Shepherding Movement: TNG?

I now have BC license plates on the car, which means that certain road warrior types will now allow me to merge into traffic, which seemed to be a barrier when I still had Ontario plates.

Coming out of a discussion that occurred yesterday at The Bean Scene here in Kelowna, Len Hjalmarson posted some thoughts on our conversational topics. I had mentioned (as Len reports) that conditions in the current state of the church are perhaps setting us up for another version of the Shepherding Movement which caused so much damage in the 1970's and 1980's.

Allow me to flesh out (briefly) some of the parallels that I have observed, which are causing me concern:

Then: Many anti-establishment hippies become followers of Jesus through the Jesus Movement, but hold a real distrust of "the man" (authority)

Now: Emerging generations are committed to being followers of Jesus, but have developed a suspicion and distrust of hierarchical, CEO-style leadership (authority)

Then: A genuine hunger for relationships; Christian communes with little or no connection to established churches/ministries spring up

Now: A genuine hunger for relationships; destructured house groups/simple churches with little or no connection to established churches/ministries spring up

Then: Cultural changes (the aftermath of Vietnam, Watergate, and the 60's in general) creates anxiety in many, resulting in a felt need for stability and some level of certainty

Now: Cultural changes (post-modern cultural transition, "fatherless generation") creates anxiety and restlessness for many, resulting in a felt need for relational stability and some level of certainty

Then: Sincere, older believers seek to minister and disciple these "outside the box" followers of Jesus (books, cassettes, conferences, personal mentoring)

Now: Sincere, older believers seek to minister and disciple (spiritual formation) these "churchless faith" followers of Jesus (books, blogs, websites, conferences, personal mentoring)

Then: The question of accountability and authority becomes problematic; the teaching on "covering" and "being under authority" (based largely on Watchman Nee's writings) is given prominence

Now: The question of accountability and authority continues to be problematic; despite the collapse of the Shepherding Movement, the concepts of "covering" and "under authority" have not gone away

Then: While not originally intended, hierarchical power structures eventually develop to safeguard conformity to accepted standards

Now: While not originally planned, community power -- with the unspoken threat of "shunning" -- develops to safeguard conformity to accepted standards (and all house groups/simple churches have leaders, which becomes immediately apparent if something that threatens the status quo of the group is introduced)

---

I'm not suggesting that we can't avoid another controlling, abusive version of the Shepherding Movement developing in the 21st century; I'm not even suggesting that most of us are susceptible. Most of us would probably assume that we're far too saavy and discerning to get sucked into something like that (which would be a little naive).

My main concern is that we carefully and prayerfully develop a solid understanding of how spiritual formation (discipleship), authority, and accountability function in a healthy, biblically-based way, before the inevitable pendulum swing creates a vacuum that results in Shepherding Movement: The Next Generation.

Where is God these days?

One of the things I always appreciated about the Vineyard movement was their emphasis on "blessing what the Father is doing"; in other words, they were always encouraging people to follow the example of Jesus:

Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." (John 5:19)

This simple approach was devastatingly effective in keeping man-made agendas at bay. To stop and ask each other, "What is God doing, right now, among us? What is He saying to us?", meant that as a community, we were always having to submit ourselves to the Lordship of the Holy Spirit (see the Nicene Creed for a historical understanding of the Lordship of the Holy Spirit in the early church).

I find myself noticing, from time to time, that I don't hear the question "what is God saying/doing?" very much anymore. I hear a lot of (good and necessary) discussion on ecclesiology and missiology (and I'm often knee-deep-in-sheep when it comes to those discussions myself), but every now and then, I want to pull us all back to the simple question, "what is the Father doing, that we as His children, followers, disciples, and servants should be paying attention to"?

Any thoughts?

Cardboard Jungle & Tripod

"Why do I get the feeling that we've just picked up another pathetic life-form?" Obi-Wan Kenobi The Phantom Menace

We've finally surfaced in Kelowna, and we're "settling in", which, being translated, means that we're gradually and heroically combatting the cardboard jungle that our house resembles, finding things in various and sundry locations, and -- this is the hard part -- figuring out where the things that have been unpacked should go.

Actually, we've been here for six days, but haven't had access to our computer until late yesterday. Along the way (in Manitoba), we did pick up another pathetic life-form, a ten-week-old kitten that had picked a fight with a hay baler and (predictably) lost. From a neighbouring farm, it had crawled through three miles of bush to arrive at my mother-in-law's homestead, whereupon it was immediately adopted by each and every member of our family.

A subsequent trip to a vet in Winnipeg took care of the severely damaged rear leg, and then we had a three-legged kitten joining our caravan across Canada. During our week in Winnipeg, PT's oldest daughter, Sharayah, won the "name the kitten" contest by suggesting the name "Tripod" -- and hat tips all around to PT's family of six (and pets including a Great Dane) for hosting our family of five and three pets for a whole week.

So, now we're back in British Columbia, waging war against the cardboard menace, and having people like Len Hjalmarson and his wife Betty dropping by with a plate of fresh muffins (which Len baked himself), and meeting numerous friends from the Kelowna Vineyard who were once part of the saga of Winnipeg Centre Vineyard.

Our journey with YWAM Okanagan begins in earnest next spring, although we'll be helping out around the base in the months preceding our DTS (Discipleship Training School). In the meantime, I got a job at Starbucks starting tomorrow.

Soul Sanctuary

In the hours just before our first-ever Kings Head Theology Pub last Friday, Brother Maynard and I had the opportunity and privilege to have lunch with Gerry Michalski, the planting pastor of Soul Sanctuary in Winnipeg.

Gerry and I knew each other in the mid-90's when we were both youth pastors in Victoria BC, and have spordically kept in touch since we both landed in Winnipeg in 1997.

Last Friday was a chance to catch up with Gerry and hear about his new church plant for the emerging generations. I was encouraged again, as I was in conversation with Pernell Goodyear of The Freeway in Hamilton (an emerging church plant within the Salvation Army), to hear that Gerry's denominational home, the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada is similarly encouraging, and providing start-up funding, for the beginning of a different way of doing church within their denomination.

Much of Gerry, Maynard's and my conversation revolved around the issues of leadership, "releasing" people into ministry, and hearing what has been growing and challenging in the journey of Soul Sanctuary. For me, it was another great time of hearing:

1. The excitement, terror, questioning and faith of a new church planter,
   
   
2. The good news that another denomination is actually supporting new ventures that explore alternative ways of expressing the Faith in the gathered Body, and
   
   
3. Catching up on a pastoral associate that I've known in several different settings, and hearing his journey over the past few years.

I hope to be able to continue, as time goes on, providing posts that highlight some of the emerging churches and church-planters that I come into contact with. I love a good re-construction!

Thoughts on the Wrestle

Just before the Kings Head Theology Pub last Friday, Grace left a comment asking about how we would envision a missional emerging church; thinking this was a tongue-in-cheek question, I wrote a brief, tongue-in-cheek answer: (summary) "beer, friendship, talk about God". What follows is our ensuing correspondence, which Brother Maynard has successfully admonished me to post in its entirety as a blog entry.

Robby, Thanks for the simple answer. I already know how to do that.

However, it's likely that we American women will start our local chapter at the wine bar.

I'll be looking forward to whatever insights you continue to share.

Grace

Grace,

It's a big question, yes, and our answer was short and -- as you pointed out -- you already know how to do that (and my wife would probably agree with you about the wine bar, although she enjoys Guinness as well).

Part of the strength of the emerging church -- and I truly don't mean this as a way of dodging your question -- is that each group of people has to wrestle through what it looks like for their own unique context. There are emerging Baptist, Pentecostal, Salvation Army, and Mennonite groups that I'm aware of, and they seem to be incorporating bits and pieces from here and there, while retaining an appreciation and expression that is borne out of their denominational backgrounds (and some are still with their denominations, just doing things differently).

Other groups, like the one that Brother Maynard is a part of, have removed themselves from their original churches, and meet as a house church. They focus on community, shared meals/BBQ's, and are trying to find ways of ministering to their literal neighbours on their street. Some families are actually moving to that neighbourhood so they can be a combined presence. In fact, one of the women at the Kings Head on Friday night was one of their not-yet-following-Jesus neighbours; she had a lot of fun, and I met her husband the next night at a BBQ at Ken The Reluctant Blogger's place.

So, even from the first-ever theology pub at the Kings Head, a woman from Maynard's group was already living what their group is trying to wrestle with: how to impact their neighbours as Christians.

I've visited your blog several times, and from reading your posts, you have a great head start already on wrestling through your own expression of being a missional community in a postmodern, post-Christian culture. I suspect -- if you haven't found this already -- that your blog is going to be a real resource for people that you're in relationship with.

Wendy & I used to sometimes be frustrated with Todd Hunter (our church-planting coach), when we'd ask him questions about doing church differently, and he'd say something to the effect of "you're already on the right track -- just keep going for it"!

But Todd was right in this: every group has to wrestle through it for themselves, partly because every group is unique, but also because in order to truly "own" whatever expression you develop of being a Community of Faith, it has to be your convictions, based on your honest wrestling.

One of the reasons I value the online conversation, as well as Kings Head evenings whenever they happen, is that we learn from each other, but we won't necessary do things exactly like each other. That's what made answering your question difficult, and also what makes the ongoing online conversation so valuable.

(When I first read your comment above, I wondered if perhaps I had offended you with our answer; if that was/is the case, please forgive me. Sometimes, when I try to be funny online, it comes across wrong because it's hard to read "tone of voice" into words on a screen. Again, if I caused any offence, I am truly sorry.)

Robbymac

Robby,

Sorry to worry you. I should have added a smiley to my comment. I just meant that we've got the drinking and hanging out with friends part down pat.

It's the rest of it that keeps me wondering and, as you said, wrestling. I understand what you're saying about discovering our unique expression.

I know the question was difficult, and I was a bit tongue-in-cheek in asking, but it is always helpful to hear what others are doing and learning.

Thanks for taking the time to give me such a thorough response. In the meantime, I'll keep looking for the easy answer.

Grace

Grace, I thought your original question was sorta tongue-in-cheek (given its breadth), but I just wanted to be sure. Thanks for your clarification, and if you ever do find an easy answer, let us know, okay?

Robbymac

---

So, there you have it. Some thoughts on the ongoing wrestle, and also the relief of knowing the Grace and I are cool with each other.

Post-Kings Head

During last night's King's Head theology pub, it occurred to me that I started this blog two years ago today. Which of course led to another "toast" around the table -- predominantly Guinness, with a few drinking other, lesser brews.

The pub was really crowded last night, and conversation as an entire table (all ten of us) was difficult for some time, but people simply began to have smaller conversations around the table, until we were able -- a hour or so later -- to actually hear everyone and could have a larger, round-table discussion (our table was round).

It was amazing to see how quickly people who had never met before -- including Norm, who lurks around various blogs but had never commented, and just showed up hoping to spot the theology freaks (not hard, apparently) -- just began talking together, sharing their stories, and we were one of the loudest tables in terms of laughter in the pub that night.

At one point, I was having a conversation where I was asked, "When things go bad, how do you keep from losing your faith?" The level of vulnerability and openness was incredible. I was also privileged to hear bits and pieces of other's journeys (the good, the bad, and the ugly), and again, the vulnerability and openness was quite profound.

Emerging Grace had asked us yesterday, "How do you envision a more missional or emerging church expression?"

When I posed this question to the entire group, Ken (The Reluctant Blogger) suggested, "It looks just like this." Meaning a group of Christians sitting around a pub table, with Guinness, being authentic and honest with each other, and enjoying friendship and talking about God.

Optional addition: Jamie Arpin-Ricci chimed in that a few Canadians (the people, not the beer) should ideally be a part of any grouping, while Dan-D suggested that the beer should be required to be Guinness, or at least a Canadian brew (apparently, last night's conventional wisdom agreed that "American beer" is an oxymoron).

There was some discussion about Emergent Canada starting up, which Jamie and the Tall Skinny Kiwi had already started blogging about. We bounced the topic around for awhile -- the place had quieted to the point where we could finally all hear each other -- and came up with this:

1. We're all in favour of the expanding conversation in Canada, which Jordon Cooper has been trying to faciliate through Resonate.ca for over a year already.
   
   Jordon has wisely recognized the regional diversity of Canada makes a unified, national voice difficult, so he's been encouraging people to gather regionally as they see fit. Regionality in Canada is much more pronounced that in the USA, and so while Emergent Canada is great as a resource and sounding board, the various regions of Canada will likely have a fairly strong regional voice amongst themselves.
   
   
2. There was concern over "franchising" or "branding". We all had generally positive opinions of the work that Emergent Village US and Emergent UK are doing, but a sticking point was "paying for friendship" -- you have to make donations to Emergent Village to be a part of the conversation, which hasn't gone over that well with quite a number of people. The concensus seemed to be that if Emergent simply asked for donations (perhaps through a PayPal link on their site), people would be willing to help out as they could, but the idea that donations were required for "friendship" wasn't as appealing.
   
   
3. The most important piece, for me at least, was that we need to reaffirm a commitment, as bloggers, to being in conversation with each other. The sudden appearance of Emergent Canada caught many off-guard, and the question that seemed to sum it up was, "Who are these guys, anyway? Have any of us heard of them, or have they been in the conversation already on your blog(s)?"
   
   The answer to this, as Jordon Cooper pointed out, is to go to the Emergent Village Canada website, fill out the survey, and get involved in the conversation anyway. Ultimately, it doesn't matter if they've been in the conversation before -- if anything, those of us who have been at this longer, should be welcoming their voice and their efforts, and building bridges.

When we finally left (around midnight), there was a general feeling of "this was a great first outing -- let's do it again!", which I'm sure Brother Maynard, having survived with his secret identity intact, would be willing to help facilitate (he's downstairs wanting coffee right now, so I'll "recruit" him before leaving town on Monday).

UPDATE: I tried following my own advice, and went to fill out the survey, except that I couldn't scroll down to complete the survey, or even click a "submit" button to send even a partially completed finished version. I blame it on my having to use a non-Macintosh computer. Hopefully, this will be corrected soon!

Update on King's Head Theology Pub

For all those who have set their hearts on pilgrimmage and are joining us this Friday night in Winnipeg at the King's Head Pub, an important bit of breaking news follows:

We're starting at 7:30 instead of 8:00 because apparently Brother Maynard turns into a pumpkin or some other form of vegetable matter after 10:00.

While I'm as curious as the next person to see exactly what manner of vegetative lifeform Brother Maynard may morph into, he is a husband and father, so in deference to his lovely wife and adorable children -- who probably prefer his continued non-vegetative presence -- we'll amend the beginning time to 7:30 PM instead.

See y'all there!

Attention: Dan-D from Canada!!

You've mentioned a couple of times in the comments to previous posts that you'd like to grab a coffee/brew when I'm in Winnipeg...

Well, Brother Maynard and I are issuing an invitation for you -- and any others within driving distance of downtown Winnipeg -- to join us (and others) for a "theology pub night" this Friday, August 12, 8:00 PM at the theological pub shrine called "The King's Head" -- 120 King Street (map can be found here).

Reasons you don't want to miss this:

1. Enjoy the finest brews (especially Guinness) at one of Winnipeg's finest pubs.
   
2. Enjoy theological musings and general ecclesiastical mayhem with Brother Maynard, Robbymac, Jamie Arpin-Ricci (of Emergent Voyageurs notoriety), among others whom Brother Maynard knows and I'm about to meet.
   
3. Discover Brother Maynard's secret identity!! Of course, you must be sworn to secrecy later. Consider it an initiation rite or something.
   
4. We're always interested in meeting another emerging-type Winnipegger.

Hope to see you there. And any others who are drawn to set their hearts on pilgrimage and join us this Friday, feel free to stop by. We'll be the theological freaks; easy to spot.

Happy/Grumpy Holiness

During a "chat on the front steps" coversation yesterday, a good friend of mine (and former next-door neighbour) made the following comment:

"They (the church he had visited in the States recently) are very serious about holiness, but it's a happy holiness, not a grumpy one."

I had to laugh, because I knew exactly what he was referring to. Some people who live exemplary lives of holiness, purity, and zeal for Jesus are so refreshing to be around. They exude life, the life of Jesus.

Others are technically living a life separated from the world, but they are rigid, judgmental, and seem to have the "gift of condemnation". They can suck the life right out of you, and often they're quite bitter about how others don't live up to their standards.

It's not unlike how some people approach prophetic ministry. People's personal "schtuff" gets in the way of a simple message that God may be speaking through them. Something as simple as "God loves you" can come out in radically different ways, depending if the person has happy holiness or grumpy holiness.

• Happy
  
  "God wants to remind you how much He loves you. The Father wants you to know that you are precious to Him."
  
  
• Grumpy
  
  "Have you not heard? Have I not said? Thus saith the Lord, how many times must you hear that you are loved before you believe it? Jesus died on the Cross, isn't that enough?"

Same message: God loves you. Different flavours, depending on how the word is delivered. One brings life, the other condemnation.

My neighbour's comment reminds me of one of my favourite "Ministry 101" Bible verses, Proverbs 18:21:

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

I know which kind of people I prefer to hang out with! And it's my prayer that I am also someone who is growing in a happy holiness.

Wild at Leadership

Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment, but let me comment a bit on John Eldridge's Wild At Heart, especially as I think it pertains somewhat to leadership in the emerging church.

One of my professors at seminary really disliked everything Eldridge wrote, and regularly referred to Wild At Heart as a great step backwards into patriarchical attitudes and the disempowering of the feminine voice. To listen to her, you'd get the impression that Eldridge was Bill Gothard: The Next Generation, wanting to place women back under God's chain of command the way ol' Bill thought she should be.

Of course, this particular professor also was reknown for her seething diatribes against all things Pentecostal, Charismatic, and especially the Vineyard, so I figured if she could be so passionately wrong about that, maybe her reaction to Eldridge was similarly over-stated. So, happening to notice Eldridge's book in a local Chapters store -- where, of course, it's far cheaper than if I bought it from a Christian Book & Trinket Shop -- I decided to buy it and give it a read.

There were a number of places where I found myself heartily agreeing with Eldridge, and others where I wasn't in agreement. But his discussion on the emasculation of men twigged an idea in my mind about the emasculation of leadership in the emerging church.

See? Even when reading a book that has nothing to do with the emerging church or leadership, somehow my mind ends up there anyhow...

One of Eldrige's biggest beefs is that he feels that our contemporary society has emasculated and "tamed" men, resulting in a lack of masculine identity and a host of males that fit into the category of a "shell of a man".

Whether or not -- or to what extent -- you might agree with Eldridge's assessment, in some parts of the emerging church, I believe the same thing has been done to people with leadership gifting. In our rush to avoid the abusive and authoritarian models of church leadership that seem to crop up everywhere -- whether it's the CEO model where the "boss" controls everything and fires dissidents, or the "touch not the Lord's anointed" charismatic version that silences all but the "yes-men" -- many have tossed the Spirit-given gift of leadership out with the authoritarian bathwater.

Some house churches insist that their level playing field approach means that there's no leadership but God's. Usually, it only takes visiting these groups once or twice before the real leaders become fairly obvious.

You can't escape the reality that God has placed people within the Body who have been gifted by the Holy Spirit with leadership. To force people to squelch their spiritual gifts in order to preserve the status quo of the "level playing field" is emasculating (dis-empowering) the laity as much as any authoritarian hierarchical structure. To paraphrase an old saying, the answer to bad leadership is not "no leadership", but rather biblical, Spirit-gifted leadership.

In Honour of a Brother and Mentor

This will probably be the longest post I've ever uploaded to this site, but George Mercado has been such a mentor in my life that it's long overdue that I write a bit more about him. It would not be an exaggeration at all -- more like an understatement -- to say that if it weren't for George, I wouldn't be in ministry, period.

"Join with others in following my example, and take note of those who live according to the pattern that we gave you." (Philippians 3:17)

"Even though you have ten thousand guardians (instructors, KJV) in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel." (1 Corinthians 4:15)

George Mercado is an imposing American from Puerto Rico by way of New York City, who felt God calling him to lay down a senior pastorate and become a youth pastor at the age of 35.

Providentially, God led him to Burlington Ontario, where George became the youth pastor at my parents' church while I was away at my second year of Bible College. When I returned that summer, I offered to help out with the youth group, and George, after crushing several of my ribs with a bear hug, knighted me as a youth leader.

"I've been praying for workers in the harvest, and here you are! Hey, do you play guitar?"

"Uh, yeah." I replied, attempting to take a deep breath in order to test the structural integrity of my ribcage.

"I love it! You're the worship leader!" George has never been described as a quiet, non-demonstrative type, and when he was excited, the whole neighbourhood knew.

"Uh... I don't sing. I just play." I said in sudden panic, as my worst fear in the world -- singing in front of people -- loomed menacingly in my dark imagination.

"You're all I've got. No problem!" George had been drafted into the U.S. army during Vietnam, and apparently I had just been drafted into singing publicly.

And we were off. A day or so later, we went out for burgers at (appropriately enough) "George's Burgers", and I watched in eager fascination as George wrote out his philosophy of ministry on a napkin, putting into words and strategy the things that had been stirring in my heart. I was hooked. And so began a six year journey of youth ministry and being mentored by George in the way that Jesus mentored the disciples: you worked your butt off alongside George, and learned tons along the way.

Whenever I talk about being mentored by George, people always assume there was some curriculum that he took us through, lots of books to read, and assignments to chart our progress as "mentorees". We did take in a "Sonlife Youth Strategies" basic seminar sometime in the first two years of our involvement with George, but mostly it was the example he set that had the most profound impact on all twelve of the youth leaders (the youth group had grown from 12 to over 100 within three years).

Here are some snapshots:

Wherever possible, George would somehow take a potential "problem/issue" that all of us leaders would be freaking about, and find a way to turn it around into an opportunity for growth, and not just the eye-for-an-eye justice that we younger leaders thought was the obvious answer. "Invitation, not confrontation" is a phrase I've used to describe it. Jesus called it "winning your brother" (Matthew 18:15). You can sometimes control behaviour (on the surface only) through confrontation, but invitation captures you at the heart level -- it's the Spirit's work.

Youth leaders' meetings were always spent in the following format: half the meeting was invested in praying for each other, and the other half was for youth ministry business. As was often the case, at times the whole meeting was spent praying for each other, and the "business" didn't get done, but the leadership team seemed more effective for it.

Prayer in the midst of the youth group itself: George would prostrate himself on the floor whenever we had a group prayer time. "I'm not super-spiritual," he'd say, "I'm very proud and stiff-necked -- this is necessary for me."

A college friend from Winnipeg dropped in one time to visit the group, and heard George announce, as he lit a single candle in the middle of the group, that tonight would be a sharing time about what God was doing.

"What else will we be doing tonight?" my friend whispered as the group formed a big (70+ people) circle around the candle.

"Just watch." I said. Two and a half hours later, George had to end the sharing time because parents were arriving to take their teenagers home. No games, no announcements, no music, no hype. Just two and a half hours of telling our God-stories to each other.

Drop in on George at the office, and many times, you'd open his office door and think he wasn't there, until you saw his feet sticking out from under his desk. Face down in prayer, again.

"You have to face-plant even when you're by yourself?" I'd ask.

"I'm still way too proud." He'd sheepishly admit, from somewhere amid the piles of books, boxes, and stacks of paper that seemed to grow like weeds in his office and on his desk.

George loved it when people were honest about their own struggles and doubts with their Christianity; he encouraged and in some cases, even provoked people to get past the "Sunday School Answer Syndrome" and deal with the real questions. "Either we shake them up now, or university will do it later", he'd say. "At least now, they have us as a support."

Snapshot of a youth leaders meeting, when we had added a team of high schoolers as well, called the "Board of Slaves": Watching a high school senior named Christine break down and weep when people shared answers to prayer over the previous summer. She had been raised in church, but for the first time, at age 17, she realized something that she'd heard all her life was actually true.

"God really does answer prayer!" She said through her tears. It was a holy moment.

George also had an amazing gift for speaking life and encouragement into peoples' lives, helping them discover their gifts and then encouraging them to begin using them. He was also very deliberate about outreach, but not in the way most people are.

"We don't hold a single outreach event until they (the youth) have the vision for it. Otherwise, it's just us doing it for them, and they won't develop a Great Commission mindset."

And after building a discipleship foundation for over two years, when we finally starting doing "outreach events" once a month, George had the whole group evaluate our very first big event afterwards. We were all, youth and leaders alike, bouncing off the walls with excitement at how well the event had gone.

George: "How did the events go? The band? The message?"

Us: "Awesome! It was totally awesome! Everything went great! The whole night was a total success!"

George: "Did anyone bring one of their unbelieving friends?"

Us: "Well, no."

George: "Then was it really an outreach?"

As we continued with our monthly outreaches -- and people began bringing their friends -- George developed a beautifully maddening habit of giving short messages to the gathered group, but refusing to actually share the Gospel directly. "If you want to know more about what I'm talking about, ask the person you came with," he'd say.

It was brilliant; not only were we all forced to participate in the process instead of relying on "the speaker", but the stage was set for our interaction with our friends outside of the outreaches as well. Speaking about our faith in a relaxed, "normal" way became more and more natural.

George was the first person to pray with me over the phone. I'd called him to ask him to pray about something on my behalf, and to my surprise, he immediately started praying. I had assumed that he would hang up and then pray later (that's what I would have done, assuming I didn't forget...).

I sat there in my parent's kitchen, wondering what the proper prayer etiquette was when you were on the phone. Do you bow your head and close your eyes? Folding your hands was out of the question, unless dropping the phone on the floor was acceptable. If you didn't close your eyes, where should you look? What if somebody walked through the kitchen and overheard me saying "yes, Lord" and wondered if I thought I was getting a phone call from the Almighty?

Our youth group's motto (mantra, almost) was "The gospel of Jesus Christ to Burlington, Hamilton, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the World..." (our version of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth). After six years with George, in 1990, I was the first youth leader (there would be numerous others in the years to follow) to leave the group to become a fulltime youth pastor. George reminded the group, during our tearful last meeting with them, that my first pastorate was part of the fulfillment of our stated vision.

In the summer of 2003, Wendy and I were able to visit George, seeing him for the first time in well over a decade. And, most significantly, we were seeing him for the first time since George's massive stroke in the fall of 2000.

As we pulled into their driveway, we could hear George's booming laugh welcoming us, and the one-armed bear hug he gave me, while not quite as crushing as that day back in the summer of 1984, was still strong and heart-felt. Over the next day and a half, we even managed a beginning towards understanding the gestures and signing that George uses to communicate now.

As we drove back to Canada, the thing that bothered me the most -- aside from the fact that George hasn't been healed after many, many people have prayed for him -- is that he can't speak anymore. There was just so much wisdom and encouragement oozing out of George; to have that voice silenced is difficult to accept.

Posting this seems a pale comparison to actually hearing and experiencing George Mercado, but doing so feels like I'm giving honour to a true mentor, friend, and spiritual father. Despite the length of this writing, it still feels like my words have failed to adeqautely express the impact that George has had on me, and my great love and appreciation for him.