closing prayer at the DNC. Evangelical voices have been scarce within this party, perhaps since the Carter administration. But as strides are being made on key issues of sanctity of life and social justice, as well as peaceful solutions to world conflicts, more and more evangelicals are taking a closer look at options the Democratic Party are beginning to deliver. There is a long way to go, but sending a message to Washington that no single party has the Christian community in their pocket, thus causing each party to carefully consider the issues most important to us, is, in my opinion, a positive evolution. I am glad that, for the most part, the dialogue has been constructive and positive. Will you join me in keeping the conversation thoughtful and not reactionary?

That said, I am honored to speak to, and especially pray with and for, the DNC. Here is the full text of the prayer:

Please join me for the next few moments in our Benediction.

“Father God,
This week, as the world looks on, help the leaders in this room create a civil dialogue about our future.
We need you, God, as individuals and also as a nation.
We need you to protect us from our enemies, but also from ourselves, because we are easily tempted toward apathy.
Give us a passion to advance opportunities for the least of these, for widows and orphans, for single moms and children whose fathers have left.
Give us the eyes to see them, and the ears to hear them, and hands willing to serve them.
Help us serve people, not just causes. And stand up to specific injustices rather than vague notions.
Give those in this room who have power, along with those who will meet next week, the courage to work together to finally provide health care to those who don’t have any, and a living wage so families can thrive rather than struggle.
Hep us figure out how to pay teachers what they deserve and give children an equal opportunity to get a college education.
Help us figure out the balance between economic opportunity and corporate gluttony.
We have tried to solve these problems ourselves but they are still there. We need your help.
Father, will you restore our moral standing in the world.
A lot of people don’t like us but that’s because they don’t know the heart of the average American.
Will you give us favor and forgiveness, along with our allies around the world.
Help us be an example of humility and strength once again.
Lastly, father, unify us.
Even in our diversity help us see how much we have in common.
And unify us not just in our ideas and in our sentiments—but in our actions, as we look around and figure out something we can do to help create an America even greater than the one we have come to cherish.
God we know that you are good.
Thank you for blessing us in so many ways as Americans.
I make these requests in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice.
Let Him be our example.

Amen.”

Can also be viewed at donaldmillerwords.com

Asian American Families Are A Health Risk

Insight from UC Davis psychologists in TIME article, A Family Suicide Risk in US Asians? highlighting the all-so-important role of family for Asian Americans and how it affects us more negatively to the point of suicide than any other factors do like poverty or depression.

The question is, what are the triggers?
Is it conflict? Is it control? Is it this weird sense of honor and expectations?

I think very often the church reinforces some of these triggers. The Chinese church system more often than not is set up to create moral upstanding citizens that write big checks rather than Christ-followers that are willing to be transcultural [Thanks Seth Kim!]

Layers I say. We’re like onions, full of layers [Thanks Shrek]. The Asian-American identity is full of layers. Our identities are so wrapped around the family and weird cultural expectations that it affects our spirituality like nothing else.

Ken Fong, Dan Hyun and I were having this discussion once on the who’s more repressed, Chinese or Koreans? What do you think?

Also Related
Asian American women and cultural pressures [via L2Foundation.org]

Choosing Who Runs With You

So Obama’s decided who the next VP would be and he had this to say;

He said he was looking for not just a partner but a sparring partner. “I want somebody who’s independent, somebody who can push against my preconceived notions and challenge me so we have got a robust debate in the White House.”

Quick Thought:
What if OBC/Senior Pastors used the same philosophy for how they consider and partner with EM/ABC pastors?

FollowUp to Missional in Suburbia from Al Hsu

Questions to consider. Link to Al Hsu’s (pronounced shee) post from The Suburban Christian.

Part 1: Exploring Your Suburban Context

Describe your suburban context, where you live/work/worship/minister. How did you come to live here? What brought you to the area?

What would you say is distinctive about your particular location? Consider these cultural cues:

· What institutions are important in your suburban area? Commercial, governmental, nonprofit, educational, entertainment, etc.?

· What major employers are based in your area?

· What kinds of local festivals or community events are held in your area?

· What different kinds of residents live in your area? Where do they live?

· Why do people move to your local suburb rather than others?

· How is your particular suburb different from others nearby?

What are the needs of your suburban area? Assess the “as is.” Consider physical, economic, social, emotional, relational, spiritual dimensions.

What would your suburb look like if the kingdom of God became more manifest there? What problems might be alleviated? How would your suburb be different?

What is your vision for your suburb, your neighborhood, your community? Describe the “could be.”

Part 2: Identifying Your Church’s Role

Why do people come to your church? (If you don’t know, call some ordinary church members right now and ask them, “Out of all the churches in the area, why did you decide to visit our church? What made you stay?”)

Why do people leave your church?

What’s your church’s distinctive DNA? How is it different from other churches in your area?

What does your church do that other churches don’t do? What can your church do that other churches can’t do?

What do you wish your church could do? Is that hope anchored in reality?

Consider the “as is” and “could be” discussed in part 1. What is your church’s role in contributing toward this “could be”?

How can your church partner with other churches in moving toward this “could be”?

Is Your Church More Chinese Than Christian?

photo credit by phil of posterchildforgrace.blogspot.com

I just recently discovered Andrew Lim and this nice piece he wrote from down under.
Is your church more Chinese than Christian?
From the article, 7 key identifiers for when Ethnicity supersedes Christianity
1. When the church becomes an excuse for a social club for a particular ethnic group

2. When ethnic/cultural unity is more important than gospel unity.

3. When ethnic-cultural values override Biblical virtues and Biblical truth.

Formally put: “In the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, Jesus has given us a culture-transcending and a culture-transforming dynamic which confronts ethical categories of all societies and ethnic groups. The Gospel calls into question all social mores and moral codes.” Informally put: God’s virtues trump our values.

4. When church is restrictive and exclusive.

5. When church becomes insular and inward focused.

6. When church becomes homogeneous, rather than heterogeneous.

“People like to become Christians without having to cross racial, linguistic, or class barriers…It takes no great acumen to see that when marked differences of colour, stature, income, cleanliness, and education are present, men understand the gospel better when expounded by their own kind of people. They prefer to join churches whose members look, talk, and act like themselves.” (Understanding (1980), p. 227)

This states in brief what has become known as the Homogeneous Unit Principle (HUP). Although it sounds obvious to anyone involved in evangelism, it has had significant consequences for the church. It has influenced the development of many churches with a heart for mission. As churches move more towards making mission a priority, the more they will have to deal with cultural issues that interfere with or distort the gospel, and so the more the HUP appeals. The problem with this approach is that homogeneous evangelism tends to create a homogeneous church.

7. One Final Story St Andrew’s Cathedral and Asian Bible Church. You have to ask Andrew about what this means.

this isn’t anything new or profound. we need to be reminded that we’re all in danger of doing these things whether we’re ethnic based or not.

Kindle Beta

I’m really diggin kindle. I think they’ve done a good job with the interface. It’s got lots of potential.
Heck we can all be more committed to prayer.

Missional in Suburbia Seminar with Al Hsu

Missional in Suburbia one day conference with Al Hsu

Al Hsu’s a great guy. I had the privilege of sharing the platform with him as well as my old prof Dr. John Franke amongst others at The Well’s Missional in Suburbia Seminar responding to some of the things Al shared with us. His book, The Suburban Christian, offers very practical insight to something that a lot of leaders have not considered very carefully at least not so practically. It’s easy to see the needs in the city and follow Tim Keller’s lead to minister in the city to impact culture and overlook addressing the problems in suburbia. The Suburban Christian is a great companion to the groundbreaking classic,  “The Urban Christian” by Ray Bakke.

Download the Sessions Here
Part One
Part Two

On Interracial Churches and Rev. Rodney Woo

Rev. Rodney Woo

Interesting CNN cover story yesterday on interracial churches and “Why Many Americans Prefer Their Sundays Segregated.” Good read.

Some great highlights:
What was he was going to do if more of “them” tried to join their church?
The article cites Rev. Rodney Woo, who is partly Chinese, showing a very Third Culture approach on his part. There was fear that more Asians would flood the church because of his last name but according to the article it seems like that’s far from reality. I wonder if there are Asians in his church? My guess is that if they go or don’t go it probably has nothing to do with Woo’s last name. The reverend doesn’t look very Chinese to me. Not a knock on him but just a statement that perhaps the reason why people (Asians) go or don’t go has little to do with his last name but it may be an issue for non-Asians.

The Rev. Rodney Woo, senior pastor of Wilcrest Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, may be such a person. He leads a congregation of blacks, whites and Latinos. Like many leaders of interracial churches, he is driven in part by a personal awakening.

Woo’s mother is white, and his father is part Chinese. He attended an all-black high school growing up in Port Arthur, Texas, where he still remembers what it was like to be a minority.
“Everyone understands the rules, the lingo, the mind-set — except you,” he says. “It was invaluable, but I didn’t know it at the time.”

When he became pastor of Wilcrest in 1992, he was determined to shield his church members from such an experience. But an exodus of whites, commonly referred to as “white flight” was already taking place in the neighborhood and the church.

Membership fell to about 200 people. At least one church member suggested that Woo could change the church’s fortunes by adding a “d” to his last name.

“The fear there was people would think I was Chinese,” he says. “There would be a flood of all these Asians coming in, and what would we do then?”

Woo kept his last name and his vision. He made racial diversity part of the church’s mission statement. He preached it from the pulpit and lived it in his life. He says Wilcrest now has about 500 members, and is evenly divided among white, Latino and black members.

Woo doesn’t say his church has resolved all of its racial tensions. There are spats over music, length of service, even how to address Woo. Blacks prefer to address him more formally, while whites prefer to call him by his first name, (a sign of disrespect in black church culture), Woo says.
Woo tries to defuse the tension by offering something for everyone: gospel and traditional music, an integrated pastoral staff, “down-home” preaching and a more refined sermon at times.

But he knows it’s not enough. And he’s all right with that.

“If there’s not any tension, we probably haven’t done too well,” he says. “If one group feels too comfortable, we’ve probably neglected another group.”

Missional in Suburbia

I should have posted earlier about this but it’s not too late. My good friend Todd Hiestand, Pastor at The Well, is hosting in partnership with the Ecclesia Network and C4ML at Biblical Seminary, “Missional in Suburbia” inviting Al Hsu, author of The Suburban Christian, this weekend August 8-9, 2008.

The Well has really done some great things helping us retool our thinking about Suburbia. They recently invited local community leaders from Bucks County to discuss the unique issues of suburban poverty.

So this seminar should really be worth your while. See you there!

Tools of the Trade: iPhone 2.0 [part ii]

Since my phone took a nice swim in the Atlantic, so conveniently before the new iPhone3G release I’ve been really wrestling with diving into the madness [See Tools of the Trade: iPhone 2.0 Part i]. Many of my friends have fallen victim. They eagerly demonstrate every app they’ve downloaded and ridiculously show off the iBeer app every chance they get.

****Sigh****
There’s no doubt that cell phones are critical to our lives now. It was inevitable. I know of a few people who still don’t have one. Good for them but I hate that they’re unreachable especially if they’re on my leadership team;) With all the texting, messaging, emailing, facebooking I do now…an iPhone makes some sense. Plus I’d like to be less attached to my 15″ MacBook Pro as much as I love this baby. I spend more time looking at it’s beautiful screen than my with my wife. Perhaps this post should be filed under Pastoral Confessions.

Here’s a snap that I took at 9:30am last Friday at the Apple Store in the King of Prussia Mall with my new Motorola RiZR off ebay which I will be reselling. I needed to get my MacBook Pro looked at and I stumbled into this madness. I spoke with the Apple Concierge and they said this is the 6th day straight they’ve had these lines and then I entered the den of temptation for my technolust. I’m still holding out.

Apple iPhone Line at KOP at 9:30AM...6 days later

Bruce Reyes-Chow fesses up too.