I have been thoroughly caught up in all that Michael Phelps has been doing at the summer Olympics in China. When he was only 15 years old, Michael Phelps competed at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, placing fifth in the 200m butterfly. The following year he broke the world record for the event, becoming, at age 15 years 9 months, the youngest male ever to set a swimming world record.

Four months later, he won his first world championship, setting another world record in the 200 butterfly. Phelps caused a sensation at the 2003 World Championships. Not only did he earn four gold medals and two silver medals, but he set four world records. In 2004, he became the first swimmer to qualify for the Olympics in six individual events.

In BEIJING on August 17, 2008 the spotlight shone on just one man.

Sometimes words are not enough. The impish smile – one of pride at his immense achievements this past week – across the face of Michael Phelps spoke volumes as he received his eighth epoch-making gold medal of Beijing 2008.

As a member of the United States’s triumphant Men’s 4 x 100 Medley team, Phelps became the most decorated man in Olympic history: Not only has he broken Mark Spitz’s 36-year-old record of winning seven gold medals in a single Olympic Games, but with 14 gold medals overall, he has won five more than his nearest rivals. For good measure, he set seven world records in winning those eight medals. It was a majestic week by anyone’s standards.

Unlike Saturday’s (August 16) 100m Butterfly final, which he won by the tightest of margins, this was no close-fought nail-biter. It took the US team half of the race to hit the front, but Phelps put them in ahead, and by the time Jason Lezak dived in to swim the final leg the result was a foregone conclusion.

The are a few things that make Michael’s story so remarkable - his mom, his coach, and his outlook. His mom was a single mom who raised three kids on her own. Her support and empowerment are inspiring to every mom and parent. His coach noticed early [when Michael was merely 11 years old] the potential that he had to become extraordinary - telling Phelps’ mother, “He will make it to the Olympics someday.” Finally, Michael’s outlook on trials and opposition is something to pay attention to. He allowed his talking to be done in the pool.

Perhaps the next generation will be saying, ‘I wanna be like Michael!”

Knowing the Heartbeat of Your City is Crucial

‘Tommy’ Preson Phillips is a 27-year-old living in Seminole Heights. He and his wife Sarah made a calculated, deliberate decision to live in a one of Tampa’s poorer neighborhoods – one that desperately needed a face-lift in more ways than one. They sold their gas-guzzling car and bought a Vespa motor scooter, not because it was cool, but because of the environment and the economy. Up until recently, Tommy was a supervisor at Starbucks. Often he can be found working on his Mac Laptop while listening to his ipod at one of the many cafés in Ybor City, a short Vespa ride from his house. He loves art and enjoys community. He is both a philosopher and activist. A poet and songwriter who is both authentic and passionate about the people God has called him to serve. He is a hometown kid.

Now Tampa is a fun city! It is the home of the Gasparilla Pirate Festival and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Yes, it is a city that loves a party. But not your usual party – it is a Pirate/Buccaneer Fest! It is a town of the renegade, the outlaw, and the outcast. When I first arrived in town August ’07, I felt like I had to go back and re-watch the Pirates of Caribbean movies. In hindsight I should have sat down earlier in my adventure with Tommy. He understands Tampa. Far more than demographics – this is his city and his people. More importantly he is a reflection of this city.

Being a Reflection of Your City is a Start

Tommy became a church planter by default last August. He and Sarah had a choice to bail on the community of faith, love, and hope that they were intimately connected to or to stay and essentially replant the church – the Lead Pastor suddenly left the church & the city. They choose the latter. Tommy currently serves as the pastor of the Watermark Church in Tampa.

Shortly before facing this decision Tommy [as a musician & artist he is know by his middle name, Preson] ventured into film-making. I love his music video [click on video] entitled “What Am I?” It gives you a good feel not only for Tommy, but the people and community that he serves. A community that longs for the authentic, longs for the divine, longs to be used by God to right injustice.

The second stanza is particularly telling:

Lord make me now a instrument

Of Your love and mercy

To bring those back I’ve led astray

With words of comfort the broken

And deeds that nurture their souls

And love that flows from the giver of Life.

Your City Needs You to Be YOU
In my mind, living the life God intended is simply being who God created you to be. So often, young church planters try to be someone else. Simply stated, the best thing you can be as a church planter is yourself.

Now this is not to say you should stop reaching, stretching, and growing into all that God dreams for you to be. But, you need to be you and not someone else!

Tommy’s song “What Am I” grew into an album – the observant & the anawim. Click on the link and enjoy. Pretty innovative approach to music – you can download it from the site, make a donation if you like, and get the chords for free. In the first two weeks of release more than 8,000 people clicked on and were blessed.

Tommy penned a reflection or two about the album on his site:

I have been writing and playing music for about a decade now. I’ve been in and out of a lot of bands, and have followed the Lord since I was a child. He has now brought me to a place where I never meant to go.

These songs are a documentary of my spiritual journey over that last 2 years, and are a written account of where the Lord has brought me in my life. I hope it blesses you in some way. . . These songs were all written for the church that I am the pastor of, Watermark, and were written for our studies in the books of Acts and Galatians.

While listening to this album I realized that the songs truly were a reflection of who Tommy was becoming. They also spoke volumes of the community he is leading at Watermark.

I have hope while I watch Tommy be Tommy. In a sense, he is an antidote to some of the poison Bob & Pat so aptly highlighted last month. Whether it be a ‘scaffolding people’ mentality – Tommy treats everyone he encounters with an eternal mindset or the principle stating ‘church plants need to happen far from the place where the planter began in ministry’ – to this Tommy would say ‘Are you kidding?’.

For me, it is refreshing to know and coach this ‘Tampa Alternative.’

Dr. John Edgar Caterson

I am pretty excited about Preson “Tommy” Phillips new album. You can check it out here.

This album is entitled “The Observant and the Anawim”. The word “observant” is an english translation of the Hebrew word “tsadiq”, and it’s basic meaning is “one who adheres to the whole law of the Lord”. This tsadiq person
would have been a Jew and would be awaiting the day of the coming Messiah. The “Anawim” was a group of poor jewish women who would also be very observant of the law, and would spent parts of their day on the steps of the
temple crying out to the Lord for oppressed peoples to be liberated, the poor to be provided for, the enslaved to be freed, for justice to flow freely and for the Messiah to come and redeem all of creation in a miraculous way.
In essence, the title of this record refers directly to Joseph and Mary… this is who they were, but in another way, Tommy would like it to represent the younger generation today who desires to truly follow Jesus in ways that have been forgotten, or seen as unimportant.

These songs were all written for the WatermarkTampa church - Tommy serves as the pastor.  The songs were written for their studies in the books of Acts and Galatians. Tommy has many more songs, but these are a cohesive collection meant to go together. It is worth a listen.

One day her older brother was trying to explain to her that she wouldn’t be able to marry her daddy. She got very upset and declared, “I love my daddy – I will always love my daddy – and he will marry me because I’m his ‘Princess!’ Besides he will love me ‘No Matter’ what!”

Unconditional Love
I thought to myself – where did that come from. The concept of unconditional love is a lofty idea. Have you ever thought where it comes from? A love that will always be returned to us! If we are loved we will reciprocate. Who believes in such a thing?

Great Lovers
Recently I heard someone say, “If love is such a profound emotion, why is it that we love everything and anything?” It seems that we are a culture of great lovers. We love movies, shopping, ice cream, our pets, great meals, weekends, clear days in the Inland Empire, and rock and roll!

It is not just Americans. What do people “love?” Think wine, BMW’s, watches, lattes, sushi and you know the French, the Germans, the Swiss, the Italians and the Japanese.
At times it seems that we love even the most meaningless of things. Could this fact point to our capacity to love more than we think? So often we describe love in such superficial terms. But how do we adequately describe deep, profound, unending love?

Profound Love
I believe it starts with the realization that we exist in a unique category. That is, we are the object of God’s love! God first loved us and sent his Son that we might fully know his love. A corollary to this truth is that the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom. How amazing! Who wouldn’t respond to these facts?

Years ago, Solomon described the desperation that comes when we seem unable to capture the heart of the one we love. The Scriptures teach us that God feels like this. The Hebrews describe God and his love as immeasurable and unending. If this is true than his sense of sorrow and rejection must be more deep and profound than we can imagine. God knows the pain of a love unreturned.

Ever wonder what you must do to be loved? The answer is nothing. The depth of God’s love is demonstrated in the fact that He loves you unconditionally and allows you to reciprocate freely.

Reciprocation Implications
Each month it is joy to interact with readers of Serve! and dialog about the implementation of the outward-focused-life. Here are few ‘take-aways’ to ponder:

• Those you serve this week long to be loved and love to love, even if their loving may seem shallow.
• Even our superficial attempts of love point to our capacity for greater, God-depth love.
• The theological underpinnings of God’s love informs our love – that is God loves even if it is “unreturned.” Hence we should as well.

Demonstrating God’s love in practical ways will point people to God’s deeper love!

John Edgar Caterson is President & CEO of BNMI; Mosaic Alliance CPC; Christian & Missionary Alliance Multiplication Associate.  He is a strategist, activist, and futurist.  He currently lives in Lithia, FL with his bride Kristi and three children. You can also find him at www.bnmi.org

What is your role with Coastland?

Tell us (the short version) of how God called you into full-time ministry.
I was reared in the church, however when I was 17 I left the church and embarked on a spiritual quest.  After two years of searching and on the verge of suicide I accepted Christ and was called into ministry.

Tell us a little bit about your family. 
My bride of nearly 7 years is Kristi Leile.  She is the most adaptable, empathetic, creative person I know!  My son Gabriel Isaiah is twelve and desires to be a composer for film. Annabelle Grace is four and she recently announced she plans on be an author – “for she has something to share with the world.” Aliza Hope is two and is joyful, playful, & talkative.

What are your strengths?
I am a Strengths Performance Coach and I am very passionate about focused, strength-based teams.  My strengths are Strategic, Activator, Futuristic, Achiever, Self-Assurance.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I believe I will be planting clusters of churches, igniting the next generation of leaders, bridging like-minded, missional, outflow organizations, as well as writing & coaching.

Do you have any favorite movies?
I love the Count of Monte Cristo, Braveheart, Searching for Bobby Fisher, the Bourne Trilogy, & all the movies my kids watch [Elf, etc].

How many different countries have you traveled to?
I have traveled to nearly 50 countries – most with assignments related to my non-profit & missional calling!

You can get in touch with John Edgar (or JE, as he is known) by phone: 813-410-1471, or email: je@coastlandtampa.com ]]> http://johnedgar.voxtropolis.com/2007/12/22/coastland-tampa-buzz-get-to-know-je/feed/ http://johnedgar.voxtropolis.com/2007/12/22/risk-transition-and-misfires-on-two-coasts/ http://johnedgar.voxtropolis.com/2007/12/22/risk-transition-and-misfires-on-two-coasts/#comments Sun, 23 Dec 2007 01:29:03 +0000 johnedgar http://johnedgar.voxtropolis.com/2007/12/22/risk-transition-and-misfires-on-two-coasts/ I have been blessed to partner with a few of the leading “outward” movements on the planet – the Christian & Missionary Alliance, Mosaic, and CoastlandTampa.  All three invest in risk-takers.  This has been a year of risk and transitions as well as a year of some pretty good misfires.  In August I relocated my family from the West Coast to the East Coast.  Ironically, my misfires were not confined to one coast!

Big jump from SE to Outflow!
In January Steve Sjogren’s book Outflow^TM was released.  I decided to take my community of faith, love, and hope through it.  I was excited beyond words.  I poured my life into the message, followed the game plan suggested in the pastor’s kit, and tried to get my leaders motivated.  I believed that:

Every leader desiring to influence and impact their God-given community must develop the practice of outflow.

However, I made the assumption that “everyone” would readily embrace showing God’s love in a practical way and noticing God, noticing others on a daily basis.  I assumed, “Hey, we have done the servant evangelism thing – on a once a month, event-approach.” I thought, “No big stretch for my people make the step towards outflow.”

I soon found that the step was really a big jump.  The harder I pushed the more it seemed to go in reverse.  Believe it or not we started to lose people – not a good thing when you are trying to grow a church.  I became frustrated and discouraged.  I even thought, they don’t get it!

I realized that I had to model it over and over – DNA is more caught than taught!  It is a process like compounded interest.  It takes time but eventually pays off (another risky aspect is to be willing to outflow because it is what Christ calls us to do regardless of the immediate payoff).

I had to take a step back in order to help my people make the big jump.  I had to strategically take my leaders with me to places like Starbucks and model buying the latte for the person behind us in line.  I had to take them out to eat and model the skill of noticing others.  I had to model the art of the “Triple-Tip” (budgeting 30% for the server’s tip – to make up for the average 10% they typically receive).  I had to pray that another leader in my church would get it, practice it, and become a fellow champion of outflow.  I thank God he sent me Bob Baker – who not only joined me in modeling it but stood up and said, “You know I don’t normally stand up to say anything but I have to tell you outflowing will change your life!”  More powerful was to hear him share about his experiences of outflow.  This really captured the attention of others in our church.

Youth are great at Outflow!
Throughout most of this year I have failed to recognize one of the greatest untapped resources for outflow – youth.  I have not been directly involved with middle school and high school students and my sonar was not tuned into this massive tribe.

Now I know you are saying, come on JE, duh!  But, I not talking about the fact that youth can outflow.  They can champion it.  Let me break it down with a seemingly unrelated illustration.

In the 70s, my parents were not always in the habit of making sure we wore our seatbelts. In turn, I still have to think twice about securing the safety restraint.  However, my four-year old daughter is pretty consistent in telling me to “buckle up for safety.”

In a similar vein, my twelve-year old son is my outflow conscience.  About a month ago I noticed that whenever he is with me, which is quite often when I’m out-and-about town, he has a pack of Big Red Gum to give to a waiter or postal worker or whomever we encounter.  He never fails to “remind” me to call the manager over to compliment our server or cook.  He is a practitioner and advocate of showing / communicating God’s love in a practical way!  He also nudges me if I forget to get the email of the person we have served, especially when the encounter has been divinely extended into a conversation (next month we will look at the importance and art of getting emails).  I now tell my son to see himself as my outflow partner!

Misfiring is part of the forward progress-process
I would suspect that many of you totally relate with my misfires.  First, transitioning your people from event-style, servant evangelism to outflow can be a bigger jump than you think.

• The obvious is to make sure you yourself outflow.
• Model & do outflow with your leaders.
• Pray and prompt them to become champions
• Empower them to become advocates as they share their stories of outflow.

Second, don’t miss some of your  outflow partners with the most potential, youth (so often right under your radar).

• Recognize that youth get it more than we think.
• Listen and learn from their simple/uncomplicated approach.
• Dub them as fellow ‘Knights’/partners of outflow.

This past week my daughter and I were shopping at one of the local membership-shopping clubs.  As were about to exit my daughter said, ‘Daddy, can I ask the girl for a smiley face when we leave?” The young woman at the door seemed preoccupied as she inspected our receipt and cart. I whispered to my daughter to make here request.  “Can I have a smiley face please?” my daughter asked.  I was blown away by the attendant’s reply. “No, we can no longer give out happy faces.”  I wasn’t sure whether or not she meant to say we can no longer ‘make’ happy faces on receipts.  Ironically, she wasn’t wearing a ‘smiley’ face nor ‘happy’ face. Needless to say my four year old was disappointed [she said, ‘Daddy, maybe we shouldn’t shop here any more. Let’s shop where people are happy].

I think ‘someone’ at ‘corporate’ missed ‘something’ whenever they came up with this new policy.  After all, whom are they targeting? I thought families were among the customers they were after?

Well, membership-shopping club hierarchy are not the only ones that miss the boat. Two thousand years ago, the disciples of Jesus were always missing what was important. One story in Luke 18 gives an account of the disciples attempting to send the children away from Jesus.  They seemed to have good intentions – trying to keep Jesus from getting overloaded. But still, they missed the point. I love Jesus’ response, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”  In a sense, it was like him saying, ‘Hey guys, this is our market, they should be our priority.’

I am thankful that there is a place I have found in our community where they understand ‘smiley’ faces and ‘happy’ faces.  Every time I go to our local community center a friendly staff member greets me. As a matter of fact if I happen to be having a bad day, I stop by to see Connie or Jennifer or Kathy [they always have a ‘smiley’ face to give out].  Each Sunday, I can count on a smile from Ryan, Jed, Matt, or the plethora of happy young staff ladies waiting to serve our community. The entire staff is a shining example of a group who understands service with a smile. My church community has been encouraged by their dedication. More than that, I have been inspired!

It is no wonder that look forward every week to taking my daughter to community center to get a smiley face!

We can learn much from this concept of making rounds.

Any ‘outflow-oriented’ church-planter, pastor, or leader desiring to influence and impact their God-given community must develop the practice of making rounds.

‘Making rounds’ is the regular, intentional practice of noticing and running into people time and time again in order to serve your way into their heart so you have the opportunity to introduce them to Jesus Christ. It is a lost art that needs to be recovered if we are to live and serve the way Jesus did things.

Learning to make rounds is so rewarding. For the past six weeks, since relocating to the Tampa area, I have made it part of my weekly routine to stop by the local branch of my bank.

I have noticed that all of the tellers are from South American countries.  By practicing my limited knowledge of Spanish, sharing photos of my family [I believe a family photo is a powerful tool that communicates that you are safe and not a predator], and asking them a few questions I have had the opportunity to pray with a half dozen of the tellers.

There are also a number of people I have been running into time and again who have come to me. One example is Carmen. She is from Venezuela and managers a local day laborer company.  Coastland Tampa hired her company for a few projects and I had the opportunity to interface with her. I learned that she is recently married and extremely interested in spiritual thing.  Over the last month she has stopped by our outreach office to ‘touch base’ and talk about her spiritual journey.  My wife and I have schedule a double date with Carmen and her husband.  I am convinced that they will be part of the Coastland Tampa community.

The key to making rounds is learning to notice your way into people’s lives.  Pay attention to people’s names.  Look them in the eyes.  Notice their surroundings – photos on their desks.  Notice their glasses, the latte they are drinking, etc., etc.

Here are a few other lessons I have learned along the way of making rounds.

Anticipate those ready to be harvested will be downcast.

“When wheat is ready to be harvested” - what Jesus was referring to - the heads leaned down… So too when those ‘ready’ for input or even harvest come our way, they are often downcast…  But it is necessary that we look past their initial mask to what they are really experiencing in life… most are good at the mask-wearing thing.

Ask probing questions.

The fastest way to get down to brass tacks is to ask a couple of probing questions:

“How you doing?”

Then wait for a few moments - after they say the expected “Great”
- Ask again, “No really, how are you doing?”

When they tell you about what they are into / how they are approaching life with it’s problems, simply ask them,
“So how’s that working for you?”

Then let them talk… trust me they have a story to tell.

Listen to their stories.

It is imperative that we listen.  Jesus listened his way into untold numbers of lives - like the woman at the well in John 4. I love verses 39-41:

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days [bold and italics mine].  And because of his words many more became believers.

Interesting that given the women’s reputation, Jesus stayed two days with them.  Why? Because, he understood the value of making rounds – noticing, serving, asking, and listening.

I invite you to join the movement of noticing people by making rounds.

After all, over the past month people in the news have been falling all over themselves apologizing.

In New York, the disgraced broadcaster Don Imus apologized for racist and sexist comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team. In Washington, DC Attorney General Alberto Gonzales apologized for the firing of eight U.S. attorneys before the Senate Judiciary Committee. In Blacksburg, Virginia the family of Virginia Tech killer Seung-Hui Cho apologized, stating that they feel “hopeless, helpless and lost” and are “deeply sorry” for his “unspeakable actions.” Finally, last month in Los Angeles, Alec Baldwin apologized for his angry, scalding words to his 12-year-old daughter Ireland.

When is the last time you heard a sincere apology? A heartfelt, “I’m sorry, please forgive me� is p-o-w-e-r-f-u-l! Unfortunately, those who spend their existence inside the walls of the ‘Church’ are so often oblivious to this earth moving dynamic.

Recently one of my favorite local coffeehouse managers made a statement to me that cause me to take a step back. He said. “I think the ‘Church’ should apologize.�

I asked, “What for?�

He said, “For being so hypocritical and so irrelevant!�

Wow! Now that hits a nerve! I love it when someone is so honest.

And let’s be perfectly clear about this: I think he is right! I have been chewing on what we should do about it 24/7 since then. I thought of silk-screening T-shirts that say, “Please Forgive Me.� I bet many people would appreciate it. When people ask “Why the shirt?� I would simply say, “Because we as the Church have failed enormously at just being the Church in so many ways . . .�

Another friend of mine gave me an idea. He said, “Maybe you should preach through an original series called, “WE ARE SORRY FOR . . .�

That would be a powerful series! What if we apologized for being hypocritical . . . judgmental . . . legalistic’ . . . irrelevant’ . . . acting holier than thou’ . . . etc.

I don’t know about you, but there are plenty of people I run into in my neighborhood, at my kid’s school, at the mall, etc. who would love an apology from the church for any of these.

I have always been in awe of the contrast between the prayer of Pharisee and that of the tax collector in Luke 18. Notice they both went up to the temple to pray. Just maybe . . . we ought to opt for the posture of the tax collector . . . “But he stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.�

Recently I heard someone say, “If love is such a profound emotion, why is it that we love everything and anything?�  It seems that we are a culture of great lovers.  We love movies, shopping, ice cream, our pets, great meals, weekends, clear days in the Inland Empire, and rock and roll!

It is not just us Americans. What do they love? Think wine, BMW’s, watches, lattes, sushi and you know the French, the Germans, the Swiss, the Italians and the Japanese.

At times it seems that we love even the most meaningless of things.  Could this fact point to our capacity to love more than we think? So often we describe love in such superficial terms. But how do we adequately describe deep, profound, unending love?

I believe it starts with the realization that we exist in a unique category.  That is, we are the object of God’s love! God first loved us and sent his son that we might fully know his love.  How amazing! Who wouldn’t respond to this fact?
Years ago, Solomon described the desperation that comes when we seem unable to capture the heart of the one we love.  The Scriptures teach us that God feels like this.  The Hebrews describe him and his love as immeasurable and unending.  If this is true than his sense of sorrow and rejection must be more deep and profound than we can imagine. God knows the pain of a love unreturned.

Ever wonder what you must do to be loved?  The answer is nothing. The depth of God’s love is demonstrated in the fact that he loves you unconditionally and allows you to reciprocate freely.