Rebirth International

What I love about Jesus?

Posted on March 13th, 2007 by Mo Leverett.
Categories: blog, devotional, ministry updates.

The Christian Tradition of the Unconventional
One of the things I love most about Jesus, and there is much to draw from on this issue, is His approach to choice-making. Let’s be honest. Nearly every choice He made flew in the face of conventional wisdom – beginning with the decision to become human and thus take on our various disfigurements. The infinite, immortal and invisible God choosing to become one of us is akin to Bill Gates shedding all privilege, prestige and economic power, moving into a cardboard box in the slums of India in hopes to advance the cause of Microsoft – it makes no sense.

Choosing a mostly uneducated, rough and unimpressive group of working class men as the ambassadors of your newly launched international movement – makes no sense. Choosing to offend the powerful and empower the weak – makes no sense. Choosing to avoid the elite and yet invite the bum – makes no sense. Choosing to embrace the leper and confront the lawyer – makes no sense. Choosing your greatest persecutor as the leader of your missionary movement– makes no sense. At every turn he surprises us. At every turn he confounds us. At every turn he offends us.

This is partly why followers of Jesus, when we really are following Jesus, are called fools. When we launch something in the name of Jesus, not only should it look different from every other human initiative, it should naturally offend our innate sense of conventional wisdom and better judgment. His ways are clearly not ours.

When, for instance, in our modern day church, do we embrace HIV patients because they value both their falleness and ours? When do we make recovering alcoholics elders over our people because of their unique perspective on grace? How often do we establish former prostitutes or strippers as leaders over our women’s ministries because of their recovered capacity for true intimacy? When do we target for ministry the most offensive, beguiled and socially outcast and then ascribe to them the labels of light of the world and salt of the earth, much less invite them to our churches? Yet this is precisely what Jesus did. That is His tradition.

But then Jesus’ finest offense was the cross. When He elevated himself in utter humiliation for our sake, he confounds us. Yes, I know the cross is the emblem and banner of our movement. We cover it with carets of gold and wear it around our necks. But it was among the most despicable scenes in human history – and rarely as a principle is it imitated – not even in our circles. In its essence it is redemptive and beautiful. In its self-sacrificing essence it also offends our gross tendency toward self-absorption. In its meekness and gentle willingness to suffer it offends our instinctive need for self-preservation and self-defense.

This is why we should not seek to run our ministries or churches on proven business strategies or principles, or other worldly frames of reference. I don’t mean here that money should be managed inefficiently out from under professional accountability. And I don’t mean that ministries have nothing to learn from the business community. I only mean to suggest that the choices we make should be guided more by the unique frame of reference that directed Jesus’ choice-making. I don’t blame Christian businessmen for running their businesses on established workable theories of management. But I do warn them against establishing those principles as the appropriate philosophy of Christ’s church or mission. Frankly, the underpinnings of business and that of the church are not altogether the same.

More than anything else, the choice that Christ made which confounds me the most is this: His choice of me. Why? Why, after so many offenses, after so many failures, after so many painfully present personal flaws, would Christ choose me?

Of all the biblical figures I relate to the most, the leper seems most befitting. There are times when I would serve the public best by wearing a bell around my neck announcing my coming. Ring, ring…here comes a man who wounds…ring, ring…here comes a man with issues…ring, ring…here comes a man who offends…ring, ring…here comes a complicated man…ring, ring…here comes a dangerously difficult man…ring, ring…ring, ring…ring.

Or there are times when the tax collector in the tree is the better analogy. No, I’m not good with numbers like he is, but why in the crowd of so many, would Christ choose someone who has made a living on personal demands, manipulations and exploitations? Why would he come to our home? And dine at our table? And laugh at our jokes? And passionately love when the only thing we do well is imperfection.

Or maybe the former prostitute, Mary Magdalene is more analogous. I, like her, have reasons to be despised, reasons to be debunked, reasons to be defaced, reasons to be disgraced. And yet here He is, before me, receiving my tears, fears and twisted affections. Or maybe I’m like Paul, the chief of sinners. Or like Peter, the consummate foot in the mouth disciple. Or like Thomas, doubting. There are many other comparisons that could be made, and with them all there are 2 things we share in common – (1) our total depravity and (2) against all conventional wisdom, His choice. Against all conventional wisdom, He chose me and also the likes of me!

And so pray for me that in response I might follow in His tradition and make choices which are utterly unconventional. Pray for me that I too might be a fool. Pray that I might offend, as He did.

That’d be Jesus
Mo Leverett
November 7, 2006

Who from lofty sacred throne
Came as humble and alone
To the poor to give increase
To the slave to grant release?

Where to seek when all we crave
is an escort from the grave
Who gives life when death consumes
who gives rebirth in the tomb?

That’d be Jesus

Who has shared his holy seat
With the orphan from the street
Who has made deliverance free
And offers it eternally?

Who makes homeless sons a place
wounded children sacred space
Who puts rebels in a trance
Granting them their second chance?

That’d be Jesus

Who can satisfy the thirst
Of beggars then and make them first
Who can take the child recoiled
And give him bread that never spoils?

Who was here before the winds
and to broken souls attends
Who for pleasure does pursue
The likes of those like me and you?

That’d be Jesus!

2 comments.

PRAYER ALERT!

Posted on February 8th, 2007 by Mo Leverett.
Categories: blog, new orleans.

Please spread the word throughout the body of Christ wherever you are to build a prayer movement for our dear friend Stacey Howard. Stacey gave her life to Christ through our ministry in Desire many years ago. She has developed a rare condition or disease that is causing her lungs to atrophy. The doctors are mystified and unable to treat the condition. She has seen nearly a dozen specialists who are unable to properly diagnose or treat her condition – she has lost almost half the functionality of both lungs. She may require lung transplant surgery but we are praying for God to perform a miracle in her life. She is dear to so many of us in New Orleans!

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Greg Jacobs Opens Subway Restaurant in New Orleans East! (9954 Lake Forest Blvd.)

Posted on February 5th, 2007 by Mo Leverett.
Categories: blog, new orleans.

Today was a very exciting day for Greg Jacobs, his family and friends. As a budding entrepreneur and small business owner, Greg proudly unveiled his first major venture. Fighting through the red tape of city administration, Greg persevered to launch his restaurant in one of the more devastated areas of New Orleans. Putting his own capital and personal reputation at risk, Greg has shown a deep commitment to the revitalization of the New Orleans community. The restaurant is located at the corner of Read and Lake Forest in New Orleans East.
Greg is a former student in Mo Leverett’s ministry in Desire. He was the business manager and athletic coordinator in the school. In addition to being a entrepreneur and business owner in the city, he is also on the coaching staff of Clark High School, working with the running backs! He of course is excited about the ministry opportunity that this placement creates for he, Byron, Richard and the other coaches.

I was proud to be Greg’s first customer. I ordered a 12 inch BMT combo – with my signature large Diet Coke – for those who are interested. I also was able to assist Greg by posting numerous signs and handing out dozens of flyers throughout the community. What amazed me most about this effort was how excited individuals were that the restaurant was being opened and that Greg had already begun to establish a great reputation in the business community.

Greg is a gentle but quietly competent, understated presence. His unassuming smile and genuine integrity endear him immediately to all that meet him. We are so proud of him and his entrepreneurial spirit. We are praying that God will bless him beyond his wildest dreams and that God would establish him as a next-generation Christian business leader for the New Orleans area.

We fully expect that this venture is merely his first and that many more will be forthcoming. Make sure if you’re in the area to frequent his restaurant and know that you’ll be treated to a great sandwich and even better service!

2 comments.

Making progress on new project!

Posted on January 4th, 2007 by Mo Leverett.
Categories: blog, concerts & music.

I am on my way to a recording session where we will be laying down the drum tracks to the songs on this new project. Most of these songs are painful in that they deal with the tragedy of Katrina and all the unravelling that came with the storm. But they are also about healing and hope that falls from above as well. There are times when I wish there were a pill i could take that would bring instantaneous recovery from injury, or some therapy that would remove inner-woundedness from life’s travails. But there is no real healing except that which flows from the eternal and surgical hands of the Sovereign One who stoops over us in love. Unlike other medical procedures, there is no anasthesia for the process. And unlike other procedures that bring permanancy in healing, God never in this lifetime comepletes his work. We are like a child born premature that must anticipate a life span of surgeries. We never really recover fully from our inner-woundedness until we see the Creator-Redeemer face to face. Oh how I long for that day.

I was thinking this morning, now that I am in my 40′s that I have entered the Autumn years of my life. Spring is the stage where we are blooming with life and color and personality and self-discovery. I would say that this stage would be the first 20 years of our lives. Of course Summer follows with fulness and maturity and fruitfulness. These are our productivity years. These would be our next 20 years taking us up to the stage I’ve just entered – our Autumn years. Our Autumn years are our years of decline. Now I know that there are ways in which the Autumn years can be the most productive phase of all, when we manage the first phases well, or when because of spiritual renewal one might find in later years, but even for those, the autumn years are a time of preparation inwardly where we let go of our fruitfulness for the enrichment of others. We are focused and hopeful that we might pass on to our children the legacy of our lives. We are shaping our lives for the benefit of others. This is why to me Autumn is the most colorful and beautiful phase. Winter of course is the phase where we retreat deep into ourselves in preparation for new birth. Perhaps I’m making too much of this. Perhaps I’m just a little melancholy entering into another recording session. Whatever the case may be, I am thankful to the One who sustains us through all our lives and gives us hope in the midst of the storm.

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