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  • Book Review: You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church and Rethinking Faith

    DISCLAIMER: If you are a follower of Christ- who is already going to heaven – and talk about changing the traditions which define the methods of the “church” (lower case “c” on purpose) irritates you, you’ll definitively not appreciate this book…just sayin’ 🙂

    …we must be honest enough with ourselves to determine where our allegiance is merely cultural (like first-generation immirants) rather than biblical

    – pg 56 “You Lost Me”

    I had been waiting what seems like forever to get my hands on David Kinnaman’s new book, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are leaving Church…And Rethinking Faith.  Almost as long as I have been waiting for an opportunity to share my thoughts on the book.

    Before I talk about this book, I should share that most of my excitement for reading this book comes from 2 reasons.

    1. Reading Unchristian (see my review here) totally blew me away
    2. My heart personally is deeply invested in seeing people live an engaged life as Christ Follower – and the question “How do we reach the next generation with the Gospel” is a question that is constantly on my mind.

    I’ve been joking with my fellow staff members that one of these days I’m gonna write a book for people I like to define as those who are going through a “Quarter-Life Crisis.”  Not because I am making fun of them or seeing them as a project to fix, but because they have a special place in my heart.  For one of the reasons, this book is timely.

    Young Christians are leaving the church – but they are not necessarily leaving Jesus.  This is what I have seen.  This is what You Lost Me affirms through its research.

    This should not be.

    Not for the sake of the institution that is the church in the western world – it’s for the sake of biblical mission.  If the local expression of God’s fellowship of believers is to remain a witness for Christ in their community then making sure the next generation is reengaged in church is important. If it is God’s design that the changing power of the Gospel is to find great effectiveness through what we have defined as the local church – then making sure the next generation not only finds value in staying engaging in church but finds meaning and purpose by being a part of it is mission-critical.

    Maybe I am old school. Maybe I am naive to believe that the church can become not only something followers of Christ live to be a part of, but even become martyrs to defend, then this is important.

    There is soooo much in this book.  I can’t even begin to scratch the surface of all that this book is, but I will share some of my favorite parts.

    • the cultural setting in which young people come of age is significantly changed from what was experienced during the formative years of previous generations…we …must commit ourselves to understanding our culture today to be effective translators of faith to the next generation.  We must come to grips with the challenges and with the opportunities for the gospel to advance.
    • I am concerned that too many Mosaic Christians are so interested in pursuing the good, the true, and the beautiful that they forget to acknowledge and draw near to the source of those pursuits – Jesus.
    • …only a traditionalist would argue that all talk about sex is vulgar
    • How would the church be different if we were to reject exclusion as unacceptable and tolerance as not good enough?
    • The generation gap is growing, fueled in part by technology, so it takes extra effort to be on the same page.
    • New churches must be formed where all believers are expected to do the work of evangelism and discipleship.  This generation sees the potency of a church where pastors equip and shepherd disciple-makers rather than service-attenders.
    • (1) the church needs to reconsider how we make disciples; (2) we need to rediscover Christian calling and vocation; and (3)we need to reprioritize wisdom over information as we seek to know God.

     As I look over these bullet points I feel that I I am not even doing the book justice.  If you are a statistics junkie (I am not) there’s tons of info based on their research that you’ll love.  If you’re the type that doesn’t like books related to Christianity that are devoid of biblical passages and teachings on them – you’ll find plenty of that as well.

    I do not feel the need to go into all of the book – after all this is a review, not a summary.  If I could give a summarizing statement, it would have to be from the book itself.

    …the Christian community must rethink our efforts to make disciples.  Many of the assumptions on which we have built our work with young people are rooted in modern, mechanistic, and mass production paradigms.
    …We need new architects to design interconnected approaches to faith transference.  We need new ecosystems of spiritual and vocational apprenticeship that can support deeper relationships and more vibrant faith formation.  We need to recognize the generational shfts from left-brain skills like logic, analysis, and structure to the right-brain aptitudes of creativity, synthesis, and empathy.  We need to renew our catechisms and confirmations-not because we need new theology, but because their current forms too rarely produce young people of deep, abiding faith.  We need to rethink our assumptions and we need the creativity, honest, and vitality of the next generation to help us.

    Pick the book up.  You may not agree with all of it, but you’d be hard-pressed to not feel engaged by it and challenged to rethink the difference between defining the end result of Christian discipleship and defining the methods by which you have been exposed to and embrace for Biblical discipleship.

  • The Stories of my Life: The Day I Got Kneed Below the Belt

    bul·ly/ˈbo͝olē/

    1. A person who uses strength or power to harm or intimidate those who are weaker.
    2. Corned beef.

    My roommates in college thought it was absolutely disgusting that I would eat “meat form a can.”  Yes…I was that guy who would each corned beef straight out of the can.  I also had my own rice cooker too and I’d mix the corned beef in it and…ok…you don’t want to hear that.

    This isn’t about corned beef.  This is about my life as an elementary school kid.

    Here’s a reality – being different makes you special, but being different sometimes makes you a target.  And  I was different.  (For those of you who always get tired of hearing minorities talk about how life for a minority is different, you should probably stop reading now.) I don’t really want to go into too much about how I was bullied, but it is not a secret that it is the worst feeling in the world.

    I am not sure why I was targeted.  I have some assumptions – but none I could really prove.

    It could have done with my faith.  Even as an elementary school child I was proud to be a follower of Christ, bringing my bible to school and praying before I ate my lunch.  

    It could have been the fact that I was a really small kid. ok…maybe small isn’t the word.  I think the word my mom used to describe me was “husky.” 

    Here’s what I do remember.  It was 5th grade.  I don’t even really remember exactly “how” it happened, but all I remember was getting kneed in the crotch and falling to the ground with everyone laughing at me.  It was horrifying.  The “toughest” kid in the class was the one who did it.  (It’s funny writing that, knowing how small a 5th grader is from an adult perspective)

    What caught me off guard the most is what happened next.  In a flurry of events, I found myself in the principles office sitting next to (let’s call him “Joe”) and having the principal drilling me on what I did to provoke “Joe”.  I said, “Nothing”

    And when the principal drilled “Joe” on why he did what he did, he said, “I just felt like it.”  And then the most surprising thing happened.  Right in front of me, the principal began to lecture “Joe” about his choices, and his “already run in’s with the law.”  The principal began to tell him that he was going to expel him and that he was never going to amount to anything unless he changed his behavior.

    “Joe” just sat there. Me?  I was crying like a baby.   I was scared.  I wasn’t sure if “Joe” was going to beat me up after school.  I wasn’t sure if my parents were going to get mad at me being in the office AGAIN! (I’m not going to go there…it’s for another post)

    What’s the point?  I’m not sure.  I just know that it’s one of the few memories I have of my childhood that I vividly remember. And here’s what I took away from that event.

    1. Being bullied is horrifying
    1. Being bullied is horrifying
    2. While I was angry and confused by “Joe’s” actions, there was a point in the principles office I began to feel compassion towards him. 

    After that event, I was never bullied by “Joe.”  I was bullied by another couple of guys in P.E. every day, but that’s for another day.  It’s a really fun story though…one I know I will be telling my son! (Hint…I got to kick a bully where the sun don’t shine)

    Back to what I was going to say…

    The point is that as I look back at my childhood (the little I do remember) I am surprised that I didn’t take the route that many seem to have taken with their life’s experiences.  If you’re not following me, let me make it plain.

    I have never let the moments of my life define me.  Instead, I have let them shape me into the person I know God wants me to be.

    John 16:33 (NIV)“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

  • The Stories of My Life: An Unexpected Change of Plans

    My parents didn’t plan to conceive me.

    They weren’t even married.

    In love?  Yes.

    Planning to have a child? Not really sure.

    But have a child is what they did. For that, I am obviously extremely grateful. I was unexpected and because of it, my parents had to change their plans.  I don’t really know if they had planned to get married, but as I was told, their Catholic background didn’t leave them much of a moral choice.  So to the Justice of the Peace they went.

    That’s how my life began.  I was a product of unexpected change.  And it’s kind of funny (or annoying as my wife would put it) that this is kind of a defining quality of who I am and what I value.

    I live for the unexpected.  No…I don’t live for it – I live for the challenge of charging headfirst into the unexpected.

    I value change. I started my life by changing the world around me, and I am still young and naive enough to believe that my life can mean something – that through my life I can be part of the change in the world around me.

    And as I think about the inception of my life and the circumstances that surrounded it, I am slightly amused at how God’s plan for me to come into existence in the world represents to me the way he has uniquely made me to – if the Lord should tarry – leave this world.

    To boldly face the unexpected. To be the change.

    Sounds like a plan to me

  • The Stories of My Life

    A little over a year ago I share a story of my life here.

    The older I get, the harder it is to remember what life was like when I was younger, but when I do remember it amazes me.

    What amazes me?

    The journey amazes me.  And it inspires me.  Not the “life your best life now” kind of inspiration.  I am inspired way more deeply than that.  My amazement of how God has wonderfully and intentionally allowed every moment of my life – the good and the bad – to make me into the man I am today, and the man I am becoming.

    For those of you who don’t know me, these posts I am going to share with you in the net few days may not mean much.  I apologize if I bore you.

    For those who are friends and loved ones, I want to share my story with you.  Some of you may be familiar with.  Some of you may only be familiar with a few – depending where in my season of life we lived life together.  I also suppose that my version may contradict the memory of yours – which I would love to hear – but these are my stories none the less.

    So from the memory of my mind and the depths of my heart I want to share with you the stories of my life.

  • Change doesn’t care…

    Change doesn’t care…

    • if you don’t like it
    • if you are not ready for it
    • if it goes against everything you’ve been taught to believe
    • if it defies everything you’ve experienced

    Don’t believe me?  Take a look at this article about the speed of light.

    Speed of light broken by scientists

    As you’ll see in one of the comments, it was said by Einstein himself,

    “There are two things that are infinite, the size of the universe and the stupidity of man, and I am not sure of the former.”

    Life is full of changes – or as I like to say, “Modified decisions/situations based on new information.”  Or maybe it’s not “change” per se.  Maybe it’s having your paradigm challenged.  Maybe it’s being confronted with the reality the that life you lived is not the life you are living now.

    I’m not trying to convince you to be comfortable with change or to completely buy in that living a life with a culture of continual change is a thing that all people need to do.  What I am saying is that change is inevitable and if we spend more time navigating through change effectively instead of being paralyzed by it then we would be better for it.

    How have you navigated change effectively?

    How have you allowed change to negatively affect you?

    James 4:14, Matthew 6:27

  • Say “hi” to Mia

    We have jandhstudio to thank for these wonderful pictures.  If you’re looking for infant pics I would totally recommend them. Take a look for yourself!

  • Welcome Mia Santillan

    Mia Mae Santillan was born January 26, 2012 at 1:28pm. She was 6lb 11oz and 21″ in length. And she was beautiful.

    So while I could write chapters on how we feel and what we experienced, I’ll just let some pictures tell a thousand words

  • Book Review: Simple Church by Rainer and Geiger

    “Many of our churches have become cluttered.  So cluttered that people have a difficult time encountering the simple and powerful message of Christ.  So cluttered that many people are busy doing church instead of being the church.”

    When I read “Simple Church” it was both a breath of fresh air and a heavy blow at the same time.

    It was a breath of fresh air because it represented all the things that I and my colleagues in ministry have been discussing for the past 5-10 years.  We just were not able to “simply” put into words what we were feeling.  “Simple Church” described the problem we were feeling – but went a step further and offered practical principles that could be applied in the context of a local church – no matter where they are.

    It was a heavy blow at the same time because I know that as a pastor, I have been part of the “problem” as well.  Not that I intentionally wanted to make being the church more complicated than it should, but by asking people to “do church” at the expense of their ability to “be the church” – I became part of the problem.  What is that problem?

    “Simple Church” addresses these – in my own opinion – pretty well.

    I can’t give justice to the breadth of work this book contains, but here are a couple of quotes from the book that I am still “chewing on”.  Whether you agree or not, they are points to be considered and wrestled with if you believe that the local church is still God’s plan for bringing hope to world. In no particular order, here they are:

    •  Perhaps our church people do not know lost people because out churches have kept people at the church building, thereby nullifying their opportunities to deeply engage in relationships with lost people.
    • New programs and special events were constantly implemented to remedy the problem, but the busier the church became, the more the problem was amplified.  Problems are always bigger when everyone is tired.
    • It is hard to be excellent when you are focused on so much.
    • Simple churches pay attention to the handoffs.  They have grasped the truth that assimilation effectiveness is more important than programmatic effectiveness.
    • New members are told at the new member’s call that they should not join the church if they do not plan on serving.
    • Focus does not make church leaders popular.
    • In many churches the original tools for life change have created too much clutter.  Instead of uniting, they divide focus. The Programs have become ends in themselves
    • Every program must facilitate movement through a simple process.  Anything that facilitates movement is a “yes.” Anything that does not is a “no.”
    • Define. Illustrate. Measure. Discuss.  All these factors lead to understanding.
    • (Regarding staff and leaders) They must be committed not only to ministry but also to how your church does ministry.
    • Simple church leaders seek to meet the need through an existing program while complex church leaders add another program.
    • (From a university of Florida study)  hypothesized that churches that offered more programs would grow more than churches that offered fewer programs. [The] research proved the opposite.

  • Instagram vs Path

    Last week I downloaded an app that I have been hearing about in the twitter world put out by path.com.  As with any new social media app I asked the same question people asked about facebook – how is this any different?

    What I have found over the past week is that the path app has slowly taken away my need for the use of several apps I use to integrate social media into my everyday life.  What I appreciate about path is that it integrates 3 of my favorite apps:

    It also integrates Tumblr.  One of the things I am dissapointed in is that it doesn’t integrate google+, but that’s probably more of a problem with google+.

    ok…so this post is about the differences between instagram and path.

    I have been using instgram for quite some time now and love how I can feel free to share pictures of my life in a more private way than facebook – and in a way that someone doesn’t roll their eyes when they see I am using facebook like a flickr account.

    Why Instagram is better
    App of the year.  15 million+ users.  Tons of beautiful picture editing options.


    Why Path is better
    It doesn’t have all the “bells and whistles” that instagram does, but  I think what will really make this app great is that – unlike instagram – path supports both iphones and android phones.  What this means is that the people I care to share pictures with through social media don’t have to have iphones.  Truth is, not everyone likes iphones and some of those people are friends and family members.


    For this simple reason I have moved towards utlizing path.com to share photos more often.  Past photo sharing, path.com is superior with foursquare integration and unique status update options.

    What are your favorite  social media apps on iphone or android phones?

  • What the font?!

    I’ve been arguing this point with my wife forever! It makes a difference.

    What’s your favorite fonts?

    What’s the most overused or annoying fonts to you?