Running on Fumes

I’m gonna be straight with you. In September it’ll be 4 years since we’ve moved here to Brazil. And as difficult as it was back then- it’s just as difficult now. And we’re so tired. Seriously tired. And it’s not just a ‘physical tiredness’ that I’m talking about (yes, we’re physically exhausted too). It’s a ‘soul tiredness.’ 

It’s hard to explain unless you experience it firsthand. Everything fights against you here. The elements, the insects, the reptiles, the spiritual battles taking place (we can’t see them but we definitely feel them), the cultural differences, the lack of common conveniences that make life more doable (like something as simple as being able to flush toilet paper and not having to go burn it). Everything takes 3 more steps to do than normal (like having to heat water in a kettle to wash dishes with- and the water is oftentimes brown, yum!). 

And then there’s the loneliness. That’s probably what's taking the biggest toll on us right now.  Being way out in the middle of nowhere by ourselves is hard. Thank God we actually like each other, lol! Seriously. But not having a constant community of friends around (more than just on Sunday and anytime we’re doing an outreach) is difficult. The one thing  that this whole experience has taught me is that “we weren't created to follow Jesus alone. We were created to follow Jesus in community with other believers.” As big or as small that community may be- we’re not made to walk alone. We need each other: )

Anyway, back to the main reason for this blog… as difficult as things are here- what we were able to do last Friday is really what keeps us going. It’s like, just when we’re feeling so discouraged that we don’t know if we’ll be able to continue, it happens. We’re able to minister to some of the amazing children here in Brazil and it gives us more 'fuel in the tank' so that we can keep going. 

To be able to look into the eyes of the children that are living in such extreme poverty in a village littered with crime, drugs and dispair- and to be able to share the Gospel with them and let them know that despite where they are that Jesus loves them, died for them and that He wants them for His own… man, that’s what lets us know that we’re not just living where we’re living in vain. 

These are just some of the children that we were able to minister to last Friday

Last Friday we were able to minister to approximately 200 children ages 2-8 in a school in Villa Zumbi. Villa Zumbi is one of the poorest villas in this region of Brazil and has a population of around 10,000 people- over 4,000 of which are children. 

The first group of kids being led in

Kids getting excited about what's about to take place

Matthew doing some up-front games with the kids while the music is pumping
and the rest of the children are making their way into the ministry area

We ministered to the kids in groups of 50-70 at a time. And what we did (and it’s typical of what we do when we go to schools, orphanages, shelters, etc.) was we had several group games to get everyone comfortable and interacting. 

4-way tug-of-war is always a great game no matter what age group we're ministering to

Beach Ball Relay is about to begin 

It's a race against the clock to see which team can get all the balls off the parachute

This was one of the best games of the day- the kids loved it!

Maryssa and her team waiting for their turn at the parachute: )

Then at the end of the group's session we gave a simple Gospel message. On Friday we talked about how "if any man be in Christ that he was a new creation. Old things were passed away and all things were new (2 Cor. 5:17)." And we explained how an actual metamorphosis takes place when someone gives their lives to Jesus (just like a caterpillar-butterfly & tadpole-frog). 

Kids listening intently as we presented the Gospel

Mozart and Jim- The Dynamic Duo... making it happen: )

Mozart, Jim, Maryssa and Kevin doing the "New Creation"presentation 

Matthew also getting in on the action

And then we gave everyone candy from the US (Dum-Dums) and a little plastic butterfly to remind them of the day's lesson. Simple but memorable. And we'll do the same thing (just a different Gospel-centered-message) the next time, and the next time and the next. Building on what was taught previously. We feel like seeing the same kids over and over is the best way to minister to them (rather than just seeing them once and then moving-on to a different orphanage or school).

Jim handing out candy at the end of one of the sessions

So, thank you to all of our supporters back home in the US. Because of you we’re able to take the Gospel to places where even though the darkness is present- we’re seeing it expelled as we bring in the light.

Matthew and his first group of the day: )

MJ was the photographer of the day so she didn't make it into many shots-
but you still couldn't keep her from loving on these amazing children.

           

                    We Love You Guys!

                 Jim, MJ and the Whole Dunn Gang

PS- You can see the entire photo album of the day on our Facebook page by clicking HERE.

Here’s Your Sign

No this isn’t the punchline to one of Bill Engvall’s famous “here're your sign” jokes, although those are pretty funny. 

No- this is about God giving me a literal sign the other morning.

There I was sitting at the kitchen table trying to process a situation that we were dealing with. There’s this guy here in Brazil who really took advantage of us a couple years ago. He blatantly lied to us and did some things to us that were really jacked-up. This supposed ‘brother-in-Christ’ took advantage of us and the camp, what he did was just wrong. And the way he did it really hurt us in the process. 

And, because of what he did, we had to wrestle with bitterness for a while (fighting against it) because of his actions. I don’t want to get any more specific than that because I don’t want to ‘out' anyone. But we processed through it and moved on. 

Anyway, he recently contacted me via email asking for my help in a particular situation. My first reaction was "forget it buddy!” Why should I help someone who lied, cheated and did the things to our family that he did? But then The Holy Spirit reminded me that I’m a follower of Jesus and I needed to take the high road and help the best I could. 

So I answered him back and helped him the best way I could. I didn’t even make any snide/witty/sarcastic remarks in my response to him either (although I wanted to). See, after all these years I'm finally starting to learn: )

Then, a few days later, he sent me another message wanting me to go even further with my help to him. Again, my initial response (in my mind) was “this guy can forget it! Is he smoking crack or something!?" Not very christian-like, I know. But I'm just trying to be honest with you. That was my initial response (in my mind) anyway. And I hate that that junk is in me. I really do. And even though it only lasted a few seconds, the fact that it's still an initial response frustrates me. But anyway...

So, there I was, trying to figure out what to do? Do I continue to help this guy? Do I make him sweat a while before I respond? Do I totally ignore him? Do I only partially help him since he treated us so badly? What was I going to do? 

That’s when it happened… MJ was cleaning out from under our bed and found some decorations hidden-away that we had shipped here from the States. One of things she found was a sign. She had no idea that I was wresting with this particular situation either. But she walked out into the kitchen holding this sign and said, “do you think I should hang this up somewhere?” It was all I could do to not bust out laughing. Here’s the actual sign I’m talking about.

Does God have a sense of humour or what? lol! It’s not like He just brought that scripture to my memory (which is what usually happens when He instructs/rebukes/ chastises me), no. He had my wife carry a literal sign out to the kitchen and made me read it! Is that awesome or what? haha!

But, even though I thought it was comical, it was still an instruction to me for this situation. Man, don’t you hate it when that happens?! So that’s what I’m gonna do- act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with my God. Because it’s what He requires of me.

But the reason I’m writing this today isn’t just for me, no. I really believe that there’s someone else who'll read this that’s dealing with something similar and your wondering what to do. Well, here’s your sign…

Love Ya,

Jim

A Wake-Up Call For Leaders?

It’s very difficult trying to stay-up with current events from our house here in the jungle. We don’t have network television or cable. And our internet is so slow that trying to open a news website to stay up with current events is impossible. So usually we’ll see people talking about something (news-wise) on Facebook and if it sounds important we’ll investigate it for ourselves (when we can get to town and go online where there’s actually some bandwidth available).

So what I’m about to say has probably been talked about, analysed and already re-hashed 14 different ways by now (by all of my friends back in the States). But, for me, it’s fresh and new so bear with me even if you’ve already moved past this.

What I want to talk about is what happened with Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church. And no, I’m not writing this blog to bash Mark Driscoll or criticise him in any way. I just think that when something of this magnitude happens we need to look at the situation and check within ourselves to see if there are any of the same warning signs of it possibly happening to us too. When something like this happens surely there’s something that all of us can learn from it.

Last year at this time Mars Hill was one of the largest/fastest growing/most influential  churches in the world. After a small start in an apartment in 1996, by 2013’ Mars Hill had grown to 15 locations averaging over 12,000 in attendance each week. Mark Driscoll’s podcast on i-tunes was one of the most popular with over 260,000 sermon views per week. That’s over 13,000,000 views per year! Think about that… his sermons were being listened to by hundreds of thousands of people each week all over the world! That’s crazy. What an amazing platform to spread the Gospel and to strengthen the Church (and that’s big ‘C' church- not little ‘c’ church). 

Besides being the lead pastor at Mars Hill Mark Driscoll was also a successful author and one of the most sought after conference speakers too. Actually, Me and MJ saw him speak in South Carolina at a leadership conference a few months before we moved here to Brazil back in 2011’. What he said was very impactful and the Lord spoke to both of us through his message that day.

Mark Driscoll was also the leader of The Resurgence Leadership Network and in Seattle in 2013’ Mars Hill hosted (either in person or on-line) over 20,000 leaders from 177 countries at their R13 Conference. Mars Hill had also recently begun a Pastoral Internship Program where people from all over the world could come, be trained and then be sent out to plant/pastor churches- and all for the sake of the Gospel. So, long-story-short… Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill were "killin' it" last year at this time.

But this year Mars Hill and Mark Driscoll- including all their campuses, all their podcasts, all the conferences, all the books sales, everything- are gone. Poof! Just like that. Nowhere to be seen. How can that even be possible? It’s almost unfathomable when you think about what a major player Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill were on the ‘christian landscape’ less than 12 months ago.**

So, I guess the most pressing question (to me, anyway) is how did this happen and how can we as pastors, leaders and fellow believers in Jesus ensure that it doesn't happen to our churches? Because I don’t think this was just a fluke. I think it’s something that could easily happen to any of us (maybe not on the same scale- but it could still happen nonetheless). Because no matter what anyone says, Mark Driscoll isn’t a bad guy, a false prophet who got what was coming to him or any of the myriad of other things that people say about him- he’s a fellow brother in Christ who made some bad decisions and over a period of time when the bad decisions weren't dealt with and changed the unthinkable happened. 

You see there was nothing immoral that happened that caused Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill to disappear. No sex scandals took place. There were no accusations of money being used inappropriately buying mansions, new Gulfstream Jets or Rolls Royce's, no. None of these things happened. There were however accusations of plagiarism along with him buying his way onto the New York Times Best Sellers List with his newest book “Real Marriage.” But neither of those things are what caused Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill to collapse. 

What I can tell (from listening/reading comments from Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill church members and from different staff members/elders from Mars Hill Church) there were some things that happened that, if they would've dealt with them in a Godly-biblical way early on, all of this could've been avoided.

For those of us who are leaders of churches and ministries, it would be wise to learn from other people’s mistakes. Especially when the mistakes are made by people who genuinely love Jesus and want to make the Gospel known to the ends of the earth just like us. None of us will probably ever build ministries as big as what Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill did but no matter the size of our churches and ministries- I think that all these things still apply and we’d be wise to try and ensure that history doesn't repeat itself.

Before I give you my list of observations I just want to say that whether we agree or disagree with Mark Driscoll and what he did is irrelevant. My sole purpose for writing this is just an attempt to glean something that could possibly help us be better pastors, better ministry leaders and better followers of Jesus. My heart breaks for Mark Driscoll, his family, the thousands of Mars Hill Church Members and the countless podcasters that have been effected by this. So here we go:

4 things I think we can learn from what’s happened to Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill:

4) Being cool and edgy with what we say isn't always a good thing. I’m by no means a prude when it comes to this subject. Those of you who know me can vouch for this. And those of us who speak publicly for a living have all said things we’ve regretted, right? I could give you a list a mile long of stupid things I’ve said from the pulpit that, in retrospect, I wish I could take back. But doing/saying things just for the sake of getting a laugh, being hip or cool (aka- being relevant) isn’t always good. To intentionally try to talk like the world just for the sake of “being relevant” isn’t wise and it isn’t necessary. And saying things (especially using profanity) for shock value isn't ever a good thing. No matter how many laughs we get or how ‘down-to-earth and real’ it makes us sound- our speech needs to be pure. In the pulpit and out. 

3) Surrounding yourself with ‘yes men’ isn’t wise. Although it didn’t start out that way it looks like that’s the way it ended up at Mars Hill. Everyone who didn’t cower down to what Mark Driscoll wanted was selectively weeded-out. 

So, if we looked at our teams right now and all we could see was people who told us we’re right all the time, that all our ideas are awesome and that basically worship at our feet (figuratively, of course)- and all out of fear, there’s a problem. Because no matter how creative we are, no matter how many great ideas we have, no matter how successful we get to be- we as leaders aren't always gonna be right about everything and we won’t always know what’s best for every situation. We need each other. Others (aka- our staff) aren't around us to just feed our egos and do all the grunt work for us. 

If we surround ourselves with a bunch of people who are afraid to disagree with one of our ‘awesome ideas’ and who agree with all our decisions we’re just asking for trouble. Because if everyone’s just going to agree with everything I say and see things exactly the way I see them, then one of us is unnecessary. Everyone on the team brings something to the table of value, everyone can offer a different perspective- it’s not just about me. 

We don’t need to surround ourselves with people that agree with us about everything and that are only there to tell us how great we are all the time- it’s not healthy. And, most importantly, the people around us (the ones closest to us) always need to have the freedom to rebuke us if we really need it. It shouldn't matter if I’m the boss or what my title is. 

No matter how famous, important or powerful (supposedly) that we become we always need to be in submission to each other.  A perfect example can be seen in Galatians 2:11-14 when Paul publicly rebukes Peter. Peter was an original disciple and a Christ appointed Apostle who had been following Jesus longer than Paul, but be that as it may, Paul still checked him when he (Peter) was wrong. We can also see that Peter (an original disciple/Apostle) was in submission as a fellow-worker with others who hadn't walked with Jesus as long as him in Acts 8:14, 11:1-16 and 15:7-21. Bottom line- no matter who we are, “we ain't all that!”

2) Thinking 'your poop doesn’t stink.’ Even though it’s just a matter of speech, you know exactly what I’m talking about. This kind of goes hand-in-hand with number 3. If we ever get to the point where we’re never wrong about anything and that everyone else has the problem… "I mean, look at all my success, right?… of course I’m right and you're wrong otherwise we wouldn't be this successful. Plus I’m the one God put in charge.”… If that kind of thinking ever creeps in and we start believing the hype- we’ve got to drag it (that kind of thinking) out into the street and kill it! We’re all fallible, we all make mistakes, we all have issues that need to be put under the blood daily. If we’re never wrong (in our own minds) and repentance isn’t a part of our daily lives then there’s a good chance this applies to us. (I Jn 1:5-2:2)

And from what I can tell, success (the way we usually measure it) can NEVER be the only indicator that what we’re doing is right. Because our success isn’t necessarily God’s stamp of approval and success isn't always Him saying that what we’re doing is OK. We’ve got to press-in to Him daily- making sure our hearts are pure. 

1) Building a ministry around a single personality or person is very dangerous. This is probably the thing that’s stuck out to me the most through this whole thing.

In a culture that idolises personalities, whether it’s someone on TV or on the Silver Screen, someone who can sing or play an instrument or an athlete who can run, throw or shoot… we’re all drawn to people who have abilities greater or different than ours. 

So for this same mentality to creep into the church and for superstar-christians to be made?… Well, it's to be expected. But how do we fight against that? Because if we allow our churches to be built around ‘us' (the pastor/leader) and we allow ourselves to be the central characters (and, in essence- idolised) then we’re really doing a disservice to our people. 

What if something happens to us (the pastor/leader)? What’s gonna happen when we’re gone? Because whether it’s through death, retirement or Heaven forbid- a fall from grace, we’re not going to be in our positions forever, right? So to build a ministry that revolves solely on my voice, my personality and my abilities is really selfish if you think about it. Because if what we’re building relies solely on me to survive then it’s probably going to negatively effect everyone when I'm gone. 

The only way to avoid this is to plan and be hyper-intentional and fight against it (how this is carried out will look different for everyone). I mean, go look on-line and read some of the things written by Mars Hill Church Members, Staff and Elders and see how devastated, hurt and broken they are. It’s heartbreaking. It (our churches and ministries) can NEVER be about us. As much as we say, “it's about Jesus” we’ve got to prove it by fighting against our ministries revolving around us as the central personality. Because no matter how successful we look today- tomorrow we could be gone. And, if that’s the case, what would we leave behind? Just something to responsibly and prayerfully think about.

Trying Not to Mess-up While Passionately Following Jesus,

Jim

** On January 1, 2015’ the Mars Hill Church Network officially disbanded. But in an effort to keep things going, 11of the the Mars Hill Churches became independent churches while the remaining sites closed their doors. While nothing can be found on i-tunes, a lot of Mark Driscolls sermons were moved to markdriscoll.org .