Yay, I got the super secret wireless access code for the bloggers so I can post live after each session.

So these are going to be really rough notes.

“The Church as the Theatre of transracial Adoption”

Bryan Loritts is the lead pastor of Fellowship Memphis – multicultural church in Memphis.

Went to Memphis to build a multi-cultural, disciple-making church in Memphis. He was told by other church leaders that it “would never work here”. Memphis is a city with a lot of racial tension.

Heaven is gng to be a multi-ethnic experience. If we are to bring a slice of heaven here in earth we must live out “adoption” (vertically).

Gospel-centered people understand they were once orphans.

We need to figure out how to get more minorities in adopting. (Love this topic – lots to explore here.)

Matthew 25 (Jesus last message prior to the cross)

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-46 ESV)

Jesus equates himself with the least of these.

William Wilberforce could not reckon his faith with the social evil of slavery and he wanted to quit his job in the parliament. John Newton told him the Lord had raised him up to do good in that nation. Wilberforce then set out to abolish slavery in England. He fought for 20 years before he would see his dream come true.

You don’t need to quit your job to make a difference for Christ.

The issue of fatherlessness, abortion, and orphans is our 21st century issue of slavery.

Slavery bequeathed a legacy of broken families to minorities. Slavery was built on the breeding and separation of families.

Someone needs to step in and say “the cycle breaks here”. We pass on our legacies (god and bad) and they are felt for hundreds of years.

It’s not that there is no difference between the races. It is that at the foot of the cross it doesn’t matter.

Do the hard work and raise your kids in a multicultural environment.

Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 ESV)

Christ loved us WHILE we were sinners. God sees us “as is” and loves us “as is”.

How do we know we are saved? FRUIT

We may not be fully arrived on our spiritual journey, but we are not fully where we once were.

Matthew 25 does not deal with the root of salvation it deals with the fruit of salvation. Don’t sit on the grace God gave you, give it away!

For any Christ follower who does not even contemplate caring for the least of these, it is totally incompatible with the gospel.

Over 2000 verses that deal with social justice – poor, widow, fatherless, least of these.

The problem is we have preached a gospel that tells us we can be as greedy as we want and still be a Christian. (Never seen a case of church discipline over greed.) materialism has become such a part of our culture that trying to explain materialism to a christian is like explaining water to a fish.

We need to learn to leave margins in our budget. We need to wrestle with the issue of ENOUGH.

How much is enough house, car, etc. (What is enough for me may not be for someone else – don’t go legalistic.)

Life is not about building a nest egg. It is about living out the gospel.

We need an army of William Wilberforces

The Together for Adoption Conference officially kicked off this morning with a general session with Darrin Patrick (see bio below) on “The Church & Social Justice”.

Darrin taught based out of I John 3:16-18 demonstrates that we must live our lives both vertically (loving God) and horizontally (loving our neighbor) and in this there will be tension. (Ex: Christian freedom vs. wisdom; God’s sovereignty vs. human responsibility; self-discipline vs. grace)

It is first important that we nail our “gospel definition”. What is the gospel that we are called to proclaim? He gave his gospel definition but I can’t type fast enough for that. Sorry.

The tension exists in the balance. How do we proclaim the gospel and demonstrate the gospel most effectively.

Jesus had this same tension. His main ministry was preaching, yet over and over he came across those who needed healing. Sometimes he sought them out. Yet he was never so distracted by the needs of the people (physical) that he failed to meet their greatest need (spiritual).

We might ask someone “Do you know where you will go if you die tomorrow?” when their reality is that they are more worried about how they will “live” tomorrow.

Our cities need “word AND deed” ministries.

To care for the poor, marginalized and the helpless is not a part of the definition of the gospel, but it is a clear implication of the gospel.

So what is social justice? Darrin used Tim Keller’s components of social justice:  service, mercy, justice, neighbors

• Christians are to humbly serve those who don’t have basic needs being met. Food, Shelter, Clothing, Education.
• Mercy, means moving toward the poor with a priestly, Christ-like compassion and concern.
• Biblical justice,  includes meeting the basic, tangible physical needs of those who do not have them, as well as fighting systemic oppression that keeps physical needs from being met.
• Neighbors are not just those who look, spend, and think like we do. Neighbors are those near us.

Darrin Patrick serves as lead pastor of The Journey in Saint Louis, Missouri, which he founded in 2002. Darrin also serves on the board of directors of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network as Vice President and is a regular contributor at the Resurgence. His passion is to help the church understand and live the gospel in the world. Today, The Journey runs eight services across four campuses and continues to aggressively plant new campuses and churches in the Saint Louis region and beyond. He recently finished two books: Church Planter: The Man, the Message, the Mission, releasing in August 2010, and A Church for the City with Matt Carter. Darrin is married to his high school sweetheart, Amie, and they have four beautiful children: Glory, Grace, Drew, and Delaney. Darrin enjoys vacations with his family, basketball, good food, good books, good movies, and weightlifting.