I came across this blog post recently while doing sermon prep earlier this month. I highly respect Dr. Eric Mason and thought it would be great resource to share on the blog. Enjoy.

It was reported on TMZ that rapper Rick Ross had a medical crisis mid flight to Memphis and had to be hospitalized (Since writing this he has had another seizure). I was made aware of his condition from various tweets I saw stream across my computer screen asking for prayer on his behalf.

At the thought of losing yet another rapper suddenly, I began to reflect on my interaction with the music of Rick Ross. The first time I heard the syrupy organ notes and then the almost heavenly chorus of Hustlin’  I was hooked. The instrumental alone feels larger than life. Add to it the grandeur of Rick Ross’s lyrics it was an instant Southern hip-hop classic in my mind.

But before I’m a hip-hop fan, I’m a Christian. Not only am I a Christian, I’m a minister to people highly influenced by hip-hop culture. It’s with that in mind that I write this post.

After hearing about Rick Ross’s emergency, I decided to surf the web looking to see what he’s been up to recently. I wasn’t expecting to find much. I knew I probably would not be able to stomach an entire music video, but I was not expecting there to be any direct references to an attribute of God. To my surprise the name of his next album will attempt to demean the great forgiveness of God, while also celebrating the depravity of man.

His upcoming album is called ‘God Forgives I Don’t’. Which, in itself is grievous. Then I stumbled across a newly released video called ‘By Any Means’ where he and others stand in front of murals of Malcolm X and taking his famous quote, “By any means necessary”, out of context to be used as a motto by hustlers to get rich, no matter the cost.  Although I am not a Muslim, I was surprised to see such blatant disrespect shown to their religion in particular and religious faith in general in his chorus. Statements such as “Pork on the fork, widen the pot.” and “Whatever your religion, kiss the ring on the Don.”

In recent years I have taken an unintended yet very encouraging sabbatical of sorts from the “secular” rap game. I’m not up on the latest artists, have’t seen the videos, don’t read the articles and blogs flowing the who’s who of rap culture. So today it is with shame in my heart that I realized for years that I have listened to, and sang along with men and women as they blasphemed the God of the Bible. This is not the first occurrence of such strong statements but it may be the first time that the statements grieved me and moved me in prayer for their souls and into the scriptures for God’s response to such disrespect.

Ultimately, I do not judge Rick Ross for his conduct and his speech (1 Cor. 5:12-13) but I grieve for him.

The prophet Daniel gave a very strong warning to a young king who claimed to know the power of God but sought to make himself seem higher than God to his peers.

These are the words spoken to King Belshazzar that I would share with Rick Ross if I had the chance.

“but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.” Daniel 5:23

Daniel went on to tell the king that God had judged his life and he was found wanting (He did not measure up to God’s holy standard). And that God had divided his kingdom (Belshazzar) among other rulers. That same night Belshazzar was killed and could take none of his wealth with him.  Daniel 5:24-31 

Jesus asked his disciples “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” Mark 8:36 The implied answer being, It profits a man nothing to gain the whole world if he is not justified before God. It would be an eternal loss.

That’s my fear for Rick Ross in particular but anyone I come into contact with who does not know God and has not dug into the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph.3:7-8).

So whether Rick Ross forgives or not, God does, and that’s all that matters. I pray this medical emergency be a catalyst for Rick Ross to reflect upon the mercies of God and may God use it to save his soul.

Baby vs. Sleep

My son is a fighter. He has not been in a street fight, or a boxing ring, or even swung a fist at another individual. But every everyday and especially the evenings he fights very hard. Our bedtime routine that my wife has crafted has worked very well for us. Promptly at 8:30 my son is stripped of all his clothing, he is then placed in a warm bath where he has made it his goal to either splash all the water out or to drink all the water (there have been nights when he has come very close). After his bath he is put in a new diaper and pj’s, then the lights are dimmed a bottle is placed in his mouth and we feed him for the last time before bed. If he is very tired, immediately after the bottle is finished  he turns his head and without any hesitation falls into a deep sleep. That happens on rare occasions. Like I said before my son is a fighter and sleep is his opponent.

Looks Like Another Sleep TKO

Typically while feeding him the bottle in the low light my son is working on his strategy to fight for the evening. His strategy usually includes sporadic turning over, or waving his arms and legs vehemently in hopes of fighting sleep. If he works his plan well, he comes out of the gate like a wild beast. He flips over and goes into action, doing anything and everything to keep himself awake. Sleep on the other hand is like Muhammad Ali doing the “rope-a-dope” swiftly yet patiently wearing down his opponent waiting for the opportune moment to land the knock out punch. And that is exactly the position my son finds himself in every night. He rarely makes it past the first round of the bout. After he is placed in his crib(awake, because I was falling asleep and he wasn’t), I will here the fight continue maybe 1 1/2 minutes longer and then silence. DING! DING !DING! The fight is over folks, he is TKO! This is cute when watching my son every night fall victim to his supposed arch nemesis sleep.

The Bigger They Are The Harder They Fall

It is not so cute as a man struggling to stay alert all day and everyday because I have become better at fighting sleep but worse at hiding the beating I get from from my lack of sleep.  But even if you can hide the marks and bruises with coffee, caffeine drinks and loud music, sleep is still doing the rope-a-dope in your life. You fight and fight, swing and fight some more. And then, BOOM! You’re laid flat taking more time to recoop from your lack of sleep. Whole Saturdays gone. Late most mornings. Angry and rude most mornings because we have stayed up too late and the morning has come too soon. I find it funny that in our childhood we hate sleep for fear we may miss something. In our teen years we sleep walk through life with everyone yelling at us to wake up. And in our adult days we fend off sleep like an enemy again to our own demise. Now I know I have some hustlers out there who work into the wee hours of the morning, creating and cultivating as man was commanded to do in the beginning, but many of those guys wake up with zeal and excitement because of what the next day holds in opportunities. But many like myself are slaves of late night TV, web surfing and youtube videos. We start at 830 with a show or funny video clip and before we know it it’s 3am and we need to be up in a few hours and POOF! The important thing that needs to be done by the morning comes to mind and we haven’t started at all. Thus the cycle continues. Back to beefin’ with sleep, and our race to a sleepless existence begins again.

When will we learn to embrace sleep as a friend and not an enemy? With the setting of the sun every evening is yet another reminder that we are in need of rest. Just like the routine mapped out for my son every evening, God has established a routine in creation. Sleep is not to our detriment it is for our benefit. God graciously dims the lights and creates an environment for our rest and relaxation. But like little children who think they will miss out on something epic we aimlessly fight the natural order of things to no avail.

God Never Sleeps

What I must learn to do is rest in the fact that God is not like man.

“He will not let your foot be moved;

he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.”

God who holds my life in his hand never gets tired and never sleeps. He on duty 24/7, 365 days a year for all eternity. The sovereign rule of God should put the restless believer at peace knowing that God is on duty on his behalf and for His glory.

With that I say goodnight as I finishing writing this at 11:02 pm. My son will be up bright and early tomorrow ready to tackle  the world. Will I be able to do the same?

A few practical thoughts:

Study yourself- Figure out how many hours of sleep a night you need. Not how little you can survive without. The recommended amount for most adults is 6-9 hours every night. We are all different and may need more or less than that so study yourself to see what works best.

After you know how many hours you need ,

Make a plan - Most of the time we go to bed so late is because we don’t have a plan to get to bed by a decent hour. I don’t have the luxury of setting a specific bedtime every night with my various responsibilities in the evenings but I do have a goal to be in bed by 11.  I wish I could go back to the days when 9pm was my mandatory bedtime every night except on the weekend, but it’s no longer an option. So if you need veg time in front of the tube for a little while set your tv to sleep at a certain time and then go to bed.  But beware, mental stimulation from watching an intense, funny, horror movie or TV show may make it difficult to fall asleep. I recommend reading and/or journaling before bed. It helps to reflect on the day and helps the mind to calm down after a long day.

Set the mood - Cut off the lights! An hour to half hour before bed begin to minimize the amount of lights that are on throughout your house. Bright lights also act as a stimulus so dimming them or cutting them off help to calm the nerves and prepare the body for sleep. Don’t sit in front of a computer monitor until the last moment before bed, give yourself 15 minutes or more to relax. otherwise your mind will still be racing and it will be hard to fall asleep. Play some melodic music in the background. This also can be soothing and relaxing thus helping you to relax.

Go to bed - Just do it. My parents you to tell me when I would keep coming in to the living room to tell them I couldn’t sleep, “If you go lay down, and close your eyes maybe you will sleep!” And they were right. Go into your bedroom, pull back the covers, lay down, and close your eyes. Maybe, you will fall asleep.

These techniques may not work at first because we have gone so long without sleep that it may take a while for your body to adjust. But with enough practice you’ll be sleeping like a new born baby. And hopefully not crying like one first thing in the morning.

I believe God has called me to church planting. It was not my initial desire by any means but as I grew in my understanding of scripture, a deep desire to see disciples raised up in pursuit of Jesus, and some entrepreneurial juices flowing, God has steadily moved me in that direction. I must admit all the cool things that surround it these days make church planting seem all the more enticing. But even with all the cool things surrounding church planting, it is certainly not enough to motivate me into becoming a church planter.

Over the past year, I have been given an incredible opportunity to scratch and sniff the surface of all things to do with church planting. Go to the conferences, meet the mega-pastors, read the newly published books, and scroll the endless tweets. I think by far the most sobering thing about planting or even pastoring is to be around men who are on the field. Not the cool guys on the big screen or even your computer screen, but the men laboring in and amongst their wayward sheep. The pastors who have little time to tweet about all the huge events going on at their church because there aren’t any. The planter who can’t afford to go to the conferences. The men who love God and preach out of their weakness, week in and week out. These men I believe are living in the reality of what it means to be a church planter.  It’s not always glamorous, it’s difficult, many of your closest friends and relatives don’t understand why you do what you do. It’s a lonely road, travelled for the sake of God’s glory. That in my opinion is the stark reality of church planting from what I have seen in person compared to the big screen.

Last year, Tom Ascol posted an excerpt from the Sword and Trowel, the magazine edited by Charles Spurgeon during his 19th century ministry in London, on the Founders Blog. This excerpt is taken from an article by Edward Leach that appeared in the June 1869 issue. In it you will find a much different church planter than the ones presented in Xian pop-culture, it in you will find the planter I desire God to make me.

The @ThriveInTheCity Conf. was DOPE!! I’m ’bout to blow up. Legacy, ManUP, Reach Records, Humble Beast, etc–► the revolution is now!

People spend their whole lives trying to find identity and community. If they don’t get these in church, they’ll get it somewhere else.

What Jesus did with young folk is give them responsibility, and an opportunity to fail, and have that interpreted for their formation.

If you realize that it’s about the gospel, the Kingdom, then you realize that you have to partner with other churches in your community.

If you think that your local church IS the Kingdom, you’re confused. #InstitutionalNarcissism @drantbradley

Effective theological exegetes need to read anthropology, history, sociology, psychology, etc. #ForTheGospel

Theologians of the past were all cross-disciplinary, fluent in sociology, psychology, economics so that they could really help folk.

The theology that will come to serve the urban context in the future has not yet been written #TheologyIsASocialConstruct @drantbradley

“Justice is nothing outside the context of love.” @drantbradley #thriving

You can’t just parachute some biblical doctrine into the hood and expect people to line up for it. #TranslateDoctrine

“church planting without love is narcissism.” @drantbradley

We want to make everything more complicated than it needs to be. Jesus says to love God and love your neighbor. #LoveHermeneutic #Simple

This is the first time in African-American history that we’ve had this many black folk unchurched. #Unprecedented

As urban churches, we may have limited resources, but when we lift them up to the Limitless One, He will multiply them for His glory.

All of my training, all of my funding are just tools that become released through prayer. #BeAPrayingMan

A church plant will kill your marriage if it’s not strong. #LoveYourWife #DontDisqualifyYourself #NoRaggedyMarriages

There’s things that wisdom can teach you that seminary can’t. #SpiritualFathersImpartWisdom

We want to encourage young men who feel called to ministry to sit with and under older brothers in the faith. #MultitudeOfCounselors #Submit

People who buck processes probably can’t run one for us. #Submission #Maturity

Give your disciples room to fail but grace to recover. -Carl Ellis @ThriveInTheCity

Don’t ever forget this: the discipleship process is not about you! The Holy Spirit through the Word of God will do the heavy lifting!

It’s good to remember that the discipleship process is a bumpy windy road. #LongHaulView

If you’re gonna apply Scripture, you gotta know the Author. #HolyGhostIllumination

You gotta be able to do “jazz theology” and improvise in the situation that you are in. #KnowThatBible

Because we focus on making converts, we short-circuit the disciple making process.

Jephthah was a gang-banger and hung out with morally bankrupt, worthless dudes. Judges 11:3 #Contextualize!

We need to be planting nuggets of God’s truth into people’s consciousnesses. #Nouthetic

Discipleship begins when you first engage someone. There is pre-conversion and post-conversion discipleship. #JesusMakesConverts

There is a difference between a disciple and a convert. We want to make converts and let Jesus make disciples. This is backward.

Don’t give the good words of Scripture to Marxist and Liberation theologians. – Eldin Villafane

The secret of any urban ministry is our knees. Prayer is a powerful tool in our ministry toolbox.

Our gospel is one of peace; a total, comprehensive, and holistic message. #Shalom

There is no square inch in the whole domain of our human existence where Christ, who is sovereign over all, doesn’t cry, “MINE!” #LordOfAll

Everything is spiritual! There is no division of “secular” and “spiritual”. #FalseDichotomy

Shalom is completeness, wholeness, harmony, justice, comfort, peace. It covers all major categories of life. A rich & powerful word.

Jer 29 tells us how to relate to urban context – our presence, it’s / our peace, our prayer. – Eldin Villafane

Shalom gets to the heart of the gospel and what we are about in urban ministry.

God’s people-even under God’s judgment-remain God’s people on God’s mission. -Chris. Wright on exiled Israel

When we read our Bibles Christo-centrically, we will not be liable to fall into the pit of prosperity theology. #HermeneuticalKey

We must read our Bibles Christo-centrically. #Hermeneutics

Our theology needs to hit the block. #ContextualizedMinistry

We desire to build our resource stream around what the urban leader needs. #Equip

The majority of our ministry needs to concern itself with engaging actual lost people rather than with pacifying found people.

The Church must begin to reflect the new glocal landscape and see itself as a pioneering gospel community.

Sitting, soaking, and submitting: what young leaders in the church need to do more of.

Timothy is one of the key participants in Paul’s hybrid missionary ministry. #HybridLeader

For every turmoil that ethnic minorities have gone through, God wants to leverage that for the glory of the gospel.

Paul was called by Jesus to be a hybrid leader. Acts 9:10-19 #HybridLeader

Younger men in the church need to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God by putting themselves under ecclesiological authority.

The Church is the breeding ground for hybrid leadership. Acts 13:1-3

You serve a God who is able to go into any context and tear it up for His namesake! #SoliDeoGloria #Contextualization

Jesus Christ is the true Hybrid. #HybridLeader Phil. 2

The gospel penetrates all contexts and all places.

To be “color blind” is to ignore God’s artistry! #Race #Ethnicity

Nothing can stand in the way or thwart the gospel’s power! #OmnipotenceInAMessage

The gospel is hybrid by nature. Romans 1:16 #BiblicalBasisForHybridLeader

Cultural imperialism is the practice of promoting/distinguishing/artificially injecting the culture or language of 1 culture into another.

Sociology is not supposed to precede our theology. Our Bible needs to drive our sociological perspectives! #GodsWordIsPreeminent

We need interconnected dialogue between generations to missionally prosper for the glory of God. #IntergenerationalConnectivity

The hip-hop/eclectic generation values realness and rawness, regardless of the behavior. #CulturalExegesis

You gotta know both the Scriptures and the context you are ministering in. #DualExegesis

“This generation got pastors, they just ain’t in churches.” – @pastoremase @ThriveInTheCity

You have to know the philosophies and theologies that have impacted the inner city if you are going to work there.

Dr. Mason speaking now on “The Hybrid Leader: Bred for Complex Glocal Contexts.”

Get your potential supporters in your car and drive them to the inner city you want to plant in. #EngageThem

We are here to help you personally & relationally to connect you with church planting resources. #Thriving

Those who have not made it in church plants are mavericks. #SeekCounsel

We are looking to establish healthy, long-term partnerships between urban and suburban churches. #OneBodyInChrist

Don’t expend your time and energy talking to the wrong person in a potential supporting church. #RedeemTheTime

Ensure that you stay in touch with your supporting churches to keep the relationship vibrant and your support flowing through.

Be sure your expectations and the expectations of your supporting churches are clear and up front.

Urban-suburban partnerships develop slowly and the planter needs patience in these situations.

Suburban churches are increasingly “city-facing” and willing to help support urban church planters. #GospelPartnership

Inner city planters need to look for shared theology and shared values with suburban ministers for relationships to begin and flourish.

A couple things come to mind

1. I love the ocean, but I’m not diving into a deep dark hole anywhere!

2. Even if this is done on more than one breath, like I said before , THIS GUY IS A BEAST!

Boys are trained from a young age to be courteous to girls, defend their sisters, respect women, and protect their wives. And many times we fall short. But this guy…NO SIR! When his girl was disrespected in a most horrendous fashion, he responded in kind by beating the brakes off em! And not just the perpetrator but his friend as well!

VIDEO DUDE I SALUTE YOU!

The Three Perpetuating Phases of Disciple Making and Church Planting

1. Making disciples results in the formation of new churches.

Proclaiming the Gospel to all nations in the power of the Spirit consistently results in the establishment of new gospel communities. Planted churches reproduce themselves and make disciples by planting other churches.

Communities of believers are often called by the Holy Spirit to send people to specific places where the gospel is not preached and the result will be a new church. In Acts 13, the body was gathered together and worshipping when the Holy Spirit interrupted them to set apart Paul and Barnabas for the work He had called them. The church prayed and fasted and then laid hands on them to send them out to plant many churches where no church existed.

2. Planting new churches results in more disciples.

The Great Commission was given in a church-planting context. The early believers were to go, make disciples, baptize, and teach. The only way for this mandate to be carried out until Christ’s advent was through communities of believers in particular geographic areas. At the inception of Jesus’s words, only one such community existed. So it was out of necessity and faithfulness that other communities would have to be birthed. (JD Payne, pdf)

The Great Commission is a call to make disciples who will partner with a community of believers who are on mission to make disciples. It is impossible to separate missions and evangelism from the role of the local church.

It is documented often that new churches experience significantly more conversions and baptisms in their early church-planting years compared to mature churches. “Churches over fifteen years of age win an average of only three people to Christ per year for every one hundred church members. Churches three years to fifteen years old win an average of five people to Christ per year for every one hundred church members, but churches under three years of age win an average of ten people to Christ per year for every one hundred church members.” (McNichol)

3. Planting new churches continually renews the established Church.

As a congregation ages, powerful internal institutional pressures lead it to allocate most of its resources and energy toward the concerns of its members and constituents, rather than toward the needy harvest. An established church can too easily get absorbed with the busyness of administration or the various programs of the church so that keeping the fellowship happy becomes the priority.

It will not hurt the church if people are called away to go and make disciples elsewhere. It will hurt the mission if they stay put. As I read about the church in Jerusalem and Antioch, I see them identifying, equipping and sending men to plant churches.

I attest that every local church should be constantly and intentionally discipling, training, developing and then sending its best men out into mission—to make disciples of all nations. We have to get out of the mindset of building up one single church and start developing a Kingdom mindset, a movement mindset. The mission of the church is about the movement of God and not about the monument to our self or our denomination or our tribe.

Tim Keller said, “Vigorous church planting is one of the best ways to renew the existing churches of a city, as well as the best single way to grow the whole Body of Christ in a city.”

Scott Thomas is the president of the Acts 29, the church-planting network co-founded by Pastor Mark in 2000.

Article excerpt from Mars Hill Blog