Adventures in Living: by Jason Salamun

I recently had the opportunity to attend some conferences and learn from some amazing leaders and thinkers. Wish I could have captured a snapshot with everyone but I was able to get a handful. Here are some of the more familiar names that I connected with.

Spent several days with Dallas Willard at the Ecclesia National Gathering. So much wisdom packed into one person. He was a wonderfully gracious gentleman. His book, The Divine Conspiracy, helped shape how I view life in the Kingdom of God.

Dallas Willard and Me

One of my favorite authors of all time is missiologist, Alan Hirsch. This aussie’s work was very influential to me prior to starting Project Church and it was cool to chat about specifics now that concepts have become reality. Looking forward to giving his newest book, Untamed, a read.

Me and Alan Hirsch

Had the opportunity to have lunch with Rick Warren along with a handful of other church planters. Tremendous experience. It’s refreshing to see a Christian leader use his influence for good around the world.

Rick Warren and Me

Met one of my favorite bloggers, Pete Wilson. He’s the real deal. Pete has a book coming out titled, Plan B which is sure to be a hit.

Me and Pete Wilson

Since this Sunday is Valentine’s Day, we at Project Church thought it would be a prime opportunity to talk about topics related to relationships and romance.

We’re asking folks to submit questions related to singleness, dating, marriage, sex, divorce, etc. It might be something they’ve always wanted to know or help for a particular issue they’re dealing with.  As always, we’ll look to the scriptures to guide us and remember the gospel always.

Due to the sensitivity of the potential topics, we’ve created an online form where questions can be asked anonymously ahead of time.  Deadline for questions is 9am MST on Saturday, February 13.

The questions we’ve received so far indicate this will be quite the adventure. My prayer is that it will be one of the most powerful times we’ve ever had at Project Church here in Rapid City, SD.

Recently, I had the opportunity to pray at center ice of a local pro hockey game in front of 4500 people.

It was a sweet moment.

As I was waiting by the penalty box listening to the National Anthem, I thought, “Why me?”

With the chill of the ice beneath my feet and the chill of the goosebumps on my arms as the young gal sang, “of the land and of the freeeeee” I was dumbfounded how I got to this point.

How did I go from sitting on the sidelines of life watching others live their dreams to playing in the game and living mine?

Why me?

I’m just an ordinary guy.

Just five years ago I was content to have a good job, take care of my family, go to church, try to be a decent person, and live a comfortable life.

Until God disturbed me.

He filled me with a passion to help people live free.

And I know the only path to true freedom is the gospel.

The gospel produces community who are on a mission to make disciples.

Followers of Jesus who love God, love people, & live free.

The gospel was the seed that birthed Project Church.

And somehow, someway God called me to be a part of this.

Why me?

There are certainly better people God could have chosen.

Better pedigree.

Better leaders.

Better communicators.

Better looking.

You name it.

Some people feel the need to point out how unimpressive I am.

Too much this, not enough that.

So and so is better.

I already know.

I’m just a dude.

But I’m a dude who really loves Jesus.

I’m a dude who really wants you to live free.

To know the Jesus that I know.

To taste the grace that I’ve tasted.

To experience the freedom that I’m experiencing.

Why me?

Perhaps my life will be proof that there is a God.

Because if he can use me, he can use anybody.

That includes you!

So here’s to The Ordinaries like me.

Like Peter and John before us, may anything extraordinary we do be because we had been with Jesus.

May he always be the extra in our ordinary.

May we always remember that.

“I say to you, this morning, that if you have never found something so dear and precious to you that you will die for it, then you aren’t fit to live.

You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be, and one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls upon you to stand for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause. And you refuse to do it because you are afraid.

You refuse to do it because you want to live longer. You’re afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity, or you’re afraid that somebody will stab or shoot or bomb your house. So you refuse to take a stand.

Well, you may go on and live until you are ninety, but you are just as dead at 38 as you would be at ninety.

And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.

You died when you refused to stand up for right.

You died when you refused to stand up for truth.

You died when you refused to stand up for justice.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
From the sermon “But, If Not” delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church on November 5, 1967.

Each year I create an intentional reading plan as part of my personal growth and development. There are bound to be exceptions as I discover new titles throughout the year, but this pretty much tells the story of the knowledge that will be dropped in my mind. There are even a few re-reads.

Look it over and let me know any books on this list that you’ve read and what you liked/disliked about them.

Ragamuffin Gospel – Brennan Manning (Annual Re-read)
Renewal as a Way of Life – Richard Lovelace
Counterfeit Gods – Tim Keller
Untamed – Alan Hirsch
The Canon of Scripture – F.F. Bruce
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years – Donald Miller
Hear No Evil – Matthew Paul Turner
Spiritual Leadership – J. Oswald Sanders
Eat This Book – Eugene Peterson
A Long Obedience in the Same Direction – Eugene Peterson
The Jesus Way – Eugene Peterson
The Blue Parakeet – Scott McKnight
Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals – William Webb
The Homiletical Plot – Eugene Lowry
Sex, Lies, and Religion – Randy Elrod
The Divine Commodity – Skye Jethani
Resident Aliens – Stanley Hauerwas
Galatians – Martin Luther
Forgotten God – Francis Chan
Doctrine – Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears
Finally Alive – John Piper
Heaven – Randy Alcorn
Simply Christian – N.T. Wright
Church in the Making – Ben Arment
The Trellis and the Vine – Colin Marshall and Tony Payne
The Normal Christian Life – Watchman Nee
The Meaning of the Pentateuch – John Sailhamer
The Lost World of Genesis One – John Walton
The Gospel-Driven Life – Michael Horton
From Eternity to Here – Frank Viola
Messy Faith – A.J. Gregory
Your Jesus is Too Safe – Jared Wilson
Primal – Mark Batterson
The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society – Lesslie Newbigin
The Return of the Prodigal Son – Henri Nouwen
Classic Christianity – Thomas Oden
The Seeking Heart – Fenelon
Leading on Empty – Wayne Cordeiro
How People Change – Timothy Lane
Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands – Paul Tripp
The Book of God – Walter Wangerin
Decision Making and the Will of God – Garry Freisen
3 Crucial Questions About Spiritual Warfare – Clinton Arnold
The Cross of Christ - John Stott
The Cost of Discipleship – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards – George Mardsen
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount – David Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and The Principles of Screenwriting – Robert McKee
Linchpin – Seth Godin
Drive - Dan Pink
A Whole New Mind – Dan Pink
Switch – Chip and Dan Heath
Thinkertoys – Michael Michalco
Have a Little Faith – Mitch Albom
My Life Outside the Ring – Hulk Hogan
The Lost Symbol – Dan Brown
East of Eden – John Steinbeck

“Someday, I’m going to chase that dream.”

“Someday, I’m going to get in shape.”

“Someday, I’m going to help those less fortunate.”

“Someday, I’m going to overcome that fear.”

“Someday, I’m going to ask her out.”

“Someday, I’m going to take my family on that trip.”

“Someday, I’m going to finish that project.”

“Someday, I’m going to learn that instrument.”

“Someday, I’m going to be debt-free.”

“Someday, I’m going to be a leader.”

“Someday, I’m going to spend more time with my kids.”

“Someday, I’m going to get these addictions under control.”

“Someday, I’m going to make a difference.”

A life full of regrets is paved on a path littered with somedays.

What’s it going to take to turn someday into today?

Someone dying?

Your health going downhill?

Your kids growing up?

Why wait?

You’re not promised tomorrow!

You have this moment- where your past and your future collide.

Replace the word someday with the the words, “Beginning today…”

And take the next step to advance that someday list forward.

You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life?  For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. - James 4:14

Now’s the time!

Today’s the day!

Don’t waste your life!

You’ve got a story to live!

Go live it!

On Saturday, Project Church is putting on a school event called “Santa’s Workshop.”

(See Below)

We strongly believe that we are to bring and be good news.

So we’re hoping to build some relational bridges with folks at the school.

Potentially 600 students and stories.

Even more parents and staff.

We’ve heard several heart-breaking stories from teachers about some kids at this school.

A small sample of many.

These stories need to be changed.

Jesus showed us the way to change a story is to enter a story.

Hence the Incarnation which we celebrate this Christmas season.

So we are following his great example.

We can’t make all the stories better.

I wish we could.

But perhaps we can make a few better.

And a few is better than none.

Ultimately, our hope is that they meet the One who puts all the pieces back together.

Who is good news in a world that’s not.

Who makes all things new.

That’s why we enter the story.

Love travels on relational highways.

That’s the wonder of incarnation.

That’s the way of Jesus.

Brilliant author and thinker, Leonard Sweet, shares a remarkable story in his must-read book, “So Beautiful” on the longing for human connection.

“A missionary writes of a leading a mission trip to the South African country of Namibia. The first thing his team noticed in the local village in which they were staying was that women had to walk every day to a well with a huge heavy bucket on their heads to fetch water.

“We immediately decided to do something about it.” he said.

Within two weeks flashy new water pipes were delivering water to every little hut in the village.

Within a week after the installation of the plumbing, the villagers removed all the pipes and piled them politely on the outskirts of the village.

When the missionary asked why they had plundered the plumbing and undone all their hard work, the Namibians explained that it is customary for women to walk to a well with other women sharing their experiences about life. Carrying heavy buckets on the head while chatting with friends. “It’s not a bad thing, it’s a good thing.”

When the walk to the well was taken away and life was made “never so good,” life was really made ever so difficult.”

Never underestimate the power of relationships.  We’ll go to great lengths for them- even carry buckets of water on our heads.

We get this from God. After all, He is in relationship with himself as Father, Son, and Spirit. When He created humanity, He designed us for relationships- with Him and one another. It’s in the fabric of our being.

We were never meant to do life alone.

A couple of years ago, my daughter asked to go for a walk.  We went outside, I reached down my hand to her, and she reached up her hand to mine.  As I glanced down I was struck by this image.  I thought, “What a picture of God and us!”

I pondered this image more and began to see how it was also a beautiful illustration of prayer.  Jesus tells us in Matthew 6 to pray to Our Father.  His hand is always there reaching down to us and all we need to do is reach our hand up to him…and walk.

I love what Dallas Willard said in his great book, The Divine Conspiracy. “I believe the most adequate description of prayer is simply, Talking to God about what we are doing together. That immediately focuses the activity where are but at the same time drives the egotism out of it. Requests will naturally be made in the sharing with God my concerns about what he too is concerned about in my life. And of course he is concerned about my concerns and, in particular, that my concerns should coincide with his. This is our walk together. Out of it I pray.”

The scriptures say, “pray continuously.”  In the rhythm of our life, as we go, all the time. Taking hold of our Father’s strong, yet loving hand, and walking, talking, asking, confessing, venting, and listening.  A divine conversation so to speak.

Let me encourage you to take hold of your Father’s waiting hand and walk (pray).

It’s the most supernatural act we can partake in.

For more on prayer, you can listen to a recent message I gave at Project Church.

Inspired by the Beatitudes…

Blessed are those who stub the toe of their life while stumbling through darkness.

Blessed are those who feel like they’re drinking expired milk on a hot day.

Blessed are those who need a big hug more than a big finger.

Blessed are those who are climbing a mountain of ice with no tread left on their shoes.

Blessed are those who want to put a giant band-aid on the wounds of this world.

Blessed are those who never feel at home.

Blessed are those who’ve been rejected by the establishments.

Blessed are those whose hearts have been shattered and can’t seem to find all the pieces.

For YOU are exactly who Jesus came for.