San Jose DE Seminar
I wasn’t sure how this day would go, frankly. My old friend (and former Young Life club kid from the earliest days of my staff career) Vince Staub had asked me to bring the DE Seminar to his church in San Jose. It’s a smaller church (Cornerstone Community Church), but they thought maybe they could get a couple of other churches to join in on the expense of bringing the Seminar to their town. No such luck. I decided to fly to San Jose and do the gig for whoever showed up.
We had 27 people come today…all but two were from Cornerstone (one of the outsiders was my friend Pam Marino from Sunnyvale Presbyterian). They were a diverse group age-wise (and otherwise), but they seemed to be totally engaged with me all day. I don’t think we lost anyone during the event except a couple of moms who needed to go pick up or deliver a child to a sporting event of some kind…which is pretty much the story of life in the Silicon Valley these days. I was very happy to be with them, and I felt very welcomed.
We had just one “lost” person show up for the interview (we shoot for three, usually), but he was great. Josh was married to a woman who was a Christ follower, but he himself had a Jewish background (he quit going to synagogue after his bar-mitzvah). He attended Cornerstone almost every week with his wife and two children, which is statistically more often that most Christians attend church. He likes it. He likes the people there. He is not a Christian and is not currently interested in becoming one, but he feels like he belongs at Cornerstone Church. I thought that was really cool. He wishes people there would ask him more about his journey, but he genuinely loves being part of that community. He just doesn’t do the Jesus thing. Yet. Thanks, Josh, for being such a great help to us. You probably said more that will be remembered in that 30 minute segment than I did the entire day.
I got to spend Friday afternoon with senior pastor, Craig Selness. He took me to his favorite restaurant for lunch (Arby’s) because he meets there weekly with someone who he helped move from atheism to Jesus follower, and I got to join in their ongoing conversation. Craig gets what it means to listen people into the Kingdom of God. It was fun to watch him do his thing, and to meet his dear friend and brother in Christ, who now spends his vacation times smuggling Bibles into communist and Muslim lands.
I have a feeling I’ll be heading back to San Jose in the next year. My friend Vince thinks the rest of San Jose needs to hear this stuff, and now that there are a few more folks who have joined the DE family there, he thinks he might have a better chance of getting other churches to join in. We’ll see. But I can tell you right now that I was honored to be a part of what God is doing in San Jose through Craig, Vince and the rest of the wonderful family of Cornerstone Community Church this weekend. I really hope we get to party again sometime soon.
Thank you, Craig, Vince and Kathleen, for your love and hospitality. We’ll be in touch.
May 16th, 2009 · 12 Comments
Categories: OA Stories
Andrew Fockel said
am May 17 2009 @ 12:23 pm
Randy–Thank you so much for making the trip out to spend some time with us this weekend, and for sharing some wonderful concepts that I know will impact our lives profoundly. I am looking forward to swinging at that teeball, and running to third base: right into my Father’s loving arms.
God Bless you in your ministry, and we will keep you in our prayers! We hope to see you again soon.
Andrew
Randy Siever said
am May 17 2009 @ 3:24 pm
Thanks for the cyber-applause, Andrew!
Vince Staub said
am May 17 2009 @ 6:12 pm
Randy-
Several people stopped me this morning at church and told me how great the seminar was…I said “Wow”. Seriously, lifting the burden off of the shoulders of these folks is a huge win for Cornerstone, San Jose and the Kingdom.
Thanks for hanging out with us and inspiring us.
Lori (Josh's wife) said
am May 18 2009 @ 9:22 pm
I wasn’t able to stay the whole time, but I LOVED the parts I got to hear! I agree with Vince that if you come again to SJ, we can get more people. I’m sure those of us who attended will be talking it up big-time.
Interesting- Josh was telling his dad what he was doing Sat. and trying to describe the kinds of questions he got. His dad said “If it were me, I’d tell them that a good first step would be to not tell me I’m going to hell.” Duly noted!
Seriously (and I should probably email you this question!): what would you say to a friend who is not a Christ-follower if they ask you “Do you think I’m going to hell (or not going to heaven) because I don’t follow Jesus?” I think that question is my #1 fear, because I have no idea how I would answer it. (Maybe- “It’s not my job to know that” ?)
Thanks again for some very freeing words of wisdom!
-Lori
Randy said
am May 18 2009 @ 10:33 pm
Thanks, Lori. It would be fun to come back again to San Jose. Hope we can make that happen.
One of the things that tends to paralyze Christians in the evangelism game is the fear of not knowing the right answer to some particular question. The question you raise is one I have gotten many times from my non-believing friends, including my atheist friend. I don’t think there is one stock answer for this question (or any other), except the all-saving, “I don’t really know.”
My own version of this answer sounds something like, “I don’t think I get to decide that, but if I were God I’d want you with me.”
I wasn’t always this humble, mind you. A decade ago I was able to figure out just about anyone’s eternal destiny, using only a few very pointed questions. I’m a little less god-like these days. Plus, as we discussed at the seminar, I’m trying to leave the outcome up to God (which requires I actually act as if God is sovereign, rather than just agree to the possibility).
I bet others here may have suggestions on how to answer this important question. Anyone get this question from their friends? How did you answer it?
Dave said
am May 20 2009 @ 12:04 pm
Randy-
Thanks for bringing Doable Evangelism to San Jose. I look forward to your material being published. My goal is to give the survey to a complete stranger. When that happens, I will let you know. I will probably let everyone know.
Randy said
am May 20 2009 @ 12:57 pm
Dave,
Thanks, man. Be sure to notice and pray behind their back, before you go with the 60 second survey. You might practice with someone who likes you first, too, just to get the feel for how long 60 seconds really is. I expect a full report right here in DE Land! Way to go!
Elaine said
am May 21 2009 @ 4:03 pm
Randy – love to read your harvest report on the DE gatherings. It makes me smile because I hear in your words the relationships you’ve built, lives that have been touched.
And as my friends in ASG world say, who ever shows up are the right people and whatever happens is the only thing that could. God is in control.
It sounds to me like the 27 people who showed up – made a choice to be there and that’s much better than 500 who were forced to be there.
You are planting wonderful seeds that God will continue to water and care for…
keep up the good work
Elaine said
am May 21 2009 @ 4:05 pm
or maybe it is you who are watering the seeds that God has already planted. What do you think?
Randy said
am May 21 2009 @ 4:43 pm
I think maybe a little of both. Thanks, Elaine!
Lori (Josh's wife) said
am June 10 2009 @ 12:18 pm
About the 60 second survey– do you generally know beforehand that the person is not a “believer”? Have you ever asked a random stranger (after noticing them and praying behind their back) those questions and come to find out through the questions that they are a Christian? Must make the “What would you say to Christians if they would listen?” question quite interesting!
Thanks again for coming to SJ! I am sensing a few things really opening up as a result of your being there! (It was a great place beforehand, so no criticism to Cornerstone- but there is always room for growth!)
Hope we see you again. With enough time to get the word out, I think it could be really well-attended.
Randy said
am June 10 2009 @ 12:28 pm
Thanks, Lori. Yes, the 60 second survey has uncovered a few Christians. There is a video on our facebook group page (we’ll have a youtube page here soon) that one group did at the Reno Street Vibrations event (a motorcycle rally here in town). The most interesting comment to that question about “If Christians would listen…” came from a gal I think was probably a Jesus follower.
The four questions can be used anywhere, with anyone, of course. But it’s really fun to ask them to people you see regularly, just because it makes you a safe person to talk to later.
Glad to hear that there’s still a ripple effect from our time together there at Cornerstone. I just put a four-week DE Course online here in our downloads section…one I’ve been using now for over 4 years. Also put a discussion guide on there, which doesn’t require Jim’s book to go through. Our goal is to make available as many tools as possible to get as many people as possible practicing the spiritual practices we call “ordinary attempts”.
I’d love to come back, btw!