Live from Kinko's in Grand Rapids... Rob Bell.

So about 75 of us packed into a room at Azusa Pacific University this morning for the satellite simulcast thing with Rob. It was a technological wonder. There was Rob and Troy Murphy in some kind of sound proof cubicle like room in a Kinko's in Grand Rapids, while we were in small lecture hall at APU seeing a larger than life Rob Bell waving to us on the screen. I must say that I've been a part of quite a few of these things and most of them are technologically challenged. The question of the day would be would we be left staring at a stilted, puppet-like rendition of Rob, or would we actually see him move somewhat fluidly? Well the verdict was that it was, well, amazing. We could actually see his lips move, not like some badly dubbed japanese samurai flick, but really move... almost in time with what he was actually saying. Hhhmmm, Kinko's may be onto something here.

Anyway, what was discussed was brilliant, affirming, and challenging. Here are a few thoughts Rob shared with us on ministry, leadership, and that thing we do called teaching...

Weekly teaching can be destructive to creativity.

I don't teach something that has not been a part of me for six months to a year. You need to live the text... let it ferment in your soul. People will know whether you have lived with the text. Think about it, if I asked you to talk about your wedding or something else that has changed you, would you really need notes?

As a teacher, you need to live with a text - allow it to ferment in you, take up residence in you - then connections begin to be made.

The old way of teaching was to set aside a “prep” time and seek God to act in that moment. A new way of teaching is to let the text speak. Let God speak to you over time, then document how the text is being lived out in real life.

What would happen if on Monday morning you sat at your computer and instead of staring at blank screen, you're already looking at ten teachings that could take place and decidiing which one was the most ready to be taught, or most needed to be taught?

The best messages are not purchased off a shelf or a website, but are grown in your own backyard.

The question in teaching is this... is it real in the real life that I am living right now with my family and friends? If the gospel doesn’t work there, then forget it.

We have people who can sing notes, but where are the soul singers? The pulpit has been the home of technicians and analysts, but where are the prophets and poets - the wide eyed crazy people? Teaching should be a dangerous and daring art form, not a science.

Bible is to be experienced communally – in Jesus’ day, if a village could even afford one Torah scroll (held together by wood poles called the ‘trees of life’) it would be amazing. Therefore, the text was not accessible to average person... that’s why it was memorized. We need to realize that personally reading the Bible is only a recent phenomenon... about 500 years. Even the concept of a “quiet time” is a new phenomenon... over the past 200 years. The Bible is not individualistic – it is to be read, debated, discussed in community.

The Bible is about real people in real places in real times. It's taking place in an on-going historical narrative. What we need to remember is that we are in the same historical flow. Teaching is about connecting real people in real places in real times with us, here, today. We live in the same flow of what God is doing in history.

If you are a teacher, assume you are going to offend people – know that they killed Jesus too. Be a prophet. You are not running for office. You signed up to speak for the revolution. Don’t be a politician or be driving by the need to keep people happy.

Being a teacher is a horrible job – it is lonely, you pour yourself out, you bleed in public. If all goes well, the next week is even harder.

Your job is the relentless pursuit of who God made you to be... to be about anything else is sin.

Are you teaching because you have to say something, or because you have something to say? People, especially outside of "Christianity" know when you are passionate. That kind of passion makes them say, "Maybe this stuff really did happen.

Comments

[Chaya]

Thanks for posting those words, Mike. I wish I could have written down everything he said, but you hit the ones that were most meaningful for me as a student/teacher/worshipper/follower/leader. Thanks again! See you soon, Mikey!

[john]

I ordered the CDs of his seminar at YS last fall, and it sounds like much of the content was similar. Definitely worth ordering if you haven't heard it already...

[Mark]

Thanks Mike!

Thursday night I was about ready to jump in the car and drive out to Cali to attend this event but it is a bit of a drive from Colorado. :) Maybe next time I can go to kinkos, sit in a sound proof booth, and you can put a little TV/video camera in a seat so that I can "attend".

I love the thought of ruminating on messages before you give them, having them be a part of you, passonately part of you, and not just a list of "how to's".

Man, people would start to see Christ though us if we had that authentic passon for the things that God cares about and could convey them.

Thanks Mike!

[mike vanderkwaak]

mike, thanks for the play by play. did anyone mp3 the session?

[wes ellis]

did they make an audio recording of yesterdays thing. I want one! My notes just weren't good enough.

[Mojo Turbo]

Rob Bell is so great....

http://theway.blog.com

[Sarge]

That's great stuff! Thanks for sharing.

[Bill Butterfield]

Mike,
I read your comments about the destructive nature of some preaching! I agree wholeheartedly! I have been preaching for more than 40 years and many of those years accomplished very litte in my estimation. Only in recent years has time been given to let a sermon "cook" for awhile before serving it to the church and community. I did find one comment rather perplexing. You said that teaching was connecting real people in real places to us! Isn't that a misguided bit of information? Are we not to be connecting real people in real places to a real God? I know that there is a tendency for our hearers to attach to us, but at the same time, shouldn't we be making every effort to detach ourselves and attach them to God? I hope this is not read as a negative criticism, but as a positive observation! Thanks!

[Mike DeVries]

Bill, appreciate your thoughts and for sharing them. I wanted to respond to the comment you mentioned [and by the way, I didn't take it as a negative criticism at all]. What Rob was getting at was that we need to make sure that we rememeber that the Scripture were written to real people, in real places, in real times. With that being the case, teaching is about taking the Scriptures and connecting them to ourselves and those we are teaching - real people, in real places, in real times. It is that process that the Scriptures do for us what they were intended to do for their original audience - help us wrestle with what it means to be a follower of Jesus in our current context. Hope that clarifies the thought for you. Thanks again!

[Milton Stanley]

Thanks for sharing these ideas. I wrote about them and linked to this post at my preaching blog today. Peace.