In November, I have the amazing honor of speaking alongside Don Miller & Francis Chan (yeah, how the heck did THAT happen?!) at the incredible Right Now Conference.? If you live near Dallas, please come to this conference. I have gone as a volunteer before, and it was amazing.? If you don’t live near Dallas, you can simulcast the event at your church.
Marc, who heads up the gig, emailed me today and is trying to help shape this event.
You see, we are on this weird generational edge of transition of thought and action.? And we want to process this together.
So here is a list of random questions for you…feel free to answer as many or as few as you’d like.? We just want to get in your head a little bit.? Because I have a feeling we’re feeling alone in some of these things, when really, we’re not.
1. What do I wish to be remembered for?
2. Is this really as good as it gets?
3. How was it that I could be so successful, so fortunate, and yet so frustratingly unfulfilled?
4. If your life was absolutely perfect, how would it look to you?
5. What is my passion?
6. How am I wired?
7. Where do I belong?
8. What will I do about what I believe?
9. Who am I?
10. What do I value?
11. What gifts has God given me? How can I use them?
12. What would I be willing to die for?
13. What injustices do I see in the world, that I simply cannot stomach anymore?
14. What is it about my job that makes me feel trapped?
15. When you are in bed at night staring at the ceiling, what questions are you asking yourself?
Which ones from the list below stand out?? How would you word them differently?? What questions would you add?
Comments
13 responses to “What is this Generation Thinking About?”
Why do people know more about what we as a generation hate than what we love? I heard Steven Furtick speak about this recently and it’s really bothering me.
I suspect #2 is a question EVERYONE asks, even if worded differently.
Numbers 8, 12, and 13 blend nicely. they also are the ones that ought to be put firmly (and in a Christ-like way :)) and repeatedly to those of us in the U.S. i think we need to nudged from affirming and “supporting” to doing. now. :)
All of these questions are about me, me, me. That fits with this generation’s obsession with self as expressed in all the oversharing that goes on on Facebook, blogs, etc. I’d like to see more about the desire I definitely see in my students to have something not be all about them, but rather to reach outward. #13 touches on that, but I’d love to see it focus more on the need that is a call rather than what I think about it.
No 7 hits me hard. I feel the more I travel & the more I think, the more I realise I’m on a search for belonging.
And no 1. When I dropped out of university last year, and went to the US for a month to see friends / have some head space, I had a fantastic trip. At the end of that month, I sat down at a Coldstone and wrote a list of ‘the kind of person i want to be, regardless of what job i do.’
As for one kicking me around at the minute… that’d be no 15…
#3 hit me the most right now. I think (and others may have said this) that there may be times when other questions seem more relevant to me. But I can’t get over how completely selfish and stupid I can live my life despite all the wonderful and amazing and totally stupifying ways God reveals himself to me all around!
I agree with Tex, the “I”s and “me”s kept jumping out to me in these questions.
Why not, “what is God thinking about for this generation?”
“What is God doing and how can I be part of it?”
“What does God value, what are God’s passions?”
#1. I want to be remembered like David is remembered in Hebrews, as someone who fulfilled the call of God on my life in my generation.
#11. I feel like God has given me the gift of prophecy…He tells me things to tell His people. I just pray that God gives me the eyes to see where to go with this gift and that He will lead to me to serve under leaders who understand this gifting of mine.
#13. I have recently felt really tugged by the Spirit to the issue of poverty-specifically homelessness and hunger in the United States, as well as around the world. I feel Jesus calling me to the nations in some capacity, but I can’t use that as an excuse to do nothing where He has placed right now. I recently volunteered with a community organization that conducted a homeless census and survey. A week later, I organized a blanket and clothing drive for a local homeless shelter and had an amazing response from my community. I am currently in the process of beginning to serve in a Christian social services agency, which focuses on preventing homlessness and hunger. I am also praying about beginning a food salvage program that would save eatable food from being thrown away and, instead, give it to the hungry in our own hometowns.
#9. Basically I am a 19 year old college student who wants to change the world and who believes that the Gospel is spoken the loudest by actions…feeding the hungry, clothing the cold, loving others with His everlasting love!
-Anne, I hope this helps :) I love your blog!
From the writings of retired Episcopalian Bishop John Shelby Spong:
?The story with which the Bible opens? has already moved from being thought of as literal history to being viewed as interpretive myth. The next step is to dismiss it as not even an accurate interpreter of life. It is a bad myth, a false myth, a misleading myth. There never was a time, either literally or metaphorically, when there was a perfect and finished creation. That biblical idea is simply wrong. It is not even symbolically valid. It is an inaccurate idea that has helped to set the stage for the development of a guilt-producing, dependency-seeking neurotic religion?
?Whatever else we know about creation, we are now certain that it is an ongoing, evolving and still-incomplete process. A further insight follows quickly from this: we can no longer properly conceive of God as resting from the divine labors of creation and pronouncing good all that God has made.
?Since there was no perfect beginning, no Garden of Eden and no first man and woman who walked with God in perfect communion, there can also be no fall into sin and thus no act of disobedience that destroyed the perfection of God?s world. These details cannot be true even as symbols. They constitute, rather, an inaccurate perception of human origins?
?Creation must now be seen as an unfinished process. God cannot be accurately portrayed as resting from divine labors which are unending. There was no original perfection from which human life could fall into sin. Life has always been evolving?
?There is a vast contrast between the definition of being fallen creatures and that of being incomplete creatures. Our humanity is not flawed by some real or mythical act of disobedience that resulted in our expulsion from some fanciful Garden of Eden. It is rather distorted by the unfinished nature of our humanity. The fact is we do not yet know what it means to be human, since that is a status we have not fully achieved. What human life needs, therefore, is to be called and empowered to enter a new being. We do not need some divine rescue accomplished by an invasive deity to lift us from a fall that never happened and to restore us to a status we have never possessed. The idea that Jesus had to pay the price of our sinfulness is an idea that is bankrupt. When that idea collapses, so do all of those violent, controlling and guilt-producing tactics that are so deeply part of traditional Christianity.?
http://books.google.com/books?id=Sywosa4ee5sC&printsec=toc&dq=%22It+is+a+bad+myth,+a+false+myth,+a+misleading+myth.%22&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0#PPA176,M1
#1 hits me because even though I’ve really tried to live all out in obedience to God, I haven’t seen that it’s mattered in the lives of others more and that is so discouraging. I want to be remembered for loving as Christ loved and thus pointing whomever to Him….
#5 To help others experience the presence and reality of God – through worship, even through their pain and brokenness, through community
#8 This is a very good question and one that hits deeply. We love to talk. We rarely do. This kind of question is what propels and compels me to help worship leaders in developing countries because of what I believe about worship. If I don’t believe it matters in the spiritual formation of an individual then I need to quit leading it. If I believe it matters in my church, I should care that it happens other places. If I am zealous about the glory of God, that zeal should not be limited to my church, USA. I should care that ALL the nations praise Him!
#14 I feel trapped in my job when I have to deal with people that are unhappy over things that are so very small. Dealing with that just wears me out. I also feel trapped by the comfort, and the expectations of what church should be like. I want more simplicity so we can give more, and I want to truly experience the presence of God and not feel like we have to rush through services. I sometimes feel trapped because I think I have way more to offer, to teach, to equip but there’s not an opportunity.
Lets see–when you say “our” generation Im not sure which you are referring to but to give you a better idea I am a 23 year old lady…
1. What do I wish to be remembered for?
Making the world a better place–if only slightly–during my time here
2. Is this really as good as it gets?
I’m convinced that it is not. Life here is too misreable and I know God has plenty ins tore for us
3. How was it that I could be so successful, so fortunate, and yet so frustratingly unfulfilled?
I believe its because our world is so broken–and atleast for me God likes to break my heart for the broken people of this world. I think this may be one of my favorite questions thus far…
4. If your life was absolutely perfect, how would it look to you?
Having more patience and an endless capacity to love.
5. What is my passion?
Love. God. Youth. Underpriveldged communities.
6. How am I wired?
For good things (?) yet most of the time I miss the mark
7. Where do I belong?
Temporarily down here on Earth to serve His will–but my home is There with Him
8. What will I do about what I believe?
Turn it into action and love as best I can
9. Who am I?
I am a Christ follower, a female, bi racial, complex, etc.
10. What do I value?
Love. God. Youth. Broken people. Somehow I feel this question is a duplicate of #5
11. What gifts has God given me? How can I use them?
I like to think love and compassion.
12. What would I be willing to die for?
My faith. My family. My friends.
13. What injustices do I see in the world, that I simply cannot stomach anymore?
The vast majority of people overlooking underpriveldged communities and broken people, the fact that there is so much homeless and hunger in this world, the misery that is seen all around, etc
14. What is it about my job that makes me feel trapped?
I love my job but if anything its only the literal walls of the office–I much prefer being outdoors. I don’t particularly like this question because of the underlying assumption that people do feel trapped at their jobs…
15. When you are in bed at night staring at the ceiling, what questions are you asking yourself?
How can there be so much pain? I think this is also one of my favorite questions…
I’ve thought about going to this conference, but I’m just a little conferenced out these days. why is this one any different?
It’s not really a conference. It’s more of a gathering. And not really “leadership” (as most would define it) but multifacted, interactive, let’s spill our guts about what God is doing.
1. What do I wish to be remembered for? – Being a loyal and honest friend, for being someone who was always willing to listen, gave wise counsel, and loved deeply.
2. Is this really as good as it gets? – Nah….but let’s make it as good as we can get it!
3. How was it that I could be so successful, so fortunate, and yet so frustratingly unfulfilled? – This is my life lesson. It’s not about the success or fortune or career. It’s not even about the people I know, but the people that I want to effect and my relationship with those closest to me, including the only One that brings true fulfillment.
4. If your life was absolutely perfect, how would it look to you? – God loving, edifying, respectful and loyal marriage. Children that are happy, healthy and loving to others,. As much money that I could possibly imagine so that I could give to more people (this sounds cliche, but it’s truly my heart). To adopt as many children from situations beyond their control. To see my husband’s heart’s desire fulfilled and to be able to make an impact in people’s lives through writing relevant literature that touches on issues that people don’t usually get to talk about , but that we all need encouragment in.
5. What is my passion? – I’m still asking God to break my heart for what breaks his. It’s a oddly emotional and frustrating question, because you don’t get it all at one time (and it can change from time to time) For a while, even though I get along with a “guys” mentality, it’s women/children who have my heart who putting themselves into dysfunctional relationships because they have no self-confidence or understanding of their self-worth. Also, those who seem to have such hopelessness and stubbornness as a way to “protect” themselves from having an intimate relationship with the Lord.
6. How am I wired? – Straight forwarded, serious and goofy all rolled into one. I need some encouragement, but ultimately desire respect from my peers and superiors.
7. Where do I belong? – Sometimes I don’t believe anywhere. It’s this sense that I’m never home, yet I have an influence everywhere, however small it is.
8. What will I do about what I believe? – Love, love, love.
9. Who am I? – I’m Lisa…I think this is an evolving and humbling experience to think about this question and I don’t think everyone would want to hear all the thoughts on this :) I’m writing a mission statement….
10. What do I value? – Loyalty, love, respect, family, understanding, challenge, wisdom, discernment, provision/blessing
11. What gifts has God given me? How can I use them? – I believe God has given me words and also a deeper understanding of people. Administration, Wisdom, Discernment are my top 3 spiritual gifts (according to the little survey I took in Bible College).
12. What would I be willing to die for? – my family, my beliefs in the Lord and for someone who didn’t know the Lord
13. What injustices do I see in the world, that I simply cannot stomach anymore? – Legalism, human trafficking
14. What is it about my job that makes me feel trapped? – Lack of control in changing my situation, constant frustration and negativity from people
15. When you are in bed at night staring at the ceiling, what questions are you asking yourself? –
* Why does God have me where he has me?
*When will I be at a place that I fill content?
* When will I choose to have kids?