October 15th / 22nd @ Dallas / Houston
Legacy Dialogue 2011: Trust Factor – how to build trust between two generations in ministry – the future of next generation English ministry in the Asian-American church (Partnership of Asian American Churches in Texas)

October 19th @ 11:30am PT in Irvine
NexGen Pastors Gathering with Pastor Jim-Bob Park via NexGen Pastors Fellowship [Facebook group]

October 26th @ 2pm ET – online webinar
“Asian American Ministry and the Deconstruction of Asian American Christianity” Webinar with Dr. Timothy Tseng, sponsored by Judson Press

Like many churches in North America today, Asian American churches are experiencing the loss of their young adults. The new “Silent Exodus” is also about the erasure of Asian American identity and history within American Christianity. Will being Asian American matter in a “post-racial” generation? What does the deconstruction of Asian American Christianity mean for ministry to Asian Americans? What can Christians do to respond to this crisis? Join presenter Dr. Timothy Tseng as he explores and addresses these critical issues.

October 27th @ 9:30pm ET – online livestream
Q&A with Ken Kong, director of Southeast Asian Catalyst

Recordings (audio and video) [iTunes podcast feed] for the Asian American Ministry Program’s Inaugural Conference at SPU June 2011 with Timothy Tseng, Peter Cha, Soong-Chan Rah, Eugene Cho, Gideon Tsang, Ken Fong, Wayne Ogimachi, Nancy Sugikawa, Paul Kim, Bo Lim, Billy Vo, and more

December 27-30 in San Diego
CMC West Coast with Francis Chan and Greg Ogden [Chinese Mission Convention]

19 videos of the Asian American Equipping Symposium at Fuller Seminary, February 2011, with Richard Mouw, Eugene Cho, Bo Lim, Timothy Tseng, Young Lee Hertig, Amos Yong, Chloe Sun, and more

APA Faith Matters – a blog category at 8asians.com curated by Mihee Kim-Kort, with a periodic interview of Asian Pacific American (APA) leaders in various religious contexts

Inheritance Magazine – bi-monthly publication that tackles contemporary topics and issues that each Asian American Christian deals with in his/her life

Other networks that meetup in-person:

• Asian American Theological Fellowship at Fuller Seminary (Pasadena CA) [Facebook group]
• Korean American Pastors Network – Los Angeles area
• English Ministry Fellowship (formerly FACE: Fellowship of American-born Chinese Evangelicals [Facebook group])

Know of other public connection places, on-line or on-site, for Asian American church and ministry leaders? Add a comment, please.

Inspired me so much that I went to Chick-Fil-A the very next day for breakfast. And great customer service was demonstrated by their adding cream to my coffee at the drive-thru, although I wish they’d change the company policy, so it’s not just cream and coffee for me.

More recently, I went to a Chick-Fil-A in Orlando (during the Exponential Conference) that hosted a teens’ dance party in the evening — music cranked up LOUD, alcohol-free, and the sweet-tea was flowing! Noticed how my Icedream soft-serve ice cream didn’t melt after slowly savoring it for over an hour. Their use of a styro cup kept it cool and yummy for much longer than the typical paper cup!

Bob elaborates further on why we need a Global faith forum at his blog. He also made this video with the Prince Turqi of Saudi Arabia, where they interview each other. What a great example of multi-faith dialogue! It’s this kind of conversation that’ll be happening at the Global Faith Forum this November.

This book is an accessible and easy read. It’s filled with real-life stories of how to step out of one’s comfort zone to build real relationships with real people of all kinds: someone of a different ethnicity, a different economic class/ different pay grade, different political persuasion, different lifestyle, different religion. And interspersed with Biblical stories and guest authors chiming in too.

I know for me, if I only looked for people just like me to befriend, I’d be all alone. I’ve rarely ever found anyone who is like me. And that’s ok. It’s really a good thing to get to know people who are different. The Bible has something to say about people being made different anyways: having different gifts, different roles, different parts.

For those of us who find it challenging to step out of our comfort zone, it’s good to have a friendly voice come along, like this book, to show us how to get past our discomforts and to live out of faith and not out of fear. I know I can use the help. Thanks Eric.

1st, how to leave a church on good terms. Brian Russell raised this question last month, “Is there a proper protocol to follow if switching churches?” Here’s several articles that point towards a church-leaving etiquette:

• How to Leave Your Church and Do It Well (Reed Jolley)
• How To Properly Leave a Church (Michael Wilson)
• How to leave your church (Tim Stevens)

Something a church can do to learn from those who are leaving is to conduct an
exit interview. This is a great opportunity to listen to honest feedback, not be defensive, allow closure for church and the person(s) leaving, and a word of mutual blessing.

2ndly, God calls some into a new season. And there are times in one’s faith journey when one finishes one chapter at one church, and will go to another church for a new season. This is the case for a number of prominent pastors recently announcing their transitions: Jim Belcher, Francis Chan, N.T. Wright, and Others Leave the Pastorate to Write and Speak: Why church planters often quit their congregations. In this video of an Exclusive interview with Jim Belcher and Mike Erre, 2 pastors in the Orange County (California) area talk about how they’re leaving their churches for a new season of life and ministry:

There are times to stay, and there are times to go. Maybe the same amount of due diligence can be given to why one stays at a church as much as why one leaves a church. For the record, I do think the times of changing churches ought to be infrequent.

• Do you think there is still a vital place for a multi-generational/cultural Chinese American church? Or do you see more inclusive Asian American churches and multi-ethnic churches as the next logical phase? Do you see Chinese American churches as “just” an intermediate step between an American church and a multi-ethnic model or perhaps an end in itself?
• How would you describe the “ideal”, inter-generational immigrant Chinese church today? What does it look like to you? Multiple services in different languages? (e.g. Mandarin, Cantonese and English) Or same services with simultaneous translation in headsets? Side-by-side translation?
• What are some creative ideas to unite the different Chinese generations and cultures besides joint services?
• What in your knowledge are great examples and models of inclusive, multi-generation Chinese American churches?

Links mentioned in my video response:

• Growing Healthy Asian American Churches book, which has been reviewed & commented on here at djchuang.com, is also now on Google Books preview
• my presentation Revitalizing Asian American churches from September 2007
• list of the largest Chinese churches in the United States and Canada
• djchuang.com posts tagged “Asian American” and posts (and pages) that mention “Asian American church“

In summary, it’ll take all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people, so there is a place for the ethnic Chinese church. The way a church does its worship services and programs will change over time, and an openness to allow creativity to flourish as a natural outflow of spirituality will discover the “right” answers for each church context. That means putting resources behind research & development, i.e. prayer, people, and money. What would you add?

I’ll be there on Monday to Wednesday. I arrive into MCO on Monday 4:15pm and depart on Wed 4/21 2′ish. I’ll have a rental car, so if you want to sync up for a ride share, ping me at 949-243-7260. Official twitter hashtag = #exponential. There’s a Monday night tweetup party according to @jim_gray. Info is TBD at time of this writing.

• School of Spiritual Direction (via Larry Crabb)
• Renovare
• Dallas Willard on spiritual disciplines & formation
• TrueFaced (aka Leadership Catalyst)
• Institute for Spiritual Formation (Talbot School of Theology and Biola University)
• Cloud & Townsend
• the Association for Christian Character Development (ACCD)
• Soul Renovation Ministries
• Monvee
• SOULeader Resources

It seems to me that a slightly increasing number of church & ministry leaders are going after these spiritual & heart matters to help people be more like Jesus. Well, some of them say it that way. Others might use different language and terms. Each probably have their own “spiritual growth” model.

In my own thinking (at the time of this writing) I think there is overlap between any of these categories: spiritual formation, spiritual direction, personal coaching, mentoring, discipleship, sanctification…

And somewhat like brands of clothing, people may be fiercely loyal to the genre of spiritual formation that’s been most transformative for them. It’s not the kind of thing that people go comparison shopping for, and let’s hope it doesn’t become commoditized that way.

And, to let my own bias show, it’s not really about the content or exercises of a spiritual formation program. It’s about one’s response to the Holy Spirit, and more telling, the person’s willingness to give permission for (a few trusted) others to speak into their lives.

Why I think this to be the case — it’s an idea from Fierce Conversations, “All conversations are with myself, and sometimes they involve other people.” So when a person goes through exercises, even if guided, it’s all too easy to reinforce one’s own perceptions. Until someone else can call out and speak to the matters of the heart, and the blind spots, transformation rarely happens to the degree that it could.

My dear friend, Brent Wong, is a 5th-generation Asian American of Chinese descent. I sat down with him to hear his story, and he was so kind and vulnerable enough to share this snapshot of his story of discovering how his Asianness is so closely connected his Christian faith journey. Watch the video below:

(aside: you can also watch the extended version of the above video in HD and an intro that’s 79 seconds longer.)

What do you think?

Let me say 3 things before the comment thread takes this in too many directions. Not every single Asian Americans, even 2nd generation, or even 1st, will be concerned about their Asian heritage, or in later generations. 2ndly, the influences of Asian culture upon spiritual formation isn’t exclusively Asian, and there are non-Asian families where a child is not affirmed and communication is not strong. 3rdly, Asian Ameircanness doesn’t drop off to 0% by the 3rd generation, as some of people suggest, nor is a 2nd generation Asian American = 50% Asian + 50% American. Okay, time for me to pause.

And, Brent, THANK YOU for being my friend, and sharing your life with others, so that we may all experience a more abundant life in Christ.

The incident regarding Deadly Viper had set the online world ablaze, and very uncomfortable words of pain festered in the open space [cf. read this summary]. My prayer was that the key leaders at the core of the conflict would resolve it privately, walking through their respective pains together with each other. This direct conversations has since happened offline in private, and an appropriate resolution is in the works. A public statement has been issued. I commend all involved for giving of their time and energy to walk thru this via dolorosa.

There’s already quite a number of thoughtful reflections about this incident posted::

• Jonathan Brink, who linked to reflections from Dan Iwao, Todd Thomas, Marian Wang, Edward Gilbreath, Dave Ingland, LT Tom.
• Eugene Cho, Charles Lee, David Park, Shaun King, Glennis Shih, Skye Jethani, Rudy Carrasco, Drew Hyun, Ed Cyzewski, Daniel So, Jim Gray, DK Daniel Kim, Kathy Khang, and more…
• [update] more from David Swanson, Church Marketing Sucks, Ken Fong, Joel Hamernick, Benson Hines, Scott McClellan, Andrew Lee, Dave Diller, Jessica Pegis, Melody Hanson, Jonathan Tran, Bo Lim, Amy Moffett
• [update 11/19] Zondervan Statement Regarding Concerns Voiced About “Deadly Viper: Character Assassins” via @eugenecho‘s Zondervan Pulls Deadly Viper from Stores and the Deadly Viper website shut down by authors Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite; Dave Gibbons’ thoughts Zondervan Issues Apology for Publishing ‘Deadly Viper’ (CT Liveblog); open letter response from Eugene Cho, Ken Fong, Helen Lee, Kathy Khang, Soong-Chan Rah, Nikki Toyama-Szeto

I want to offer a few more ideas in debriefing, with which I’d anticipate some people would disagree with. Conflict in the open was a good thing for 3 reasons [cf. The Necessity of Open Disagreement by Stephen Shields] ::

• This shows us what conflict resolution can look like. Conflict is not a pretty thing. We’ve all seen how ugly it can get, how destructive it can be, how it can ruin relationships. By being in the open, via social media, we saw how the conflict surfaced and moved towards live offline discussions, apologies, forgiveness, working towards resolution. There is a better way through the conflict. After all, conflict simply is. And I for one am tired of overly-positive spin that’s all too common in evangelical circles; I think the younger generation can smell spin a mile away.
• We heard new voices open up their heart and soul. While I did not read every single comment in the initial blog posts, a wide range of voices from new names spoke up, both Asian and non-Asian. It is not easy for anyone to share their pains, particularly Asian Americans, for fear of being misunderstood, misrepresented, or shamed. Asians tend to be a little more (or a lot more) sensitive than non-Asians because of its shame-based culture. Social media empowers anyone and everyone to speak out. This helps us to empathize with the offended much more than signing a petition. (Now, not every Asian American finds this publication offensive, granted.)
• We’ve got a long way to go with racial sensitivities in the church. A loooong way. Conflict that arose up over a relatively minor incident, in the whole scheme of things, shows how little experience we collectively have to just start any discussion about faith and race. And, yeah, these issues are complicated and messy. They don’t sell books nor increase conference attendance nor make churches grow rapidly in size. It doesn’t fit neatly in the systematic theology section.

Now a personal confession. I knew about an earlier edition of this book back in September 2007. I did not get a copy of the book. I did not look out for the authors to review their book to find out how the Asian motifs were being used, in case it might come across racially insensitive. I did not bear the burden for my fellow Asians Americans (the sensitive ones, not the insensitive ones). For my part in this neglect, I am sorry. [No if and or buts.]

I attended my first Catalyst conference, which ended a few hours earlier, and undoubtedly the most highly-charged energetic kind of Christian leadership event I’ve ever attended. I do love going to these events to meetup with people in person and not so much to attend the sessions — I buy the recordings for the content. I can always get the content plus have the ability to rewind and review, whereas being able to talk with people face-to-face is irreplaceable.

I did hear several of the messages, and sure it moves me to do something. Everything grabs my attention. Everything is urgent. Everything is so compelling. Everything is so good.

Kinda feels like being drawn and quartered. It’s a tough call to choose the one that God has for me, and that is not everything. I can’t do it all.

Plus, It’s less easy for me because I don’t think of myself as a natural born leader, or an organizational leader type. It seems to me that most, if not all, of these platformed Christian leaders are driven Type-A goal-oriented entrepreneurs who have launched their own organizations. So when I hear them, it takes an enormous effort for me to translate all of that into something that could work for me.

Sure, God can do it all. And I could take a flying leap of faith and “trust God” blindly. The impulsive and spontaneous me would love to sell all and follow Jesus, to jump into a new endeavor with full abandon and see the hand of God move. But, that naive leap would hurt me badly. Been there. Done that.

I confess I haven’t figured it out. And I have to keep leaning into God to walk by faith and not by sight. No leaping. Just walking.

Aside: the audios and videos from The Gospel Coalition 2009 are online already and free to listen and watch! One of my favorites is Tim Keller’s The Grand Demythologizer: The Gospel and Idolatry.

The thing is, everyone has their own explanation for what the things of the world means, and the stuff that our disciplines of learning have not fully exhaustively addressed. And the thing is, they haven’t, and I think that’s why they’re called fields of inquiries.

Here’s my napkin sketch for how the stuff of life and faith fit together: science, money, relationships, tasks, people, nature, things, arts, etc. Or, to use labels of academic disciplines: Fine Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Mathematics. [aside: so much faster & easier to draw on paper than to use Photoshop, after wasting 15 minutes trying]

Faith assumptions are the answers we have to the question of things we don’t know concretely. (cf. “What don’t you know and how will you learn it?”) And I think this is a good way to think about it, that faith gives perspective and insights into the rest of the world and how the world of learning is figuring out how all the stuff of the world works. And faith definitely colors how we place value on the stuff of life.

[update] Dan Kimball saw that one Religulous movie and commented at length. Not having seen the movie, what I don’t like is people being ridiculed, even if some people are kinda different.

I have to admit, I probably can’t tell the difference between a confident person and an over-confident person, and there are people who are more self-assured and confident.

I think what I’d like to see is that people admit their mistakes, acknowledge their shortcomings and flaws, at least once in a while. Of course I wouldn’t want everyone walking around like Droopy, Mopey, or Eeyore.

It’s particularly disillusioning when someone well-versed in the Bible, preaches and/or teaches it so persuasively, and yet doesn’t live it out.

I was talking with a person who has worked with 100s and 1000s of Christian leaders. We realized that we have our flaws. Other people have flaws. Christian leaders have flaws. But wouldn’t you think that a Christian leader would be more honest about their flaws? Wouldn’t you think that person would avoid plagiarism? Wouldn’t you think that person would be above reproach? I wondered how that person avoided disillusionment and not lose faith, when some lose faith over seeing too many leaders’ lacking integrity (cf. William Lobdell).

My friend answered, “God seems to use flawed people.”

I took that counsel to heart. I think I can live with that, and I think my faith can endure, by the grace of God. Not much shocks me any more.

I did wire up Russell with my digital voice recorder, so I should be able to post audio and perhaps even slides — over at the L2 blog. [update] both audio and slides now online >> — thanks Russell for granting permission; Russell wants to hear from you, so check out the presentation and add a comment!

Since I’m blogging from my Blackberry, and I forgot my tethering cable to cnx w/ my laptop, I can’t type as fast or as much as I’d like/want. Special tnx to Peter Ong for suggesting I can tether my laptop to my Blackberry Curve, and use my data plan as a mobile modem.

[+] Also, if you’re in the Los Angeles / Southern California area, come listen to Russell Jeung, who is giving 4 talks this weekend at Bread of Life in Torrance; the series is titled “Asian Americans in the Lions’ Den: A Study of Daniel“.