Church planter and consultant Doug Murren spoke at the NorthStar Church Network annual meeting last week. Doug’s the type of guy who tells it like it is in a warm, funny and extremely down to earth kind of way. You get the sense that he has seen a lot and tested his faith enough to know what he is talking about.
I would also say that Doug falls into the category of prophet. He is attuned to the reality of churches and culture in our nation and speaks very frankly to what he sees and what he is concerned about. But Doug also has a message of hope and “light a fire under you” action.
Lisa Cole Smith
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He told us that what he sees all over the country are churches which are weary — weary and ready for retreat from what seems like an incredible battle in our culture, a fight that it sometimes seems we are losing. Doug’s message to us is to remember that we are not powerless at all nor will we lose. “In fact,” he growled into the microphone, “we’ve got skills.”
Doug was referencing the movie Taken, starring Liam Neeson, and the surprising scene where his daughter is kidnapped from her room in Paris. As she hides panicked under the bed she is on the phone with her father asking him what to do. His advice is not “Don’t worry, everything will be OK” or even “Hide.” Instead he tells her, “They are going to take you.” He instructs her to leave the phone on as they drag her away so that he can hear her shout every detail she sees before she is gone.
When the kidnapper takes the phone Neeson’s character again surprises. He tells the kidnapper he can either return his daughter right now or he will track him down and kill him.
“If you are looking for ransom I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.”
I loved Doug’s reference to this scene because it is such a powerfully written moment — partly because it is such a surprise. In most movies there are victims and there are heroes. Sometimes victims gain the strength to become a revenge-motivated hero but only after suffering extreme trauma or loss.
In this scene we see something new — someone who refuses to be a victim. While I’m sure the father wants to panic, wants to freak out with anger and fear, he doesn’t. Because he’s got skills. Because, regardless of how personal the situation, he is prepared. He knows how to handle this due to his training, but experience has taught him something else — to deal with reality.
I was struck by the way he is able to immediately accept the reality of what is happening and how his words to his daughter were ones to help her prepare for reality — “They are going to take you.” Instead of spending a day asking, “Why is this happening to me?” or questioning whether or not he could handle the situation, he accepts the enormous horror of the reality and immediately leans into the “skills” he has acquired for just these occasions.
When I heard Doug make this connection I thought it was very smart. Too often we as Christians forget that we have skills. Life happens to us and we react the way most people in movies do. We spend days, weeks, months, years worrying and in denial. We act as if we don’t know that there is evil in the world and are surprised when we encounter it. And because we are surprised we are in awe of its power and too quickly are overcome. We forget our training as Christians. We forget that Jesus encountered evil of all kinds head on. He didn’t deny it was happening and he didn’t waste time in self pity. Instead he responded as one with a very particular set of skills. “Skills that make me a nightmare for people (or situations) like you.”
In a rather generic action movie, that scene is an iconic moment because it is such a surprise. It resonates for people because it dares to have the courage to resist being a victim and instead say, “I can do something about this.”
I imagine that is part of what the filmmakers hoped to accomplish with the movie’s subject matter. But what a message for Doug to put in front of us as churches at our annual meeting! Now is not the time to retreat or give in to disappointment or frustration over the declining interest in church in our culture. Instead it is time to lean into the “skills” we have. It is time to lean into what we have learned as disciples of Jesus and creatively engage the situation head on — not in denial or mourning for what we wish could be, but focused, determined and hopeful for what will be.
After all, as Doug pointed out; “We’ve got skills and we know how the story ends.”
Lisa Cole Smith ([email protected]) is pastor of Convergence: A Creative Community of Faith, a Baptist congregation in Alexandria, Va.