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Tselem

Did you ever hear something when you were a kid and just believed it, I know I have. When I was younger I was afraid to eat watermelons because someone told me if I ate the seeds a watermelon would grow inside of me. I didn't want to be pregnant with a watermelon, so the safest bet was to just not eat them. I didn’t know how to question what someone told me. And sadly a lot of us do that with the Bible.

This blog is part of a series called "POIEMA" - telling stories and inspirations behind our video "POIEMA" (below) if you enjoy the video, please share it with someone who you think will be blessed by it. 

For example look at when it says we were made in the image of God in the Bible. When I was younger I was told that meant God made us to look like Him, so that would mean God has a nose and a mouth and 2 arms.  But there’s this question I’ve learned recently to ask myself,

“what would this have meant when it was written?”

Well when the Bible was written most countries had kings, and these kings usually liked to claim they were born special, even going as far as to say they were the descendants of their gods. SInce they could rule and say what was right and wrong they would even claim to be “the image of god” here on earth. Most of us know that they also would build huge statues of themselves. These statues were called Tselem.

Tselem is usually translated to as idol, but it's also the word used when God says he makes us in his image. So God is using a phrase that is usually used for the way kings considered themselves to describe everyone in creation. This gets even crazier when right after this God gives these newly made people something called “radah” usually we translate this word in the Bible to dominion, but radah is the authority to a king has to rule over his kingdom. This idea is revolutionary, the people with power and authority aren’t just those with political office or huge finances it’s every one of us!

So if every person is made to rule, what does that look like? Well the answer may surprise you… are you ready for this?

Gardening, for the first people ever made, ruling the world looked like gardening.

Now I know what you’re thinking “so they ruled the world by making food for eachother?” before you write me off as crazy think about it, gardening let them grow food which let them grow families which became tribes which became communities and finally became cities. See ruling is the day to day activities of work and creativity!

A bunch of us here in Detroit have this dream and it may sound kind of crazy, but we want to plant dozens of huge gardens all over the city, and let anyone take whatever they want, as much as they want! There’s tons of reasons that we all want to do this, but for me one of the biggest ones I’ve seen lately is that we’re called to empower our community to see they have authority. We want them to see God wants them to grow their communities and take ownership of them, and in doing that build his kingdom. Honestly what better way to teach Detroit that they all were made to rule than the way God showed the first people!


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workmanship

This blog is part of a series called "POIEMA" - telling stories and inspirations behind our video "POIEMA" (below) if you enjoy the video, please share it with someone who you think will be blessed by it. 

I have always loved the concept of “poiema” -

a friend of ours owned a tattoo shop in Southern California, and that was what he called it. “Poiema” - this was actually the first exposure I had to this powerful Greek word. Some of my best friends worked there, and it taught me so much about the gospel.

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When Dawn and I got married, one of our first stops was to poiema, to get matching tattoos together. 

For a short period in our lives, we lived near the shop, and it amazed me that every morning, before they started tattooing, they would have a bible study. They would open it up to anyone, and the times that we joined them were amazing. It was honest, it was real, there was depth… and then after they prayed out, they got out the tattoo guns and started tattooing. 

This type of thing seems to be more common now, but 15 years ago, the idea of a tattoo shop that started every day with a Bible study was not exactly normal. And that is what we loved so much about it. 

Because an industry that, for whatever misguided reason, the world viewed as something that is “anti-Christian” was actually creating the safest spaces I had seen a long time, for someone to not only BE a Christian, but also BE who they are at the same time. 

and that is the gospel. That Jesus loves you just as you are… that He meets you, just as you are. That He laid down His life for the you that you are right now, and that He will take everything broken and from bring forth something beautiful… something that He can use to reach others. 

And he breathes life into things that others may not see any life in. 

And no matter what anyone has said about you… or spoken over you… Jesus loves you and he wants to use you for his glory. 

This next example is totally different… because I don’t believe that it is sinful to own a tattoo shop or get a tattoo (I have them)… 

but just yesterday, I toured a church that meets in what used to be a XXX theatre. They bought the theatre, and turned it into a church. And suddenly a building with years of dark history that fueled addiction and perversion was in a moment redeemed for the Glory of God and turned into a house of worship and restoration and reconciliation. Because that is what Jesus does…

He makes all things new.

He can redeem the broken things.

(like XXX theatres)

And He will work through the unorthodox things.

(like Christian-owned tattoo shops that look more like Jesus than even some churches sometimes do!)

So no matter where you found yourself yesterday, and no matter what people may say about you today… just remember:

You are God’s workmanship.


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