Myspace blog: Transformers--Jesus sold separately

There's a thing going on in redding called Redding Transformation, which is a drive towards unity among the Christians and trying to reach our city for Christ. I think they're going about it in a really good way. A lot of times, unity gets worshiped instead of the Unifier among these kinds of movements (it did in the one in Santa Rosa), but this seems to be going well so far. Unity is a fruit, it is not God!

One thing i'm not so happy about is that they're based on the transformation videos. If you haven't seen them, they're documentaries about cities that had unity and prayer, and suddenly, crime is down, the mayor professes Christianity, government supports the church in places like schools, and ridiculously large crops are harvested. It's all based on 2 Chronicles 7:14--"if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

As a Bible Major with an Old Testament emphasis, I could systematically show you that all references to the land in the OT are specifically covenantal--they are intended only for Israel. However, the heart of God (if we follow those steps, He will restore us) is the same for the Church today.

The problem with the Transformation videos is that they are deceptive. Yeah, it's great that the Church is doing so well and is united in these places, but I've heard stories from people involved in these movements in these "transformed" cities that show the city is worse than ever. A missionary to Cali, Colombia (where the first Transfo video is) said that she had seen the church's health skyrocket, but the druglords still rule the city and many people live in fear. My dad, a pastor in Santa Rosa, told me that the maker of these videos wants to make a video for Santa Rosa. I can see how he'd do it. A few newspaper clippings from the annual mayor's prayer breakfast, stories about the churches coming together for Easter outreach events and community service projects, and stories about the financial resurrection of the area after the telecom bust of 2001 would sure make Santa Rosa look transformed. But I can tell you that it's not true--for instance, Redding is way more spiritually alive than Santa Rosa.

I am not saying unity is bad or that being intentional about reaching the city is bad, but deception and propaganda are not very Godly. Neither is taking scripture out of context.

A couple hours ago, I was out at the bluffs, and I had the whole place to myself. You can see all of the west side of Redding from the bluffs, and there is a straight drop-off of a couple hundred feet (no fence, mom!) into the Sacramento River, right where it bends from going East to going South. Beautiful view, but the place is trashed. You know, bottles all over, condom wrappers, etc. I started thinking how much better it would be if the bluffs were known as the place where people prayed for the city, rather than the place for sex, drugs, and rock n' rolling off a cliff. I started praying for the Redding Transformation thing--there's an 11 day prayer event going on all over the city starting today. God showed me that I had a desire to transform the people who go to the bluffs. If I wanted it to be a place of prayer, then the way to do that would be to talk to anyone I ever see out there and build a relationship that could end in their life being transformed.

Here's what I learned: While Jonah 4:11 indicates that God is concerned for cities, God is way more concerned with one person coming to know Him than the 99 churches who hang out together and pray (Matthew 18:13). I think God would care more about an individual than a whole city, except that the city is made up of individuals. But everyone is always saying, "city, city, city," instead of "i love you and God loves you." Maybe it's better to be God's transforming hands in a life than trying to be the Transformer (God should be the center, not us), and trying to transform a city. But, I still think it's good to pray for the whole city, and hearing the people in charge of Redding Transformation speak, I can tell they want people to be personal and relational, and not try to save a city, but just be love in the places we go. So, I think they have it right, and I have ranted for far too long.

You know what's funny is that on the data entry system at work, we push F10 to save, so I keep trying to save with F10 instead of clicking what I should click.