Embracing Emotionally Healthy Mission Through Community and Love

1) "Now, here's what's interesting, is that there's all these marketing schemes, ways that people say, this is how you start a movement, amass a following. And yet the Jesus way, the Jesus way of mission, the Jesus way of starting a movement, it always starts with, by prioritizing people. It doesn't start with amassing this big crowd and starting with all sorts of momentum and then being able to handpick who's part of this crowd. It actually starts with the people in front of him. So much so that these 12 disciples who are named, they're each, all their names, the receipts are there. If you wanna know how this movement started, it started with this small group of people." [05:56] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "See, the Jesus way has always prioritized people. And whenever we get lost in all of our ambitions and results oriented kind of manners, we end up losing sight of the people in front of us. And perhaps some of us, even today, today as we're so lost in our careers, our ambitions, or our interests. And yet the people that are right in front of us, the people that we show up and that we impact, somehow we lose sight of how people -oriented we are called to be. Why? Because so much of the world that we live in is digital or results -oriented, especially in a city like this." [08:44] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "Now, one of the things that Alicia Britt Cole talks about is how what's fascinating, and of course we use the image of an iceberg when we talk about emotionally healthy discipleship, about the 90 % below the surface. That's the part that we want God to allow into our lives, not just surface stuff, but deep down into the iceberg, the 90 % below. Now, one of the things that Alicia Britt Cole actually observes is that what's interesting is that the gospel accounts, the historical accounts of Jesus, they only cover about 90 % of Jesus, or about 10 % of Jesus's life, the three years that he was in public ministry." [09:45] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "Jesus appears to have walked unstressed and unhurried. His peaceful pace seems to imply that he measured himself not by where he was going and how fast he could get there. Hello, Manhattan people. You know what I'm talking about? You know what I'm talking about. But by whom he was following and how closely they walked together. Isn't that interesting? Now, it's funny that I read this quote because Tina knows, my wife knows. Like I have this, like this awful habit because we've have a 12 year old and an eight year old and of course my wife and she's constantly reminding me. She's like, why are you walking so fast?" [12:25] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5) "Now, some of you might be wondering, you're like, wait a minute, but like, I, yes, yes, Jesus sees people, but like when it comes to this call of prioritizing people, I'm just not someone who is able to influence others, nor do I have anyone to influence my own life. In fact, some of us might be like, I'm in middle management or I just joined a job. I got a job doing whatever it might be in the city and I'm just trying to make ends meet. I don't really have that kind of influence over people. Well, look at what Parker Palmer writes, the spiritual writer, look what he writes. He writes, everyone who draws breath takes the lead many times a day." [14:12] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6) "Now, here's the thing. In a city like ours, which is one of the densest cities in the world, the high population, everyone is cramped in. And yet what's interesting is that research has shown that one of the biggest issues of population is the lack of community. And that's what we're talking about. And that's what we're in New York City, especially Manhattan, is loneliness. Now, how is that possible? It's so densier, but yet we so struggle with loneliness. Why? Because all of us, we crave community, don't we? We're all like, oh, yes, we're all about doing things together and being in community." [22:56] (29 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7) "And the reality is, at the end of the day, he chooses them. He even chooses Judas, who he knows is going to betray him. And the reality is, one of the reasons why disciple -making or investing in relationships is hard is because people are messy. High -five your neighbor and say, people are messy. High -five your neighbor. your other neighbor and say, so are you. I'm just kidding. Yeah. I mean, some of you all, you've been hurt by church. You've been burnt out. You've experienced trauma, or maybe there's even pastors who have hurt you or people or religious communities that have felt so overwhelming to you. And it's just been hard when it comes to community just to figure out how to show up." [27:25] (63 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8) "Now, here's the beautiful thing about God, the God that we serve. See, the God that we serve doesn't say, hey, I want you to be vulnerable and get connected to community. And prioritize people, do it immediately. He doesn't do that first. See, what we do is we believe in the Christian God who actually takes the first step of vulnerability, that Jesus actually comes and he pursues us. He's the one who comes anguishing after us, dying for us on our behalf and inviting us into relationship with him. Now, any one of us could reject this Jesus, but Jesus, what Jesus does is he takes the first move and is vulnerable first." [29:15] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)