Even Better Than Twitter

A new communication tool has been unveiled recently. It’s a mass media monster that will transform society. The battery life is endless. It’s in 3-D (no glasses needed). And it truly can change your life. Is it a new gadget? The latest social networking site? No, it’s bigger than that.

It’s conversation.

This is how it works: two or more people meet personally. They boot up their voice boxes and minds—perhaps with some java. Then they talk. With each other, they engage in what has been called a lost art. They exchange ideas and experiences. They express opinions. They share news. They laugh. They may even cry. But after the uploading and downloading, their lives are never the same.

I got to spend the afternoon with my daughter at a “Dads Day” hosted by her sorority. There were lots of dads there with their sweet daughters. We tailgated and went to a baseball game. It was really fun. But it wasn’t the activities that made it fun for me. It was spending time talking with my daughter. She’s a conversationalist. The baseball game lasted for 2 ½ hours. We talked the whole time. After the dad’s day festivities we went out for dinner. For another two hours, we talked. It was great.

But it was great for me, not because of what I was able to say, but because of what I was able to hear. I loved hearing my daughter’s opinions, thoughts, and experiences. I was thrilled to hear how she was growing, what interests she was developing, and what struggles she was facing. We didn’t solve the problems of the world or finish our to-do list, but something very good happened. That’s what conversation does.

This is where relationships begin. This is how you become close to people. This is one of the basic building blocks of sharing Jesus with someone. This is how news spreads best (word of mouth). But this is also one of the greatest challenges you will face.

Conversation requires listening and thinking. Listening requires sacrifice. Thinking calls for engagement. We live in a culture that plays on our need to need. We need stuff. We need attention. We need notoriety. We need to make our mark. We need to be busy and do our stuff. This neediness cuts us off from each other. When all we do is want and take, we will never be available to engage and give. If we’re never available to engage and give, we cut off God’s work through us.

The mission begins with conversation. But you will face barriers—many of them within yourself.

First is the unwillingness or inability to listen. It is so easy to want to talk about yourself. It’s so easy to dive into your life instead of asking about someone else’s life. It is so tempting to speed past someone else’s comments and get to what you want to share. Conversation requires the discipline to be quiet, to think about what another person is saying, and to dig deeper into what that person is sharing and experiencing. A good response to someone in conversation is a question that seeks to understand and find out more. If you listen well, you’ll find out that you end up receiving exactly what you need. Someone will listen to you, too.

Second is being too busy and distracted. You know how it goes: cell phone, TV, computer, newspaper, your thoughts, your agenda coursing through your brain. Conversation requires engagement. Look a person in the eye. Think about them, not you and your stuff. Be with one person in the moment.

Third is being competitive instead of compassionate. You don’t have to prove yourself all the time. You don’t have to trot out your resume and let people know how great you are. In addition, you’re not in competition with the person you’re speaking with. Just be there. Let your care show who you are. Let your selflessness lift the other person up. After all, what is your mission? Do you exist to exalt yourself? Or are you here to bring the presence of Jesus to a hurting and dying world?

How is conversation going in your life?

(Church Planting Series, Part thirty-three)

Your Ministry Finds You

Dr. Zhao Xiao, a leading Chinese economist, was sent to the United States on a mission. The Chinese government asked him to investigate why the American economy was so successful. After several months of study, Dr. Xiao came to a startling conclusion. In an essay entitled "Market Economies with Churches, and Market Economies without Churches," Dr. Xiao stated that the Christian faith and the existence of Christian churches were key to America’s commercial success.

Dr. Zhao Xiao brought this message back to China—along with a newfound Christian faith. His findings persuaded the Communist government to acknowledge the need for the church—even including a new statement about the church in the Communist platform.

How in the world did this happen? Who could have planned such a turn of events?

Not any of us. It’s a perfect example of how the Mission of God (Missio Dei) works. God is in mission. He is sending Himself to redeem the world. Sometimes we identify what He’s doing and join in His work. Other times His work finds us. In fact, I think this is what happens most often.

Look at the Biblical accounts of God’s movements. God called and sent Abraham. God called Moses out of hiding. God sent Jonah to complete a plan Jonah had no desire to be involved with. God sent Jesus to a world of darkness that didn’t accept Him, to disciples who flunked out of Rabbi training who didn’t understand Him, to people who would have never put their lives on the line for the kind of Kingdom God designed.

Look at God’s movements in your life. I can’t tell you how many times my ministry bright ideas weren’t my ideas at all. Usually God sent someone to pester me into implementing some kind of outreach initiative. I ended up being called a wise pastoral leader when I really stumbled into, or was dragged into, the ministry idea in the first place.

That’s the beauty of God’s Kingdom. And that’s a liberating principle of God’s action for everyone who wants to serve Him. The wise theologian Michael Jordan once said, “You’ve got to let the game come to you.” If you say, “Here I am! Send me!” or even if you don’t, God will show you where He is leading you to serve.

For Dr. Zhao Xiao, it was bringing an economic study with surprising conclusions back to his atheistic Communist country—along with a life transformed by the Gospel.

For you, it may be serving your family. Or reaching out to the neighborhood. Or being Christ’s light at work. Or serving the poor. Or helping the lonely and aged in a local nursing home. Or being a witness at school. Or brining Jesus to your hospital room.

If you watch and pray, your ministry will find you!

Dr. Xiao will be speaking live at the Global Leadership Summit. Click here to register for attendance at a Texas venue.

You can watch a two and a half minute clip from a Frontline story about Dr. Xiao and read his groundbreaking essay by clicking here.

(Church Planting Series, Part thirty-two)