origins – day 1

The Origins conference is located at the Mayan Theatre in a pretty seedy area, so we had a tough time finding a place to eat. We finally settled on a scary looking Korean BBQ place – wow, it was good. Pile your plate with raw meat, and bring it back to your table to cook.

We got a sweet parking space right in front of the theatre where no one else was parking, and we checked in.

As you enter the Mayan, it feels like you’re entering a special attraction at Disneyland. Everything has the look and feel of ancient Mayan ruins. Huge ‘carved’ rock walls towering on both sides of you – tight claustrophobic spaces that function as hallways. Filthy carpet, funky bathrooms, and dark passageways.

We walked in at 7pm, and it was obvious that some people had been there a long time – we sat in the balcony – the upper balcony. Despite our distance from the stage, we could see the 3 square and 2 circle screeens rather well.

Session 1: Transendant Calling – Alex McManus
Alex asked us “how did you get here?” His main point was a reminder that no one (including ourselves) brought us to this point – God did. God has called us to do what we’re doing.

Specifically, Jesus said, “Come follow me.” Jesus said that he was making us fishers of men. Alex pointed out that when he called his disciples (and us), he didn’t say, “Come follow me so you can get to heaven” or “come follow me and believer the right things.” Jesus called us to live a life that is bigger than ourselves.

He talked about his moment in history being a “butt-naked” moment – strip Christianity down to only what is essential. Nothing else is needed except for the very essence.

Session 2: Primal Essence – Erwin McManus
Then, Erwin McManus (pastor of Mosaic) got up to speak. He was amazing as usual.

Erwin talked about the need to deconstruct the church as an organization and create a movement. Less organization – more chaos. He talked about how most church leaders are trained to be eagles (soaring above everything – having a big vision) or hawks (focused in on the target and getting it done). He said that he is more like a bat (blind and flying at night). More like a bat out of hell and never wanting to go back.

He focused on – “leadership is about the essence of something, not about the systems.” And, the three things that are “essential” are:

1. Live By Faith
   “Do you live a life that proves that God can be trusted?” In other words, are you taking risks that involved a deep faith that only God can pull off whatever you’re doing in ministry.
2. Known By Love
   “Are people your highest value?”
3. Voice Of Hope
   “How much hope are you offering the people around you?” The local church is God’s voice of hope in the world.

A few more thoughts of questions that stood out:

• Are you desperate to make a difference in this world? Have you moved beyond “we should make a difference” to “we MUST make a difference”?
• The more God does for us – the more difficult it is to follow Him. We get fat and lazy.
• Will your church create the future rather than just trying to keep up with what our culture is doing?

Anyway, I’m looking forward to today…