One Man, One Stable, One Massive Paradigm Shift

It seems easy to classify the God of the Old Testament. He is the God who created the universe, who parted the Red Sea, who gave the Ten Commandments, and who scattered the inhabitants of the Tower of Babel. He is dramatic and violent, willing to wipe out thousands – even while protecting those He cares for and those who obey His commands.

And He views the world through only one prism: that of the law. A man or a nation obeys the law, and they are rewarded and blessed; the same person or nation disobeys, and they are punished. There are  a few notable exceptions – the books of Job and Song of Solomon come to mind – but for the most part, that paradigm seems to hold true.

One of the interesting facts about the nature of some of the books of kings in the Bible is that they do not seem to deal with the kings in a manner that we Americans would deal with them. There is little talk of whether the economy rose or fell or whether they had better diplomatic relations with other countries or whether the kings were able to be men of great intellect and learning. They all seem to be viewed along the single perspective of whether they feared the Lord, and by extension, whether they obeyed Him.

In the New Testament, the paradigm shifts. Suddenly, all of human history is about this one man born into this world in a smelly stable, itchy hay sticking to his neck, with a few annoyed cows probably mooing their displeasure on having their pleasant night of sleep interrupted by his cries. When Jesus quietly enters the world, it does not become about the ritual, about having done the right thing the whole time or not. It becomes about Him – about this one man, of no particular birth or wealth or status.

And in so doing, God did something unprecedented. The prince becomes the pauper. The boss goes undercover. The one at the top sees what it’s like for one at the bottom. Initially, this move looks like weakness. What is God doing associating with the lowest dregs of humanity? And yet, what looks like weakness turns out to be strength: God made Himself accessible to lowly human beings. By becoming human, God made himself one of us. And in so doing, He allowed us to have fellowship with Him.

To put it another way, God became a part of human culture, so that humans could be a part of God’s culture. Sounds a lot like a missionary, doesn’t it?

Merry Christmas!

Written by: John Michael Den Hartog

Q and A: Interview with a CFCI Partner - Shun Lee Fong

Most people would consider leaving a successful career as a lawyer - almost ready to become a partner at his firm, no less - one of the less-intelligent decisions of Shun Lee Fong's life. However, as the founder of a small Los Angeles-based ministry called The Greenhouse, having ministered to more than 6,000 people over the course of the past seven years, he would probably disagree. CFCI and Shun Lee were able to sit down recently and discuss his wild Hollywood ride, what God has taught him in the meantime, and what that might mean for the future.

How did God call you to Hollywood?

                      

I was from a very creative family and a lawyer at the time and half way through that… He called me. It was kind of a revelation that God was doing something in Hollywood. I’d been reading about how our job as Christians is to join God where He is working… and that was kind of the emphasis for me in terms of getting out there and examining what God was doing in Hollywood and realizing after a while that this was what God has calling me to do.

What about the Greenhouse? Was that part of the vision from beginning or did that come about later?

It was part of the vision from the beginning… I had an idea of reaching out to artists, helping out artists, mentoring them not only filming television, but music and all the other art disciplines.  That came into being about seven and a half years ago in 2007. We’ve been going pretty strong ever since.

Tell us a little bit about Greenhouse itself, its purpose, what you do in it. Obviously you help actors and others people try to make it in the business. How far does that extend?

It initially started with a handful of people meeting in the basement of a church that the pastor had given me the keys to. We got together and talked about what it means to be an artist… from a creative point of view, intellectually, physically - all the different aspects of life. And it was really a conversation about what we can do to keep moving forward with who we are as creative artists. About a month after that, people started coming out of the woodwork, they wanted to be part of that conversation. So we had to examine what it looks like from a broader scale. So over the years, we kept that same vision of what it means to be a holistic creative professional. What does it mean to be healthy in all those areas of life so we are actually growing, serving one another? It’s been going on for about seven and a half years now and we have outreached about 6,000 peoplein that amount of time.

Do you have any particular stories of individuals who have been touched by your ministry or that you feel like God has allowed you to touch during that time?

There have been a lot of people and there are a lot of different ways. One that comes to mind is a young man who came into my office about four years ago and was not doing well. He was sincerely and very seriously struggling with even being alive and didn’t believe in God, didn’t believe that God loved him. I let him come to my office every day. We would sit, talk a little. I’d listen to him, watch him cry a little bit, (and) give him some-thing to think about. This went on for about four years. He ended up moving to Texas and was running a film school for a high school. He just sent me his baptism photos a few weeks ago.

How has Greenhouse evolved over the years?

We are no longer meeting at that church. When we hit fifty people, we realized that we needed to find a bigger place, so we ended up at the Shakespeare club in Pasadena, which is a huge stone building they let us use very cheaply. And we outgrew that place too. Then we went to CBS studios, and they graciously allowed us some space there that we’ve been using ever since.

What do you see Greenhouse doing in the future? How do you see it continuing to grow and being a part of the work that God is doing there to do in Hollywood and in LA?

We have a lot of different programs. One of them is Hollywood Connect, which is geared for people in their first year of being in Hollywood. We help them with some of those early questions. We get them turned in the right direction, to make good decision - not only creatively, professionally but also personally, spiritually, etc. We’ve got a lot of workshops that we do every Saturday at CBS, looking for ways to help them get better at their craft. We don’t look at things just spiritually... All the other aspects are really important as well. We have mentoring (and) community events where people come in and hear some of the big-name artists of Hollywood talk about what it means to be a creative professional. We make film together. We are hoping to see a real culture shift because the Greenhouse approaches art from a different point of view. It takes a lot of work. Our focus is turning Hollywood upside down, saying that this is how Hollywood has been, but it is not necessarily healthy. How do we approach the art from a healthier point of view? We are hoping to see that spread in Los Angeles but also in other creative centers in the United States as well as the rest of the world.

Of the time that you got to spend in LA, what are you most proud of?

Of course the project, always being able to step into a project, lend in my creative talent - whether it’s as an actor, writer, (or) producer. I am tremendously grateful for having been a part of those. Also I am proud of cultivating healthy relationships between people and with myself as well. It’s a very alienating town. There are a lot of lonely people, so to be able to cultivate relationships, see community pulled together and serving each other, and serving the community as a whole, serving the city. In a lot of ways it’s pushing through an industry that has been a particular way for a hundred years or more, seeing a different way of doing it, an innovative way of doing it, and I’m very proud of being part of that process.

How do you see Christ for the City and the Greenhouse working together in the future?

A lot of that remains to be seen, but the thing that we love about Christ for the City is that they are very intentional about supporting other groups and being a part of providing resources and looking at new ways to see culture shifts, to be change agents. Obviously that’s very much where we are up to. We want to see things to be better. Hopefully there will be opportunities for the Greenhouse and Christ for the City to work on - artistic opportunities - to look for the stories that needs to be told, not only in the United States but around world because of what they are doing elsewhere. We see a lot of opportunities in the younger generations because there are very engaged into art, entertainment, (and) pop culture.

For more information about the Greenhouse, including how you can get connected, visit greenhouseproductions.com

Written by: John Michael Den Hartog

Missionary Interview - Carlos Mestayer

Country of Origin: Costa Rica

Country of Mission: Costa Rica

Age: 47 years young

Position: Translator/Short-Term Teams Director

On the side: Lead singer of Christian Rock band Sin Paredes (Without Walls) (Who is currently beginning work on a brand-new album)

I had the opportunity to sit down with Carlos Mestayer and talk to him about his adventures being in a Christian Spanish hard rock band, his ministry, and the ways those two overlap.

About the band 

It’s been a great adventure with the band. We’ve gone to so many places, and we’ve been able to spend so much time with kids and pray with them, encourage them, even disciple some of them. That’s the joy of ministry. People ask us sometimes when we have the opportunities to have interviews...whether we want to be famous or not. We are reaching a point where we are telling them, "Well, are like dinosaurs now - we are getting old - but yes, we want to be famous. Just because we want to hear the Word of God spread." The more people hear about us will hear about the Lord. We would really like to tell kids, especially in the Spanish-speaking world, that there is hope, there is healing. More than ever this generation is broken, needs role models. 

[In particular] there is such sexual brokenness. Sexual brokenness at this particular point has reached epidemic levels all over the world. There is so much need for guidance, for loving, for healing for the kids. And that is what we want to do for years to come. I don’t know how many more years we have to be relevant, culturally, as musicians, but we want to let people know that there is hope. Whenever God opens the door, we will use it. We would love to go and do some damage wherever we go.

About the new album with a new recording label 

It is one of the things that the Lord has for us, and I am excited about it. I am not extremely excited. Probably back in the day I would have been crazy about it, but at this particular point it’s, "Yeah, it’s going to be fun. Let’s see where the Lord takes all of this."

About working with the short-term missions department 

It’s really exciting, especially when you start seeing how God orchestrates things, how God has been moving and how God uses little details and the willingness of people to just go and do His work. Something I usually tell people when they want to go on a short-term mission trip is that they don’t need to be Bible scholars, they don’t need to be mission professionals, or experts in cross-cultural experiences; all God needs is available people. People that are willing to live simply and live dangerously in the hands of God. God will provide the words, even the skills at particular moments. And if people have natural skills, I usually encourage them to use them to bless other people. It’s something that I have been doing for 14 years now, and I am not tired of it. It’s just wonderful to be there as a facilitator and get to see and hear transformation taking place, not only in the lives of locals but also in the lives of short-termers going to serve. They go back home richer, with a different type of wealth that you don’t get to see often int he United States. It’s kingdom wealth, spiritual wealth, it’s growth. It is the result of living for a while out of your comfort zone and adventuring to do what God wants you to do. It’s really cool.

Interview Conducted and Written by: John Michael Den Hartog