I suppose living in the Bible belt of America, I have heard my share of sermons. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, we have at least five different "Christian" radio formats available. We have several "Christian" bookstores in every major town. (Five miles from where I work, four different stores exist.) And of course, the rumors are true. We do have a church on every corner.

Every store, radio station, bumper sticker, church building has a sermon. It is preaching to the masses of unconcerned citizens: "Buy me! Consume me!"

Some pastors have noticed how sick their congregations have become on this sub-culture. Attend another "Experiencing God" Bible study? Another men’s conference? Another rally? Another concert? No thanks. I’ve already done five this year. The illusion would be we’re doing too much. We’re moving too fast. We’re not keeping pace. The sermon then becomes: "3 easy steps for slowing down." In doing so, the pastor preaches to the wrong problem.

The Church is not moving fast enough. Our mission and our witness to this generation is sluggish at best. These book stores and radio stations can become an opiate for Christians who want to convince themselves they are being productive and active for the Kingdom. Don’t know how to share the Good News? Our idea of motion is to read a book on it, attend a conference, or listen to a sermon. Rarely do we think the answer is… (big surprise) to tell someone about the Good News!

Of course, I’m not saying to stop reading. As a writer, I’d be shooting myself in the foot. However, I am urging us to remember: Reading a book is not ministry. If you’re getting tired "running with Christianity," then maybe you are running the wrong race. The true race of God promises to renew our strength.

As Christians, we should know the only thing that truly renews our strength is connection with God Yahweh. This connection takes place in worship. But this worship does not exist just on Sundays. We must broaden our definition of a worshipping community. I really enjoy what Heide Alayne Wall has to say about this worship:

"I think if we want our worship to ‘move’ we have to be a service-oriented body. Christianity, as it was established by Christ Himself, has always had the focus of charity, service, aiding the masses, the sick and needy, etc. We aren't called to sit around and reflect on ourselves; that's stagnant worship. We're called to minister, to serve... and that's when the gospel DOES something to our culture."

Unfortunately, we have failed to move simply because we spend too much time reflecting upon ourselves. We worry about politicians taking prayer away from school (as if Christian students would STOP praying!), yet we fail to think of how we can serve our schools. We must discover new creative ways to serve those who oppose us and want nothing to do with us. We must not publish our service and charity; but do it in secret. (Matthew 6:18)

The churches that serve know how to keep pace with our society. The world today may no longer have the patience to listen to Bill Bright’s "Four Spiritual Laws;" but oddly enough, if you come to serve, the world will listen. In our culture, service industry jobs make up the majority of paid positions. Have we failed as a church to be a service industry? Not to meet the needs of Christian consumers, but to mend the wounds of a broken spirit or a hungry stomach in God’s name and for His glory. We have entertained ourselves into a coma. The last thing we need is a sermon on slowing down. We would only continue in our unrest.

Dan Denton recalls in a recent article in Fast Company Magazine a track coach made the comment: "...in order to speed up, you must first slow down..." Denton comments that:

"In order to handle all that comes at me, I must know where I am and what I am doing. That takes time to figure out. I must stop from doing in order to ascertain where I am and what it is that I should be doing there at that time. That means stop doing and start figuring.

Once I have figured out where I am and what it is I am doing, I need to set a priority system in place that will make my decisions easier (and thus quicker); because they are all ready made. (i.e. my priorities which are value based determine my actions and responses ergo there is no need for long term deliberation when faced with a major decision)

To illustrate ---it is one thing to say, ‘seek ye first the kingdom of God’ and quite another to prioritize everything in my life around my commitment to Christ and His call on my life. That is to make myself available to Him first and not just give lip service to some pithy expression."

Denton understands the need to know the right race. Ministry in an accelerated culture needs to be cautious. If we take the wrong path, at this speed, we could be miles from where we should be by the time we figured out what happened. So we must determine what we value.

I believe every church should not only have a doctrinal statement---but a value statement should precede it. The monastic orders of the Roman Catholic Church know this need well. Each order has a list of tenants. These tenants serve as a value statement for directing all their activities. Doctrine alone cannot determine what we value. I may be able to say, "I believe in God." But as the Church, I need to be able to say, "As a believer in God, I value His name being known throughout this generation."

Possibly, Christian communities move at such a slow pace, because they do not really know what they want. They only know what they can afford to desire. This confusion reduces churches to arguing over the mundane, instead of focusing on the Divine as a unified Body. We believe it is so difficult to be unified, because everyone believes differently. Maybe, instead we should realize how easy it would be to unify, because everyone desires similar things. Our beliefs are as varied as our life experiences. But our desires stream from one God, and in Him, we share the same deep yearning to see Him and to be connected with Him. (Desiring God by John Piper is an excellent book; which better explains the unity of our desire.) Remember in Hebrews 12, we must "fix our eyes on Jesus" if we are to run with perseverance.

Yet, I have always wondered: Why is it that as creatures made in the image of God, we need rest and sleep-while we serve a God who never sleeps and never grows tired or weary? The Scriptures tell us God "rested" on the seventh day of creation, thus modeling for us a pattern for our own work ethic. But this "rest" was not because God could ever be exhausted of His strength. Why then do we need sleep? Why is it so incredibly hard for me to get up in the morning? (Besides the fact I stayed up until 3 AM building a website for my pet hamster… don’t ask.)

I would imagine the answer lies in the finite and fleshy nature of our bodies and existence on this earth. I would also guess this weakness has its roots in the Fall of humankind. Either way, for this time, God purposed us to have cycles of energy. He has made us to need sleep as a way to reveal our dependence on Him for energy and life itself.

Eric Stanford comments on Sweet’s "moodling":

"As I've gotten to know Leonard Sweet just a bit, it's become obvious that he's focused on making the most of every minute and getting by on as little sleep as he can. That's a kind of drivenness I know nothing about. But in his newest book, Leonard admits to the need for rest and what he calls ‘moodling’--a happy wandering about just for the fun of it. I, myself, am a big believer in cycles of energy, of living by a sort of wave motion: rest and activity, rest and activity. (That's just the kind of pattern Yahweh impressed into time with his Sabbath commandment.) Don't work like crazy, neglecting practically everything but work between the ages of 22 and 65, and then retire and sit in a chair. All along, live a life with a harmonious mixture of working, playing, praying, hanging out, helping out, working out, learning, creating, traveling, sleeping, etc. And keep it up right till the end (probably a long way off, because this is not only the way to long-term productivity but also the way to health, joy, and longevity)."

I agree with Eric’s understanding of our cycles of energy. We need to "moodle." (Eric, is this the present tense form of the verb?) However, God Yahweh also reminds His people, that while some forms of rest honor Him (such as the Sabbath), some types of rest dishonor Him. Laziness. (Proverbs 6:6-11) Since some of us are so tired and exhausted in our ministries, we must consciously ask what type of "rest" are we demanding from God? I believe if we are connected with the correct "cycle," then we are refreshed and able to return to work. But, if we are connected with the wrong form of rest (i.e. laziness), we may never recover to serve the Gospel.

I had a friend in college who overslept so much her body actually re-adjusted itself to require that much sleep in order to be fully rested. It was really a very sad situation. We’d come by to visit and she would be sleeping. We’d call her and she would be sleeping. She would even miss some classes and several meals! Obviously, she eventually got kicked out of school. Sleep produces a type of endorphin (I may need to re-check my knowledge of endocrinology). This endorphin can be addictive. People may become sleep addicts. These situations do not include people who are naturally disposed to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

I believe some parts of our Church have abandoned the cycle of energy, which frees us to rest. Instead, they rush through their "work" so they may have more time to sleep. Then they get addicted to this lazy state. No wonder some people say they are so busy! I would too if I only had ten waking hours to do sixteen hours worth of awake activity.

Some truly desire to run the race of ministry in an accelerated culture. They are begging for the right motivation. They want to get off the couch, turn off the TV, and serve their community. They just want to understand where they are heading.

I believe the imagery Paul uses in Hebrews of "running the race" can be misleading without a Jewish and Greek perspective. Most pastors will compare the race to the Greco-Olympics of that time. Paul uses imagery of a "cloud of witnesses" of those before us. We get the image of fans cheering in a stadium. From a Western linear perspective, we fail to see the purpose of running in a circle (Hence, the popular cliché). If you run in a circle, you don’t actually GO ANYWHERE according to this Western perspective. If we where to run in a circle with this frame of mind, ministry would be just for show or to prove we could do it. And yes, we have reduced ministry to this level. But if we were to look at the scripture from an appropriate Jewish-Eastern perspective, we would see this race is actually both circular AND a journey.

The Jewish people understood a circular journey. A good example would be the Bible itself and all of Redemptive History. We start where we finish. See for yourself. Read the first two chapters of Genesis and skip to the last two chapters of Revelation. From paradise to paradise, God’s people went in one big circle. But, what an incredible journey! The Jewish people spent a lifetime in the desert to get to the Promise Land. I would assume much of their wanderings where simply circular. But, how important was that journey to the nation? Invaluable.

Peter Barney comments on Israel’s journey:

"I was thinking that for Israel's trip from point A to B it took a whole generation to complete. The Hebrew author who recorded these events emphasis the experience of the journey. Out of the wandering's grew a nation that knew what it meant to follow God. It appears that God altered the speed of motion continually including what appeared to be bringing them to rest. (e.g. when the Israelites thought that God had ground them to a halt many issues were being dealt with, faith, trust, obedience etc).

This concept is not just philosophical mystical hoopla. The fact is when you end up where you began, you have journeyed. Western minded people just don’t see well. Maybe the plot of ground hasn’t changed; but we have changed. We are different. There is no greater journey than returning home. And home is our starting point. In ministry, we travel from God-out towards God. God doesn’t change. He changes us. This race is a journey.

How do we accomplish ministry in a fast pace world? Instead of trying to slow down culture, we need to run at the pace culture moves. We establish equilibrium. We run side by side, until our journey becomes their journey. And we run together home to the Father who is waiting to say: "Now you have finished the race, you may enter my rest and know that I am God."

And like Jewish literature, I will begin where I ended.

Remember the movie Forrest Gump? Forrest ran from one coast to the other and back again. As he ran, people joined in. They followed, inspired by his pace and his dedication. He wasn’t selling anything or marketing anything. He just felt compelled to run. And when he finally stopped: he went home. We should do likewise.

"Now you wouldn’t believe me if I told you, but I could run like the wind blows. From that day on, if I was ever going somewhere, I was run-ning!" -Forrest Gump

David Hopkins, age 23 [http://monkhouse.org/david] is a contributing editor for Next-Wave. He recently graduated from Texas A&M University at Commerce with a degree in English and Philosophy. David has enrolled to Fuller Theological Seminary's distance learning program. David was raised in the Methodist tradition. Although currently, he is a community pastor at Axxess, an emerging congregation within Pantego Bible Church. In his "spare time," David is a high school English teacher. E-mail him at david@next-wave.org.