Jason Salamun

If grace is true, it changes everything.

If grace is true, it changes me.

If grace is true, then going the extra mile is the norm.

If grace is true, then my tips are more than the waitress deserves.

If grace is true, it means I will forgive all those who hurt me.

If grace is true, then I would give my full attention to each person I come across today.

If grace is true, then I wouldn’t withhold my encouragement to another.

if grace is true, then I wouldn’t try to avoid certain people.

If grace is true, then I would accept every Facebook friend request that another human sends me.

If grace is true, then I will seek to give more and spend less.

If grace is true, then I will give that homeless guy downtown a few bucks even if I think he’d spend it unwisely.

If grace is true, then I would treat people who love me the same as people who don’t.

If grace is true, then I wouldn’t cut people off in traffic or hurry and beat someone else for a parking spot.

If grace is true, then I would not play favorites.

If grace is true, then I don’t believe in just second chances but a million chances.

If grace is true, then Christ gets 100% of me and nothing less.

If grace is true, hope always remains.

How has grace changed you?

Last Wednesday evening, we discovered one of our own from our church had gone missing.  Police were notified, friends were called, prayers were prayed, and concern was setting in.

By Thursday, there was still no sign of her, and a number of us began a search party with a mission to find her.

Immediately, my family and I hopped into our mini-van to search or at the very least, get leads.  We went to known hangouts, but our search turned up empty and left us frustrated. We later discovered there was a shooting in one spot we were at just hours before. Searching for someone who’s missing can lead you into dangerous places.

To top it off, my eight-year-old daughter was heartbroken as she was coming to grips with the reality that someone she cares about was missing. We talked and tried to comfort her, but she struggled to understand.  As a dad, sometimes I wonder if I expose my children to too much. Maybe. There’s much they don’t know about, and I want them to enjoy being kids, but for better or worse, moments like this leave a mark. I just pray that they become powerful learning experiences and not indelible scars.

Later, I partnered with someone else and approached a large group of people which turned out to be a hornets nest. They were a gang and they weren’t too thrilled that we were stepping into their zone.  Threats were made, names were called, but in the middle of it all, a handful of tender-hearted members acknowledged that if someone they loved were missing, they would search relentlessly too.  They took the flyer and said they’d keep an eye out.

We drove around some more and found another crew of teens in a random parking lot. They were mostly a party crowd who hid their drinks when they saw my mini-van approach.  As I stepped out of the van and into their conglomerate, the stench of weed was obvious and the group of thirty kids or so were instantly defensive. I reassured them I was not their to bust them but rather, I needed their help finding a missing girl. A few dudes put their hands in their pocket leading me to believe they were ready to pounce if need be, but others seemed concerned when they recognized our missing girl from the photo.

They asked if I was her dad. I replied, “No. I’m her pastor and friend and just want to return her home safely.”  Bewildered, someone piped up, “A pastor? What kind of church goes out looking for someone who’s missing?”Apparently, the notion of a church stepping into the middle of a mess was unusual.  Perhaps they’re right. They were cordial as we departed, and promised to call if they ran into her throughout the evening. They never did. But I can’t help but wonder if some perceptions were changed in the process.

We stepped into other hairy situations that made me feel uncomfortable yet made me think of Jesus. About how he stepped into a mess to rescue me. About how he is a God who pursues- as evidenced in his incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection. Jesus said he came “to seek and save that which was lost.”  In Luke 15, we see a God who leaves the found to search for the lost. We see his passion to pursue his people.  This is the beauty of amazing grace.

Late Saturday afternoon, our missing girl was found by the police walking on the side of the road. It turns out she had runaway, but was making her way home.

When we got the news, relief set in, followed by joy.  She was okay.

On Sunday night, my friends threw a BBQ to celebrate her return. They wanted to model God’s grace that’s found in the parable of the Prodigal Son. We’ve always said we wanted to be a church with grace on tap and my friends understood this was a moment to display it.

There’s a long road of healing ahead, but my prayer is that God will use this situation for good.

In fact, he already is.

Sports fans everywhere are outraged following the butchered call by baseball umpire Jim Joyce in Detriot Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga’s quest for a perfect game.

Immediately, Twitter and other social media sites were abuzz about the injustice that occurred with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.  Less than a day later, Jim Joyce and Armando Galarraga are the top trending topics on Google and blogs like this one are all over the place.

That single play in a baseball game, and the subsequent public reaction, reveal much about our collective humanity. Innate within us is a common thread that is woven in us all- even the tribe of us barbaric, male sports fans.

We crave justice. When Jim Joyce signaled the base-runner safe, all those who watched felt something. That something is the common thread we all share: that wrongs must be made right.

The theological term is justification. It’s what the world feels about the current oil spill in the gulf coast, or the mistreatment of women and children caught up in the sex slavery, or the destruction that hit the nation of Haiti. Wrongs must be righted. And for a brief moment in a baseball game, we all agreed on what was wrong: the missed call.

Why?…

Nobody’s perfect. If we’re honest, we know that in us, and in this world, something is not right.  That something is amiss. Unlike baseball players, baseball umpires are expected to bat a thousand.  The problem is they’re humans. And we humans are simultaneously created good yet are born flawed beings. We make mistakes. We miss the mark.

But…

True repentance is a thing of beauty. Umpire Jim Joyce is a class act.  ESPN reports how he handled his big oops:

“Galarraga bitterly sipped a beer minutes after the blown call negated his place in baseball history. An apology and hug changed his attitude after Joyce, in tears, asked for a chance to apologize [emphasis mine]…. ‘It was the biggest call of my career, and I kicked the [stuff] out of it,’ Joyce said, looking and sounding distraught as he paced in the umpires’ locker room. ‘I just cost that kid a perfect game.’

Jim Joyce didn’t let his pride get in the way, make excuses, or defer to a PR firm. He owned his mistake, admitted it for all to see, and attempted to make things right with the one he wronged. Leonard Cohen once sang, “When they said repent…I wonder what they meant.” Well, Mr. Cohen, I believe this is what they meant.

Finally…

Nothing’s more powerful than forgiveness. Forgiveness rights the wrong of another even when they don’t deserve it. It wipes clean a debt that’s owed. Forgiveness is not fair and that’s what makes it good. It’s the wonder of amazing grace.

Armando Galarraga displayed grace as he immediately publicly forgave Joyce. According to Tonic.com:

“When a Detroit Free Press reporter approached Galarraga in the locker room after the game and informed him that Joyce felt truly terrible and apologized for the botched call, it wouldn’t have been surprising if the pitcher used the opportunity to call Joyce every name in the book.

But this amazing pitcher chose not to do that. Instead, he showed him something much different: forgiveness.

‘Tell him no problem,’ Galarraga told the Free Press. ‘I can go tell him.’

Then he smiled. ‘I should probably talk to him. It will be better.’ And he did.”

Author Philip Yancey writes, “Grace baffles us because it goes against the intuition that everyone has that, in the face of injustice, some price must be paid.” Forgiveness is not easy, but it’s necessary to survive with people who sin against us and those we sin against. There’s no peace and reconciliation without forgiveness.

When it comes to our relationship with God, all of us have fallen short. Nobody’s perfect. Our craving for justice, to right wrongs, mirrors that of our Creator.  We have wronged against God and someone must pay.

Thankfully, God became a man in Jesus Christ and took the blame for us. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us that “For our sake God made him who knew no sin, to become sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  That, my friends, is good news. That’s the gospel of grace.  On the cross, the keg of God’s grace was tapped and is available to all. All we have to do is put our faith in him and follow him.  In light of this amazing grace, we live our lives and offer it to others.

Grace.

This is what we learned from a Wednesday night baseball game in Detroit.

It’s often said that the family is the basic unit of society.

Did you know it’s also the basic unit of the church?

It’s true.

Every family is a congregation and parents are the pastors.

In fact, to lead a church, one must be able lead their family well.

I don’t know about you, but as a parent, that’s quite the responsibility.

The question is, how well are we shepherding (pastoring) our family?

We parents have the tremendous opportunity to shape our families.

We can be an internally-focused family that seeks the well-being of us…

Or we can be an externally-focused family that seeks the well-being of others.

Which best describes your family?

If we’re honest, most of us tend to be the first.

Every family has issues from time to time.

Okay, some more than others.

But if you want to improve the story of your family, consider improving the stories of others…together.

You’ll be amazed at what it does for your family.

Your problems won’t disappear, but your family will grow.

According to the United Way, families who serve together experience the following benefits:

• Awareness of social issues and a new perspective on the world
• A way to pass on family values to the children
• Discovery and development of knowledge, skills, and talents
• Quality time for the family to spend together
• Increase in interpersonal communication and the problem-solving abilities of family members
• A habit of service that will be passed on to the next generation

Communities are best formed around a common cause.

So are missional families.

Missional families are also driven by the gospel.

When the gospel has so entrenched the heart of your family, you can’t help but be good news to this world.

For my family, our mission was to begin a church who joined God in his mission in the world.

But we won’t be a missional church unless the the families are missional families made up of missional people.

Likewise, the church known as your family won’t be missional unless you are.

You, the parent, need to lead the way.

Show your family a better story.

Invite your family into a better story.

As a whole, this generation of children care more about social injustices than any other in recent history.

What a prime opportunity!

Discover where their passions are and roll with it.

Do something.

Why?

Because God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son…

If God loved the world that much, so should we.

All while loving one another.

All because of Jesus.

Imagine if this was what your family was like.

Blogger Dave Ingland asked me and others to answer three questions on the church for an upcoming blog series.

Here are his three questions and my replies.

What do you think? How would you answer?

1) How would you define the (local) church?

In a nutshell, the local church is a community of sinners saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ who join God in his mission in the world.

Symbolically of course, the Church is referred to as the Body of Christ, Bride of Christ,and Family of God. Scripture gives us purposes, distinctions, and directions on how we are to function and organize but to answer your question, I’ll stick with my simple answer.

2) Is the church relevant? Why?

Five to ten years ago I would have said, “no.” The music is outdated, the dress code is too stuffy, the church buildings are on the cutting edge of 1890, etc. I’d refer to myself as a “Christ Follower” instead of a “Christian” because I didn’t want to be connected to THOSE people.

I was immature.

Many of us were.

Many of us still are.

A church is relevant because the gospel is (I’m assuming a genuine church is a gospel-centered church). The message is unchanging and relevant but communicating the message will depend on your culture. Speak the language but don’t change the message.

I’m all for contextualizing the gospel to our culture but it’s so much more than cool lights, killer environments, and pop worship. Frankly, a traditional church service full of liturgy can be just as (or more) “relevant” as a rock show worship experience. As I look out at the church planting landscape, I’m seeing a bunch of cookie-cutter “relevant” churches who somehow believe their graphic t-shirts and a coffee bars are the good news.  Sad. So sad.

Throwing a pair of hipster jeans on the gospel doesn’t make it relevant.

The gospel is about a King and a Kingdom.

Every community is different but I do know this: love is relevant in any language. Jesus doesn’t need make-up to be attractive to our culture, he is to be lifted up and he said he would draw people to himself (John 12:32).

I’m not against creating environments, talking plainly, having modern music etc., (our church does that), but I think “relevance” as we know it is superficial at best. It’s so much more than style and preferences. I think our generation needs to understand the gospel better and learn how to diagnose idolatry in their culture and people’s hearts and treat it with the gospel. Show people how they fit into God’s epic story. That’s relevant to any people in any time, and any place.

P.S. Nothing is sadder than a middle-aged pastor wearing his college kids clothes and trying to talk Snoop in a sermon. That’s not relevant, that’s goofy.

3) Do you see the church looking different in the future? Please explain.

I believe in the church because I believe in Jesus.

This defeatist attitude we have about the church in the west is pathetic. We already know how this will all end! We are the Body of Christ! He said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The question is, do we believe it?

In the future, just as in the past, churches will gather in various expressions and models and forms, but we all have the same mission: Make disciples who love God and people. From house churches to mega-churches, from traditional churches to contemporary churches and everything in between, we need them all. The point isn’t to build the Church, the Lord will do that. The point is to point people to him.

I don’t know about tomorrow but I know about today. The future is a product of the present. We were born for such a time as this and the need for the gospel has never been greater. The time is now!

Imagine if churches followed Jesus and lived out passages like Luke 4:18-19,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

That’s a future I want to help create!

“A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.” John Calvin

As Paul writes to the churches of Galatia he is livid.

He had invested time with them in preaching the gospel and as a result, new churches were birthed. He left to continue that mission elsewhere when news got back to him that the Galatians were being seduced to believe a false gospel.  Paul is not one to quarrel over secondary matters but this is no secondary matter; this is a matter of first importance; a cause worth fighting for: The centrality of gospel. And it must be defended!

In our day, there are false teachings that have crept into our churches, Christian bookstores, and imaginations and once again, the centrality of the gospel must be defended!

Spotting false teaching is easy. Just follow the glory. False gospels always diminish Christ and elevate someone or something else. It’s Christianity without Christ which is nothing but crap.

What are these false teachings that are seducing us today?

There are three major ones and we will illustrate them as three characters: The Taskmaster, The Game Show Host, and The Mad Chef.

The Taskmaster
His message is moralism.  The idea is to make sinners better behaved.  In following the taskmaster, we not only earn our salvation, but we earn the keeping of it by following rules (or principles as they’re called today).  Any blessings from God is directly in proportion to our production, nothing more, nothing less. “Try harder” is our mantra.

When we do good, we feel really good.  Over time, we climb the ladder of spiritual superiority and work our way up to middle management with a critical eye on the performance of others.  We feel very proud of our accomplishments.

When we do bad, we feel really bad. Over time, we just give up. What’s the use in trying when all we do is fail? The Taskmaster cracks a whip to motivate us on but when you’ve been beaten your whole life, you form scar tissues, and lose all feeling.  Hopelessness and complacency sets in and you often go from believing a false gospel to believing in nothing. It’s the only way you can live with yourself.

This is not the gospel.

The Game Show Host
His message is prosperity driven.  God is a genie in the bottle and if you do these seven things you will have the good life.  God is a pinata and is here to supply you with what you really want: Happy relationships, wealth, position, possessions, good health, you name it, you claim it, it’s yours. After all, it’s all about you.

The Game Show Host, with his fancy suit and pearly whites sparkling through his smile, points you to believe in a better future and it will be yours. In this game, you are like god and the one, true God is a means to your end: to give you the desires of your heart.  After all, it’s right there in the Bible, so it must be true. Believe in God and you will get your gods.

There’s only one problem. The storms of life still come. When they do, we will cling to something to make it through. That which we cling to is what we actually place our trust in. The winds blow, the rain beats down, and in the prosperity gospel we are left holding onto pillars of sand.

This is not the gospel.

The Mad Chef
His message is a religion made your way. A stew of spirituality created with a little bit of Bible (only with verses we like which are out-of-context), our own life experiences, a slice of philosophy, a pinch of pop culture, a dose of our family tradition, a song lyrics to two. Combine that with our fears, anxieties, and personal preferences, a little bit from other religions, add in some love to make it seem reasonable and VOILA!, a spirituality customized just for us.

The beauty of this one is it can never contradict us and never tell us when we’re wrong because all we have to do is change the ingredients to fit our taste.

Then again, we’ve all been wrong about many things before. In fact, most of us can’t even figure out how to change the oil in our car yet we’ve somehow unlocked the meaning of life? No man has fully understood a woman yet somehow we fully understand the Divine? Something seems amiss.

The Mad Chef lets us create whatever self-help stew of spirituality we want yet all it leaves us with are stomach aches. We keep tweaking with the ingredients but end up with the same result. Our lives still have problems, our soul is still restless, and we’re still left holding a bottle of Pepto blaming God.

This is not the gospel.

So what is the gospel?

That’s where you come in.

I would love to hear what you believe the gospel is.

Great analogy from The Shaping of Things to Come by Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost:

In the Australian Outback, it is impractical to build fences around ranches because the distances are so vast. Since water is rare, however, it isn’t necessary to build fences. Instead, ranchers dig wells which provide water, a precious commodity in the desert or semi-desert. The sheep and cattle are therefore “contained” by their attraction to the center rather than by clearly established boundaries. In the same way, an incarnational approach to ministry is “centered-set,” with Jesus and the Gospel being central, rather than bounded-set, which seeks to define “Who’s in and who’s out.”

Would you describe your church as a fence or a well?

The unchanging truth of the gospel is like a kaleidoscope. It can be viewed in many angles and can be seen in every aspect of life.  It’s not just a historic act of yesterday but a living force that’s at work today. May we have eyes to see the gospel in all things.

Each Christmas we celebrate the incarnation.  When God broke into human history and left heaven for the messiness of earth.

When we Christians become escapists from culture and divide everything by what’s good and bad, we forget the incarnation. We forget that he set an example of what we are to do.  We forget the words of Jesus in John 17:15 when he prayed, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.”

Jesus entered our story in order to change the story.  He has called us, his people, to do the same.  How will anyone know what’s good news if we refuse to engage a world full of bad news? Our call is to be shaped by the gospel and then shape our culture with it.

In the everyday, we can see examples of the incarnation.

The friend who sits beside her friend in a waiting room while she awaits word on if the tumor is cancerous.

The big brother who plays toys with his baby sister in her room.

The church who throws a block party at a trailer park full of kids who are often forgotten.

The dad who could easily stay late at the office but chooses to be at home with his children instead.

The teacher who could teach in a cushy private school but instead teaches in the troubled public school.

If you want to change a story you must enter it first. This is what Christ did by stepping into human history to redeem it and what we do by stepping into the stories around us.

The return of Michael Vick to the NFL has a lot of people talking.

Everything from “He deserves a second chance” to “This is a complete outrage!.”

Vick did some horrific, inhumane things to dogs.

I’m a dog lover and just the thought of what he did really fires me up.

His punishment was severe: 18 months in prison, millions of dollars lost, and a scarlet letter.

Now the question is: does he deserve to return to the NFL?

I suppose it depends on if you believe in grace and forgiveness.

I do.

I have no choice- I’m a Christian.

The question isn’t about whether Michael Vick deserves to return.

He doesn’t deserve anything, none of us do.

But he can receive a second chance.

Not because he’s so great, but because grace is.

The thing about grace is this: It’s not fair!

In Jesus, we get forgiveness not by what we do or don’t do but through what he did for us.

We had nothing to do with it.

As followers of Jesus, we are to have grace on tap.

Giving love and forgiveness to all- even those who don’t deserve- even those we would call our enemy.

It’s the scandal of grace.

The implication of this for our lives is we have got to be a people of the gospel of grace.

This is why we love people when they least deserve and least expect it.

This is why we continue to open our arms to those who feel like they’ve blown it…

Because that’s what Christ did for us on the cross.

How dare those of us who’ve been graced we withhold it from others!!!

What Michael Vick did was disgraceful.

Our response should be full of grace.

That is the Jesus way.

And on that note- Go Eagles!!

If you’ve ever been to Project Church you will notice it’s more of a friends and family gathering than a religious service.

That’s intentional.

Most people associate church with being a building or an event.

The truth is neither are true.

We are a people. We are a family.

We may meet in various spots (like coffee shops and homes), but the places we meet in and the things we do isn’t the church.

We are the church.

And since the church is a people, we don’t merely invite people to a service but rather, we invite them into a story.

The church is a friends-becoming-family community on a mission to share God’s love and centered around the gospel of grace we find in Christ.

So if you consider Project Church your church, I want you to know that you’re part of the family.  You belong.

If it’s been a while, we miss you and hope to see you again soon.

If you have yet to join us, I want you to know that we’re the kind of family that will always invite people into our story and that includes you.

We don’t care about where you’ve been, but where you’re going.  What are you waiting for?

Join us this week as we gather to connect in community and grow through the gospel of grace.

No empty religious rituals, just an authentic community of grace, truth, mission, and meaning.

All because of Jesus.

A couple more updates for you all..

Podcast

You can now listen to messages online and through podcast via iTunes.

Go here to listen directly.

Click here to subscribe in iTunes.

Facebook

Are you a fan of Project Church on Facebook?  If not, what are you waiting for?

We’re going to be utilizing this space to dialogue over questions and topics in the near future, so get connected if you aren’t already and join the fun.

Check out the discussion tab to converse.

We hope to see you this Sunday morning at 10am at Alternative Fuel Coffee House downtown next to the Firehouse Brewery in downtown Rapid City, SD.

Visit projectchurch.net for more info.

Grace!