Culture – Page 2 – The Lowedown

July 14, 2016

Two Views of Freedom – The Amplified Life: Part 2

The Washington Monument in the foreground with the U.S. Capitol building in the background

Freedom.

It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Probably because our family just spent 5 days in Washington, D.C. on our first real vacation in 3 years.

As we walked around the city, touring the museums and visiting the many monuments, it was a reminder to me that we live in a pretty incredible country, where we’re free to pursue our vocational and financial dreams as well as express our religious convictions.

Seeing the World War II, Korean and Vietnam War memorials was a reminder to me that many have given their lives fighting not only to maintain our freedom but to secure the freedom of others.

Seeing the Lincoln Memorial was a reminder that not everyone in our country has always experienced the same level of freedom. And seeing the spot where Martin Luther King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, coupled with the tragic events we’ve witnessed in our country over the past few weeks and months is another reminder to me that the struggle for freedom and justice is ongoing and not always equitable.

The Lincoln Memorial, a tribute to Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States who helped abolish slavery and preserve the Union, is one of the most popular sites in Washington, D.C.

We had the chance to visit the site of the Museum of the Bible, which is currently under construction and set to open in the Fall of 2017. While we live in a “free” country, it is the Word of God that truly sets us free.

As I think about freedom, God’s Word reminds us that we’re spiritual creatures on a spiritual journey. Paul said in Ephesians that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

What does it mean to really be free?

The popular view in our culture is that freedom means that I’ve been released to do whatever I want without fear of punishment or remuneration from others, especially the government.

Jesus’ picture of freedom is much different. According to God’s Word, we become free when we’re released from the bondage of sin. We don’t become free to do whatever we want, but instead we become free to become the people God intended.

The Amplified Life is a life of true freedom, where we’re free to experience Christ fully and live for Him.

Left: An artist's rendering of the Museum of the Bible. Right: under construction, the Museum of the Bible will open in Fall 2017. — **Left:** An artist’s rendering of the Museum of the Bible. **Right:** under construction, the Museum of the Bible will open in Fall 2017.

Where the American view of freedom is that the shackles of oppression have been discarded, allowing me to live for myself and do the things that would provide pleasure and satisfaction for myself, the Biblical view of freedom is one in which we’ve been liberated from the bondage of sin, which frees us to experience God fully and serve Him and others.

The American view of freedom involves external physical forces (such as people and governments) keeping us from the pursuit of our own personal happiness.

The Biblical view of freedom is that there’s an internal spiritual problem that keeps us from loving God and others.

Our hope is to become the people God desires us to become and to help Young Professionals experience the Amplified life – one in which real freedom is experienced through an authentic, personal relationship with Jesus.

Thank you for prayers and partnership which give us the freedom to pursue the calling which God has given us. We are truly blessed!

Note: Click here to download the pdf version of the Lowedown.

Barbara pictured in the center, was our usher at the Washington Nationals game.

January 7, 2015

Derecognized!

This morning I went to the first Bible Study gathering of the New Year for the men at our church. We’ve been traversing through the book of Daniel in a series our pastor has entitled “Under Pressure.” We’ve been looking at Daniel as an example of someone who met the challenge to respond in a godly way to the personal and cultural challenges which he faced.

In Daniel chapter 6, Daniel’s enemies are looking for a way to find a charge against him because they were jealous of him. Because he was a person of great integrity, they could find nothing. So they went to the king and convinced the king to issue a decree that for the next 30 days, the people in his kingdom would not be allowed to pray to any god but the king himself. The plan was to cause Daniel to compromise his standards or face the consequences. Of course, we know that Daniel was unwilling to pray to the king and kept his practice of praying 3 times a day to the God of Israel, the God of the universe.

That act of integrity got Daniel thrown into the lion’s den. Fortunately, the Lord honored Daniel’s faith and saved him from harm. In the end, those who brought an accusation against Daniel were themselves thrown into the lion’s den and their fate was not as positive as Daniel’s. The king was so impacted by Daniel’s faith and deliverance that he issued a decree that only the God of Daniel could be worshiped, “for he is the living God and he endures forever.”

As we were reflecting on this passage around our table, we were discussing the tendency we have as frail humans to compromise our standards in order to gain favor with men and avoid unpleasant circumstances. I began to think about many of our campus ministries, especially those on our Cal State campuses.

Paul-Jaimie-2014 — Paul & Jaimie Nunez were students involved in our ministry at UC Davis. They now lead the Cru ministry at San Jose State University, which has recently been derecognized by the campus administration. Click their photo to read their letter about being derecognized.

If you weren’t aware, about a year ago the Chancellor of the Cal State University system made a decision that dramatically impacts religious groups on Cal State campuses, particularly Christian groups. The Chancellor decreed that all groups need to allow open access for any student to become a leader within that group. So Christian groups such as Cru or InterVarsity that have enacted biblical requirements and standards for potential leaders are being derecognized for imposing leadership standards and thus, not adhering to the new policy. Click here for an article relating to this.

Being a recognized group on campus has many advantages. For one, recognized groups can secure meeting rooms for free. Additionally, official groups are able to publicize their activities on campus more freely and may even have access to funds to help their group promote an activity or scholarship students to leadership retreats.

Despite the many advantages of being a recognized group on campus, none of our local chapters has adjusted their constitution in a way that would satisfy this new decree. In short, we believe that while anyone can be involved in the group as a whole, the leadership of the group must be selected among those who hold to biblical convictions and have demonstrated a biblical lifestyle. For that reason, nearly all of our chapters within the Cal State system have been derecognized as official campus organizations. Our campus groups will continue to exist and will continue to reach out to students on campus but the task will become more difficult and more costly. Please pray for our campus groups to persevere in the midst of opposition and adversity and pray that their faith would lead to revival!

In 2 Corinthians 4.2, Paul says that “it is required for those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.”

Dave and Jen - Christmas 2014 — Dave and Jen – Christmas 2014

I’m not quite sure what the Lord has in store for any of us in 2015, but my prayer is that like Daniel, we would be people of extreme integrity when faced with personal and cultural challenges where we might be tempted to compromise our faith. As our culture continues to shift our prayer for you is that you would
remain faithful. Would you please pray that for us?

We are grateful for you and pray that you experience the Lord’s richest blessings in this New Year!

April 28, 2014

The Best Laid Plans…

Click here to view the pdf version of The Lowedown.

“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

This oft-quoted line comes from a poem written by Robert Burns in 1785 after he inadvertently plowed through a field mouse nest. The words, penned with sadness, communicate the universal truth that one cannot plan for the unexpected. This line aptly describes our week in Nashville.

For months, Jen and I had been preparing for a week in Nashville, where we would have the opportunity to meet up with fellow Cru City Millennial workers for the first time. In addition, we were looking forward to challenging our thinking on Christianity and Culture by attending the Q Conference later in the week.

We thought we had worked out all the details. We were blessed by Jen’s parents, who visited for Easter and stayed through the week to watch our boys.

I even worked feverishly through Spring Break to renovate our guest bathroom in preparation for my in-laws’ arrival. That whole process in itself is probably illustrated by the above quote given the number of unexpected situations encountered that threatened to keep me from completing the project on time. I’m happy to report though that the renovation was officially completed in the afternoon on Easter Sunday mere hours before our departure.

We arrived in Nashville as scheduled on Monday where we had the opportunity to meet our new colleagues for dinner for the first time.

We were treated to some great live music from a few Nashville Millennials

The next day was a full day of meetings and connecting. For me, it was invigorating to increase my vision for what we will be doing here in Orange County to reach Millennials. That night, we were treated to some live music at the home of one of our Cru colleagues who lives in Nashville.

The next day was the start of the Q conference. The Q conference was started 8 years ago by Gabe Lyons as an opportunity for Christians to hear from numerous leaders and experts who share thoughts and insights on 7 major segments of culture: Media, Business, Government, Social Sector, Education, Arts & Entertainment, and Church.

The first day was packed with speakers who talked on a wide range of topics. We were even treated by a surprise appearance from Carrie Underwood and her husband Mike Fisher who shared about the challenges and their commitment to marriage. Though a little like drinking from a firehose, we were eating up all of the great content.

CarrieQ — Q Founder Gabe Lyons interviews country star Carrie Underwood and her NHL Hockey player husband Mike Fisher.

That’s when our plans got derailed. Jen shared that she was experiencing some chest pain and wanted to go back to the hotel and rest. We were supposed to meet up for dinner with some friends from our University of Arizona days who were now living in Nashville. But Jen’s chest pain got worse, making it harder to breathe. We decided to go to the ER.

As many of you know from experience, the ER is rarely a brief experience. For Jen, she was subjected to just about every test imaginable to determine if there was something wrong with her heart. Thankfully, every test came back clear. It was determined that the source of the chest pain was likely caused from having a case of walking pneumonia.

Jen was eventually released with antibiotics and she’s doing much better. We weren’t able to make our dinner appointment, and we missed the rest of the Q conference. But we made our flight home, thankful that it wasn’t something more serious and also grateful for the time we were able to spend with our new co-workers.

Though the week didn’t go exactly according to plan, we still left Nashville with an increased vision and excitement to reach Millennials. It was great being with others like us who are venturing into this new arena.

We are grateful too for your partnership. Please pray for us as we continue to prepare for this new ministry to which the Lord has called us. Pray for our plans to be the Lord’s plans and that we would be able to trust Him when things don’t go “according to plan!”

January 31, 2014

Learning About 20-Somethings

Connecting to the Culture of this Generation

Click here to download the pdf version of The Lowedown.

BarnaFrame1 — images from Facebook.com/barnaframes

Earlier this week, Jen and I watched a bit of the Grammys. It was a stark reminder to me of how different the current culture is to the one of my youth.

Most of the Grammy buzz was focused on Queen Latifah who presided over a mass marriage ceremony of 34 gay and straight couples while rapper Macklemore sang his hit song “Same Love”. Latifah quipped, “Whatever god you believe in we came from the same one.” It’s incredibly bad theology but unfortunately it’s a philosophy which many in the popular culture endorse and follow.

Another stark moment came for me when Country newcomer Kacey Musgraves appeared on stage to perform her hit song “Follow Your Arrow.” The song is about how there will always be people who will question you no matter what decision you make. While there is some truth in that, Musgrave’s response is “You’re damed if you do and damed if you don’t so you might as well do whatever you want.” While I wasn’t shocked, I guess I was a bit surprised to hear this ode to Post-modernism and Relativism coming from the Country music genre.

Popular blogger Ed Stetzer posted his thoughts online after the Grammys. Stetzer suggested that we as Christians should seek ways to engage the culture instead of just complaining about the things we don’t like, as we are often apt to do. He also pointed out that the Grammys don’t really reflect the true values of our country. While I agree with Stetzer that we need to find ways to lovingly engage this culture instead of just complaining, I also think that the Grammys are a reflection of what many in our country think and believe and while not necessarily reflective of everyone, it definitely demonstrates how values are trending.

As Jen and I transition to working with Millennials, we’re looking for ways to better understand our culture, particularly this generation known as Millennials. What do they think and believe and why do they believe the things they do? Why are they the least churched generation in our culture and why are they so skeptical of religion and corporate America?

While we still have much to learn, we were able to get some good input yesterday as we attended the Barna Frames event that occurred live here in Orange County. The concept of Frames is to read short books on engaging topics related to our culture in order to be better informed and hopefully better equipped to reach this culture. (see barnaframes.com for more information on the Frames concept)

One of the topics presented was on 20-Somethings. Dr. David Kim spoke on “The New Shape of Young Adulthood.” There was a lot of great information that will be helpful to us as we move forward in working with Millennials.

One of the things Dr. Kim talked about was how many global tragedies and scandals this generation has been exposed to growing up that are unprecedented compared to previous generations. From the terror of 9-11 and school shootings, to numerous political scandals as well as extreme examples of corporate greed such as the Enron scandal, it’s no wonder that this generation is extremely skeptical of everyone and everything. In fact, Dr. Kim mentioned that 1 in 4 Millennials are likely to fact check a sermon on their phone while sitting in the pew!

Yet for all this generation has been exposed to, Kim says they are less sarcastic than the previous “Seinfeld” generation. They are generally more hopeful and that is a reason for us to have hope!

We have the greatest hope ever in the message of the gospel. Pray with us and for us as we seek to present the true message of hope to this generation of 20-somethings!

January 6, 2010

Fall Highlights

Cross09 Pic — Staff reaching out to Latino students at Cal State Fullerton

The Fall was a busy season of ministry, filled with lots of unique opportunities. Read about two different ministry endeavors in the latest version of the Lowedown.