In today's world, now more than ever we need culturally relevant worship and a biblically accurate yet contemporary approach to ministry. In his 30 plus years in ministry, Pastor Phil has accumulated a wealth of wisdom. In this episode he's sharing his blueprint for churches, on how to effectively engage the community, share the gospel and positively impact the lives of others.
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[00:00:02] I am here to talk to you today, solo dolo, just about church planting or church revitalization.
[00:00:16] You know, I have served youth and young adults in local churches for the last 36 years, since 1987.
[00:00:26] And I have served a Methodist church that was the bomb of Pastor Emmanuel Cleaver, who was the first black mayor of Kansas City.
[00:00:36] The mayor pro temp, the assistant mayor for 12 years and then pastored a Methodist church which I heard of for 36 years, called me into ministry.
[00:00:46] And then I left there and was youth pastor of Paseo Baptist Church in Kansas City, another strong African-American pastor.
[00:00:55] Pastor Briscoe's disciple Tony Evans, when Tony was in seminary with him big old sideburns he used to wear.
[00:01:01] And I was under these great leaders with churches that were established.
[00:01:09] Of course, a Methodist church with its system that it has and typically a pastor Methodist circle may be there for, you know, three years and then leave.
[00:01:18] But Rev was able to come in at a time when the church was dying and then made it grow and then people grew with him in that church and they didn't move.
[00:01:28] Pastor Briscoe took over a church and was there, man, 30, 40 years or so.
[00:01:33] And he, you know, led the church through several different scenarios.
[00:01:38] I've seen two churches that were really reviving the congregation, really reviving the community and reviving the area.
[00:01:45] And in the midst of that, they were building leaders and other leaders from those churches that, you know, they went out to plant churches and start churches.
[00:01:54] I've seen on both ends.
[00:01:55] I've seen great church plants where leaders said, hey, you know what, this is what's going on in this area right here.
[00:02:03] And I want to make a difference and change some things.
[00:02:09] And I'll start with a few people and build it from there.
[00:02:12] I've seen people start a church that they didn't really come to start a church.
[00:02:18] They ended up being, you know, they're pastors, love the Lord, but they ended up like coaching a baseball team.
[00:02:24] And they were coaching a little baseball squad and getting kids together in an area where there was no team, no nothing.
[00:02:31] And in the midst of that, folks said, hey, you know, you're a good guy.
[00:02:35] What else is going on?
[00:02:36] And then gradually what happened was folks started having a little Bible study.
[00:02:40] And then from the little Bible study, not little like I'm throwing shade, but they didn't, you know, they just organicness of the Bible study just came about.
[00:02:47] And then from there, people wanted to worship with this leader.
[00:02:50] So I've seen it on both ends where things have started in that way.
[00:02:54] Lawndale Community Church was even a church that wasn't intentionally started as a church.
[00:03:00] It started out as a guy, white guy and had a Fort Dodge, Iowa.
[00:03:03] God believed that he was leading him.
[00:03:05] He was believing God was leading him to the west side of Chicago to work specifically with African-Americans.
[00:03:11] And so I've seen it at Lawndale Community Church where Wayne Gordon, like I was saying, from Fort Dodge, Iowa, was believing that God would, you know, use him at a high school to teach and to coach wrestling and coach football.
[00:03:25] He went to Wheaton College and he said, you know, God just broke his heart for the west side of Chicago and for African-Americans.
[00:03:31] And as he began to coach and teach, he bought a weight machine and kids didn't have a place to lift weights.
[00:03:37] Those are universal Nautilus machines.
[00:03:40] And those kids he had Bible study with said, yo, why don't we start a church and you be the pastor?
[00:03:47] They, from within the people, said, hey, we're growing from this Bible study, coming to faith in Christ and recognizing that this is a place where we can go deeper if we even started a church.
[00:04:00] I've seen it on both ends.
[00:04:01] Now, 45 years later, the church is still there.
[00:04:03] It's got seven medical clinics.
[00:04:05] There's, you know, 800 staff in the medical clinic.
[00:04:07] Got a men's recovery home.
[00:04:08] Got a legal center, a housing ministry, all the various things that kind of birthed.
[00:04:13] No, that kind of, that birthed out of the lives of young people.
[00:04:15] So here's my thing, right?
[00:04:17] I don't know what church you go to or you attend, but like it was started from some kind of way.
[00:04:24] Maybe a denomination said we want to be in this rural part of this community.
[00:04:28] We want to be in this city part.
[00:04:29] We want to be in the suburb, this particular culture generation.
[00:04:33] I think people who start churches have a great idea if they're in that community for a while to know what the needs are and following the direction even of the people.
[00:04:43] And as they do that, the move of what God is doing, you know, can become a lot.
[00:04:50] I think the problem may be is when folks are, you know, starting a church because they're just so disgruntled with the church that they're at.
[00:05:01] And they're going to start another church and they have no real calling to start a church.
[00:05:06] It's almost like I'm getting back at this other pastor.
[00:05:10] You know how some people vote sometimes.
[00:05:11] I don't really want this other candidate, but it's a vote against this other person, you know.
[00:05:17] And so I say that because those motives will last for so long.
[00:05:21] After a while, when you've buried so many people or married so many people or people have gotten your nerves the last time, you know, you're going to up and leave because you're not really there called for the people.
[00:05:31] You know, but there is a movement of folks who are recognizing this call on their own life to start a church and have, you know, done some work on how that would be.
[00:05:47] And then there are people who believe they're called to revive and revitalize the body of Christ, the local church, and to come in to a local church and to serve alongside that pastor, he or she, and then help with the gifts that they have to make that church, you know, glorify God in a powerful way to be relevant, you know, to the community.
[00:06:08] You know, I started a church called The House.
[00:06:11] It was inside of Lauderdale Community Church.
[00:06:13] So it wasn't a traditional setting.
[00:06:16] If you have ever been in Chicago and have hung out with us, you may know about The House Church, Hip Hop Church.
[00:06:25] It started in 03.
[00:06:26] What happened was we were doing all these hip hop concerts.
[00:06:28] We brought in, you know, man, Gospel Gangsters.
[00:06:32] We brought in A1 Swift.
[00:06:35] You know, we brought in Corey Redd and Precise back in the day.
[00:06:41] We brought in Grits.
[00:06:42] You know, all these different artists we would bring in.
[00:06:44] You know, Nota Verbs.
[00:06:44] We brought in all these different artists, right?
[00:06:48] And we were doing that every six months maybe or so.
[00:06:51] And then young people said, what if we started a church that, you know, made this happen too?
[00:06:56] But it was around an organic need that was taking place within the community of folks who were attending Lauderdale Community Church.
[00:07:04] Like there needs to be something young people were saying that resonates with us.
[00:07:08] We're still going to come on Sunday.
[00:07:09] We still want to be involved.
[00:07:10] But we see this as an outlet for us.
[00:07:16] And that was the unique way in which we planted the house church in 03.
[00:07:20] It was all about creating something that had not existed that folks thought that, young people thought that, yo, my peers should really resonate with that.
[00:07:29] You know, our first service October 3rd or October 4th of 03, we had 500 people.
[00:07:35] And it was 500 people every first Saturday after that.
[00:07:38] It was crazy.
[00:07:39] Now, I say all this because when you look at the movement of our culture and of our community, right?
[00:07:49] There are unique things that are happening all the daggum time.
[00:07:53] I mean, you look at the politics of what we face, whether you're on one other side of the aisle, it's visceral.
[00:08:00] It's hard.
[00:08:02] It's hateration going on.
[00:08:04] You look at the disparity between economics and education in schools in the city and schools in the suburbs and even in the rural communities, right?
[00:08:13] When you look at these things, there has to be a word from God.
[00:08:16] And, you know, the scriptures talk about the need for someone to be sent, right?
[00:08:26] And the reality of who God will use to send them.
[00:08:31] Maybe a church plant or maybe a violation of a church.
[00:08:34] Romans 10, 14 and 15.
[00:08:37] How will they call on, you know, how then will they call on him who they have not believed?
[00:08:45] How are they to believe in him who they have not ever heard?
[00:08:49] And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
[00:08:52] And how are they to preach unless they were sent?
[00:08:56] In Romans 10, 15 and 14.
[00:08:59] The fact that someone is sent and God's using them and has called them means that there is something on their heart that is a unique message that God is giving them for this generation to preach.
[00:09:09] Now, is it a church plant or is it a violation of a church?
[00:09:12] That is the question.
[00:09:15] How are we to figure that out or how will one go to figure that out?
[00:09:20] My challenge is that don't go to the most convenient answer.
[00:09:25] Go to the answer that's most challenging, which may be more difficult, which may be the area that God is really trying to stir up something.
[00:09:32] Because I believe that in the Lord's Prayer, where God says, he says, you know, thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:09:42] God wants down here to look like up there.
[00:09:45] And we must be sensitive about the God's call and what God's called you to do, because God stirred you up to say, hey, something ain't right down here.
[00:09:55] It doesn't look like up there.
[00:09:57] And I want you to work with senior citizens, to preach to senior citizens in a way that's relevant in that space.
[00:10:02] That's the key element to me of either a church plant or a revitalization of a church that you are sensitive to that fact being used by God to be relevant, to be real, to be respectful, to impact those God's calls you to say that down here doesn't look like up there.
[00:10:21] I want to be clear with this community, and I know God's called me, and I want to bring about a word.
[00:10:26] Serve.
[00:10:26] I want to love on people that they will hear God in a fresh way.
[00:10:30] We're talking about church planting or church revitalization.
[00:10:35] You know, as God has kept me around in youth ministry for 36 years since 1987, I have believed that, you know, the church has forgotten and lost focus on serving the least of these at different times, right?
[00:10:49] Maybe that started out that way, and then it began to take care of those that are currently grown up in the church, and now they're, you know, managing those members in that space.
[00:11:04] There are three types of churches to me that Juwan Zika Jufa, a great Christian author, wrote that he said that there is a church that is a containment model church, which basically says we are going to keep people managed in this space.
[00:11:22] And then there is the entertainment model church.
[00:11:26] You've got the containment model church where we're just going to keep the status quo.
[00:11:29] We're going to make sure everybody's good, how people give and tithe.
[00:11:32] We're not going to ruffle the feathers.
[00:11:34] We're not going to do too much deep evangelism on the block or on the street to threaten and cause a fear of anybody in the congregation.
[00:11:43] Containment model.
[00:11:43] Then your entertainment model church oftentimes is led by, you know, a quote-unquote superstar pastor because I think people make their pastors a superstar, right?
[00:11:52] And in social media and things like that, oftentimes there may be pastors who are just doing what God led them to do and trying to be more proactive when it comes to social media.
[00:12:01] And then folks put them up in a spot where they can never make a mistake or anything else like that.
[00:12:07] But anyway, some pastors do dive into that superstar model, and I get that.
[00:12:11] Maybe there's 80% of them that do, or whatever the case may be.
[00:12:15] You've got your containment model church, entertainment model church, which I think those churches, you know, avoid the least of these.
[00:12:21] And there is, you know, some good stuff that they may do, and then there may be some ways in which their preaching is impacting.
[00:12:26] But it's all about maintaining those two aspects, containing and entertaining.
[00:12:32] The third model, which is what I believe is the model that God would have us to start, and there are a lot of churches that are in this way, which is the liberation model.
[00:12:41] And that liberation model creates a space where there's co-equal leadership, where leadership is co-equal.
[00:12:48] Everybody has a voice, a word in the direction of the organization, but they function differently.
[00:12:55] So even though folks may have a word, it may not mean that that word is going to also be applied.
[00:12:59] It just means that we hear you.
[00:13:01] We thank you for that consideration.
[00:13:03] And yeah, we're going to dive into that.
[00:13:05] We're going to pause that for a second.
[00:13:06] We're not going to be able to do that.
[00:13:07] And so in the sense that there is, that model, I believe, seeks liberation for all that are bound on the street, bound with the demonic forces that are bound in ways that don't give them the gifts, the tools, the release from Christ to live in their full liberation.
[00:13:29] You know, where Christ is, there is liberty, right?
[00:13:31] So in the midst of having models in that way, if you're about liberation, then you are constantly focused on what is keeping you from that liberation.
[00:13:42] Is it economic, systemic issues?
[00:13:45] Let's find out how we can empower our young people and families to be better stewards of the money they have and be able to impact their family resource-wise.
[00:13:54] It's education.
[00:13:55] Let's find better ways to educate.
[00:13:56] Let's create tutor.
[00:13:57] Let's create access to better ways of learning, computers and things like that.
[00:14:03] There is an effort to be aware that this liberation that we have and are being given through the cost of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is constantly being pursued.
[00:14:19] And whatever blocks that, liberation theologians and liberation churches and ministries are pursuing ways to free people up in that.
[00:14:28] And that means we're going to be talking about real issues.
[00:14:30] That means we're going to be putting things on blast.
[00:14:32] That means we're going to be out there beyond the four walls.
[00:14:36] So containment model, entertainment model, and then the liberation model.
[00:14:40] Well, in 2006, after being a youth pastor for so many years, young people said, hey, let's start a church and let's create it to where it reaches our peers.
[00:14:53] And so we sat for a bunch of months, man, five, maybe six months, and began to think through, plan out if they've never, ever been to a church.
[00:15:02] Like they never, ever, like they came from another planet, never even heard a church or one of the cases.
[00:15:08] What would have to be some things that they know in their generation would have to be their part of that church?
[00:15:14] And we began to write on the wall, like, you know, no church announcements, no announcements all the time.
[00:15:23] Less things that bore us, in essence, those things, right?
[00:15:29] But they were basically saying our communication style is totally different than that.
[00:15:35] And so because of that, we have to make sure that the message is landing in our sphere of understanding, right?
[00:15:44] Ooh, bars right there, right?
[00:15:45] So the message is landing in our sphere of understanding.
[00:15:48] So we have a way in which we hear and learn and listen.
[00:15:51] And as we began to unpack that, it became obvious that hip-hop was going to be a part of that, that the culture of hip-hop.
[00:15:59] Because, you know, hip-hop is who you are.
[00:16:04] You know, rap is what you do in the midst of all the things that we do in our culture.
[00:16:09] Sometimes people just think, oh, this is hip-hop.
[00:16:12] Well, it's not.
[00:16:13] It's, you know, something that looks like it could be from the culture, but it's really not.
[00:16:17] So I say that because hip-hop is going to constantly be real, respectful, and relevant.
[00:16:24] And so in the sense that the young people were saying, this is what we want, this is what we want to look like,
[00:16:30] it began to be obvious there's going to be a hip-hop cultural kind of church, a hip-hop worship experience in that space.
[00:16:36] So, of course, infusing the four elements of hip-hop, the four visible elements of hip-hop, which is dance, breakdancing, sometimes all styles of dance,
[00:16:47] emceeing, somebody who's the worship leader is the emcee, or the worship leader really is the DJ.
[00:16:52] The emcee is like the choir.
[00:16:55] And then, you know, graffiti.
[00:16:57] So as much artistic things on the screen that we could present, young people would be able to stay with us in that kind of rhythm
[00:17:05] because they were constantly going to be aware of all that was going on, right, in the midst of their listening style.
[00:17:15] They're going to hear.
[00:17:15] They're going to look.
[00:17:17] You know, there's different types of learners.
[00:17:19] There's kinesthetic learner, the cognitive learner.
[00:17:22] Kinesthetic, they've got to experience it, right?
[00:17:23] You've got to do something in the service where they're going to experience what you're about to say and how you're about to say it through some kind of experiential deal.
[00:17:31] And so I say that in light of these young people in 03, of how they were seeing they're going to reach their peers, right?
[00:17:42] That they were like, we need less announcements.
[00:17:44] We need more engagement.
[00:17:45] We need better music.
[00:17:47] We need to do something in the service.
[00:17:48] All these things came from the young people, right?
[00:17:53] It came from youth saying, hey, the way we listen and understand, we've got to engage.
[00:17:57] We can't have a bunch of oral stuff.
[00:17:59] And so we began to plan this Christ-centered hip-hop worship service.
[00:18:03] And I say that because I believe there's only one church.
[00:18:06] There's different worship styles.
[00:18:08] There's a, you know, one church, but there's a Puerto Rican style of worship, right?
[00:18:12] There's a, you know, Church of God in Christ style of worship.
[00:18:15] There's a Pentecostal style of worship.
[00:18:17] There are styles of worship.
[00:18:19] And I think people get legalistic with those styles of worship.
[00:18:22] And it's got to be, you know, this way.
[00:18:24] But as you're seeking to be relevant to the community you're serving, you find that they will tell you what it is that resonates.
[00:18:32] And being able to be aware of that, yet, yet, being true to the word, it's not like we don't want, don't teach the Bible.
[00:18:39] You know what I'm saying?
[00:18:39] Then that would be a conflict right there.
[00:18:41] But in the context of that being a center and that being focused, there are peripheral things that we definitely can resonate with.
[00:18:49] That's what I mean when I say biblically accurate, culturally sensitive.
[00:18:52] What I mean biblically accurate, I mean, we're true to the text expositorily as well as relevant.
[00:19:00] The word is alive.
[00:19:01] It's sharper than any two-edged sword.
[00:19:02] We cannot preach a dead word.
[00:19:04] That's irrelevant, right?
[00:19:05] We must recognize how deep and profound the word of God is to the degree that we are not going to preach a dead word.
[00:19:15] I think there has to be an intentionality that if you're so in tune with the people you're serving and so in tune with the community, you will definitely recognize, yo, I've got to make this thing come alive.
[00:19:25] And whether it's humor, whether it's stories, whether it's an explanation of a text, whether it's bridging it to where it just really lands relevant to this generation, all of those things, I believe, will make the word come alive.
[00:19:40] And you've got to be aware of that, especially in this, what I call Snapchat listening generation.
[00:19:45] Snapchat is an app on your phone that young people have.
[00:19:48] If you don't already have it, I hate it.
[00:19:49] I hate it.
[00:19:50] It gives you like 10 seconds of footage.
[00:19:52] So 10 seconds, it goes up and then it disappears unless you save it some kind of way in 24 hours.
[00:20:00] But it's like that's about as much time as I'm going to give you.
[00:20:02] These 10 seconds.
[00:20:03] You better have something new every 10 seconds.
[00:20:06] That's the challenge we face in trying to communicate the gospel of this generation.
[00:20:11] So anyway, as we got with these young people and started talking about the service, what should it look like?
[00:20:16] Well, the first thing was, you know, we got to create a way where there's anticipation of some type of expectation of what's going to take place.
[00:20:26] So when you come into the house church on the first Saturday of every month, there are doors that are shut and they're blacked out.
[00:20:33] So you can't see what's going on.
[00:20:34] You just hear the music blasting.
[00:20:36] What's going on in it?
[00:20:37] What's going on in it?
[00:20:37] Right.
[00:20:37] And so as young people come through at 6.50 before 7 o'clock, they come through and they're getting in.
[00:20:44] So everybody else who comes after that, all they're going to hear is the noise on the inside and the black doors.
[00:20:50] Because too many times a young person may make a decision to attend, to come in, to come through because they see, oh, I don't see as many people there.
[00:20:59] Or I don't see the people I want to see there.
[00:21:01] Or I'm already judging on how it's going to be just by looking through these doors.
[00:21:07] So we shut all that out.
[00:21:08] So now you're curious what's going on.
[00:21:11] I hear some noise.
[00:21:11] I hear the music.
[00:21:12] I hear people screaming.
[00:21:13] This is crazy.
[00:21:15] So I want to be a part of that.
[00:21:16] You create a level of exclusivity, right?
[00:21:19] Young people want to be included.
[00:21:21] They want to be a part of the thing that's in.
[00:21:23] And so indirectly in our effort, as young people helps us to put this together, we create that kind of vibe just by the fact that young people are not able to see inside.
[00:21:33] Right?
[00:21:33] So those little nuances were significant to our youth and to us.
[00:21:37] And so what happens from there is we have a DJ.
[00:21:40] And DJ is our worship leader.
[00:21:42] And they set the tone.
[00:21:44] Folks come in the door.
[00:21:45] There is music that they're rocking that is relevant, that's clean, and that's getting cats to a place where they are curious about what's going to take place.
[00:21:57] A lot of it is Christian.
[00:21:58] Don't get me wrong.
[00:21:59] But it could be some TikTok instrumental beat.
[00:22:01] They stay like, yo, everybody does that dance to this TikTok beat.
[00:22:04] Oh, my gosh.
[00:22:05] Right?
[00:22:06] And so now it's like, oh, you know, I got to stay on top of that.
[00:22:09] So it becomes that level of relevancy with young people.
[00:22:12] Not so much because we're trying to be so hip and we're going to play the latest jam and just cuss out the whole church.
[00:22:18] It's about being creative, you know, and helping young people to dislodge from the phone, to dislodge from their attention span and be like, yo, what happened?
[00:22:31] What's going on?
[00:22:31] Why is that person running around?
[00:22:32] What's going on with that?
[00:22:33] Now you've got to stay alert because you never know if that balloon or that bottle or that, well, not that bottle, but if that thing is going to come your way.
[00:22:41] So you've got to be on point with that.
[00:22:43] So then we try to make sure that we don't have that much oral except for the preaching so much.
[00:22:49] So maybe a poem and then some other stuff and then oral.
[00:22:52] But it's one of those kind of things where we're going to make sure that we have and maintain a level of energy that's high when folks come in the door.
[00:23:01] And we're going to do that through a couple of different angles.
[00:23:06] So they may come in the door and the DJ is rocking.
[00:23:08] And then somebody else to the side will say, welcome to the house.
[00:23:11] Welcome three.
[00:23:13] And then the emcee gets up and we just nonstop driving the service, just nonstop driving the service.
[00:23:21] So young people created all that.
[00:23:23] Now, I'm talking about church planting and I'm talking about, you know, church revitalization.
[00:23:27] We were already in an existing church, Lawndale Community Church.
[00:23:31] So and we're already meeting.
[00:23:33] We're meeting on a Saturday night, which, you know, if you're a Seventh-day Adventist, then that's probably appropriate.
[00:23:38] According to what you believe is a holy day to worship.
[00:23:41] And the it wasn't about that as much as it was about we're not trying to take you from your church on Sunday morning.
[00:23:49] We're not trying to create any kind of conflict with you and your family, you and and that local church.
[00:23:57] And not that we're intimidated to conflict.
[00:23:59] That's not the issue.
[00:24:00] But we want to be that alternative to where you can go, man, I came to faith in Christ in this hip hop joint or something where you resonate like, yo, I got to spark my faith.
[00:24:10] When I get back to church tomorrow, we got to go ham.
[00:24:13] Get our young people about to do this with our adults or whatever the case may be.
[00:24:17] We want to be that like like additional tool that the kingdom of God could use for those who felt that they didn't have a voice.
[00:24:24] Well, I do have a voice.
[00:24:25] I mean, that poem was for me.
[00:24:27] Well, I did get up here and share a testimony.
[00:24:29] Wow, we did break off into groups in the middle of the church service.
[00:24:32] What?
[00:24:33] And out of nowhere, we all have a voice and we all recognize the power of God in our life.
[00:24:38] And what a great testimony I've heard of this young woman or this young man.
[00:24:41] And that resonates with me.
[00:24:43] Now I can see God clearly.
[00:24:45] All of those factors in our heads as we plan the service go into what the service would look like and go into what we believe is relevant for this generation in that space.
[00:24:59] And so when it comes to the church planting kind of mindset, it was like church renewal.
[00:25:10] People, quote unquote, come alongside of an existing church that was just as relevant in the neighborhood.
[00:25:18] And so the cheat code, if you will, was that it wasn't necessarily a church plant.
[00:25:24] We gave it that name to give people like a context, like the house church, like the house church.
[00:25:33] And the house or just the house, right?
[00:25:35] And we meet along the community church.
[00:25:37] And so people may not know if it's a concert.
[00:25:39] Is it a dance?
[00:25:40] Is it a club?
[00:25:41] Not that we want to create that kind of confusion.
[00:25:43] But we don't want them to think that this is, oh, here we go with another church plant.
[00:25:48] Now, if you want to grow in the faith and you're not a local church, we don't want to deny you that.
[00:25:53] We want you to say, man, I love this space.
[00:25:55] Hey, so I'm growing here.
[00:25:56] I got some friends here.
[00:25:57] Cool.
[00:25:57] We want to grow with you.
[00:25:58] We want to have an opportunity for you to know the word and grow in the word in that space like that.
[00:26:03] So that is our concept of how we engage youth in this kind of church revitalization type service, right?
[00:26:13] The house.
[00:26:14] And, you know, when we started over three, four or five hundred young people are coming out.
[00:26:19] We relaunched it in June.
[00:26:21] About a couple hundred people came through.
[00:26:23] We had not cared about the numbers.
[00:26:25] I just want to make sure enough people know about it because of what this generation method is of communicating and outreach wise and letting them know is challenging.
[00:26:37] It's odd, right?
[00:26:37] Because of what they will listen to or they just missed that seven second social media thing.
[00:26:43] You work so hard to get out there, but they just scroll past it.
[00:26:46] So being able to make sure everybody at least knows of it because they, you know, would want to come or they would want their friends to come or they would, you know, bring their youth ministry.
[00:26:55] So in our effort to do this church plant, it was about awakening a generation to hear the gospel in a way that's relevant for them.
[00:27:03] That's our essence.
[00:27:04] That right there.
[00:27:05] And using and engaging in hip hop, not using hip hop like it's outside of ourselves.
[00:27:10] It's who we are.
[00:27:11] So in the preaching style is both confrontational yet loving and yet real in those spaces.
[00:27:20] Hip hop is confrontational in its essence.
[00:27:23] From the very essence of Mike get on the microphone, knowing that their words got to say something.
[00:27:28] So consequence, they got to bring kind of a shock culture kind of message to it.
[00:27:33] So in the preaching, it can be relevant in that same context.
[00:27:37] But we want to make sure that young people recognize the humanity of Jesus Christ.
[00:27:43] In hip hop, that's the main place where it starts in John chapter one.
[00:27:48] Hip hop starts with, you know, the word became flesh.
[00:27:51] How does this God become flesh to us?
[00:27:53] How does this flesh make sense of divine nature, spiritual nature?
[00:27:58] How do we connect in Christ from a spiritual context in a way that's real and relevant and practical and makes sense and speaks to my particular challenges of what I go through?
[00:28:11] So that, when I say being relevant to young people in that country, that's our essence as we began to think through.
[00:28:18] And, you know, young people's voice was so significant and still is.
[00:28:21] Like, this shouldn't, this is not going to work.
[00:28:24] You talk about YouTube or TikTok music thing, that's not going to work.
[00:28:29] Okay, cool.
[00:28:29] What's going to be relevant to impact our young people?
[00:28:32] We've got to play this one video that everybody's trending on.
[00:28:35] It's clean.
[00:28:35] It's funny.
[00:28:36] But we've got to throw that on there.
[00:28:37] So everybody will get off their phones, look at the screen, like, oh, that was funny when the trash can hit the guy in the head.
[00:28:42] Right.
[00:28:43] And so all of those nuances that young people may not think would be in church, like, y'all really played that?
[00:28:49] But it is.
[00:28:50] Right.
[00:28:50] And it lands in such a way where young people are staying with you.
[00:28:54] Our definition of creativity, right, is making the familiar strange.
[00:28:59] So how do we make the familiar strange?
[00:29:02] How do we maintain a level of awareness of what's happening in the world?
[00:29:12] And even more narrow in North Lawndale specifically.
[00:29:16] And how do we make that bridge, how do we make the gospel that bridge to shine a light on that piece?
[00:29:22] That takes some work, right?
[00:29:24] You've got to really think through that.
[00:29:26] You need to have all these young people in your mind in front of you as you're preparing a church service or as you're preparing to preach so that you can always say, well, that's not going to work.
[00:29:36] That kid's going to definitely cancel culture that whole joint out right there.
[00:29:40] Right.
[00:29:41] And so being in that space.
[00:29:44] Another thing I think is significant when you preach to youth or this generation is that, one, as I said before, you've got to be inductive.
[00:29:53] You've got to allow more questions in your preaching, more questions in the worship music, more questions in the announcements, more questions in a testimony,
[00:30:03] so that there is a more inductive sticking of the faith.
[00:30:10] I'm trying to find the right word for sticking of the faith, meaning that if you tell people everything what to do, they're just going to memorize what you say.
[00:30:17] Right. But if you show people and ask questions, did Christ, death, burial and resurrection bring us salvation?
[00:30:27] Oh, wow. Let me think about that.
[00:30:29] Does that or is our salvation found in the grasp of applying that faith?
[00:30:38] You know, then it becomes another question about work.
[00:30:40] So what a kid. So you you can begin to dialogue about that.
[00:30:44] But the other part is really allowing in your inductive process, the judgment of where people are in their own life and the judgment of this world, society and conflict.
[00:30:54] And, you know, I believe this to to to be organically done through the way in which you're asking questions and you're preaching.
[00:31:02] If there are too many answers, then folks will either a just write you off or be just lose the context of of who and what it is you're doing altogether until they get until people get to a point of maturity where they can recognize.
[00:31:20] Oh, this is this is God's word in this spot.
[00:31:23] I need to be bolder in this spot.
[00:31:26] But you can't you have to almost flip it in reverse.
[00:31:28] Whereas in one generation is like we're going to speak it this way.
[00:31:30] Yeah, let's go.
[00:31:31] Oh, or something.
[00:31:32] Ah, right.
[00:31:34] But this generation is like, ah, from the jump.
[00:31:36] I haven't been there.
[00:31:37] My mom and them or whatever.
[00:31:38] And so you have to kind of flip it in reverse, meaning that we're going to go with some stronger texts we're going to teach from.
[00:31:44] I believe we have to do it in such a way that's super duper relevant, but it's super duper inducted to where I don't know the answer to that, man.
[00:31:53] That's I don't know about that, man.
[00:31:55] It's about it's about a journey with God or a destination with God.
[00:32:00] I got to think about them.
[00:32:01] I do want to go to heaven.
[00:32:02] But, man, I got I'm on.
[00:32:05] I'm feeling hell on earth right now.
[00:32:06] I got to.
[00:32:07] Is God really relevant to me right now?
[00:32:10] Joe, I need to be.
[00:32:10] All of a sudden, they're asking questions, right?
[00:32:13] Thinking through their life and the issues in their life that gives a little bit more substance than it would if it was just a bunch of gobbledygook back and forth.
[00:32:24] We're going to talk next about, you know, revitalization of churches.
[00:32:29] Pastor Jay, who is in here now, is now the lead pastor of Law and Hill Community Church and doing a phenomenal job.
[00:32:35] He's talked about it in his book, The Church Forsaken.
[00:32:37] And but what does it mean to revive the church with the current churches that we have?
[00:32:44] Not necessarily church planting where a lot of folks believe we just got to start over again.
[00:32:48] Folks ain't getting it.
[00:32:49] We're going to have to start.
[00:32:50] And there's some there's some theories to this and understanding that.
[00:32:52] But in the hood, man, anybody don't even care because you got 100 churches on each block right now.
[00:32:57] Right.
[00:32:57] So it'll be like, oh, there they go.
[00:32:59] They're going to think the young people in the church or the community.
[00:33:01] You're doing the same thing.
[00:33:03] Pastor so-and-so do.
[00:33:04] And so we're not going to go.
[00:33:06] So is there another perspective of what this could be for the kingdom of God?
[00:33:11] In the process of thinking about all this, man, just start thinking about like.
[00:33:19] The vision of what God initiated when God planted the church, you know, when God.
[00:33:26] Death, resurrection, you know, and speaking to to his disciples.
[00:33:31] Disciples about going and making other disciples.
[00:33:35] Right.
[00:33:35] To all the ends of the earth.
[00:33:37] And this is a new thing.
[00:33:39] Right.
[00:33:39] This is a whole new movement where folks went from the synagogue, you know, to to the church.
[00:33:49] And really in the midst of what that what that was going to look like, you know, the people would be organically determined.
[00:33:58] Just imagine you are in a Jewish culture, Jewish community.
[00:34:03] The and the synagogue is it.
[00:34:05] And that's where all life really comes from.
[00:34:08] That life and neighborhood and resident relevant things that take place.
[00:34:15] And Christ comes in and says, you know, there's a there's a new thing.
[00:34:18] There's a new thing.
[00:34:19] Right.
[00:34:19] That's taking place.
[00:34:20] And there is a way in which we're going to worship and serve now that may look, you know, totally different in the midst of what God is his leading us to do from his his resurrection.
[00:34:36] And scriptures talk about in Acts chapter 242, you know, the fellowship of the believers.
[00:34:42] They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to breaking of bread and to prayer.
[00:34:47] Everyone was filled with awe.
[00:34:50] The many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.
[00:34:52] All the believers were together and had everything in common.
[00:34:57] They sold property possessions to give anyone who had a need.
[00:35:00] Every day, every day, they continue to meet together in the temple courts.
[00:35:04] They broke bread in their homes and together they were living together and had sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.
[00:35:16] And God added to their number daily those who are being saved.
[00:35:20] So in the book of Acts, we find this amazing movement of people who have found their faith complete as Jewish people, I believe, recognizing Christ as their Lord and Savior.
[00:35:36] The long lost Messiah that had been prophesied about way back even in Genesis.
[00:35:42] The pro-evangelion, the first telling of the gospel.
[00:35:45] When Christ says, I will, when God says, I will bring another one out who will be bitten by the snake, but yet will crush his head.
[00:35:54] And as he gives the consequences of Adam and Eve.
[00:35:57] And that pro-evangelion, he preaches that Christ is going to be that Savior.
[00:36:03] And the scriptures go throughout the whole Old Testament, New Testament to Christ.
[00:36:09] And we find they were in the temple court.
[00:36:11] They were in the same place that they would meet in the synagogue.
[00:36:13] But they're in the temple courts now hearing the apostles teaching.
[00:36:18] These same apostles who grew up Jewish, who were teaching this gospel about who Jesus was and affirming to the Jewish community.
[00:36:27] Here's the Messiah that we've been looking for, who came differently than the Messiah we had anticipated in that space.
[00:36:33] But the unique thing about it that was significant is that they served one another by meeting each other's needs.
[00:36:42] Whatever those particular needs were, they came together for that particular purpose.
[00:36:46] And they came together for that particular purpose.
[00:36:48] There was just a real affection towards living this thing out.
[00:36:55] It wasn't enough just to have head knowledge.
[00:36:59] I think when it comes to that transformation, my theory is that in the Jewish context, a lot of wisdom, a lot of knowledge is there.
[00:37:10] A lot of real insight, deep, deep truths.
[00:37:15] But sometimes in the Orthodox context, maybe there is not necessarily a real serving of the people.
[00:37:23] You know, even in the Jewish culture today, the tension has arisen by the Orthodox Jews who are saying, we don't need to go to war.
[00:37:30] We need to stay in the book.
[00:37:32] We need to keep our faith grounded.
[00:37:35] And there's some truth to that.
[00:37:36] I get that part.
[00:37:36] But the book also says, you know, we have to feed those who need food and clothe those who need clothes and serve and represent Christ in these spaces and give to Caesar what is Caesar.
[00:37:51] I mean, there's a way in which, you know, you can look at that text in that way.
[00:37:56] What I mean is, is that there are people with Jewish and grew up Jewish who came to faith in Christ during the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
[00:38:06] They grew up perhaps maybe in an Orthodox way.
[00:38:09] They grew up with Pharisees and Sadducees teaching a strict Orthodox text.
[00:38:17] And now here comes this Christ.
[00:38:18] And now there is another level of freedom and awareness of what it really means to live this faith.
[00:38:26] I'm using that to compare a little bit of the church planting and church revitalization.
[00:38:34] Here it is people who are religious, if you will, quote unquote, who knew God, Yahweh, who worshiped Yahweh, who loved Yahweh, who had generations of learning and living for Yahweh,
[00:38:46] who now have been taught and anticipating a Savior, anticipating Messiah, who now come to an awareness that, wait a minute, this was the Messiah.
[00:38:58] This is the chosen one.
[00:38:59] This is the one prophesied.
[00:39:00] And those who understood the text in that way and came to understand it that way, came to faith in Christ and recognize I can't go back to the synagogue because the synagogue is not seeing the fulfillment of Scripture through Jesus Christ.
[00:39:16] And so I now must find a community of people that resonate together with me in this way.
[00:39:22] And in so doing, right, comes these acts of love, these acts of serving one another in this way.
[00:39:30] They began to, hey, who needs some shelter?
[00:39:33] Who needs some food?
[00:39:34] Stay over here.
[00:39:34] Let's sell these things so that we can get other folks taken care of.
[00:39:39] And it wasn't as if that was not unheard of in Jewish culture, but it began to be a way in which our faith had to be expressed.
[00:39:47] And so I'm looking at one traditional setting, which was generational, thousands of years in the Jewish synagogue worship spheres,
[00:39:55] to Christ coming into earth, fulfilling the scriptures, his death, burial, and resurrection, being not a church plant per se, but a continuation of the message of God through Christ.
[00:40:13] And yet, as we look at churches now, there are those who are in certain ways and certain patterns.
[00:40:20] And they may do some for the neighborhood, some things they may serve and do out of the necessity of the members that they have.
[00:40:27] But really, we need that revitalization where there is a no holds barred commitment to how we express our faith in Christ.
[00:40:37] And so even mimicking that Acts chapter two passage, they began to see a need and began to serve people in those in those spaces.
[00:40:45] They were going to recognize that the Holy Spirit that is in us and dwells us in a different way.
[00:40:50] And as they devoted themselves to the teaching, new teachings, because they were not necessarily always taught or recognized that level of teaching when they were studying and living in the Jewish community.
[00:41:05] And they broke bread together, which is traditional in the Jewish setting.
[00:41:08] Even now, after Shabbat, folks come to each other's houses and eat.
[00:41:12] Everyone was filled with awe and wonders performed by the apostles.
[00:41:16] So God knew that these wonders by the apostles, that the Gentiles needed that.
[00:41:24] And also affirmation of the teaching that the Jews needed that.
[00:41:27] Right.
[00:41:28] So all of this awareness of revitalizing a community of believers to recognize Christ.
[00:41:34] So I'm mentioning all of that as a comparison.
[00:41:37] Right.
[00:41:37] All the believers were together, had everything in common.
[00:41:40] They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.
[00:41:43] Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.
[00:41:46] Every day.
[00:41:47] And we talk about, man, I'm going to church every day.
[00:41:50] Oh my God, I'm going to church every day.
[00:41:51] But in the context of faith, this was a part of a necessity.
[00:41:56] Folks needed to be together, you know, in those spaces, worshiping the Lord in that context, man.
[00:42:04] Looking at this passage in Acts, bridging that towards another passage of what it really means to be with the people and connect with people.
[00:42:15] I believe in church revitalization, starting with the greatest commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.
[00:42:25] You know, in Jeremiah chapter 29, in the church forsaken, Pastor Jay breaks this down a lot better than I'm going to do right now.
[00:42:33] But it says in chapter 29 that, you know, that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into and carried from Jerusalem into Babylon.
[00:42:51] So they're now in Babylon.
[00:42:52] They are locked up in Babylon.
[00:42:54] They are following the Babylonian ways.
[00:42:56] They're no longer in Jerusalem.
[00:42:58] They're not back in the temple.
[00:43:00] They're not back in the familiar spaces they were worshiping in before.
[00:43:05] And this is what the Lord said to Jeremiah.
[00:43:07] The God of Israel says to all those carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, build houses and settle down, plant gardens and eat what they produce.
[00:43:17] Marry and have sons and daughters.
[00:43:19] Find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage.
[00:43:23] So they too may have sons and daughters.
[00:43:27] Increase the number there and do not decrease.
[00:43:29] Also seek peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into.
[00:43:34] So he's saying be with the people, live amongst the people, be an example amongst the people, represent me in those spaces that you're in right now.
[00:43:46] Don't be, look at these Babylonians.
[00:43:50] Ain't they wild?
[00:43:50] They ignorant.
[00:43:51] Look at me.
[00:43:52] They don't even know how to read.
[00:43:54] Don't put a either or in the context, but a both and in that relationship.
[00:44:00] Right?
[00:44:00] Both and.
[00:44:01] I am both here and I'm following Yahweh in this way.
[00:44:05] Right?
[00:44:05] Seek the peace and prosperity of the city which I have carried you into exile.
[00:44:09] What are the things in church revitalization that leaders, I think, need to be aware of?
[00:44:15] What are some things we need to seek the peace of the city for?
[00:44:18] What's happening in your area, in your community, in your neighborhood that you need to seek the peace of the Lord in?
[00:44:23] Right?
[00:44:23] Seeking the peace and prosperity.
[00:44:24] It could be as simple as a better laptop for the school.
[00:44:28] It could be as simple as loving on these teachers in the school.
[00:44:31] Providing some lunches for the teachers saying, hey, we love you.
[00:44:33] We support y'all.
[00:44:35] It could be being after school security.
[00:44:37] Just making sure kids get home safely.
[00:44:39] It could be in the hallway of the school.
[00:44:41] Whatever it means to bring that peace and prosperity to the city which God has brought you into.
[00:44:47] Where you are, bloom.
[00:44:48] Where you are planted, man.
[00:44:49] It says, yes, this is the Lord Almighty.
[00:44:51] The God of Israel says, do not let the prophets and the diviners among you deceive you.
[00:44:57] Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have.
[00:45:03] They are prophesied lies to you in my name.
[00:45:05] I have not sent them, declares the Lord.
[00:45:07] This is what the Lord says.
[00:45:08] And he goes on and on about that, you know, when 70 years are completed in Babylon and all the particular prophetic works.
[00:45:15] But you can't just sit around and not represent me in these spaces.
[00:45:21] Right.
[00:45:21] He is saying represent me, live with the people, bring peace to the people in those spaces.
[00:45:25] To me, that text, and you read the book and unpacks it a lot more, is a key element of how we can be when it comes to revitalizing our community, revitalizing our churches.
[00:45:41] So in the midst of where you're at, right?
[00:45:44] And it's not like I'm against church planting.
[00:45:46] But I think it has to be done with the right mindset.
[00:45:50] That, hey, in this spot, there are not that many churches.
[00:45:52] Or in this spot, there are many churches.
[00:45:54] But we want to go after this group of young people, this group of seniors, this group of adults, these guys on the street, these women on the street.
[00:46:03] And being that there's a need that you feel you can bring that level of ministry to.
[00:46:10] But also, you tap on the shoulder of other leaders who've been there before you to find out, hey, how can we partner and collaborate to be unified in that space?
[00:46:19] You know, one pastor I know left Chicago and planted a church in Detroit.
[00:46:25] Great brother.
[00:46:26] Great friend.
[00:46:27] Great leader.
[00:46:28] Been talking about Detroit for years.
[00:46:31] Even as he was doing youth ministry at a local church in Chicago.
[00:46:34] God led him on his heart to go to Detroit.
[00:46:36] He didn't know nobody in Detroit.
[00:46:37] God is just leading him there.
[00:46:39] So years go by.
[00:46:40] He plants his church.
[00:46:42] Doing great work.
[00:46:44] People are coming.
[00:46:45] And the other pastors who've been there forever, major leaders, basically were telling people don't go to that church.
[00:46:53] They were major, you know, stakeholders in those areas.
[00:46:57] And they were telling people don't go to the church.
[00:46:58] They were anti this brother.
[00:47:00] And they even had a meeting with him.
[00:47:02] And they all literally said, we're not going to support you.
[00:47:04] We're not going to support you.
[00:47:05] We're not going to support you.
[00:47:08] I'm not sure if he initially came there and built relationships with folks.
[00:47:15] But later, later, so many years later, because of his efforts to be faithful, because of not try to be faithful, because of efforts to be faithful and because of his efforts to build bridges.
[00:47:27] And those same pastors came back and basically blessed him in that space, that they honor him and honor his work and recognize what he's doing in that space.
[00:47:38] So I say that because you plant a church, cultivate the leadership that's around you and tap on their shoulders and see what ways that there can be some unity and partnering together in those spaces.
[00:47:49] So that we can be a bigger testimony to the community we serve that, oh, you partner with Reverend so-and-so, you partner with Reverend so-and-so, or she's got, okay.
[00:47:57] And can take on a much more healing tool, you know, blooming where you're planted, just like what it's saying in Jeremiah in that space, right?
[00:48:07] You're in this Babylonian area.
[00:48:10] There are people who are not worshiping God, you know, but build houses and settle down, plant gardens and eat what they produce.
[00:48:16] You marry sons and daughters in those spaces so that you then can be that salt and light in those spaces, you know.
[00:48:25] So I don't know where you're at, where your church is, where you go, but think through where you can be even deeply engaged as a leader there, serving God's people in a powerful way.
[00:48:38] If God's leading you to plant a church, think through that process with the denomination.
[00:48:42] Think of that process on your own.
[00:48:44] Cultivate different ways to start it.
[00:48:46] Some people start with a Bible study.
[00:48:48] Some people start with a softball league.
[00:48:50] We're going to get some young people to get to play softball.
[00:48:52] And gradually it begins to be, we're praying before every game, a Bible study on Tuesdays, people come through, and it becomes a natural need and a felt need that you're meeting with the people.
[00:49:03] But just assess where the culture's at to be biblically accurate in the midst of that is my challenge to you as you're rebirthing a church.
[00:49:13] Or launching a church plant.