I have a problem: I’m asian.

But you see, that shouldn’t be a problem.  But it apparently is.  And it makes me very, very sad.

And… angry… … just kidding.  A “story” after the jump.

My family just moved into a new neighborhood and we’re going through the typical “meet your neighbors” stuff.  One of the coolest things is that we were actually prayerful (this time) about where we wanted to live and part of the location was so that we could be as missional as possible with our neighbors.

Sure, we wanted some good amenities, a good price, etc, but those were not actually at the top of the list.  We wanted to be impactful, and we want to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

So, we chose a place 3 miles away from where I worked so that invitations to goto our Church wouldn’t cost an arm-and-a-leg in gas.

We’ve found that this particular community is what I would consider a “I am about to head to the geriatric-ward for management and support” community (gosh, that sounds mean, but it’s true).  Most of our neighbors are the elderly because this neighborhood has been around for a long time.

So………  Enter the-old-lady-who-drives-a-ford-taurus (tolwdaft for short).

I was walking to get my mail yesterday when I spotted her.  She had just gotten out of her car to get her mail.  Then, she saw me.  Visibly frozen for a second, I could see the mental cogs begin to turn as she began to calculate if she could get to the box, open it, grab the contents, and then run back before this ninja thug would loot her for all she’s got and her puppy in the back seat.

She made the call and dashed as only a true tolwdaft could.

I slowed down a bit but called out: “Hello!”

No response.  I tried again: “Hi!”

Nothing but a cold shoulder and apparently a renewed fervor to get her mail and bolt.

I thought I’d throw her a question (because I did actually have one): “Excuse me Miss? I have a quick question…?”

She, at this time, had managed to get one foot back into the car, peered over her shoulder with a look of paralyzed fear.  She, obviously out of breath, managed to snort: “I don’t have time, have to go, don’t have time.”

I asked anyway: “Excuse me, has the zipcode here in Alpharetta always been 30004?  or 30009?”

tolwdaft said: “Always 4″ and with that she hopped in her ford and drove like a bat out of h-e-double-hockeystick.

“WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED?!?” was all that I could muster.

And then it dawned on me.  Perhaps I’ve just been a victim of the asian/ninja stereotype.  I say “perhaps,” because it’s quite possible that I’m dead wrong and that I’m being oversensitive…

But that’s what happened.  Lesson learned.  But what to do now?  How shall I overcome this “potential” stereotype as being a scary asian man when I come in peace to deliver the best news on the planet?

Prayer is probably the best place to start (and some good old strategeryyyyy).

So, if you could pray for tolwdaft and that we can engage her wisely (for she is our neighbor) that would be great.

Have you ever been profiled, or something similar happen to you?  What did you do?

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Billy Graham is 90 years old today and his touch upon the evangelical landscape of this past century is so immense that it will far out last his physical presence upon this earth.

In addition, one of the other profound things that he has helped transform is the use of technology for preaching of the Gospel:

From the start of the association that bears his name, Graham harnessed the media to spread his message of evangelism around the world.

But he knows technology’s true place: it is fully under subjection to the Holy Spirit.  And we can’t ever forget that.  More thoughts after the break.

John Piper has an amazing summary review of Graham’s life, which I highly encourage you all to read.  It was this portion of Piper’s entry that really jolted me awake (much more than an overly-sugarized-cup-of-coffee)…

For all the technology he employed, he relied profoundly on the Holy Spirit in the work of evangelism:

He told students in 1964 at Harvard Divinity School… “I used to think that in evangelism I had to do it all, but now I approach evangelism with a totally different attitude. I approach it with complete relaxation. First of all, I don’t believe that any man can come to Christ unless the Holy Spirit has prepared his heart.

Secondly, I don’t believe any man can come to Christ unless God drives him. My job is to proclaim the message. It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to do the work, period.” (Catherwood, 230)

I loved this reminder and I think it’s well worth meditating as we seek to use the online space to carry even further the saving message of Jesus Christ.

You see, “technology proper” (like that of “theology proper” perhaps), is seen correctly as just another “clay pot” and vessel to be used by the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 29:16).  Just because we have made and created the internets doesn’t mean we can forget that God created us.

So this morning, I kindly reminded that in regards to using this blog and the many other places that I share my faith, I can do it courageously (and in completely relaxation), knowing that the Holy Spirit is preparing the hearts of those that are reading it and that my job is not to convert but to proclaim.  As Billy said:

It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to do the work, period.

Amen. Period.

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Today is a historic day in our country’s life.  Yesterday, it was (possibly) an even more historic for me.

Yesterday I prayed passionately for our Presidential Candidates (Praying Backwards with Ragamuffin Soul) and then later on that night I prayed for our country.  This morning, first thing I did was I got on my knees and I prayed for this country again.

And that, my friends, is the “historic” part.

You see, I’ve never been a big “let’s pray for our country” type of guy.  For a long time I’ve thought that this country is pretty much going down the poophole and praying would, if anything, simply delay the inevitable.  (This is terrible thinking and so I repent of that nonsense…)

I’ve prayed for candidates and tossed a prayer-bomb here and there, but I was never this concerned enough to get on my knees.

But I am this time.

Not concerned that the US is breaching armageddon but rather that the capital C Church is divided and that the witness of thousands have been blown because of misplaced and misguided passions.  I think it was seeing it all come together (Thanks Tony!) last night and seeing hundreds of my fellow believers pray for each other and the candidates that they didn’t support which brought me to a place of quiet humility.

And it was amazing because I had the opportunity to lead prayer with family, my wife, sue. (You can actually view our time of leading prayer via chat in Tony’s first part of this video… it was awesome!)

Chat Prayers during Pray Backwards ‘08 from Tony Steward on Vimeo.

It’s actually been family where the battlefield of politics have raged.  While my bud Carlos was seeing a “division unlike he’s ever seen before”, I saw something else transpire: Close family ties being stretched, challenged, and ripped apart because of political differences and persuasions.  I’ve never gotten into such heated debates with family and forced to “do my research”, “justify myself and my position”, and feel emotions of political-insecurity.

But at the very last moment, it was with family, with my wife, where we could just sit at the feet of Christ and pray it up like nothing we’ve ever done before.

And not a moment too late.

So, this morning, when I woke up, headed down to Buckhead Church, grabbed a free cup of coffee from Starbucks and sat down to type, I looked out the window and imagined and saw a country not of citizens-divided, but rather an opportunity for unity.

Here’s hoping… and I’m still praying.

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And remember, the New American Standard Version is the most accurate translation.

Booya.

Thanks @ksc for the 411. Made my day.

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Heads up.  This blog is going to change, and that’s a very good thing.

Read more about it after the jump.

One of the things that has been on my heart a lot recently has been the idea of being missional in every thing that I do, which includes blogging.

I want to be intentional with my time (and yours).  I want to be the most effective as I possibly can with what I sit down and write.  I want to eliminate waste.  I want it to be as obvious as possible to readers what the “point” is and why I do what I do.

What’s so great is that it’s been a long time coming, and hasn’t been an overnight emotional trip nor a compulsive do-it-now-or-die move (which I’ve been guilty of).  There are too many influences and workings of God to share, but there are two particular events recently that has moved me to this place.

The first is Lifeshare.

Tony and Carlos‘ collaborative effort to encourage and challenge others to share their online spaces was awesome.  For many it jump-started a passion to be more missional with their online properties, like their blogs, FBs, or MySpaces, etc.  For me, it was about sharing more specifically and sharing less, especially in regards to this blog.

And what I mean by less is the stuff that is not necessarily essential to sharing my life in Christ online.  Like my random videos and shorts or “sites of interest”.  After thinking about it for a bit, I can do without those sections of this blog.  The purpose and reason that I want to blog on human3rror is to share my life and my journey with Christ.  Possibly more importantly, I want it to be obvious to readers that that is the point and why I do what I do.

So goodbye random videos and shorts.  In fact, I’ve killed my ego and DELETED all of these posts that sat in these categories.  Why?  Because they are not a part of the mission of my blog.  Period.

In addition, I’ve deleted every single child-category.  Yes.  My Technorati rating is going to go down, backtracks and links have been annihilated…  Sorry.  That’s what’s got to happen.

The second major influence is happening today:  Church TechCamp.

Actually, it started a few days back when Tony asked me to come on and speak about Online Community.  I was more than happy to. But as I sat down and began going through oodles of corporate research and topics to cover, the conviction to be more purposeful drove even deeper (and that’s what my presentation is ultimately about).

You can download my full presentation here.

So, the net result is that human3rror will no longer be a major source of technological blogging.  Instead, human3rror will essentially be halved, cut in two.

Yes, two separate blogs.  Entirely different, with different missional purposes.

Enter ChurchCrunch.com.

ChurchCrunch is affectionately named after one of my most favorite blogs, TechCrunch, which is a huge source of technological news (So thank you Mike!).

What ChurchCrunch is going to be, essentially, is the technological half of human3rror.  I’ll be blogging there about web technology and it’s impact (or potential impact) for building the Kingdom and spreading the Gospel.

My hope, though, is that it can become so much more.  As an by-product, I’d like it to develop community.  I want to begin to gather likeminded individuals who love Jesus and want to see the internet redeemed.  I hope to gather people to guest post, share their ideas, collaborate, and innovate as we seek to use technology in the best way imaginable.

The bottom line is that I don’t want to do it alone.  I’m just not smart enough and I don’t have enough time.  And, of course, I’m not going to make human3rror a multi-author blogging platform because that would defeat the purpose.

BUT! ChurchCrunch can be one.

So, here’s to being missional.  Here’s to being the most effective as we possibly can be with our personal digital properties.

If you’re interested in getting to know more about ChurchCrunch, be a larger part of it, contribute, make it better, etc, please drop me a line @ john@churchcrunch.com.

Finally, in no way am I suggesting that this course of action should be copied or seen as the best outcome of living on-mission.  I only seek to challenge and encourage you to ask the hard question: Why?  Why do you do what you do?  Really?  And is it the most effectual for completing your mission?

Maybe you need a mission first.

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Zach’s registration picture… We had a picture-registration booth for our visitors to “sign in”.

LifeShare has been an amazing blessing to our family in the last week and this past Saturday was one of the biggies.  We invited nearly 50 people to our home so they could spend some time chatting, hanging out, drinking coffee, eating world-famous Round Rock doughnuts, and here the Gospel message through what God has been doing in my family’s life.

It was awesome.

In addition, we broadcast the event live and had, at one point, up to 15 people tune in… and even had some believers invite some non-believers to watch it too!  They asked some good questions and we spent time  praying and we hope there was some good follow up.

This was all a part of our desire to share “our story” and invite others to be a part of it.

We’re excited because this is only the beginning of how we intend to be more intentional and missional with our lives.  It was so much fun that we want to do it again… and that’s one of the biggest pluses ever.

Even though we we’re dead tired and spent, we we’re pumped and felt superblessed to be able to be used in this fashion.  A small reward, perhaps, for aligning closer to God’s heart (even though we certainly were not owed anything).

So praise Him.

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Not much more to say except… ROCK ON!  A ReadWriteWeb shoutout is pretty dope and should help get the word out even more about the Gospel and how the church is attempting to be innovative in its approach to reach the lost online.

Way 2 go guys.  And if you haven’t checked out LifeShare… where have you been…?!?

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We’ll be sitting right there…!

We’re going to be broadcasting live, TONIGHT, and share with friends/families/neighbors (and a few that might not know Jesus… PRAY!) our story about how God has challenged us to be missional with our lives.

We’ll open the live feed around around 7:00pm, but make sure you’re here around 8:00PM CST time to hear how God has been working in our lives… and we invite you to share with us, ask questions, etc!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/human3rror - GO HERE INSTEAD!

This is one of the ways that we’re trying to encourage others to Share Life: LifeShare!

MOGULUS!

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Sue and I are geeking out here (and this was HER idea…!) but we’re taking LifeShare to the next level.

Tomorrow evening, around 8:00pm CST, we’ll be broadcasting live as we share our story about how God has changed our lives and focused our hearts to be more Missional for Him.

More info and link to the stream after the jump.

Originally, we had intended to invite some friends over to our house to share with them some of the big events in our life, the crazy new ideas that the Spirit has given us, and how we’re dreaming big and trying our best to be “on mission”.

Then, we thought (or Sue thought) it made so much sense to connect to the tomorrow’s coffee gathering with the online LifeShare!

We’ll probably open the feed up earlier just so you guys can check out what we’re doing, but at 9:00pm (or there abouts) we’ll be doing our LifeShare!

8:00pm CST - Tomorrow! - BE THERE! So come join us then!  Link here!

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This is how I’ve been feeling these past couple of weeks…

All, I’d like to share with you guys something that I’m passionate about; something that’s growing day by day and week by week as my family moves into a brand new stage of our lives.

I’m passionate about living with purpose, with clear direction, and with a missional-mindset.  But it wasn’t always this way.

And so I’m asking you to join us, help us, as we seek to live “on mission” to do Kingdom-building work.

Goodbye Cube Farm

Recently I left the corporate world (and a ridiculously-sized corporate salary) to pursue vocational ministry.  The events that transpired to bring my family to this juncture had God’s fingerprints all over it.

Some could call it “calling”… others, perhaps, “providence,” or possibly “God’s Will.”  Whatever you’d like to call it the simple fact is that we could do no other: This was what God wanted us to do and He wanted us to trust Him. But let me be frank in sharing with you that it was not without anxiety, sadness, or worry.

The transition is not even close to being finalized (and something tells me it may never, truly, be final…) as this is my 2nd week on staff with North Point Ministries.  I’m telecommuting from Austin, Texas, and trying to sell a bloated home in a buyers market, expecting to lose about 20 thousand dollars (let’s hope it’s just that).

We’ve had to compromise, to sacrifice, and to beat down all doubts from the evil one as well as dealing with our own prideful hearts.

Living with a Mission Mindset

But we’re living “on mission”, and it feels so good.

That’s because we’ve found purpose in what we’re doing:  Losing the fat paycheck was painful at first, but now it’s a non-issue because we know that it’s with great purpose.  We’ve been given, by His Grace, a mindset of mission, and has radically changed our hearts to align more closely with His.

But it’s not easy, and we don’t expect it to be.  But it’s bearable, but only so because we’re on mission.

And so we want to invite you to be a part of our lives as we seek to walk this path before us.

Walk with Us

We know that God has supplied many with the courage and perseverance to make the transition from the corporate cube-farm to vocational ministry, and we want you to share that with us your experience and we ask for your help, encouragement, and prayers.

Finally, for those that might be reading this that may not have known that being “on mission” for the fame and glory of Jesus Christ was something that made John and Sue Saddington (and Roenne, our daughter) tick… we invite you to share with us as well and ask us questions about why in the world we are doing such things. We don’t expect it to make much sense at first, but give us a sec and we’ll try to explain to the best of our abilities.

For all the rest of you, Sue and I want to challenge you to be missional with your lives.

Live with purpose: Live in such a way that everything you do is effectual in regards to the salvation of men.  And live with great expectation  that:

“He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 1:6

So, What Now?

So if you’re feeling courageous, we’d love to hear your thoughts!  Drop us a comment below letting us know your experiences and we’ll begin to walking together.  We want you to keep us accountable in our strive to be missional… and if you let us, we’ll keep you accountable too.

Stay the course.

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