LukeDooley.com

I followed a link on Twitter today for a youth ministry. I figured I could give  a few minutes and help whoever it was trying to gather information to do so. One of the final questions they asked was an essay question that simply asked: “What Is The Gospel?”

This is my answer. I would love to know how you would answer this question!

The Gospel is God’s ongoing story of restoring all people (available to all, given to those who accept). God has been, is, and always will be authoring a grand story, which He has invited us to play a role in. It is the story of creation, fall, redemption and restoration. We have a choice to make: Will we star in our own story of brokenness and insignificance, or play a supporting role in God’s grand story of hope, redemption and healing. To join God’s story is to play a part in advancing the Kingdom… not through rules, regulations, and religion, but through love, justice, and relationship.

The Gospel is nothing more, and nothing less than God offering everything He has to us in order to restore us to the people that we were created to be. He does this so that we may enter into a loving relationship with Him, so that He may fill us with His Spirit, so that we may be fully equipped to complete our primary task as humans made in God’s image: To reflect the Glory of God, so that others may see, and the Kingdom may advance. That is Gospel.

I had this thought a couple of weeks ago. I meant to blog it then. I went to Southern California and forgot about it (SoCal has a way of doing that to you). I saw something today that reminded me about this thought.

What does it mean to be a leader? I’m not even sure that’s the right question… maybe it’s: “What does it mean to be a servant?” or “What does it mean to live?” I dunno… in the context of my faith community, the question would be: “What does it mean to live big?” We have this thing… we talk about living, giving, loving, serving BIG. We believe a big life is the reason Jesus left heaven, came to earth, and did what he did.

Anyway… let’s just roll with the idea of leading. My theory is that leadership means discovering whatever it is that you do best in life (the things that God has most wired and gifted you to do), and figuring out a way to leverage that for the forward motion of others. Leadership at its core is about moving others (individually or organizationally) forward right?

Well, I think living is just as simple. If you aren’t leveraging what you do best in life to move someone else forward to a better place, then you simply aren’t living. You’re dying…selfishly.

This is what I saw today that reminded me of this. It’s a simple concept, just a guy who recognizes that God has given him a unique set of skills and passions, and has decided to use those things to help others. He is living, leading, serving, whatever he’s doing… I like it, and I want to do similar things.

Click here to read all about Help Portrait. Watch the two videos below to understand it fully.

I had a really engaging small group discussion with some of the high school students in Journey Church’s student ministry last night. We talked about a variety of subjects, and the conversation got pretty deep. Questions were asked by me that were over their heads, and questions were asked by them that were over my head! Good stuff! Probably one of the highlights of my year.

Ultimately the conversation centered around the question why. More specifically, how would we answer questions like these:

• Why do you love God?
• Why do you go to church?
• Why do you even do this “Christianity” thing?
• Essentially this: What’s the point of God/Church/Christianity?

I have a great fear that there are thousands of people sitting in Christian churches each Sunday, who have been in the pew for a long time, but have no clue how to answer these questions. I’m not suggesting that there is ONE right answer, but I think there are some key principles and ideas that people simply fail to understand, or lack the ability to communicate about.

So… how about you? Why?

There is something about a good story that has the capability to capture so much more than just our attention. A good story can capture our hearts, souls, bank accounts, or any number of other things. Bottom line, I love a good story… as does just about every person on the planet.

I had the great privilege of going to Chicago last week to serve on the resources staff for the inaugural STORY conference. STORY is the product of one of my favorite bloggers, and good friend Ben Arment. It was truly a wonderful experience for me to serve alongside Ben and so many other great leaders as we poured into the 1600+ ministry leaders who attended STORY.

The heart of STORY was to gather and learn from some of the most gifted Gospel Communicators in the land.  These leaders talked about their stories, how to more effectively share stories, and ultimately about the greatest story ever told: the Gospel story of rebellion, rescue and redemption. It was quite an experience.

I highly recommend that any ministry leader who was unable to attend STORY purchase the 2009 STORY DVD. This DVD will include all of the main session teaching content, and some of the creative elements as well. This is a steal for $79. Also, begin making plans now to attend STORY 2010 in Chicago. STORY will be expanding to a 2 day event next year, with tickets available now for $149. You can click here to find both of these resources!

Check out the STORY Flickr photostream for some great shots from the event!