NeoZine

Finding Xenos

I’ll never forget finding Xenos. Kathryn and I moved from Colorado Springs to Columbus in 1996 where Kathryn worked for Focus on the Family in the marketing department. A copy of “The Death of Truth” by Dennis McCallum, senior elder with Xenos, came across her desk. She was intrigued by the book and brought it home for me to read. The book struck a chord with me because of its philosophical bent. It agreed with much I had picked up as an undergraduate student of J. P. Moreland at Biola University. Once we moved to Columbus, despite the 45 minute drive from our apartment in Delaware, OH, we decided to check out Xenos.

The first day we strolled into the warehouse there a band was playing Steely Dan music. I was able to get a donut and coffee to eat during the service. I’d never seen a church with a snack bar! In addition, everyone was dressed like they were about to wash their car! But the best part occurred when Dennis got up to speak. I looked at Kathryn and said “this is our church.”

We were passive pew-sitters for a while but everyone kept talking about “getting incorporated” by checking out a home church. We decided to check out a home church and were referred to a home church in Upper Arlington led by Eric and Vicky Schroer and Anne Blackwell. Continue Reading »

When you read the history of Xenos, you read about chaos - or so it seems to the institutional mind. But to those who enjoy the love of Christ, it’s called freedom, and freedom is chaotic for legalistic minds. This is the “real Xenos model” in a nutshell: some call it chaos, while others call it “freedom through the love of Christ”. (What a cool slogan!)

Here’s the kind of chaos I love: listen to The Road Less Traveled by Dave Browning, some dude from the West Coast.¹ He’s a Willow Creek mega-church business-model dropout who is now more relaxed and happier than ever — and more fruitful than ever, too! This was Dave’s life in the business-model church:

Dave’s high didn’t come from a bottle or a needle, but from those Sunday mornings when a big crowd packed his church, everything went just right and he hit the ball out of the park with another power-packed sermon. The need for that rush nearly destroyed everything Dave cared about.²

The Business-Leader Model

Such is the life of the business-model church leader: it’s all about “Kingly-Leadership” which kills a good Church Planting Movement. The business-leader model also kills the kingly leaders through exhaustion.

Willow Creek’s own research now reveals a disturbing trend with this entire approach. I recently blogged about the “Revolving Door Syndrome” that kept us stagnated here in Northeastern Ohio, and Willow is discovering the same trend through research. It’s called the “Old Christian Syndrome” (or OCS), and it looks like this:³

Continue Reading »

1. The Road Less Traveled, by Dave Browning from Christ the King church in Washington. His podcast is from last month’s Multi-Site Exposed 2008 conference [⇑]
2. Quoted from Leadership Network. [⇑]
3. Research from the Reveal Web site. [⇑]

A Word of Prophecy

Tom Dixon’s teaching began with some fumbling and mumbling mishaps with the microphone and sound system, which probably shook Tom up a little. It promised to be a dismal teaching from an obscure figure.

But then Tom launched into a strong message about what it means to carry out the Great Commission: “GO!” It’s all there in the first word. Aside from Tom, there was a surprising paucity of insights about the Great Commission at the STR.

This Great Commission oversight was not only unusual for the STR, but very noticeable since Calvary Chapel was often cited. As a model of a healthy church, if Calvary is actually driven by the Prophet-Leader extolled in the “Tri-Perspectival View,” there should be a clear path to follow in their footsteps. But what is it?

Dennis strongly endorsed Calvary’s “hot theology of ministry,” but then grew vague about exactly why it was so hot. It was difficult to discern what changes leaders could implement from the STR, beyond avoiding the obsession with statistics. The deemphasis on counting was only marginally-helpful for NeoXenos leaders, since our statistical work is already sloppy and pathetic enough.¹

NeoNews reported the aspects of Calvary which Dennis said were not enviable or easily-transferred into a Xenos ethos, and the list eliminated most of the distinctive differences from Xenos.

But there was one major distinction from Xenos which Calvary pursues with gusto: Calvary is perpetually sending out leaders to plant extra-local churches. This was, of course, the point of Tom’s teaching about “GO!” Unfortunately, only Tom’s teaching tackled this issue. Some of the other teachings casually mentioned the “sending” ministry of Calvary, but without much practical benefit.

The Multi-Site Movement

Driscoll’s “Tri-Perspectival View” of leadership is merely an introduction to the real excitement and drama in Driscoll’s teaching. He uses the Prophet-Leader concept to call for potentially-unsettling changes at Mars Hill in Seattle. He calls it “Multi-Site Church”, and whatever else may be said about his vision, it is certainly valuable for Xenos in two big ways. Continue Reading »

1. Leaders discuss statistics about once every six months: the October leader retreat and February FST retreat. View a slide show of the 2008 retreat slide online. [⇑]

Greg Morscher and I were watching this cool online broadcast by Mark Driscoll titled, “Why Mulit-Site?” Driscoll is the big speaker at XSI in Columbus this summer, and his arrival is none-too-soon. Columbus Xenos is re-evaluating itself, the major topic at this year’s Servant Team Retreat (STR) in Cincinnati. Listening to Driscoll’s broadcast offers a refreshing and visionary alternative to some of the hand-wringing confusion at the STR.

Driscoll proposes answering the big question left unanswered from the STR: how will Columbus regain its vision as a Church Planting Movement (CPM)? This is a significant issue for NeoXenos, because we are absolutely committed to CPM, and we fought a long and hard battle to get here. STR was certainly inspirational by teaching us the differences between spiritual and carnal leadership, but never resolved was The Quest for CPM, as most of the STR teachers acknowledged.

But Tom Dixon’s teaching at the STR raised the most exciting and clear answer for The Quest. Surprisingly, it is an ancient solution, but still highly applicable, and Driscoll frames it well.

The “Tri-Perspectival View” of Leadership

Driscoll approaches the Great Commission in a fresh way even though he uses silly terms like “Tri-Perspectival”. Jesus is the pattern to follow, he says, and names three roles of effective spiritual leadership: the Priest, Prophet and King. These Old Testament offices were all fulfilled by Jesus, as we are studying in Hebrews. This is God’s eternal paradigm for spiritual leadership, and since the authority of Jesus is driving the Great Commission, these aspects of his leadership should be evident.

The Priestly Leader is compassionate and concerned about people’s needs, like we studied in Hebrews: “He is able to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people…” (Heb. 5:2). Driscoll says the Priestly-Leader asks the question “Who?” In other words, he cares for people. This is what someone does with the “pastor/shepherd” gift, and it is an invaluable leadership role (see Eph. 4:11ff). But churches don’t grow without the other leadership roles, and they often shrink.

The Kingly Leader is a builder, Driscoll says, always asking “How?” These leaders are not only practical, but phenomenal organizers who bring people together to build. This energetic, effective leadership is a spiritual gift in Romans 12:8, but still requires the other leadership roles for balance. The King-Leader becomes too results-driven and uncompassionate without the Priest-Leader, or too institutional without the Prophet-Leader, thus eliminating God’s dynamic leadership altogether.

The Prophet-Leader is perpetually asking “Why?” and pursues the quest for change, Driscoll says. This corresponds to the gift of prophecy in Romans 12:6, and it is highly-valued in Paul’s writings. This is a powerful gift with strong influence in the church because it arises from the spiritual and mystical leadership of God. As such, this leadership gift also brings the upheaval and change that God desires for his people (see 1 Cor. 2:9, Luke 5:37; 2 Cor. 5:17). But these leaders are too theoretical or rhetorical without the other leaders who implement, build, and touch people’s concerns.

Leadership Imbalances

The STR teachings were aimed at the overwhelming influence of the Kingly-Leader model working in Columbus. When this occurs it means structures, organization, programs, buildings, statistics, bureaucracies, policies and budgets dominate a Christian group. Continue Reading »

by Andy Doman

At the Xenos Summer Institute in 2005, Bruxy Cavey gave two break-out session teachings. I attended his teachings and was extremely impressed with his insight, and Jesus-centered teachings. The description he gave of The Meeting House seemed impressive. He called it “a church for people who aren’t into church.” I made it a point to check out Cavey’s church, The Meeting House, never being as excited to see a new church before.

I noticed a favorite indie pop group of mine, The Pipettes, were touring on this side of the Atlantic for the first time. The tour was extremely limited and the only city in the area they were playing was Toronto. Michael Toth suggested going to Toronto to see the concert. I agreed, and also suggested we attend a meeting at The Meeting House the following day. I recruited Craig Smith for the trip, selling him on the experience of going to The Meeting House, also keeping in mind that traveling expenses would decrease. Although he had little exposure to The Pipettes, he was in a privileged position as a holder of a high-demand sold out ticket. Many people approached us asking for tickets as we waited outside to get in. So, Michael Toth, Craig Smith, and I were set to go on a spiritual journey to Toronto.

I contacted The Meeting House through their website prior to our arrival and asked which meeting I should attend. The pastor of the Downtown Toronto location, Paul Morris, suggested the 10am meeting, which was held in a large movie theater.

Morris also invited us to eat lunch with him after the meeting. We entered the extremely large downtown movie theater with stadium-style seating that was like Cinemark® on steroids. The movie theater had snack bars that served beer in addition to Pizza Hut®, Taco Bell®, and Burger King®, which were opening as we were leaving. We parked in a parking garage and received a parking coin we would later get validated to park for free.

The meeting began with a 5-piece band playing Contemporary Christian Music including a drummer, bassist, guitarist, and two singers. It was unusual because although every person in the room was standing, very few were singing or moving. The crowd was simply staring at the band, making me wonder what the purpose of standing was.

After the music and a prayer by the guitarist, a series of video clips about sex were shown and parts of the songs “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye and “Let’s Talk about Sex” by Salt-N-Pepa were played. Some of the video clips played were quite funny, especially the “Use Condoms” video, which can be found on YouTube. The pastor of the Downtown Toronto site, Paul Morris, gave a short introduction and the teaching began with a video of Bruxy Cavey introducing the guest speaker for the week, Eric Sandras. Sandras holds a PhD in Human Sexuality and is a pastor in California. Cavey gives the teaching at one site in suburban Oakville and the video of his teaching is shown at the other sites. The video was not quite as impersonal as I imagined it would be, probably because the movie screen was so large that it felt as if the teacher were near. It was impossible to ask questions to the speaker, however, because he was not present. The teaching was a sound, biblical presentation of sex. There was also a question and answer period in which people asked about homosexuality and other controversial issues.

Prior to our arrival we arranged to have lunch with Paul and some of his friends. We ate lunch at a downtown restaurant and had constant discussion about various topics such as serving the poor, the inner city, American politics, methods of Xenos and the Meeting House, the situation in Toronto, and various other topics. The people were a blast to talk with and we all had a great time.

Overall, The Meeting House seems like a place that is on a good track. The people we talked to seemed capable and willing to minister. The main teaching by Eric Sandras seemed to lack a discernable gospel message, however, which made me wonder if the main theater meetings are geared toward members and people that are already Christians. They have high transfer growth, and the teaching seemed to speak to those people, but they do have “Purge Sundays,” which are a mini-series of teachings that project a solid Christian life and encourage people who do not wish to participate to leave. This is one of the ways The Meeting House combats superficial Christianity. The teachings seem to be soundly Biblical and according to Morris, Xenos in Columbus and The Meeting House exchange ideas and talk often.

I am not sure how much I like the teachings on video at all of the sites. It seems take the opportunity away for others to teach. They can spread to different areas of Greater Toronto faster, however, because of the lack of need for teachers and have more convenient locations. Home churches at The Meeting House are a place to discuss the teaching from the main Sunday meeting. I did not visit one of these meetings, so I am not sure if a person who did not attend the main meeting would feel alienated or how dependent the home churches are on Cavey’s main teachings. I know one thing for sure, though. The Meeting House is like Xenos in the sense that they hold conservative theology presented with liberal, nontraditional means like no other church I have seen.