I am working on a book (as most of you know) based on the Walk The Razor concept, and this site was a place for me to play around with a few of the concepts.  Well, two things have become clear to me:

1. This site has never gained any traction.  I have less than 25% of the subscribers as my main blog: NoelHeikkinen.com and nearly all the subscribers are the same people.
2. I have not had the time to give sufficient attention to the podcast or the site.

Not sure which is the result of which.  It’s kinda a chicken and egg thing.

This past week, I have been asking myself the question, “what can I drop from my plate?”  I think I have one of my answers  right here.

So, for the time being, I’m going to put this site on hold.  I’m still going to keep the domain and I may eventually use this to promote my book.  We’ll see.

Until then, please keep up with me over at NoelHeikkinen.com.  I’ll try to have a good blend of the personal and ministry stuff over there, which I guess is more “Razor Like” than keeping them separate anyway.

CYA over there.

I think that one of the things that draws people to Riverview is the feeling of familiarity and belonging. All of you speak to us so intimately about your lives and struggles it forges a deep personal connection. It makes people feel like they are not alone; someone else is going through the same thing. All of you have a charisma about you that enables you to deliver the message of Jesus directly to a person’s heart in a way that is crystal clear. The teachings often feel as though they were tailored to me as an individual. The ability to speak to a large crowd and make each person feel as though you are speaking to them directly is a gift from God. When someone walks into Riverview because their life is drifting, that gift will pull them back down to earth, get their attention, and show them the rock solid truth of their salvation, worth, and safety in Jesus. That is how Christians are made…

Members don’t just want to know you, they want you to know them; their names, their lives, their struggles, and their triumphs. We want to have the feeling that you care on an intimate level. I think that as Pastors you all do an awesome job of this. That is one of the things about Riverview that makes it so special, and one of the reasons it has grown so rapidly over the last 8 years or so. Back to my request; please, please, please do not lose that intimate touch when the church grows. Please continue to know us, e mail us, ask us how our kids are doing, etc…

Sometimes when your business is saving souls there is nothing wrong with being a little consumeristic, as long as it still fits within the teachings of Jesus. That is how Riverview grew this big in the first place, it offered something that people wanted; along with something that people needed – salvation.

This made me think about the idea of “intimacy” and it dawns on me that “intimacy” is not what people are looking for. Rather, they are looking for “connection.” There are only a handful of people in my life I am intimate with: my family, a few close friends, etc. In a church of our size, it’s just not possible to be intimate with everyone. In fact, if I had dinner every night with a different family from our church, it would take almost three years.

Not to mention that I suck at even simply remembering names…

So how do we foster connection in a large church?

There are a lot of ways that I can think of: community groups, mid-sized groups, serving, etc. But one thing struck me in this note: people want a connection with the pastor who is teaching.

At Riverview, roughly 2000 people a week attend services and I frequently get the same response as this note:

All of you speak to us so intimately about your lives and struggles it forges a deep personal connection. It makes people feel like they are not alone; someone else is going through the same thing.

I was thinking about this when I was driving my kids to school this morning when the song “Brass in Pocket” by The Pretenders came on. One line struck me:

I'm special, so special.

I got to have some of your attention, give it to me!

That’s it! Each person at Riverview is special and yet I am not able to give each of them the attention they desire. I have a unique relationship with each and every person at our church, whether I realize it or not. When I teach, I connect with people at a certain level. Not through my words (I’m sure), but through the work of the Holy Spirit, people feel connected with me and yet I haven’t met most of them. I would dare say that I will never meet most of the people in our church face to face.

So, here is my question for all of you who read this blog…what can I do to help foster that connection as we grow larger? I have a few thoughts, but I will save those until later this week. I want to hear your suggestions first.

1. This may seem like a weird statement, but I think it is true: in a large church, you have a little more freedom to “offend” with the Gospel.  I have met some smaller church pastors who walk on eggshells with new people / unbelievers because they don’t want to “lose them.”
2. I meet more unbelievers every week than I ever have and it gives me a lot of opportunity to share the Gospel.  They just walk in the door to check out Riverview and the opportunity presents itself.  For instance, on Easter we had 62 new families fill out a tear-off.  I sent them each either an email or a hand written note.  Several have responded to chat about the service.  Here’s part of one email, and my response:

Riverview Visitor:  I do have one “technical” question, which I’m not trying to be a smartass or anything like that, I just really want to know.  Do you think that all the Jews and Buddhists and Muslims and Hindis in the world go to Hell when they die?  Because one of my primary problems with the Catholic Church has always been the statement “I believe in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.”  Even as a kid, I sort of thought it was wrong to say that–like it negates the most personal and profound beliefs of billions of people, even other Christians.  Personally, I’m inclined to think that we’re all praying to the same God.  Do you think that makes Him mad?

My Response:  Your question is not a smartassy one at all (and I should know…I am accused of being a smartass often).  In fact, your question may at the most basic level be one of the reasons I do what I do for a living.

When I was a student at MSU, I spent some time researching a whole bunch of faith systems.  I was questioning the faith I had grown up with (very conservative Christianity).  All the religions I studied seemed to communicate the same thing (like you have observed).  The one thing they communicated was that there was a god (or gods) out there somewhere and we have to do a bunch of stuff to appease him/her/them.  To me, these systems were like a giant ladder that went up into the clouds and disappeared into space.  If I was to believe them, then I would have to start climbing the ladder to reach god, heaven, nirvana or whatever.

I then spent some time reading the New Testament (in the Bible) and I was struck by how different Christianity was.  It was the one faith system I found that said I didn’t have to climb a ladder.  Instead, Jesus climbed down to me, which is what I talked about on Easter.  There was nothing for me to do except believe in him.  That distinction began to drive me to Jesus in a lot of ways.

So, in that sense, I think Christianity stands as different from all other faiths.

Additionally, Jesus made this rather outrageous claim in John 14:6  “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”  Then, his friend Peter said essentially the same thing in Acts 4:12 “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”

Again and again in the Bible, this message is repeated: Jesus is the only one who has come to save us.  No one else is coming.

I have met many many sincere people who believe in other faith systems.  And yet, if I am to believe Jesus is who he says he is, then I must believe they are sincere, yet wrong.

That’s why I do what I do for a living.  I want to let everyone possible know that Jesus wants to save them and that no one else can.

Now, with this said, I would encourage you to not let this keep you from exploring Christianity.  We have lots of people at Riverview from a lot of different backgrounds.  They are at very different places in their journey, and you are certainly welcome to journey with us.

The sheer number of visitors we get give me opportunities like this all the time.

Today, I was standing in the middle of the construction debris on the stage in our new auditorium, talking with a couple from our church.

They (like me) grew up in a small church.

They (like me) have spent most of their adult life in a small church.

And (like me) they are now plugged in and excited about what God is doing at Riverview, which is no longer a small church.

I was explaining to them the various things we have done architecturally to create a space that can house 1200 or so people, but still feel as intimate as possible.  I was lamenting over the fact that we may have to do some video of the person teaching on a few screens so people can see better.  I felt that seemed less intimate.  They disagreed and felt it would add to the intimacy because you could see the teacher’s facial expressions better that way.

After our meeting, I got thinking, “why is it important to me that the service feel intimate?”

The answer I had for myself was “people want an intimate service.”

Hmmm…I wonder where I got that idea?   I wracked my brain.  Where did I get it into my head that “smaller is better” or “intimate is better?”  And the bigger question that loomed in my head is “when did ‘what people want’ become my definition of ‘better?’”

Large churches are often criticized for being consumer-driven.  Having talked with lots of large church pastors, I don’t think that is a true characterization.  Most never set out to have a large church.  They just did things that either attracted the unchurched (ideally) or church shoppers (less ideally).  They just became a large church as a result.

I find it ironic that in trying to maintain a small church feel in a large church, I was inadvertently becoming consumeristic.  Maybe accepting and being excited about being a large church (even if that means projection of the teachers on a screen) would be a less consumeristic attitude.

“Added by [your name here]” Photos

These tend to show the world how we want to be perceived. We like the way we look in these pictures. No embarrassing photos get posted here, unless we want to be perceived as goofy or funny.

For instance, on my Facebook photo section, I have uploaded this picture:

I like this picture because it’s artistic, and I like to be seen that way.

“Added by Others” Photos

These pictures are completely raw. They are pictures that betray how others see us. They don’t go through the airtight filter of our own self-perception. They may actually be a better picture of who we are because of this.

If you get plastered at a party and dance on the table, it’s only a matter of time until a picture taken with a camera phone ends up on your Facebook page.

If you dress like a slut in Cancun, watch for your picture on Facebook!

And the beauty of this whole thing is every visitor to your photo page gets equal access to your view of yourself and others’ view of you.

For instance, my friend Dave posted this old picture of me for the world to see:

I could live without the world seeing me in my “Look Like Tom Green” days, for sure, but Facebook makes sure the world doesn’t forget.

Or what about this one from my friend Rosyln?

I’m not even sure what to say about that picture.

All of this reminds me of Paul’s words in Romans:

Romans 12:3
Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves…

One thing about Facebook–it helps you apply this verse.

I think we’ve got more common ground than we admit. For instance, both my atheist and Christian friends (I seem to have an equal number of both these days) tell me they agree with the following statement:

Celebrating the death of somebody you disagreed with pretty much makes you a dick.

He then makes 10 points about Religion and Atheism, which I am only tech saavy enough to find 5 of, apparently. They are:

1. You can do terrible things in the name of either one.
2. Both sides really do believe what they’re saying
3. In everyday life, you’re not that different
4. There are good people on both sides
5. Your point of view is legitimately offensive to them

I think this is huge stuff, especially point #2 and #5. They should cause us to have a huge measure of grace when talking about spiritual things with other people.

And #3 is just sad but true.

That’s the focus of everything we do. And yet, it is so easy to get sidetracked. I thought of this when I was reading this post by Seth Godin. He posted this picture and thought:

I drove past a hobby shop yesterday. It’s hard to make out the awning, but it says, “Hobbies, Trains, R/C Models, Coffee, Lottery.”

Bit by bit, on each declining day, it became easier to become more average, to add one more item, to sell a few more lottery tickets or another cup of coffee…

When this starts happening, the answer is not to do it more. Instead, it’s worth a full stop. Is this what you set out to do? Is compromising everything going to get you to a place that was worth the journey? Wouldn’t it be smarter to just stop selling trains and do something else (lottery tickets, even) but do it really really well.

It made me wonder what we are doing as a church that doesn’t specifically hit the mission of “making sacrificial followers of Christ who make sacrificial followers of Christ who go.”

Please pray for me, because this could go very very well or very very poorly.

If you want to listen in, the first interview will be on 1490AM WWPR in Tampa Bay, Florida at 3:15 this afternoon. You can listen live on their station here.

The second interview will be with Jack Ebling on 1320AM here in the Lansing area. I couldn’t find a live stream on their site, but you can listen live from at 5:50pm tonight.

I thought this may be a good time to repost my thoughts on why I’m excited we are doing this ministry. (The original post is here).

Basically, this ministry will teach people how to home brew their own beer. Here, again, are their objectives:

* To worship God through appreciation of his creation
* To build community and friendships through a common bond
* To model and exhort enjoyment in moderation of God’s gifts; quality over quantity
* To break down misconceptions about the Biblical view of alcohol
* To resume the Church’s historical role as making the finest beer in town

Here are some reasons I am glad this ministry is launching:

It is an example of young men taking a risk for the Gospel.
The guys who are starting this ministry are not doing so solely because they like beer (which they do). They’re also not doing it to buck the system (which it will). They are doing it because they have seen the increased popularity in home brewing and see the Gospel opportunity it provides. They will be able to reach people that are currently untouched with the Gospel.

I am sure they will receive criticism for their risk, and I am sure they will be gracious in the face of this criticism. It is a big risk and I am praying it will pay off huge with eternal rewards.

It is innovative.
This very well may be the first of its kind (at least in modern American history). It is certainly the first time I have ever heard of a ministry like this. I love innovation and I will try anything moral once. As Mark Batterson has often said, “everything is an experiment.”

If this goes well, awesome.

If it goes poorly, awesome.

It provides what our Secular Culture needs right now.
There is a time and place when the best thing a Christian can do is to abstain from alcohol for the sake of the Gospel. I believe that time is over in our culture.

American Christians are now known much more for what we are against than what we are for. That must change.

We, as a culture, are very well versed in the dangers of alcoholism, drunk driving, and the like. What we desperately need in America right now is examples of moderation. That’s why I love the tagline of this ministry: “Quality over Quantity.” Or as Jeremy Mason has said, “Drink less beer…drink better beer.” Amen and amen.

It provides what our Christian Culture needs right now.
American Christians need to remember that historical Christianity has not had a problem with moderate alcohol consumption. Only over the last century or so have we become a “dry” faith. The Bible, while clearly warning about the dangers of drunkenness, calls wine a blessing from God.

We also have to be careful to think that we can be “holier than Jesus.” Saying that abstaining from alcohol is more moral than moderate consumption is ranking ourselves above Jesus who drank wine. That is not wise.

I want to close with a quote from an essay written by Jeremy Mason for the RiverBrew page on our church’s website:

The history of the church has been deeply rooted in the responsible enjoyment of beer and alcohol. Beer has never been the focus, just one of many great joys along the way. Brewing has been a thing of beauty, always focused on the joy that a good brew can bring. It seems that many theologians have been accompanied by a good beer as they have set forth to fight the good fight of truth and faith. If history is any indication of the future, I expect the church will continue in its unabashed appreciation of God’s great nectar. In this pursuit, there will always be someone in town who is brewing the best beer, why not make it the church?

“The answer is neither universalism nor judgmentalism. And admittedly it means walking the razor’s edge.”

-Chuck Colson