Bridging Faith and Everyday Life Through Project Banquet
We sat down with Lance Linderman, a business developer and co-founder of Project Banquet in Phoenix, Arizona, to explore questions we are asking about faith outside traditional church structures and what it means to follow Jesus in the marketplace.
Where is discipleship actually happening in everyday life?
I think it’s happening somewhere between Golgotha and the parable of the Banquet, not in the synagogues. These two images provide some insights which I’ll seek to draw on throughout my responses.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just sit at the table with our friends and family? That’s certainly what I like to do. If I’m honest, most of my life I have built around tables that serve mainly “me and mine.” I know I have. I think this is true for many of us too; sadly, this is true of our churches too. Our churches too often have become exclusive tables with an invisible “reserved” sign. They’re set for people like us, the people who listen to Hillsong, or who already believe the Bible the same way we do. As a result we end up creating an environment that has quietly decided who gets an invitation. If you don’t believe me, just look around any room on a Sunday and you’ll see it. Maybe we should rewrite the parable to say, “Go quickly into the streets and invite only your friends”?
Don’t worry, it gets worse! It’s a broken record I know, but hear it one last time. We take it a step further and we reallocate the gifts, resources, and talents of the people already at our table and use them to keep filling our own plates, or our own pews. But that’s not a Banquet, and it’s definitely not the scene between two thieves. Why aren’t we building tables that look more like those moments? Pastors, when we focus everything on one table (myself included), we risk creating our own Golden Calf (Exodus 32:1-8), something shiny but far from Jesus.
I’m not saying the meal we have isn’t good either. It can be really good. But if we’re only feeding our own group, then we’re only nourishing parts of ourselves, not our whole selves, and certainly not the lives of those around us. What I’m getting at is this: no matter how late we are to the party, we need to start building more tables that reflect the future we say we want. Tables that look like the Banquet tables (plural) in Luke 14:21-23, tables with room for the poor, for artists, for believers, for skeptics, for the righteous, for thieves, for everyone. Those are the places where your whole self is fed and stretched. That’s where discipleship actually happens instead of consumership.
How has following Jesus shaped the way you lead, hire, create, or risk?
Just today I was asked by an apostolic entrepreneur within one of our Kingdom Ecosystems if it would be ok for him to place a non-believer in charge of his coffee shop. Apostles are movers; they don’t stay forever, they start forever, so naturally he’s feeling the itch to continue his work. In effect he has someone that can lead the Banquet ceremony and direct the kitchen staff and welcome the guests, but this person doesn’t necessarily have the same beliefs as him—or don’t they? If we are truly honest with ourselves, aren’t we all in some form or another in a constant state of disbelief or unbelief? I’d like to offer that the Banquet parable invite doesn’t call only for the neighbors that know how to time their communion walk; it calls for everyone. Similarly, as Jesus hung from the cross, the men on either side of him had yet to say the sinner’s prayer, but baby, they were at the table, weren’t they, and one of them ate the food! In the marketplace the tables we build must be benevolent and they should be built at the onset from a future lens not a past or present one. A lens anchored in the hope of the future not in the current lie.
I’m asked a lot, where do I go, what do I do? When seeking the Kingdom of God it is almost always seen most plainly and clearly among the poor. Trust me, the Kingdom of God is out there but it is hard to see sometimes; it has been so covered by empire that we have to learn how to rediscover it. At Banquet LLC we always first ask, thanks to my brother Gavin, “What is the lie this city has been told and worse, manifested?” This question for us helps us understand our work and calling. In Alton, Illinois the lie is that the children of their poor are fatherless and the town will never amount to anything. West of the I-17, Metro Center’s lie is that drugs reign as king. In downtown Peoria the lie has been that it’s a ghost town and where poverty rules the roost the chicken lays the eggs of infertility and stagnation. We have to dispel the lie and it might cost us everything. AND (big and) it should start with the arts, with a new song, with beauty. It’s been our experience that every good movement begins with a new song; we believe that art and music are baked into every good endeavor and will also serve you in maintaining Kingdom ethics along the way. More on this in a moment…
What does spiritual authority look like in non-church spaces?
It looks like that song I was talking about. Jesus at Golgotha sang a song while hanging from the cross. The Psalms are the songs of the Jewish people and in Jesus’ day they didn’t have chapters or numbers; they were referenced by the opening line. “My God, my God why have you forsaken me…” Jesus sang an ancient tune to the blade of empire and the face of death. The greatest act of love and the greatest overthrow of empire happened while Jesus sang a song!
In Marlborough, a neighborhood in Kansas City where we are doing some of our work, there is a similar forgotten street to the one we serve in Peoria. The neighborhood is riddled with unspeakable violence and what used to be a thriving commercial corridor is almost entirely boarded up and vacant now. The surrounding neighborhood is poor and where there is poverty there are wolves; to quote the psalm, “the dogs encircle me” (Psalm 22:16). So we start with the future question: what does it look like to dispel the lie? What would it look like if we sang a new song here? Not… “Can I envision a large crowd gathering for Sunday services here?” If we ask the right questions and sing the right tune we will begin to uncover the truth of Marlborough, the bones of the Kingdom of God. Under that framework we will see that Marlborough needs many different tables not just a Sunday table. In Marlborough there’s no pizza delivery because the drivers are too afraid to bring pizza to the neighborhood. So how do we dispel the lie of violence here? Do we build the table of Sunday or do we build a pizza shop? I believe God is calling us to build pubs, barber shops, grocery stores, art walks, libraries, childcare centers, better homes and yes sometimes a new room for worship too and that looks like the Church of Marlborough.
What should pastors better understand about formation in the marketplace?
That your holy and wonderful role is to light the candle of hope and nothing else. It is you that will recognize the calling in your people’s lives to do the holy work of Kingdom building in the marketplace not just in the sanctuary. In your sanctuary we will find rest; in your sanctuary we will find bread and we will be sent back out. You are anointed to anoint a priesthood of believers and if you are not doing that then you are only inviting your people to worship you and your work. You can change the world! Every Sunday, believers come to you to hear from God.
What is God calling your people to and to become? Invite them all into the holy work of building tables for “Where the righteous prosper, the city will rejoice” (Proverbs 11:10).
Lance Linderman is a husband and proud father of four energetic boys. As a serial entrepreneur, he has successfully established several brick-and-mortar businesses in the hospitality and retail sectors. In addition to his physical storefronts, Lance operates a flourishing e-commerce venture and publishing company. His deepest commitment is to community development, he is passionate about nurturing leadership and empowering individuals to create positive change in their communities.
