Simon Cox Blog: One-on-One with Peyton Jones on "Reaching the Unreached: Becoming Raiders of the Lost Art"

Monday, 17 April 2017

One-on-One with Peyton Jones on "Reaching the Unreached: Becoming Raiders of the Lost Art"

"I think that every believer has this hidden yet reluctant adventurer inside of them."

I recently interviewed Peyton Jones about his new book, growing disciples, and seeing the potential in those around us. Peyton is the author of Reaching The Unreached: Becoming Raiders Of The Lost Art (Zondervan 2017), Regional Church Planter Training Catalyst for NAMB (Western U.S. and Canada), and host of the Church Planter Podcast.

Ed: There’s a not-so-subtle allusion to Indiana Jones in the subtitle of your book and in the cover. Can you tell us what you find inspiring about Indiana Jones?

Peyton: Indiana has an unassuming day job. Glasses, bow ties, archeology (before it was cool). Nobody expects that he hides an inner adventurer that’d rather be out in the jungle on some adventure. I think that every believer has this hidden yet reluctant adventurer inside of him or her in the form of the Holy Spirit, who was deposited in us, among other things, for mission. We settle for the classroom, but the adventure is out there.

Ed: You say that, “The church has substituted fun instead of adventure.” As someone who has spent a lot of time overseas doing church planting, what do you think of the state of the Church in America? Many studies show that the Church in America appears to be on the decline. What do you think is the solution?

Peyton: If you’ve been around for a few decades, it’s easy to see that our churches have largely turned to entertainment as a means of keeping people in the pews. But keeping people in the pews was never the point. Weren’t we supposed to be spreading? Proliferating? The problem with entertainment as worship or spiritual sustenance is that it’s like cotton candy. It’s eating, but it’s not providing substance, or nutrition.

Mission does that. Think ...