crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor - won't cut it
I admit I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears! 6 I'm sorry—forgive me. I'll never do that again, I promise! I'll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor."
Job 42:5-6 (MSG)
I've been thinking and praying today for those who don't "get" God.
Some of whom I know personally, and love.
Being kind of heavily invested myself in following Jesus, it is sometimes hard for me to step out of my "Holy Bubble" and understand just why people who I know have heard the story of God's love through Jesus and who have even followed Him for a while just never really commit.
But I'm getting help.
Reading that snippet of Job and God's conversation helps me see how someone can be very religious, go through all the right hoops and do all the right notions - even know the secret handshake - but miss God by a mile. Living off someone else's faith, never wrestling personally with the deep questions, just trusting that others know is like the hearsay and rumors Job talks about. Faith in Jesus is a personal decision, and if you don't ever really choose to follow Him, as soon as those who really are following - the ones you are hanging with - move on, you are left without even a thimble of real faith.
So Job is helping me see that faith in Jesus always has to be intensely personal. No second-hand faith - through family or friends - will get you where you need to be - with God.
Then there's Donald Miller, an amazingly authentic person who writes without benefit of exposure to the cultural Christianity most of us live in. He has this annoying habit of looking at what most of us and our churches do, and telling others about it.
For example:
We believe a person will gain access to heaven because he is knowledgeable about theology, because he can win at a game of religious trivia. And we may believe a person will find heaven because she is very spiritual and lights incense and candles and takes bubble baths and reads books that speak of centering her inner self; and some of us believe a person is a Christian because he believes five ideas that Jesus communicated here and there in Scripture, though never completely at one time and in one place; and some people believe they are Christians because they do good things and associate themselves with some kind of Christian morality; and some people believe they are Christians because they are Americans.
If any of these models are true, people who read the Bible before we systematically broke it down, and, for that matter, people who believed in Jesus before the printing press or before the birth of Western civilization, are at an extreme disadvantage. It makes you wonder if we have fashioned a gospel around our culture and technology and social economy rather than around the person of Christ.
- Donald Miller in Searching For God Knows What
You think?
Being a Christian means following Jesus Christ. In every situation. With every thought, every word, every action. It means a surrendered life that renounces selfishness for a life spent in loving God, loving your neighbor, and serving both.
It is an intensely personal commitment lived out among others who share it, for the benefit of those who don't. It's first hand knowledge, like this:
From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in— we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we're telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us. 3 We saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!
1 John 1:1-4 (MSG)
My heart aches for those I love who don't love Jesus. If I contributed to you hearing rumors or hearsay and tried to give you a second-hand faith, I'm sorry. Faith is won after a struggle, where you surrender in order to win - and admit defeat to claim victory. You choose to follow Christ, no matter what.
No one else can do that for you.
It's your life.
Shalom,
David
Lead pastor - New Hope
Friday, August 31, 2007
crust and crumbs
I admit I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears! 6 I'm sorry—forgive me. I'll never do that again, I promise! I'll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor."
Job 42:5-6 (MSG)
I've been thinking and praying today for those who don't "get" God.
Some of whom I know personally, and love.
Being kind of heavily invested myself in following Jesus, it is sometimes hard for me to step out of my "Holy Bubble" and understand just why people who I know have heard the story of God's love through Jesus and who have even followed Him for a while just never really commit.
But I'm getting help.
Reading that snippet of Job and God's conversation helps me see how someone can be very religious, go through all the right hoops and do all the right notions - even know the secret handshake - but miss God by a mile. Living off someone else's faith, never wrestling personally with the deep questions, just trusting that others know is like the hearsay and rumors Job talks about. Faith in Jesus is a personal decision, and if you don't ever really choose to follow Him, as soon as those who really are following - the ones you are hanging with - move on, you are left without even a thimble of real faith.
So Job is helping me see that faith in Jesus always has to be intensely personal. No second-hand faith - through family or friends - will get you where you need to be - with God.
Then there's Donald Miller, an amazingly authentic person who writes without benefit of exposure to the cultural Christianity most of us live in. He has this annoying habit of looking at what most of us and our churches do, and telling others about it.
For example:
We believe a person will gain access to heaven because he is knowledgeable about theology, because he can win at a game of religious trivia. And we may believe a person will find heaven because she is very spiritual and lights incense and candles and takes bubble baths and reads books that speak of centering her inner self; and some of us believe a person is a Christian because he believes five ideas that Jesus communicated here and there in Scripture, though never completely at one time and in one place; and some people believe they are Christians because they do good things and associate themselves with some kind of Christian morality; and some people believe they are Christians because they are Americans.
If any of these models are true, people who read the Bible before we systematically broke it down, and, for that matter, people who believed in Jesus before the printing press or before the birth of Western civilization, are at an extreme disadvantage. It makes you wonder if we have fashioned a gospel around our culture and technology and social economy rather than around the person of Christ.
- Donald Miller in Searching For God Knows What
You think?
Being a Christian means following Jesus Christ. In every situation. With every thought, every word, every action. It means a surrendered life that renounces selfishness for a life spent in loving God, loving your neighbor, and serving both.
It is an intensely personal commitment lived out among others who share it, for the benefit of those who don't. It's first hand knowledge, like this:
From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in— we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we're telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us. 3 We saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!
1 John 1:1-4 (MSG)
My heart aches for those I love who don't love Jesus. If I contributed to you hearing rumors or hearsay and tried to give you a second-hand faith, I'm sorry. Faith is won after a struggle, where you surrender in order to win - and admit defeat to claim victory. You choose to follow Christ, no matter what.
No one else can do that for you.
It's your life.
Shalom,
David
Lead pastor - New Hope
Job 42:5-6 (MSG)
I've been thinking and praying today for those who don't "get" God.
Some of whom I know personally, and love.
Being kind of heavily invested myself in following Jesus, it is sometimes hard for me to step out of my "Holy Bubble" and understand just why people who I know have heard the story of God's love through Jesus and who have even followed Him for a while just never really commit.
But I'm getting help.
Reading that snippet of Job and God's conversation helps me see how someone can be very religious, go through all the right hoops and do all the right notions - even know the secret handshake - but miss God by a mile. Living off someone else's faith, never wrestling personally with the deep questions, just trusting that others know is like the hearsay and rumors Job talks about. Faith in Jesus is a personal decision, and if you don't ever really choose to follow Him, as soon as those who really are following - the ones you are hanging with - move on, you are left without even a thimble of real faith.
So Job is helping me see that faith in Jesus always has to be intensely personal. No second-hand faith - through family or friends - will get you where you need to be - with God.
Then there's Donald Miller, an amazingly authentic person who writes without benefit of exposure to the cultural Christianity most of us live in. He has this annoying habit of looking at what most of us and our churches do, and telling others about it.
For example:
We believe a person will gain access to heaven because he is knowledgeable about theology, because he can win at a game of religious trivia. And we may believe a person will find heaven because she is very spiritual and lights incense and candles and takes bubble baths and reads books that speak of centering her inner self; and some of us believe a person is a Christian because he believes five ideas that Jesus communicated here and there in Scripture, though never completely at one time and in one place; and some people believe they are Christians because they do good things and associate themselves with some kind of Christian morality; and some people believe they are Christians because they are Americans.
If any of these models are true, people who read the Bible before we systematically broke it down, and, for that matter, people who believed in Jesus before the printing press or before the birth of Western civilization, are at an extreme disadvantage. It makes you wonder if we have fashioned a gospel around our culture and technology and social economy rather than around the person of Christ.
- Donald Miller in Searching For God Knows What
You think?
Being a Christian means following Jesus Christ. In every situation. With every thought, every word, every action. It means a surrendered life that renounces selfishness for a life spent in loving God, loving your neighbor, and serving both.
It is an intensely personal commitment lived out among others who share it, for the benefit of those who don't. It's first hand knowledge, like this:
From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in— we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we're telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us. 3 We saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!
1 John 1:1-4 (MSG)
My heart aches for those I love who don't love Jesus. If I contributed to you hearing rumors or hearsay and tried to give you a second-hand faith, I'm sorry. Faith is won after a struggle, where you surrender in order to win - and admit defeat to claim victory. You choose to follow Christ, no matter what.
No one else can do that for you.
It's your life.
Shalom,
David
Lead pastor - New Hope
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
She Meant Well
18 Place these words on your hearts. Get them deep inside you. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder. 19 Teach them to your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning until you fall into bed at night.
Deut 11:18-19 (MSG)
I've been sitting here for the last few minutes praying through our church directory. The people in it are all lined up nice, neat and alphabetical. Most are smiling, and I get to look at how they were on whatever Sunday morning their pictures were taken. Then I balance that snapshot against what I see happening in their lives, and I pray. Hard.
Most any of us can suck it up and look like we have it all together for the length of time it takes to have our picture taken, or the time it takes to "do church." But life invariably requires more of us that that, and we find that some are having trouble we'd never see in a snapshot of time.
As a pastor, my job is as one writer has put it is "to keep the congregation attentive to God".
Way over my head. I need a lot of help. So I pray. A lot. When I talk to my friends who are pastors, they echo the same feelings I have. Just different places, different names. People are people, I guess.
For some people seem determined to do everything else except focus on their walk with Jesus. I know personally what a heartache it is to look back over the course of your life and realize I had taken control and not let God order my days - it breaks my heart to know others are going down that same, well traveled, road.
The man who puts his work ahead of his family.
The woman who does the same.
The teenager or young adult who lets the culture or their friends determine their values and morals.
The parents who push their kids to be involved in every sort of extracurricular activity, even if it conflicts with worship or Bible study.
I know, they mean well.
But I get a horrible picture when I think about the consequences. That of the Greek mother last week whose town was threatened by wild fires. She got her kids together and tried to flee. They were found to have perished together, with her arms around them.
Her home was untouched by the flames.
She made a decision. There's absolutely no way she could have known for sure that her house would have been spared. What she did, even to the last, she did out of love.
She meant well, she just didn't know.
For a Christian, meaning well while in effect denying that your life and day planner has been surrendered to the cause of Christ just won't cut it.
We know better.
Life is a dress rehearsal of sorts to see if we are ready to meet God. We're given everything we need to succeed at it. The very Spirit of God takes up residence in us and gives us all the strength, courage, and wisdom we need - if we will surrender our ordinary days to Jesus.
At the end of our lives, I don't believe we'll be looking back on how many hours we put into that project at work, or how well we did in middle school band, high school chorus, or any of those things that we're valuing over walking with Jesus now.
When we stand in the presence of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, saying "I meant well" just isn't going to work.
Turn it over, all of it, to God. Pick up His plan, His scheme and walk in it. Don't get distracted by those things that ultimately won't matter at all.
Don't just mean well.
Follow Jesus.
Deut 11:18-19 (MSG)
I've been sitting here for the last few minutes praying through our church directory. The people in it are all lined up nice, neat and alphabetical. Most are smiling, and I get to look at how they were on whatever Sunday morning their pictures were taken. Then I balance that snapshot against what I see happening in their lives, and I pray. Hard.
Most any of us can suck it up and look like we have it all together for the length of time it takes to have our picture taken, or the time it takes to "do church." But life invariably requires more of us that that, and we find that some are having trouble we'd never see in a snapshot of time.
As a pastor, my job is as one writer has put it is "to keep the congregation attentive to God".
Way over my head. I need a lot of help. So I pray. A lot. When I talk to my friends who are pastors, they echo the same feelings I have. Just different places, different names. People are people, I guess.
For some people seem determined to do everything else except focus on their walk with Jesus. I know personally what a heartache it is to look back over the course of your life and realize I had taken control and not let God order my days - it breaks my heart to know others are going down that same, well traveled, road.
The man who puts his work ahead of his family.
The woman who does the same.
The teenager or young adult who lets the culture or their friends determine their values and morals.
The parents who push their kids to be involved in every sort of extracurricular activity, even if it conflicts with worship or Bible study.
I know, they mean well.
But I get a horrible picture when I think about the consequences. That of the Greek mother last week whose town was threatened by wild fires. She got her kids together and tried to flee. They were found to have perished together, with her arms around them.
Her home was untouched by the flames.
She made a decision. There's absolutely no way she could have known for sure that her house would have been spared. What she did, even to the last, she did out of love.
She meant well, she just didn't know.
For a Christian, meaning well while in effect denying that your life and day planner has been surrendered to the cause of Christ just won't cut it.
We know better.
Life is a dress rehearsal of sorts to see if we are ready to meet God. We're given everything we need to succeed at it. The very Spirit of God takes up residence in us and gives us all the strength, courage, and wisdom we need - if we will surrender our ordinary days to Jesus.
At the end of our lives, I don't believe we'll be looking back on how many hours we put into that project at work, or how well we did in middle school band, high school chorus, or any of those things that we're valuing over walking with Jesus now.
When we stand in the presence of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, saying "I meant well" just isn't going to work.
Turn it over, all of it, to God. Pick up His plan, His scheme and walk in it. Don't get distracted by those things that ultimately won't matter at all.
Don't just mean well.
Follow Jesus.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
She Meant Well
18 Place these words on your hearts. Get them deep inside you. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder. 19 Teach them to your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning until you fall into bed at night.
Deut 11:18-19 (MSG)
I've been sitting here for the last few minutes praying through our church directory. The people in it are all lined up nice, neat and alphabetical. Most are smiling, and I get to look at how they were on whatever Sunday morning their pictures were taken. Then I balance that snapshot against what I see happening in their lives, and I pray. Hard.
Most any of us can suck it up and look like we have it all together for the length of time it takes to have our picture taken, or the time it takes to "do church." But life invariably requires more of us that that, and we find that some are having trouble we'd never see in a snapshot of time.
As a pastor, my job is as one writer has put it is "to keep the congregation attentive to God".
Way over my head. I need a lot of help. So I pray. A lot. When I talk to my friends who are pastors, they echo the same feelings I have. Just different places, different names. People are people, I guess.
For some people seem determined to do everything else except focus on their walk with Jesus. I know personally what a heartache it is to look back over the course of your life and realize I had taken control and not let God order my days - it breaks my heart to know others are going down that same, well traveled, road.
The man who puts his work ahead of his family.
The woman who does the same.
The teenager or young adult who lets the culture or their friends determine their values and morals.
The parents who push their kids to be involved in every sort of extracurricular activity, even if it conflicts with worship or Bible study.
I know, they mean well.
But I get a horrible picture when I think about the consequences. That of the Greek mother last week whose town was threatened by wild fires. She got her kids together and tried to flee. They were found to have perished together, with her arms around them.
Her home was untouched by the flames.
She made a decision. There's absolutely no way she could have known for sure that her house would have been spared. What she did, even to the last, she did out of love.
She meant well, she just didn't know.
For a Christian, meaning well while in effect denying that your life and day planner has been surrendered to the cause of Christ just won't cut it.
We know better.
Life is a dress rehearsal of sorts to see if we are ready to meet God. We're given everything we need to succeed at it. The very Spirit of God takes up residence in us and gives us all the strength, courage, and wisdom we need - if we will surrender our ordinary days to Jesus.
At the end of our lives, I don't believe we'll be looking back on how many hours we put into that project at work, or how well we did in middle school band, high school chorus, or any of those things that we're valuing over walking with Jesus now.
When we stand in the presence of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, saying "I meant well" just isn't going to work.
Turn it over, all of it, to God. Pick up His plan, His scheme and walk in it. Don't get distracted by those things that ultimately won't matter at all.
Don't just mean well.
Follow Jesus.
Grace!
David Wilson
Lead pastor, New Hope
18 Place these words on your hearts. Get them deep inside you. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder. 19 Teach them to your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning until you fall into bed at night.
Deut 11:18-19 (MSG)
I've been sitting here for the last few minutes praying through our church directory. The people in it are all lined up nice, neat and alphabetical. Most are smiling, and I get to look at how they were on whatever Sunday morning their pictures were taken. Then I balance that snapshot against what I see happening in their lives, and I pray. Hard.
Most any of us can suck it up and look like we have it all together for the length of time it takes to have our picture taken, or the time it takes to "do church." But life invariably requires more of us that that, and we find that some are having trouble we'd never see in a snapshot of time.
As a pastor, my job is as one writer has put it is "to keep the congregation attentive to God".
Way over my head. I need a lot of help. So I pray. A lot. When I talk to my friends who are pastors, they echo the same feelings I have. Just different places, different names. People are people, I guess.
For some people seem determined to do everything else except focus on their walk with Jesus. I know personally what a heartache it is to look back over the course of your life and realize I had taken control and not let God order my days - it breaks my heart to know others are going down that same, well traveled, road.
The man who puts his work ahead of his family.
The woman who does the same.
The teenager or young adult who lets the culture or their friends determine their values and morals.
The parents who push their kids to be involved in every sort of extracurricular activity, even if it conflicts with worship or Bible study.
I know, they mean well.
But I get a horrible picture when I think about the consequences. That of the Greek mother last week whose town was threatened by wild fires. She got her kids together and tried to flee. They were found to have perished together, with her arms around them.
Her home was untouched by the flames.
She made a decision. There's absolutely no way she could have known for sure that her house would have been spared. What she did, even to the last, she did out of love.
She meant well, she just didn't know.
For a Christian, meaning well while in effect denying that your life and day planner has been surrendered to the cause of Christ just won't cut it.
We know better.
Life is a dress rehearsal of sorts to see if we are ready to meet God. We're given everything we need to succeed at it. The very Spirit of God takes up residence in us and gives us all the strength, courage, and wisdom we need - if we will surrender our ordinary days to Jesus.
At the end of our lives, I don't believe we'll be looking back on how many hours we put into that project at work, or how well we did in middle school band, high school chorus, or any of those things that we're valuing over walking with Jesus now.
When we stand in the presence of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, saying "I meant well" just isn't going to work.
Turn it over, all of it, to God. Pick up His plan, His scheme and walk in it. Don't get distracted by those things that ultimately won't matter at all.
Don't just mean well.
Follow Jesus.
Grace!
David Wilson
Lead pastor, New Hope
Blue Tuesday
Yesterday I spent some time in a rare posture for me - with headphones on. Bunny was watching a movie that I didn't want to see, and in our home noise travels. So I put the headphones on and for over an hour, listened to "The Blues".
I heard B.B., Albert, and Freddie - the three Kings. I went through Clapton, SRV, and Jonny Lang. And for a music named the blues, I got the opposite, just hearing the raw authenticity of the music.
Today is Tuesday, and we're beginning to follow-up on our strays from this weekend. One explained "I just couldn't get up", and another told a tale of family woe. From now on, if I want to wallow in the Blues, I'll know what "music" to listen to.
The lack of commitment in people who should be farther along is stunning. And the lack of concern about how a parent's actions (or inactions) affects their children's understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus just blows my mind and makes my heart heavy.
Eugene Peterson, in an oft-quoted piece from "Working the Angles" says that a pastor's main job is "to keep a congregation attentive to God." Well, Gene, some of those we try to prod to be more attentive just can't be bothered or see every raincloud as a hurricane.
Christians should be known as people who move toward need and truth and justice, not toward comfort and security.
Life is hard. Make no mistake about it. Jesus said "in this life you will have trouble."
But God is good.
And Christ is strong to help.
For He finished that remark by saying "but take heart, for I have overcome the world."
I have to remind myself of that, when it's Blue Tuesday.
I heard B.B., Albert, and Freddie - the three Kings. I went through Clapton, SRV, and Jonny Lang. And for a music named the blues, I got the opposite, just hearing the raw authenticity of the music.
Today is Tuesday, and we're beginning to follow-up on our strays from this weekend. One explained "I just couldn't get up", and another told a tale of family woe. From now on, if I want to wallow in the Blues, I'll know what "music" to listen to.
The lack of commitment in people who should be farther along is stunning. And the lack of concern about how a parent's actions (or inactions) affects their children's understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus just blows my mind and makes my heart heavy.
Eugene Peterson, in an oft-quoted piece from "Working the Angles" says that a pastor's main job is "to keep a congregation attentive to God." Well, Gene, some of those we try to prod to be more attentive just can't be bothered or see every raincloud as a hurricane.
Christians should be known as people who move toward need and truth and justice, not toward comfort and security.
Life is hard. Make no mistake about it. Jesus said "in this life you will have trouble."
But God is good.
And Christ is strong to help.
For He finished that remark by saying "but take heart, for I have overcome the world."
I have to remind myself of that, when it's Blue Tuesday.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Oswald Chambers Reads My Emails, Hears Me Speak, Knows My Heart
We've been letting Oswald Chambers into our lives in the men's and women's groups at New Hope for the last few weeks. His classic "My Utmost for His Highest" has been around since 1935, and yet the application of his writings is as sharp and cutting as ever to any pretense of perfection the reader might hold.
After getting whipped again this morning, I started scanning the blog feeds (thanks Google Reader) for some relief. I got this instead:(from Between Two Worlds: Mark Driscoll by JT)
From D. A. Carson's Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians:
I would like to buy about three dollars worth of gospel, please.
Not too much – just enough to make me happy, but not so much that I get addicted.
I don’t want so much gospel that I learn to really hate covetousness and lust.
I certainly don’t want so much that I start to love my enemies, cherish self-denial, and contemplate missionary service in some alien culture.
I want ecstasy, not repentance;
I want transcendence, not transformation.
I would like to be cherished by some nice, forgiving, broad-minded people, but I myself don’t want to love those from different races – especially if they smell.
I would like enough gospel to make my family secure and my children well behaved, but not so much that I find my ambitions redirected or my giving too greatly enlarged.
I would like about three dollars worth of the gospel, please. (pp. 12-13)
Two whippings in the same day?
Was it something I said? Or thought? Or wrote? I do believe that Chambers and Carson are ganging up on me. What's that? Oh... it was the Holy Spirit?
Then forgive me, Lord.
Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy.
Amen.
After getting whipped again this morning, I started scanning the blog feeds (thanks Google Reader) for some relief. I got this instead:(from Between Two Worlds: Mark Driscoll by JT)
From D. A. Carson's Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians:
I would like to buy about three dollars worth of gospel, please.
Not too much – just enough to make me happy, but not so much that I get addicted.
I don’t want so much gospel that I learn to really hate covetousness and lust.
I certainly don’t want so much that I start to love my enemies, cherish self-denial, and contemplate missionary service in some alien culture.
I want ecstasy, not repentance;
I want transcendence, not transformation.
I would like to be cherished by some nice, forgiving, broad-minded people, but I myself don’t want to love those from different races – especially if they smell.
I would like enough gospel to make my family secure and my children well behaved, but not so much that I find my ambitions redirected or my giving too greatly enlarged.
I would like about three dollars worth of the gospel, please. (pp. 12-13)
Two whippings in the same day?
Was it something I said? Or thought? Or wrote? I do believe that Chambers and Carson are ganging up on me. What's that? Oh... it was the Holy Spirit?
Then forgive me, Lord.
Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy.
Amen.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Quote of the Day
...the church isn't marketable. Programs, conferences, services even, may be - but the church itself is not. I understand that this a polemical statement. And there will be those who vehemently disagree.
The church is a people who pick up their crosses and follow Jesus. It is a people who forget about themselves as they pour out their lives for others. It is the way of discipleship - becoming like Jesus - who laid down his life for his friends...and enemies. It is not about "living your best life now" or any other such silly talk. (Ed: Or tee-shirt slogans, gospel trinkets, FLASHy websites or other such crap.)
Marketing presupposes a product or service to market. The church is neither. It is a living breathing organism that exists for those outside of it.
Bill Kinnon
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Sometimes
5 Offer proper sacrifices, and trust in the LORD.
6 Many people say, "Who will show us better times?" Let the smile of your face shine on us, LORD.
7 You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and wine.
Psalms 4:5-7 (NLT)
I'm writing this on Monday morning, or as it is better known to us preacher-creatures, the graveyard shift.
We call it that, because so many preachers resign on Monday.
But sometimes, Monday comes and you wish it was time to go back and worship together again. That's me today. Yesterday was one of those moments when you can see the window of heaven open just a crack, and God's glory stream forth, like the sunshine through the clouds after the rain.
Nothing leading up to Sunday gave any indication that something special might happen. We are in the midst of a heat wave that's driving even native Floridians to stay close to their A/C. We had several families away on an outing, and some out of town for other reasons. We're in the last week of the kids summer vacation, and that's when families either squeeze a last getaway in, or haunt the Office Depot and K-Mart trying to get the list of supplies out of the way. So on Saturday night, I could have given you many reasons not to expect much from Sunday's worship.
Now I'm sitting here feeling a little bit like the guy they supposedly dug up a few years ago in Israel must have felt. We were looking at the story of David vs Goliath yesterday. When they were excavating the area around Elioth many years ago trying to confirm that event, they found a well preserved mummy - a Philistine. He was pretty well preserved, so they started trying to decipher what his life was like, and why he died. The pathologists determined that he died of a heart attack - pretty rare in that age.
Then the archaeologists discovered why.
Clutched in his hand was a scroll which recorded that he was a gambler,
and his last bet was apparently 20,000 shekels on...
Goliath.
So on this Monday I guess I learned yesterday, don't bet against God. "Offer proper sacrifices, and trust in the Lord", might just mean to prepare your hearts every single day to receive a blessing from Him, even if everything you know, every indicator of success, is screaming failure, all God has to do is whisper and His glory falls like rain.
Yesterday I saw two Bible study classes competing to see who could bless needy kids more.
Yesterday I saw a young boy rush to sign up to do yard work - wanting to be first to serve - and a man stepping aside to let him be.
Yesterday I saw Isaiah, a foster child, lead us in prayer after the children's moment and thank God for Doug his foster daddy.
Yesterday I saw people sing with the Psalmist (David of Israel) "Your name, like a strong and mighty tower"
Yesterday I saw people working with me, actively listening to the message and understanding that God has to be our focus not giants.
Yesterday I saw Jamie Roberts play a composition on piano "Thank you for wearing the crown" an offering of thanks to Jesus.
New friends were made, old friends were reconnected with, more people involved in worship, and the name of God lifted up.
Yeah, sometimes... it's great to be so wrong in what you think will happen, when seeing God at work is so awesome.
I won't be resigning this Monday. No way. No how.
Grace!
David
--
Visit with me at my blogs:
http://davethepastor.livejournal.com/
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/
http://www.mychurch.org/newhope
5 Offer proper sacrifices, and trust in the LORD.
6 Many people say, "Who will show us better times?" Let the smile of your face shine on us, LORD.
7 You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and wine.
Psalms 4:5-7 (NLT)
I'm writing this on Monday morning, or as it is better known to us preacher-creatures, the graveyard shift.
We call it that, because so many preachers resign on Monday.
But sometimes, Monday comes and you wish it was time to go back and worship together again. That's me today. Yesterday was one of those moments when you can see the window of heaven open just a crack, and God's glory stream forth, like the sunshine through the clouds after the rain.
Nothing leading up to Sunday gave any indication that something special might happen. We are in the midst of a heat wave that's driving even native Floridians to stay close to their A/C. We had several families away on an outing, and some out of town for other reasons. We're in the last week of the kids summer vacation, and that's when families either squeeze a last getaway in, or haunt the Office Depot and K-Mart trying to get the list of supplies out of the way. So on Saturday night, I could have given you many reasons not to expect much from Sunday's worship.
Now I'm sitting here feeling a little bit like the guy they supposedly dug up a few years ago in Israel must have felt. We were looking at the story of David vs Goliath yesterday. When they were excavating the area around Elioth many years ago trying to confirm that event, they found a well preserved mummy - a Philistine. He was pretty well preserved, so they started trying to decipher what his life was like, and why he died. The pathologists determined that he died of a heart attack - pretty rare in that age.
Then the archaeologists discovered why.
Clutched in his hand was a scroll which recorded that he was a gambler,
and his last bet was apparently 20,000 shekels on...
Goliath.
So on this Monday I guess I learned yesterday, don't bet against God. "Offer proper sacrifices, and trust in the Lord", might just mean to prepare your hearts every single day to receive a blessing from Him, even if everything you know, every indicator of success, is screaming failure, all God has to do is whisper and His glory falls like rain.
Yesterday I saw two Bible study classes competing to see who could bless needy kids more.
Yesterday I saw a young boy rush to sign up to do yard work - wanting to be first to serve - and a man stepping aside to let him be.
Yesterday I saw Isaiah, a foster child, lead us in prayer after the children's moment and thank God for Doug his foster daddy.
Yesterday I saw people sing with the Psalmist (David of Israel) "Your name, like a strong and mighty tower"
Yesterday I saw people working with me, actively listening to the message and understanding that God has to be our focus not giants.
Yesterday I saw Jamie Roberts play a composition on piano "Thank you for wearing the crown" an offering of thanks to Jesus.
New friends were made, old friends were reconnected with, more people involved in worship, and the name of God lifted up.
Yeah, sometimes... it's great to be so wrong in what you think will happen, when seeing God at work is so awesome.
I won't be resigning this Monday. No way. No how.
Grace!
David
--
Visit with me at my blogs:
http://davethepastor.livejournal.com/
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/
http://www.mychurch.org/newhope
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Who knew?
When I read the Bible, I sometimes come away confused.
Confused because I think that if I was THERE, living out the life of one of the people whose name is recorded on the pages - someone like Peter, or John - that I would be able to bring the story to greater heights and far more effectiveness.
Why?
Because I would GET IT.
See I have this tendency to look over the shoulder of someone like John and mutter, "you idiot. How can you see Jesus do these things over and over and still be so stoooopid. If I was there, I'd be putting up some parchment posters "Come see the Messiah. Bring the hurt, the injured, the broken-hearted. Their time has come."
I'd make it happen, because I can add. One dead son restored to his Mom = Son of God active RIGHT NOW! or one guy running around naked as a jaybird, cutting himself and throwing himself into the fire, meets Jesus, becomes whole, is healed = Messiah IS HERE - RIGHT NOW! FOLLOW HIM! LEAVE YOUR OLD LIFE AND COME! NOW!
Yeah, if I was there, I'd straighten those guys out. Cause I KNOW.
Well here's where I fall before God this morning, pleading for mercy and grace.
i know
and yet, I am silent...
far too often.
I assume, or pretend, or (to put the best possible spin on) I hope that the person with me at that moment knows.
but
what if
they don't.
Then we pick up the paper and turn to the obits, and read their name.
Who knew?
no...
who cared?
Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. Christ have mercy.
Here are some lyrics from the late Mark Heard, a fellow Maconite who understood.
There's an oasis in the heat of the day
There's a fire in the chill of night
A turnabout in circumstance makes each a hell in its own right
I've been boxed-in in the lowlands, in the canyons that think
I've been pushed to the brink of the precipice and dared not to blink
I've been confounded in the whirlwind of what-if's and dreams
I've been burned by the turning of the wind back upon my own flames
Knock the scales from my eyes
Knock the words from my lungs
I want to cry out
It's on the tip of my tongue
Speak words of hope into lives of quiet desperation. Tell of the One who gave you life - again. Let them know there is another path away from selfishness and greed toward sacrifice and significance.
Remember beloved, it's only good news if they hear it in time.
Grace!
David Wilson
--
Visit with me at my blogs:
http://davethepastor.livejournal.com/
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/
http://www.mychurch.org/newhope
When I read the Bible, I sometimes come away confused.
Confused because I think that if I was THERE, living out the life of one of the people whose name is recorded on the pages - someone like Peter, or John - that I would be able to bring the story to greater heights and far more effectiveness.
Why?
Because I would GET IT.
See I have this tendency to look over the shoulder of someone like John and mutter, "you idiot. How can you see Jesus do these things over and over and still be so stoooopid. If I was there, I'd be putting up some parchment posters "Come see the Messiah. Bring the hurt, the injured, the broken-hearted. Their time has come."
I'd make it happen, because I can add. One dead son restored to his Mom = Son of God active RIGHT NOW! or one guy running around naked as a jaybird, cutting himself and throwing himself into the fire, meets Jesus, becomes whole, is healed = Messiah IS HERE - RIGHT NOW! FOLLOW HIM! LEAVE YOUR OLD LIFE AND COME! NOW!
Yeah, if I was there, I'd straighten those guys out. Cause I KNOW.
Well here's where I fall before God this morning, pleading for mercy and grace.
i know
and yet, I am silent...
far too often.
I assume, or pretend, or (to put the best possible spin on) I hope that the person with me at that moment knows.
but
what if
they don't.
Then we pick up the paper and turn to the obits, and read their name.
Who knew?
no...
who cared?
Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. Christ have mercy.
Here are some lyrics from the late Mark Heard, a fellow Maconite who understood.
There's an oasis in the heat of the day
There's a fire in the chill of night
A turnabout in circumstance makes each a hell in its own right
I've been boxed-in in the lowlands, in the canyons that think
I've been pushed to the brink of the precipice and dared not to blink
I've been confounded in the whirlwind of what-if's and dreams
I've been burned by the turning of the wind back upon my own flames
Knock the scales from my eyes
Knock the words from my lungs
I want to cry out
It's on the tip of my tongue
Speak words of hope into lives of quiet desperation. Tell of the One who gave you life - again. Let them know there is another path away from selfishness and greed toward sacrifice and significance.
Remember beloved, it's only good news if they hear it in time.
Grace!
David Wilson
--
Visit with me at my blogs:
http://davethepastor.livejournal.com/
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/
http://www.mychurch.org/newhope
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Maybe this Methodist is onto something Baptists need to realize too
Don’t miss this…because this is important. Understand that once people sense the local church exists merely to raise funds for the corporate Church they feel like spectators rather than players. Such confusion about the role of the local church (and the people in it) topples the first domino in a cascading failure that degrades a denomination from “mainline” to “sideline.” This is a hands-on society comprised of individuals who’ve lost trust in institutions; people today want to do it themselves. There is a deep pool of volunteers with the desire to personally experience meaningful service. They know they only go around once in life and they want to drink deeply of the adventure…not send money to someone else so they have all the joy.
Instead, they will divvy up their offerings among the various organizations bombarding them for money: United Way, Red Cross, Salvation Army, UNICEF, the FOP and the Jerry Lewis Telethon for Muscular Dystrophy research. As that happens, the tithe is pulled from the local church, God removes his blessing and the local church becomes a pale shadow of the Biblically functioning community scripture describes. Congregations become sick and stop growing. Healthy grows.
Mark Beeson, pastor of Granger UMC
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Sparrows, Saints, and Sinners
We were walking down the sidewalk in Destin the other day, leaving one store for the next, on the hunt for some new walking shoes. Bunny and I have recently returned to walking and are enjoying it. On the way to the next store, I saw several sparrows darting in and out of the shrubbery. At first, I thought "well, here in Destin, if you can find anything not man made, good for you."
But then I looked again and saw that the reason they were there was because the Wild Bird store had placed a feeding station outside for them.
Inside that store, you can find anything you want to attract, feed, and care for wild birds. Birdhouses for every species, watering helps, and of course bird food in the varieties needed for the different birds. There are bird pictures, bird screensavers, bird statues, bird sweatshirts, bird clocks, even bird hats. If you love wild birds, that's your place.
When I thought about it later, I realized that there must be more to the owner's motivation than just profit. If money was all they were after, then why give away your products to sparrows?
Because they genuinely love wild birds.
Let me ask all the "church folks" a question if I could. If we say we love people just as they are, then how often do we find ourselves giving away that love outside our "store"? And how often do we give it away to people who like those sparrows most likely will never become "paying" customers?
It struck me today that most churches and church leaders look at a community and think, who can we reach to make our "business" prosper - grow bigger, take in more money, build more buildings, be more visible and known. Yet Jesus, instead of focusing His efforts on the movers and shakers in the community, went instead to the sinners, to the broken, to those who society wouldn't notice.
Or said another way, "the least of these."
If we genuinely want to follow Jesus, it's going to mean we find ourselves outside our "store", giving the love of Jesus in tangible ways to people who may not fit the model we have of someone we'd choose to love. To those who are hurting, addicted, broken, poor, and weak. People like that are the "sparrows" for us. Our test is this - are we in love with the idea of Jesus' power to change lives, or will we practice it?
44 "Then those 'goats' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn't help?'
45 "He will answer them, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me— you failed to do it to me.'
Matt 25:44-45 (MSG)
Shalom,
David
--
Visit with me at my blogs:
http://davethepastor.livejournal.com/
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/
http://www.mychurch.org/newhope
We were walking down the sidewalk in Destin the other day, leaving one store for the next, on the hunt for some new walking shoes. Bunny and I have recently returned to walking and are enjoying it. On the way to the next store, I saw several sparrows darting in and out of the shrubbery. At first, I thought "well, here in Destin, if you can find anything not man made, good for you."
But then I looked again and saw that the reason they were there was because the Wild Bird store had placed a feeding station outside for them.
Inside that store, you can find anything you want to attract, feed, and care for wild birds. Birdhouses for every species, watering helps, and of course bird food in the varieties needed for the different birds. There are bird pictures, bird screensavers, bird statues, bird sweatshirts, bird clocks, even bird hats. If you love wild birds, that's your place.
When I thought about it later, I realized that there must be more to the owner's motivation than just profit. If money was all they were after, then why give away your products to sparrows?
Because they genuinely love wild birds.
Let me ask all the "church folks" a question if I could. If we say we love people just as they are, then how often do we find ourselves giving away that love outside our "store"? And how often do we give it away to people who like those sparrows most likely will never become "paying" customers?
It struck me today that most churches and church leaders look at a community and think, who can we reach to make our "business" prosper - grow bigger, take in more money, build more buildings, be more visible and known. Yet Jesus, instead of focusing His efforts on the movers and shakers in the community, went instead to the sinners, to the broken, to those who society wouldn't notice.
Or said another way, "the least of these."
If we genuinely want to follow Jesus, it's going to mean we find ourselves outside our "store", giving the love of Jesus in tangible ways to people who may not fit the model we have of someone we'd choose to love. To those who are hurting, addicted, broken, poor, and weak. People like that are the "sparrows" for us. Our test is this - are we in love with the idea of Jesus' power to change lives, or will we practice it?
44 "Then those 'goats' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn't help?'
45 "He will answer them, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me— you failed to do it to me.'
Matt 25:44-45 (MSG)
Shalom,
David
--
Visit with me at my blogs:
http://davethepastor.livejournal.com/
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/
http://www.mychurch.org/newhope
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Small Victories
I spent some time last Tuesday in a sanctuary, met several ministers, and witnessed acts of amazing compassion and love. As a result, I thanked God. But it wasn't in a church when it happened.
I was in a public school.
Larry and JoAnn Smith and I were visiting Sandy Dye's class for the profoundly disabled to get some ideas on how we as a Christian Community can help Sandy and the rest of the staff as they care for the children. We were treated to some real entertainment as the kids had "circle time" where they react to music. Sandy took the time to explain the background of each child, and some history of where they were when they came, where they are now, and where the staff hopes they can progress to.
Watching Sandy as she talked about where a 10 year old was 6 years ago when she first met him, and where he is now, I could see her relive countless days of repetition. Hearing her talk when she described the circumstances during the first three years of his life that contributed to his problems, there wasn't a flash of hate at who did it, just an underlying sadness that accompanied her words. Then as the child was placed in his walker and made his way out into the larger room, her eyes gleamed with pride when she said "he's had that for three days now, and look how well he's doing!"
To be placed in Sandy's care, a child has to be "the least of these", with no real chance of becoming a productive adult. That does not mean however, that they live sad and meaningless lives. The smiles on their faces were real. And the joy of those who cared for them was too.
There's a chance that one of the kids on the other end of the school might one day grow up to be president of the US, or the inventor of a vaccine for cancer, or one could be the first person to set foot on Mars. Valparaiso Elementary is an amazing school with caring professionals who do a great job teaching kids how to learn and how to live as citizens. With the foundation the kids get, they could go to the heights of our society's achievements.
None of Sandy's kids will, but that's beyond her control. What she can control is what they receive from her, and that will always be love. Not a passive love by any means - she wants to see them progress, to be all they can be, and she can be tough if she needs to be - but she draws from a deep well of compassion and care.
The laughter of the children at play was infectious and their smiles were magical. For a few minutes we found ourselves clapping hands, stomping feet, and singing silly songs. Everyone needs a circle of joy like that.
Someone who would have felt right at home helping in Sandy's classroom once said that we should not ask to do great things for God, but we should ask Him to give us the ability to do small things with great love.
Sandy does that.
We can too. And I hope that New Hope's hearts can grow larger as we serve Sandy's kids.
Small victories, yes. But big impact.
On us.
We love, because He first loved us.
Grace!
David Wilson
New Hope!
I spent some time last Tuesday in a sanctuary, met several ministers, and witnessed acts of amazing compassion and love. As a result, I thanked God. But it wasn't in a church when it happened.
I was in a public school.
Larry and JoAnn Smith and I were visiting Sandy Dye's class for the profoundly disabled to get some ideas on how we as a Christian Community can help Sandy and the rest of the staff as they care for the children. We were treated to some real entertainment as the kids had "circle time" where they react to music. Sandy took the time to explain the background of each child, and some history of where they were when they came, where they are now, and where the staff hopes they can progress to.
Watching Sandy as she talked about where a 10 year old was 6 years ago when she first met him, and where he is now, I could see her relive countless days of repetition. Hearing her talk when she described the circumstances during the first three years of his life that contributed to his problems, there wasn't a flash of hate at who did it, just an underlying sadness that accompanied her words. Then as the child was placed in his walker and made his way out into the larger room, her eyes gleamed with pride when she said "he's had that for three days now, and look how well he's doing!"
To be placed in Sandy's care, a child has to be "the least of these", with no real chance of becoming a productive adult. That does not mean however, that they live sad and meaningless lives. The smiles on their faces were real. And the joy of those who cared for them was too.
There's a chance that one of the kids on the other end of the school might one day grow up to be president of the US, or the inventor of a vaccine for cancer, or one could be the first person to set foot on Mars. Valparaiso Elementary is an amazing school with caring professionals who do a great job teaching kids how to learn and how to live as citizens. With the foundation the kids get, they could go to the heights of our society's achievements.
None of Sandy's kids will, but that's beyond her control. What she can control is what they receive from her, and that will always be love. Not a passive love by any means - she wants to see them progress, to be all they can be, and she can be tough if she needs to be - but she draws from a deep well of compassion and care.
The laughter of the children at play was infectious and their smiles were magical. For a few minutes we found ourselves clapping hands, stomping feet, and singing silly songs. Everyone needs a circle of joy like that.
Someone who would have felt right at home helping in Sandy's classroom once said that we should not ask to do great things for God, but we should ask Him to give us the ability to do small things with great love.
Sandy does that.
We can too. And I hope that New Hope's hearts can grow larger as we serve Sandy's kids.
Small victories, yes. But big impact.
On us.
We love, because He first loved us.
Grace!
David Wilson
New Hope!
Treasure In Uncommon Places
It is the week after the latest Harry Potter book came out. Many of us have read it already from cover to cover, enjoying a wild ride of fantasy. As a young boy, I read every Superman comic I could plead for, later enjoyed the works of Mark Twain, and others who took me to places and times I'll never inhabit - except through their prose.
As a pastor, over the years I have received different responses from people about the Harry Potter series when they found out I had read them all. And at times I've had questions from parents about whether their children should read them - those questions coming not because of what they knew personally about them, but what they had heard.
Well after finishing the last of the Harry Potter series, I'm not sure that as time goes by we might see theologians treating the books and their author much more kindly. For in this book I found words I have always treasured in the most uncommon places.
When Harry ventures back home to where his parents are buried, he comes across the gravestone of his mentor Dumbledore's mother and sister. The Mother was killed trying to protect the daughter from herself, and later the daughter died too. On the gravestone were these words.
Where your treasure is, there your hearts will be also.
This of course comes from Christ's words in Matthew 19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matt 6:19-21 (NIV)
Then Harry finds himself at the graves of his parents, who both died trying to protect him from an evil wizard, and the reader sees these words on their monument.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Coming again from Scripture - 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
1 Cor 15:24-26 (ESV)
The themes of "the Greater Good", of sacrifice, of selflessness, of laying down your life for your friends run all through this last book. If you cannot see that, it's not that you have read too much fiction.
It's that you have read too little Scripture.
Reading for information isn't enough. You have to read the Bible with a sense of anticipation and wonder, relief and amazement that God - this God - the One and Only God - would sacrifice His One and Only Son - for you. And that through your love for Him, you would lay down your life for your friends - no matter what. You know you are flawed, but that He is able to use you to change lives for eternity. And you have to be convinced in your very soul that your life matters to God - that what you do matters. You have a part in the Big Story of God's reconciling the world to Himself.
If you can see that connection with your own life's walk, then it will be easy to spot it wherever it appears in any variation whether explicitly Christian or not - even in fictional books like the Harry Potter series.
I'm grateful for J.K. Rowling's work, and the treasures I found in The Deathly Hallows. But I'm immeasurably more grateful to the God who through the sacrifice of His sinless Son, gave me freedom from guilt and shame, a purpose for living, and the hope of eternal life with Him, when death will be destroyed and love triumph over all.
Shalom,
David
It is the week after the latest Harry Potter book came out. Many of us have read it already from cover to cover, enjoying a wild ride of fantasy. As a young boy, I read every Superman comic I could plead for, later enjoyed the works of Mark Twain, and others who took me to places and times I'll never inhabit - except through their prose.
As a pastor, over the years I have received different responses from people about the Harry Potter series when they found out I had read them all. And at times I've had questions from parents about whether their children should read them - those questions coming not because of what they knew personally about them, but what they had heard.
Well after finishing the last of the Harry Potter series, I'm not sure that as time goes by we might see theologians treating the books and their author much more kindly. For in this book I found words I have always treasured in the most uncommon places.
When Harry ventures back home to where his parents are buried, he comes across the gravestone of his mentor Dumbledore's mother and sister. The Mother was killed trying to protect the daughter from herself, and later the daughter died too. On the gravestone were these words.
Where your treasure is, there your hearts will be also.
This of course comes from Christ's words in Matthew 19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matt 6:19-21 (NIV)
Then Harry finds himself at the graves of his parents, who both died trying to protect him from an evil wizard, and the reader sees these words on their monument.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Coming again from Scripture - 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
1 Cor 15:24-26 (ESV)
The themes of "the Greater Good", of sacrifice, of selflessness, of laying down your life for your friends run all through this last book. If you cannot see that, it's not that you have read too much fiction.
It's that you have read too little Scripture.
Reading for information isn't enough. You have to read the Bible with a sense of anticipation and wonder, relief and amazement that God - this God - the One and Only God - would sacrifice His One and Only Son - for you. And that through your love for Him, you would lay down your life for your friends - no matter what. You know you are flawed, but that He is able to use you to change lives for eternity. And you have to be convinced in your very soul that your life matters to God - that what you do matters. You have a part in the Big Story of God's reconciling the world to Himself.
If you can see that connection with your own life's walk, then it will be easy to spot it wherever it appears in any variation whether explicitly Christian or not - even in fictional books like the Harry Potter series.
I'm grateful for J.K. Rowling's work, and the treasures I found in The Deathly Hallows. But I'm immeasurably more grateful to the God who through the sacrifice of His sinless Son, gave me freedom from guilt and shame, a purpose for living, and the hope of eternal life with Him, when death will be destroyed and love triumph over all.
Shalom,
David
Sunday, July 15, 2007
It Is What It Is. Is it?
I had a conversation the other day with someone about Valparaiso. We talked about its history, the way the geography slices it up into pieces separated in a way to make each section wholly separate and unrelated - except when the city tax bill comes. That led to further discussion about the other splits in the social fabric.
Older versus younger - we have a number of retirees and a constant flow in and out of young families and singles due to the military base next door.
Richer versus poorer - some of those retirees get by on very little. I know of one older woman whose income is $500 a month. On the other end, there are million dollar homes on the water, boats costing as much as normal houses, and people conspicuous in their consumption.
Military and related versus civilian - Eglin is a huge base with an amazing impact on everything in the area. Many of the people in Valparaiso have direct ties whether military (active or retired) or civilian (civil service or contractor). But there are many who are not in any relation to the base.
Religious versus not - our little town houses several churches, all fairly small, and a larger by far number of people who aren't involved in a community of faith anywhere.
We walked through all those areas together, and I expressed my hope that one day Jesus would allow us to see what Valparaiso could be with people following Him.
"It is what it is", was the reply.
Is it?
Should we accept defeat and just concentrate on loving one another and anyone who happens to walk through the doors at New Hope?
No.
There's very little that ties this forgotten place together except - an elementary school, a middle school, a little league field, and some smaller networks (city employees, businesses, older americans council, DAV, post office) So we will have to work hard and use those networks as our conduits to ministry.
We are commissioning people already in those networks as our ambassadors. Their job is to scout out opportunities for ministry and relationship building. Got two up and running this week. The elementary school - we have a teacher inside who turned us on to two opportunities. teacher move in day - when they come in to get ready; and new teacher needs.
We're going to have 5 teams of three people helping with move in, serve free sandwiches for lunch, and sponsor whatever the new teacher needs to get her class ready. Hope is we get some relationships started and some buzz in the community.
Second opportunity comes from the bank. Lady comes in for a home improvement loan. She can;t afford it. has no insurance either. Loan guy calls me because of a conversation we had. We're doing a home makeover for her while she's on vacation with her sister's help. Again, idea is relationships and buzz.
See we cannot compete with the megas in terms of worship bands, youth programs, facilities etc. So our idea is to work the networks to get our word and work out there and after the investments, to invite and extend Jesus' love.
What do you think? Will it work?
Older versus younger - we have a number of retirees and a constant flow in and out of young families and singles due to the military base next door.
Richer versus poorer - some of those retirees get by on very little. I know of one older woman whose income is $500 a month. On the other end, there are million dollar homes on the water, boats costing as much as normal houses, and people conspicuous in their consumption.
Military and related versus civilian - Eglin is a huge base with an amazing impact on everything in the area. Many of the people in Valparaiso have direct ties whether military (active or retired) or civilian (civil service or contractor). But there are many who are not in any relation to the base.
Religious versus not - our little town houses several churches, all fairly small, and a larger by far number of people who aren't involved in a community of faith anywhere.
We walked through all those areas together, and I expressed my hope that one day Jesus would allow us to see what Valparaiso could be with people following Him.
"It is what it is", was the reply.
Is it?
Should we accept defeat and just concentrate on loving one another and anyone who happens to walk through the doors at New Hope?
No.
There's very little that ties this forgotten place together except - an elementary school, a middle school, a little league field, and some smaller networks (city employees, businesses, older americans council, DAV, post office) So we will have to work hard and use those networks as our conduits to ministry.
We are commissioning people already in those networks as our ambassadors. Their job is to scout out opportunities for ministry and relationship building. Got two up and running this week. The elementary school - we have a teacher inside who turned us on to two opportunities. teacher move in day - when they come in to get ready; and new teacher needs.
We're going to have 5 teams of three people helping with move in, serve free sandwiches for lunch, and sponsor whatever the new teacher needs to get her class ready. Hope is we get some relationships started and some buzz in the community.
Second opportunity comes from the bank. Lady comes in for a home improvement loan. She can;t afford it. has no insurance either. Loan guy calls me because of a conversation we had. We're doing a home makeover for her while she's on vacation with her sister's help. Again, idea is relationships and buzz.
See we cannot compete with the megas in terms of worship bands, youth programs, facilities etc. So our idea is to work the networks to get our word and work out there and after the investments, to invite and extend Jesus' love.
What do you think? Will it work?
Monday, July 09, 2007
I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends
I always felt sorry for Ringo. All the other Beatles were stars, and frankly seemed to have so much more talent than Ringo that you had to wonder why he was there at all. It was years later before I learned that when it came to rock and roll drummers, Ringo was first rate. I guess he just didn't draw attention to himself. For Ringo it was about the band.
But a few years on in the amazing run of the Beatles, the boys let Ringo have a couple of turns at bat. And with "Yellow Submarine" and then my favorite "I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends", Ringo stepped into the spotlight at last. But then just as quickly, he slipped back into his normal place. For Ringo, it was always about the band.
Yesterday was one of "those days" for me. You know the type. Something sets you off course and the dominoes of doom and gloom begin to topple toward you, one after another. I woke up knowing that New Hope was going to be missing at least 5 families. That might not sound like a lot, but these are folks who make a difference in lots of ways. Then we had "technical difficulties" with the copier, with a printer, and I misplaced the "clicker" I use to advance the powerpoint slides. It seemed like it was shaping up to be "one of those days."
And it was. One of those days you remember for a long time, simply because of the people you shared it with.
My first inkling that my "little help from my friends" was on the way was Aaron filling in for Michael Weech on the sounds and video. It was his first time serving there, so he might have had an excuse to be nervous. But when I dropped the news that he would have to change my slides too, it was "no big deal, be glad to."
Then there was our youngest praise team member, the incredible Miss Hope, who favored us again during the songs by joining the praise team. Not quite two, she brings a joy with her when she comes, and prods the rest of us to loosen up and let the Lord lead us. Not to mention she's as cute as can be.
Oh and the Blackmon family gave me a "little help from my friends" too. Romeo, baseball all star and 100% boy, came up with the praise team again and helped us lead worship. His sister Juliet closed the service with a lovely piece on piano as her offering.
That night when we met for small groups, I knew that most all of the men who normally attend wouldn't be there. And when I arrived it was John and Ian Anderson and me. So we shelved the planned discussion and talked about some other things. Ian asked me a question about whether he would wind up as one of those people "let outside the city, like in Revelation" if he liked science. After I answered that with a resounding no, he went on to tell me that he wanted to grow up and be a Christian science fiction writer, and encourage other Christians to write too.
It was at exactly that point that I thanked God for the day and for all the friends who helped me not just get by, but leave praising God for counting me worthy to be the pastor of a church named New Hope and people like these.
Maybe you are in one of those discouragement loops I was in Sunday. Maybe the dominoes of doom and gloom are headed your way. Let me encourage you to look around you and see how many ways God has blessed, is blessing, and will bless you though the people He's placed in your life.
This life was never intended to be a solitary assignment. We were made to trust in God, to follow His Son's example, and to get by with a little help from our friends.
12 A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
Eccl 4:12 (NLT)
Thank you Lord Jesus, for the people you've placed in our lives as friends.
Grace!
David Wilson
I always felt sorry for Ringo. All the other Beatles were stars, and frankly seemed to have so much more talent than Ringo that you had to wonder why he was there at all. It was years later before I learned that when it came to rock and roll drummers, Ringo was first rate. I guess he just didn't draw attention to himself. For Ringo it was about the band.
But a few years on in the amazing run of the Beatles, the boys let Ringo have a couple of turns at bat. And with "Yellow Submarine" and then my favorite "I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends", Ringo stepped into the spotlight at last. But then just as quickly, he slipped back into his normal place. For Ringo, it was always about the band.
Yesterday was one of "those days" for me. You know the type. Something sets you off course and the dominoes of doom and gloom begin to topple toward you, one after another. I woke up knowing that New Hope was going to be missing at least 5 families. That might not sound like a lot, but these are folks who make a difference in lots of ways. Then we had "technical difficulties" with the copier, with a printer, and I misplaced the "clicker" I use to advance the powerpoint slides. It seemed like it was shaping up to be "one of those days."
And it was. One of those days you remember for a long time, simply because of the people you shared it with.
My first inkling that my "little help from my friends" was on the way was Aaron filling in for Michael Weech on the sounds and video. It was his first time serving there, so he might have had an excuse to be nervous. But when I dropped the news that he would have to change my slides too, it was "no big deal, be glad to."
Then there was our youngest praise team member, the incredible Miss Hope, who favored us again during the songs by joining the praise team. Not quite two, she brings a joy with her when she comes, and prods the rest of us to loosen up and let the Lord lead us. Not to mention she's as cute as can be.
Oh and the Blackmon family gave me a "little help from my friends" too. Romeo, baseball all star and 100% boy, came up with the praise team again and helped us lead worship. His sister Juliet closed the service with a lovely piece on piano as her offering.
That night when we met for small groups, I knew that most all of the men who normally attend wouldn't be there. And when I arrived it was John and Ian Anderson and me. So we shelved the planned discussion and talked about some other things. Ian asked me a question about whether he would wind up as one of those people "let outside the city, like in Revelation" if he liked science. After I answered that with a resounding no, he went on to tell me that he wanted to grow up and be a Christian science fiction writer, and encourage other Christians to write too.
It was at exactly that point that I thanked God for the day and for all the friends who helped me not just get by, but leave praising God for counting me worthy to be the pastor of a church named New Hope and people like these.
Maybe you are in one of those discouragement loops I was in Sunday. Maybe the dominoes of doom and gloom are headed your way. Let me encourage you to look around you and see how many ways God has blessed, is blessing, and will bless you though the people He's placed in your life.
This life was never intended to be a solitary assignment. We were made to trust in God, to follow His Son's example, and to get by with a little help from our friends.
12 A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
Eccl 4:12 (NLT)
Thank you Lord Jesus, for the people you've placed in our lives as friends.
Grace!
David Wilson
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Can We Take A Free Ride?
Can we take a free ride in worship?
Many of the most cutting edge churches are incorporating secular music into their presentation on Sunday. I used the word presentation because I'm genuinely worried about calling that worship and I don't want to label what someone else is doing negatively unnecessarily.
But I really, really, really have a hard time with this. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to trot out the "regulative principle" or any such here, but I thought worship was designed by God to be oriented... toward God.
Am I off base, hopelessly fossilized?
Many of the most cutting edge churches are incorporating secular music into their presentation on Sunday. I used the word presentation because I'm genuinely worried about calling that worship and I don't want to label what someone else is doing negatively unnecessarily.
But I really, really, really have a hard time with this. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to trot out the "regulative principle" or any such here, but I thought worship was designed by God to be oriented... toward God.
Am I off base, hopelessly fossilized?
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Amen and Amen
Today, we are assuming too much. We assume the gospel. We assume our churches are healthy. We assume we are preaching biblical, Christ-centered sermons. When we have recovered the inerrancy of Scripture, there are major pulpits today which are preaching Christless sermons. We must come back to understanding that all of Scripture is about Jesus Christ. We must get back to doctrinal preaching and gospel-driven churches. We need evangelism that does not leave out the evangel.Dr Tom Ascol via Timmy Brister
The kind of Southern Baptists we need today are those who understand that we do not need the SBC. There are some wonderful things about it, but the kingdom of God is not hinged on the SBC. With that attitude, the denominational leaders and power brokers do not have one thing we want, and we do not have one thing that they can take. We must continue to work for reformation within and without the SBC. Go and read Revelation 2-3. Recommit yourselves to the local church. We do not need to count ourselves as better evaluators of churches than Jesus Christ. We must labor for the recovery of the gospel and the reformation of the local church.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
95% of pastors are losers
One of the blogs I read frequently is written by Darryl Dash. It's hard for me to assign labels to Darryl. If I did, it would probably be something like "does all things well". He's a great preacher, writer, and missional theologian. But recently he had provided a quote from a conference he attended in which he reported that a speaker said "95% of all pastors are losers."
Yeah. I know. Right away I wanted to have a Robert DeNiro moment - "You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Are you seriously talkin' to me?"
Turns out the speaker Darryl quoted was talking about a test a group ran in California among declining churches. The idea was that the group recognized that only about 5% of pastors in that area were natural leaders, and they offered help making them more effective. Darryl corrected the post after a leader from the conference contacted him and offered the notes for correcting the context. See, Darryl's a good guy. Told you he did all things well.
But shoot.
What Am I going to do with all this righteous indignation?
I know, I'll look at what Eugene Peterson wrote about God's losers.
I'm in way over my head in this job. I got mad skills, but still, the job is far too complex, the people far too resistant to change, and the culture (despite what Peterson says) too ambivalent about God for success to leap into my boat like a sturgeon on the Suwanee River.
My task then, above all, is to be God's man. To be faithful and true to what Jesus is. To live Him.
100% of pastors have sinned and fallen short. But God has blessed us with His presence and His mercy, and allowed us to work with Him in His vineyard and every now and then to see the fruit of His work.
Winner!
Yeah. I know. Right away I wanted to have a Robert DeNiro moment - "You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Are you seriously talkin' to me?"
Turns out the speaker Darryl quoted was talking about a test a group ran in California among declining churches. The idea was that the group recognized that only about 5% of pastors in that area were natural leaders, and they offered help making them more effective. Darryl corrected the post after a leader from the conference contacted him and offered the notes for correcting the context. See, Darryl's a good guy. Told you he did all things well.
But shoot.
What Am I going to do with all this righteous indignation?
I know, I'll look at what Eugene Peterson wrote about God's losers.
Basically, we simply have to get our identity from the Bible, from this Biblical story. And Americans are not very good at that. We assume we are living in a Christian country, and everybody’s on our side. So we let the culture shape what we’re doing because it seems so benign, and then we think, “We can Christianize it.” But we can’t. The church is a totally counter-cultural movement.
We are a marginal people. There is no way we can be a success in this culture on their terms.
American pastors don’t want to hear this, though. They want to know how they can grow
their church, as though if you have the right technique and enough water and fertilizer, it’s going to go. But here’s the thing: all the stories of spiritual leadership that we have in our scriptures are failures.
Every one.
I can’t think of one that in our terms we would call a “success.”
Look at Moses. He spent forty years taking his congregation through the wilderness, finally gets them to the Promised Land, summarizes all of God’s teaching, puts it all together in this incredible sermon called Deuteronomy, and then as he gives his last speech, God speaks to Moses and says, in effect, “Moses, these people can’t wait
until you die. They are itching to jump into this whole Canaanite, orgiastic, sex-and-religion stuff.
They can’t wait until you are out of here so they can just get to it. So here’s what I want you to do: teach them this song, and teach their children this song. Then when they have forgotten about you, their children will remember the song and they will have the story.” And he teaches them the “Song of Moses.” And as soon as he dies, that’s just what happens: everything is just a mess. How
would you like, at the end of your ministry, to have God say, “I just want you to know, pastor, they didn’t learn a thing from you.”
Isaiah, at the beginning of his ministry, gets this glorious call, with all the smoke and angels and holy, holy, holy stuff. But then God says, “You are going to preach to these people and they aren’t going to listen and they aren’t going to do a thing you say.” How would you like to hear that on your ordination day? Isaiah says, “How long, Lord?” and God says, in effect, “for the rest of your life. The country is going to get cut down, and just be a field of stumps—but there is a seed in the stump.” That’s not very hopeful.
So it goes in every story. As pastors, we have to be ready to be a failure in the eyes of the culture, and if we’re not, we’re seduced by the culture to “being religious” in the culture’s way. Of course, they reward us wonderfully when we do that!
I'm in way over my head in this job. I got mad skills, but still, the job is far too complex, the people far too resistant to change, and the culture (despite what Peterson says) too ambivalent about God for success to leap into my boat like a sturgeon on the Suwanee River.
My task then, above all, is to be God's man. To be faithful and true to what Jesus is. To live Him.
100% of pastors have sinned and fallen short. But God has blessed us with His presence and His mercy, and allowed us to work with Him in His vineyard and every now and then to see the fruit of His work.
Winner!
Thursday, June 14, 2007
On Funerals
Time was, I enjoyed writing funeral messages. I could take what I knew of the person's life and weave a story from it that seemed to help the people in grief, and expose others to the light of the gospel.
But today I will be doing the funeral message for the family of a man I did not know, who committed suicide, and who almost certainly was not a believer.
As the pastor of a church in a small town, I knew this day was coming. And I thought I'd be prepared for it. But I've been surprised with just how hard it has been to get a grip on just what God would have me say.
Let me say this up front. I hurt with those who grieve. One of them is a teenager who belongs to our church and is one of the sweetest young Christ-followers I have ever known. She came by our home the day it happened and for over an hour poured her heart out to us. It hurts to see her hurt and to see the shock and hurt in their faces.
But it is becoming increasingly clear to me that what many, many are sharing as Christianity, and what they are trying to rely on in times like these is not Christianity at all. It's cultural religion. Maybe something happened in VBS at age 6, or at a youth revival when they were 13 - in 1965. But nothing of God has crossed their mind in decades, unless His name popped in when a cuss word needed a modifier.
And they look to the pastor at times like this to "Bless this mess."
Uh, no.
But today I will be doing the funeral message for the family of a man I did not know, who committed suicide, and who almost certainly was not a believer.
As the pastor of a church in a small town, I knew this day was coming. And I thought I'd be prepared for it. But I've been surprised with just how hard it has been to get a grip on just what God would have me say.
Let me say this up front. I hurt with those who grieve. One of them is a teenager who belongs to our church and is one of the sweetest young Christ-followers I have ever known. She came by our home the day it happened and for over an hour poured her heart out to us. It hurts to see her hurt and to see the shock and hurt in their faces.
But it is becoming increasingly clear to me that what many, many are sharing as Christianity, and what they are trying to rely on in times like these is not Christianity at all. It's cultural religion. Maybe something happened in VBS at age 6, or at a youth revival when they were 13 - in 1965. But nothing of God has crossed their mind in decades, unless His name popped in when a cuss word needed a modifier.
And they look to the pastor at times like this to "Bless this mess."
Uh, no.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
A Glimpse of New Hope!: Nothing Says Welcome Like...
Nothing Says Welcome Like...
In the last two weeks, I've taken two trips to my hometown of Macon, Georgia. One was to honor my Mother-In-Love, and the other to honor my Aunt Geneva, who passed away. The route we take is well traveled, and I can pretty much drive it without thinking, or without really noticing the scenery. With the passing of each season, certain things change, but except for the crops, not much to catch your eye.
Except for the church with the razor wire fence.
That's right. Nothing says, 'Welcome' like chain link topped with razor wire.
No, I don't know the story behind it. Could be as a result of crime, but I doubt it, since the church less than a mile away hasn't seen the necessity of looking like Stalag 13. But it did get me to thinking.
What exactly do we (in churches that I have known) protect that does something similar?
Well, speaking personally, there's our parking lot. At times the Little League folks almost take over. Sometimes we are tempted to remind them just whose parking lot it is.
Or our clothing style. Now we're pretty relaxed for the most part, but we do have a thing about hats. No matter that any Jew would cover his head in the synagogue. In a Baptist church, kids wearing baseball hats are verboten. I have known folks at other churches get fried over some guy who showed up with a Budweiser shirt on. And there's the occasional "short shorts" some teenage girl who doesn't come to church often (if ever before) might be wearing.
Our decorum? I can remember a group of folks coming to a little church I once pastored. They came in and sat on the front row where only the ushers and occasional fill-in preachers sat. When I said what the Bible verses were I would be teaching on, they reached behind and grabbed pew Bibles and spent a couple of minutes trying to find the right pages. They were whispering while they helped each other. The looks on the faces of all the "saints" behind them weren't really very "saintly."
And if we've been in church a while, we've experienced someone who was a wee too expressive for our tastes in worship. You know - sang too loud, closed their eyes while they did it, maybe even swayed or lifted hands.
Yeah, nothing says You're welcome like chain link and razor wire.
Have we forgotten?
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8 NIV
I'm saying a prayer right now for all of us who build fences to keep people who need good news away. Will you join me in a prayer of confession? We might not have thought about it, probably didn't realize what our preferences said - so let's move away from them and toward the people who need the hope that we have.
Grace!
David
Nothing Says Welcome Like...
In the last two weeks, I've taken two trips to my hometown of Macon, Georgia. One was to honor my Mother-In-Love, and the other to honor my Aunt Geneva, who passed away. The route we take is well traveled, and I can pretty much drive it without thinking, or without really noticing the scenery. With the passing of each season, certain things change, but except for the crops, not much to catch your eye.
Except for the church with the razor wire fence.
That's right. Nothing says, 'Welcome' like chain link topped with razor wire.
No, I don't know the story behind it. Could be as a result of crime, but I doubt it, since the church less than a mile away hasn't seen the necessity of looking like Stalag 13. But it did get me to thinking.
What exactly do we (in churches that I have known) protect that does something similar?
Well, speaking personally, there's our parking lot. At times the Little League folks almost take over. Sometimes we are tempted to remind them just whose parking lot it is.
Or our clothing style. Now we're pretty relaxed for the most part, but we do have a thing about hats. No matter that any Jew would cover his head in the synagogue. In a Baptist church, kids wearing baseball hats are verboten. I have known folks at other churches get fried over some guy who showed up with a Budweiser shirt on. And there's the occasional "short shorts" some teenage girl who doesn't come to church often (if ever before) might be wearing.
Our decorum? I can remember a group of folks coming to a little church I once pastored. They came in and sat on the front row where only the ushers and occasional fill-in preachers sat. When I said what the Bible verses were I would be teaching on, they reached behind and grabbed pew Bibles and spent a couple of minutes trying to find the right pages. They were whispering while they helped each other. The looks on the faces of all the "saints" behind them weren't really very "saintly."
And if we've been in church a while, we've experienced someone who was a wee too expressive for our tastes in worship. You know - sang too loud, closed their eyes while they did it, maybe even swayed or lifted hands.
Yeah, nothing says You're welcome like chain link and razor wire.
Have we forgotten?
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8 NIV
I'm saying a prayer right now for all of us who build fences to keep people who need good news away. Will you join me in a prayer of confession? We might not have thought about it, probably didn't realize what our preferences said - so let's move away from them and toward the people who need the hope that we have.
Grace!
David
It's the first day of summer break for school kids here, and all of them are looking forward to a great time. Well for once, Bunny and I were ahead of the game, as we spent the last few days on vacation in St Augustine, FL. She needed a break, and I went along. :) There were enough experiences for several blog posts during the three days we were there, but as I thought about the time we spent together there, I wanted to share this with you today.
Here's what I learned on our spring vacation.
My wife and I are very different. And I love her madly.
There, I've said it.
And it's true.
The places we went this week- Two different shrines - one Greek Orthodox, one Catholic. A wax museum and a museum that was a "collection of collections". Several art galleries, and restaurants from cultures very diverse from my usual fare. Bunny even convinced me, possibly one of the least "ghost-aware" people on the planet, to go on a "Ghosts and Gravestones" tour.
And I loved every minute of it, even though some of it was outside my areas of interest. We even took a break from our normal eating habits. I went three days without McDonalds, Wendy's, or any fast food. But I experienced Greek, Italian, and Spanish foods that were incredibly good. David Wilson, Mr. Meat and Potatoes himself, ate spinach pie, Mousaka (eggplant), clams, mussels, squid... - well, you get the picture.
But being with the woman I love was simply awesome. I got to see her joy at examining an artist's brush strokes, watch her get excited over seeing the ocean, and hear her talk about the things she loves. It was a very special time for both of us. We've been married almost 34 years, and I've never loved her more. Yes, we've both changed over the years, but I'm loving her more today than the first day of our marriage.
My only regret is that we haven't spent enough time together as we did this week.
Let me ask you a question. It's a serious one.
If you love someone, shouldn't that mean you are open to experience changes in what you value, what you do - because you love them?
Wouldn't it mean you were willing - even eager -to go places and do things with them because of your love?
Wouldn't you learn to love the things that they love too?
Jesus put it this way:
Matt 11: 28-30 "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
When is the last time you walked off your beaten path to follow Jesus?
When did you last do something you wouldn't do for anyone else - for Jesus - out of your love for Him?
Think back over how many years since you became a Christian, and ask yourself.
Do you love the things Jesus loves?
If you can't answer yes, maybe it's time for you to take a break and rediscover just how much you are loved
"Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. Matt 6:5-17
In His love,
David
Here's what I learned on our spring vacation.
My wife and I are very different. And I love her madly.
There, I've said it.
And it's true.
The places we went this week- Two different shrines - one Greek Orthodox, one Catholic. A wax museum and a museum that was a "collection of collections". Several art galleries, and restaurants from cultures very diverse from my usual fare. Bunny even convinced me, possibly one of the least "ghost-aware" people on the planet, to go on a "Ghosts and Gravestones" tour.
And I loved every minute of it, even though some of it was outside my areas of interest. We even took a break from our normal eating habits. I went three days without McDonalds, Wendy's, or any fast food. But I experienced Greek, Italian, and Spanish foods that were incredibly good. David Wilson, Mr. Meat and Potatoes himself, ate spinach pie, Mousaka (eggplant), clams, mussels, squid... - well, you get the picture.
But being with the woman I love was simply awesome. I got to see her joy at examining an artist's brush strokes, watch her get excited over seeing the ocean, and hear her talk about the things she loves. It was a very special time for both of us. We've been married almost 34 years, and I've never loved her more. Yes, we've both changed over the years, but I'm loving her more today than the first day of our marriage.
My only regret is that we haven't spent enough time together as we did this week.
Let me ask you a question. It's a serious one.
If you love someone, shouldn't that mean you are open to experience changes in what you value, what you do - because you love them?
Wouldn't it mean you were willing - even eager -to go places and do things with them because of your love?
Wouldn't you learn to love the things that they love too?
Jesus put it this way:
Matt 11: 28-30 "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
When is the last time you walked off your beaten path to follow Jesus?
When did you last do something you wouldn't do for anyone else - for Jesus - out of your love for Him?
Think back over how many years since you became a Christian, and ask yourself.
Do you love the things Jesus loves?
If you can't answer yes, maybe it's time for you to take a break and rediscover just how much you are loved
"Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. Matt 6:5-17
In His love,
David
It's an old story.
A traveling preacher out one night and upon entering a town stops at the door of a little home. Coming to the door was a woman with apron on and paring knife in hand. She had been peeling apples for a pie, and greeted the pastor with a smile.
Hat in hand, the man asked her. "Does Jesus live here?"
Puzzled, she thought at first she didn't understand his question. Seeing her face revealed to the preacher her heart, so he asked again, "Does Jesus live here?" This time she heard well, and was considering the thought that the man was not quite well.
She said nothing, not knowing what to say. "Does Jesus live here?" was the question again, and it produced even more unease in the woman. Before she could stammer any answer, the man said, "I am so sorry. I had hoped Jesus lived here."
With that, he put his hat back on and walked on into the night.
The young woman went back to her work, but couldn't help wondering about the man and his question. Soon her husband came in, and she told him of her strange encounter.
The husband told her, "Well, why didn't you tell him that we are members of the church on the hill, that we give regularly to the work of it, and attend Sunday School once in a while?" But the young woman had caught a grasp of the old man's meaning.
"He didn't ask that, John. He asked whether Jesus lived here or not."
It made me think this morning of these verses.
6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today.
7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again.
8 Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deut 6:6-9 (NLT)
The Hebrews were very successful in keeping their religion a part of every day life. How did they do it? They integrated what they believed into how they lived. They used their lives, their homes, and their vocations to honor God, and taught their children to do the same. It's one of the reasons why, despite the best efforts of evil people down through the years, the Jews still exist as a people, even in cultures that abhor everything they are.
I'm a student of culture, a history buff. And I would tell you that we live in an America that is very much post-Christian. If we are to bring our faith forward and deliver it to generations to follow, we have to be much more like the Jews in the way we approach our family responsibilities.
But far more important than that, we need to be far more passionate about wanting more of Jesus in our lives. We need to hunger and thirst for more of Jesus.
Jesus is not satisfied with only having your attention at church. He wants your devotion in every area of your life. He is present at every meal, every conversation, everywhere. Are you living in a way that reflects His presence?
Does Jesus live at your house?
Grace, mercy, and peace,
David Wilson
A traveling preacher out one night and upon entering a town stops at the door of a little home. Coming to the door was a woman with apron on and paring knife in hand. She had been peeling apples for a pie, and greeted the pastor with a smile.
Hat in hand, the man asked her. "Does Jesus live here?"
Puzzled, she thought at first she didn't understand his question. Seeing her face revealed to the preacher her heart, so he asked again, "Does Jesus live here?" This time she heard well, and was considering the thought that the man was not quite well.
She said nothing, not knowing what to say. "Does Jesus live here?" was the question again, and it produced even more unease in the woman. Before she could stammer any answer, the man said, "I am so sorry. I had hoped Jesus lived here."
With that, he put his hat back on and walked on into the night.
The young woman went back to her work, but couldn't help wondering about the man and his question. Soon her husband came in, and she told him of her strange encounter.
The husband told her, "Well, why didn't you tell him that we are members of the church on the hill, that we give regularly to the work of it, and attend Sunday School once in a while?" But the young woman had caught a grasp of the old man's meaning.
"He didn't ask that, John. He asked whether Jesus lived here or not."
It made me think this morning of these verses.
6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today.
7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again.
8 Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deut 6:6-9 (NLT)
The Hebrews were very successful in keeping their religion a part of every day life. How did they do it? They integrated what they believed into how they lived. They used their lives, their homes, and their vocations to honor God, and taught their children to do the same. It's one of the reasons why, despite the best efforts of evil people down through the years, the Jews still exist as a people, even in cultures that abhor everything they are.
I'm a student of culture, a history buff. And I would tell you that we live in an America that is very much post-Christian. If we are to bring our faith forward and deliver it to generations to follow, we have to be much more like the Jews in the way we approach our family responsibilities.
But far more important than that, we need to be far more passionate about wanting more of Jesus in our lives. We need to hunger and thirst for more of Jesus.
Jesus is not satisfied with only having your attention at church. He wants your devotion in every area of your life. He is present at every meal, every conversation, everywhere. Are you living in a way that reflects His presence?
Does Jesus live at your house?
Grace, mercy, and peace,
David Wilson
Thursday, June 07, 2007
One person's opinion on a pastor's job
Just had a visit from my favorite pastor, Arnold Hendrix. He's in a traditional Baptist church in Lower Alabama. He probably won't ever be invited to preach at Catalyst, or even the SBC Convention. But he's making a huge difference for God.
Thing is, Arnold's way of doing it is the antithesis of what the writer below is describing. He's creating programs and inviting people to help, to work, to do (Gasp!) church.
I'm thinking that just maybe everything isn't as black and white as what we often read on blogs trending to one side of the "Do church?" debate or the other.
I'm thinking that pastors who are passionate and love God and people can still find a way to do church AND nurture the passion and purpose in others. What say ye?
A Deconstructed Christian: Church - the ultimate mission killer
Thing is, Arnold's way of doing it is the antithesis of what the writer below is describing. He's creating programs and inviting people to help, to work, to do (Gasp!) church.
I'm thinking that just maybe everything isn't as black and white as what we often read on blogs trending to one side of the "Do church?" debate or the other.
I'm thinking that pastors who are passionate and love God and people can still find a way to do church AND nurture the passion and purpose in others. What say ye?
A Deconstructed Christian: Church - the ultimate mission killer
In my opinion, a pastor's job, their highest calling, is to nurture what God has put inside every christ-follower - a little seed of passion for what they are supposed to do in this life. That seed can grow and multiply, or it can be trodden into the earth. The passion likely has nothing to do with a church program, it is more likely a cry for something more, something bigger, something infinitely more precious. It could be a need to work with the homeless, to raise children, to care for the aged. It could be writing songs, creating art, playing sport, being a musician. It can be ministry in prisons, in schools, in shelters. Honestly, it could be anything. It could simply be inviting people over for meals or speaking to people in bars.
Whatever it is, it is precious because it is from God. It's a passion, a purpose, something that is designed to be fulfilled. The problem is, if that passion doesn't fit neatly into specific church-sanctioned activities, it gets pushed down by the busyness of church.
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What we believe
The North Carolina evangelist Vance Havner said, "What we live is what we really believe."
Exactly.
One of the steps I try to make in teaching and preaching is to connect the person in the pews to what's going on in the lives of the people inhabiting the texts we are looking at.
Last night we were in Numbers 10, toward the end of the chapter. The Israelites were finally leaving Sinai. And all God's people said... Amen! For those of us in our Wednesday night study group, it was about time.
So each tribe is led in turn to break camp and follow the cloud of God's presence. It must have been an amazing sight to see. After 13 months of being under the shadow of Mt Sinai as God prepared them, finally they were moving. Still, some people in the crowd might have been reluctant to move. But not Moses.
No, Moses was made for this. He was the man God would use to free His people and place them in the land He had promised Abraham. So imagine Moses' excitement and focus on what was going to happen in the future. His every thought must have been far ahead of where they were that day as they began.
Not Moses.
His thoughts were with his brother in law Hobab, who wasn't coming along.
That's right. This great man of God, with his mission finally becoming realized, wasn't going to leave without inviting someone he cared for to go on the journey with him.
So why is it that we as Christians are so willing to leave our friends, family, neighbors and coworkers behind when we "move out" to heaven?
We live what we believe.
Moses believed to live was to invite others to walk with God.
Do we? Really?
Exactly.
One of the steps I try to make in teaching and preaching is to connect the person in the pews to what's going on in the lives of the people inhabiting the texts we are looking at.
Last night we were in Numbers 10, toward the end of the chapter. The Israelites were finally leaving Sinai. And all God's people said... Amen! For those of us in our Wednesday night study group, it was about time.
So each tribe is led in turn to break camp and follow the cloud of God's presence. It must have been an amazing sight to see. After 13 months of being under the shadow of Mt Sinai as God prepared them, finally they were moving. Still, some people in the crowd might have been reluctant to move. But not Moses.
No, Moses was made for this. He was the man God would use to free His people and place them in the land He had promised Abraham. So imagine Moses' excitement and focus on what was going to happen in the future. His every thought must have been far ahead of where they were that day as they began.
Not Moses.
His thoughts were with his brother in law Hobab, who wasn't coming along.
That's right. This great man of God, with his mission finally becoming realized, wasn't going to leave without inviting someone he cared for to go on the journey with him.
So why is it that we as Christians are so willing to leave our friends, family, neighbors and coworkers behind when we "move out" to heaven?
We live what we believe.
Moses believed to live was to invite others to walk with God.
Do we? Really?
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Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Content In Context
Why is it that during the weeks where the most pressure is applied, the clearest thoughts emerge?
This week, my son is flying out to CA, I'm driving back home to Macon to preach at my aunt's funeral, Memorial Day weekend is here with a Gideon speaker to work into the mix, I have a deacon in the hospital... yeah, busy.
But yesterday, as I was talking with our associate pastor, it was if something of a principle I can apply again and again leaped out of the conversation.
Content in Context
No, I'm not applying this in the hermeneutical sense, though it's something I practice and insist on in our teachers. What I realized was that the very way that our small Body carries out its mission where we are - in our Jerusalem - has to fall within the same parameters.
My friend was talking about summer plans for the youth he has responsibility for, and really struggling to find something for them that would not just be an event or a program. He wanted to lead them into an experience that mattered with lasting effects spiritually. We reviewed past efforts - mission trips to New Orleans, youth retreats, lock-ins - the usual, then he said this "do you ever think that maybe we are trying to do what everyone else does just because they do it?"
Bingo! Eureka! Doh!
New Hope Baptist Church is a unique group of people, drawn together by the Holy Spirit for His use at a specific geographic location within a specific period of time. Why is it when we plan for its "feeding and care", we look first to see what others are doing instead of spending most of our time examining just where we ARE?
We agreed to pray about what God had given us to use for His glory right here, and ask the Holy Spirit to direct us out from who we are to who we've been placed within - our neighborhoods and our area. That's a great start I think to applying our "Content" (what God has given us, and how He's equipped us for His use) in our "Context" (our ministry area).
This will probably mean that we are even more off the map when it comes to mirroring traditional SBC practices/programs. So be it. I would love to be more like the church in the book of Acts, flying solely by the wind of the Spirit.
This week, my son is flying out to CA, I'm driving back home to Macon to preach at my aunt's funeral, Memorial Day weekend is here with a Gideon speaker to work into the mix, I have a deacon in the hospital... yeah, busy.
But yesterday, as I was talking with our associate pastor, it was if something of a principle I can apply again and again leaped out of the conversation.
Content in Context
No, I'm not applying this in the hermeneutical sense, though it's something I practice and insist on in our teachers. What I realized was that the very way that our small Body carries out its mission where we are - in our Jerusalem - has to fall within the same parameters.
My friend was talking about summer plans for the youth he has responsibility for, and really struggling to find something for them that would not just be an event or a program. He wanted to lead them into an experience that mattered with lasting effects spiritually. We reviewed past efforts - mission trips to New Orleans, youth retreats, lock-ins - the usual, then he said this "do you ever think that maybe we are trying to do what everyone else does just because they do it?"
Bingo! Eureka! Doh!
New Hope Baptist Church is a unique group of people, drawn together by the Holy Spirit for His use at a specific geographic location within a specific period of time. Why is it when we plan for its "feeding and care", we look first to see what others are doing instead of spending most of our time examining just where we ARE?
We agreed to pray about what God had given us to use for His glory right here, and ask the Holy Spirit to direct us out from who we are to who we've been placed within - our neighborhoods and our area. That's a great start I think to applying our "Content" (what God has given us, and how He's equipped us for His use) in our "Context" (our ministry area).
This will probably mean that we are even more off the map when it comes to mirroring traditional SBC practices/programs. So be it. I would love to be more like the church in the book of Acts, flying solely by the wind of the Spirit.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
The Postman of the Apocalypse
I'm finishing a series on the "Big Story" of the Bible this week with a look at the consummation of Christ's Kingdom. Lots of Revelation, a place where I've not gone too often. Too much Hal Lindsay in my background.
But I did trip across a funny post about a young man in Orlando, a self-professed atheist who is ready to offer a`plan "B" for anyone who is afraid the rapture might come and leave letters un-sent.
The Postman of the Apocalypse
But I did trip across a funny post about a young man in Orlando, a self-professed atheist who is ready to offer a`plan "B" for anyone who is afraid the rapture might come and leave letters un-sent.
The Postman of the Apocalypse
Saturday, May 05, 2007
I'll Know It When I See It
One of the challenges those of us who are working to be missional followers of Christ and who are trying to lead our churches to be more missional is how to explain what it would look like. I've had the questions asked of me "what does a missional Christian look like?"
Well, here's a great explanation through the use of Images
Read through the word pictures and see if it doesn't help.
HT: Missional Images
Well, here's a great explanation through the use of Images
Read through the word pictures and see if it doesn't help.
HT: Missional Images
Friday, May 04, 2007
On the Journey
When I'm trying to unpack the call of Jesus on a person's life, I talk a lot about "the Journey" with Him. The idea is to separate the lifelong process of following Him from the "event" of beginning the journey. Not because that first step isn't important - it is, but that so many seem to linger close to where they began all their lives.
So I work to make people understand that we are to give our lives as testament and testimony to what God has done and is doing in and through us. I was reading today about the work of Robert Webber, who went home to be with the Lord just this week. Webber's call to an Ancient-Future faith resonates with me. I cannot see my part in the story as unrelated to all those followers of Jesus who went before.
Yet, as a present day follower, I rely far more on the written Word than my forbears in the first century did. Sometimes I worry about that. But a quote given by Webber in an interview with Christianity Today a few years back made me understand just how that worked then, and how it should work today
Can we point to one another and cite ourselves as a scriptural reference?
Lord, have mercy on me a sinner and give me what I lack to delight your heart.
So I work to make people understand that we are to give our lives as testament and testimony to what God has done and is doing in and through us. I was reading today about the work of Robert Webber, who went home to be with the Lord just this week. Webber's call to an Ancient-Future faith resonates with me. I cannot see my part in the story as unrelated to all those followers of Jesus who went before.
Yet, as a present day follower, I rely far more on the written Word than my forbears in the first century did. Sometimes I worry about that. But a quote given by Webber in an interview with Christianity Today a few years back made me understand just how that worked then, and how it should work today
Currently, worship seems to be divorced from the story. It is programmatic and narcissistic. If we resituate worship in the story, then worship tells and enacts the story of God. And God is the subject of that worship rather than the object that we worship. The subject acts on us in worship and forms us into Christ's likeness and thus affects our spirituality.
And today, spirituality, like worship, is divorced from the story. Spirituality is shaped by psychology, shaped by focusing on the self. It's very narcissistic instead of being our continual embodiment of the story. Spirituality is ultimately not having some sort of esoteric experience, but becoming what God created us to be and making the world what God created it to be, a place of his glory.
Hans Urs Von Balthazar said that we need to take a passage of Scripture and so internalize it that we become it. If somebody asks where's Matthew 25, we should be able to say, "Oh, it's walking over there."
Can we point to one another and cite ourselves as a scriptural reference?
Lord, have mercy on me a sinner and give me what I lack to delight your heart.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
The Church On the Corner
The Church on the Corner | Love Your Neighbour
The key to evangelism is to create lots of opportunities for Christians to ‘rub off’ on those around them. “A woman came and did her community service sentence with the trust and she became a Christian. Her friend saw the change in her and she also became a Christian. One of them works for the trust now, and the first woman’s extended family is also coming to church.”
“Our dream,” says Russell, “is to be as much a part of the community as the corner dairy. A corner Dairy is an integral part of any community. It is a place that would be missed if it were to shut down and it meets a need in the area. Also, there is nothing mystical about a dairy, it is a normal and accepted part of life. This is what church should be, a normal and accepted part of life that meets people where they are at and at their individual level.”
Hmmm... church on the corner...
BTW, the "corner dairy" would be the local 7-11 or Tom Thumb in our culture.
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Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Rick Warren Gets It, He Really, Really Gets It
One of the most polarizing names a pastor can bring up among other pastors and increasingly among church members is Rick Warren. The mega-church pastor, and author of the Purpose Driven Church, Purpose Driven Life and others is blamed for a lot as church go through change.
Well, it appears Rick is going to keep bothering people. And I'm glad he is.
At the "Q" conference in ATL, Warren said:
If I knew something more important than raising up believers, training them in discipleship and sending them out to engage culture, then I’d be doing it. But I don’t. (AMEN and AMEN - DW)
and
If God can create a fish to live its entire life in brine, yet not get salty, can God not protect us as we live in culture and engage it with the gospel? The answer is not isolation, nor imitation, but incarnation. What is it? It is insulation (from what is wrong) and it is infiltration (with what is right).
Too many churches today would rather be cute than effective. “I am addicted to changed lives.” (me too bro, me too - DW)
Marty Duren blogged the whole talk, go read the whole thing.
Well, it appears Rick is going to keep bothering people. And I'm glad he is.
At the "Q" conference in ATL, Warren said:
If I knew something more important than raising up believers, training them in discipleship and sending them out to engage culture, then I’d be doing it. But I don’t. (AMEN and AMEN - DW)
and
If God can create a fish to live its entire life in brine, yet not get salty, can God not protect us as we live in culture and engage it with the gospel? The answer is not isolation, nor imitation, but incarnation. What is it? It is insulation (from what is wrong) and it is infiltration (with what is right).
Too many churches today would rather be cute than effective. “I am addicted to changed lives.” (me too bro, me too - DW)
Marty Duren blogged the whole talk, go read the whole thing.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Why I Love Small Church
"Go big or go home" is what I heard from one pastor friend. "You've got to have a big vision" said another.
My denomination publishing house rolls out another program, calls it "Simple Church", and then charges $69 for a seat at the conference so you can learn how to be simple.
Well, I'll tell you how for $20. Send them by paypal please.
Here it is - love small church.
If you love small church, you won't have to be troubled by things that drive the guys in big churches crazy. Staff meetings are a breeze when it's just you. Worship planning never has a hitch when nothing is timed to the minute, especially since you never start on time. Budgeting is much easier, since you have no money to plan with, and have to depend on God to meet your needs rather than John Maxwell's friends and their stewardship skills.
Much of what is directed at me tells me I am a failure because I haven't led my church to exponential growth, aren't planning on satellite campuses, and have no plans to open a virtual community on Second Life. We don't even play rock music during our worship. GASP!
Ah but today brought with it a beautiful expression of God's grace in clear skies and warm breezes, as well as the opportunity to read David Fitch's article "Why Missional Community Is More Difficult And I Love It"
It was awesome. Here are a couple of excerpts - go read it. It's good for what ails you.
Technorati Tags: David Fitch, small church, missional, community, David Wilson, It's Like Herding Cats
My denomination publishing house rolls out another program, calls it "Simple Church", and then charges $69 for a seat at the conference so you can learn how to be simple.
Well, I'll tell you how for $20. Send them by paypal please.
Here it is - love small church.
If you love small church, you won't have to be troubled by things that drive the guys in big churches crazy. Staff meetings are a breeze when it's just you. Worship planning never has a hitch when nothing is timed to the minute, especially since you never start on time. Budgeting is much easier, since you have no money to plan with, and have to depend on God to meet your needs rather than John Maxwell's friends and their stewardship skills.
Much of what is directed at me tells me I am a failure because I haven't led my church to exponential growth, aren't planning on satellite campuses, and have no plans to open a virtual community on Second Life. We don't even play rock music during our worship. GASP!
Ah but today brought with it a beautiful expression of God's grace in clear skies and warm breezes, as well as the opportunity to read David Fitch's article "Why Missional Community Is More Difficult And I Love It"
It was awesome. Here are a couple of excerpts - go read it. It's good for what ails you.
It is more difficult to take 10 people and grow a living organic body of Christ to 150 than it isGo read it all. Then forward it to the pastor of any small churches and struggling plants you know. David Fitch, you are my hero.
to transplant 200 or 300 people (or I have heard even 600-800) and then
grow that congregation to 5,000. Because a crowd draws a crowd.
It is more difficult
to build a community of people who know and care for one another, who
when they speak, they are heard, who when there is conflicts, all
participate in reconciliation and growth, than it is to
put on a production and provide religious goods and services where if
some people don't like it they can just go shopping elsewhere.
It is more difficult to preach a sermon to 100 people than it is to 8,000 people.
It is more difficult
to deal with conflict and leadership in a small organic church where
our conflicts, our vision, our weaknesses must all be talked about,
worked through.
Technorati Tags: David Fitch, small church, missional, community, David Wilson, It's Like Herding Cats
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Wednesday, April 18, 2007
How Leaders Should Lead
"No matter what your job is," Ortberg said, "you have an opportunity to live that out every day. Work gives you an opportunity to make a meaningful and significant contribution to the world. Unlike being in church, work gives you an opportunity to live out what it means when Jesus says, 'You are salt, and you are light.'"Nancy Ortberg
I haven't always been a pastor. For most of my working career, I was employed as a sales representative for some famous consumer goods companies. So I got to see people who hadn't put their happy faces on, or were pretending to be something they were not, unlike what I see sometimes at church.
Working in organizations of tens of thousands meant that I was a very small part of a big machine. As just a part, I interacted with people in authority over me frequently as well as with people in authority within the businesses I called on. I met Sam Walton once, the presidents of companies like P&G, Kroger, etc. And I related daily with my bosses in my organization and mid-level management in our customer's concerns.
Leadership was a commodity that was not as common as one might think. There were people placed in the position as leaders, but who weren't. Just as there are people placed as pastors and leaders in churches, who aren't either.
Today I read an excerpt from a sermon by Nancy Ortberg. She describes an encounter with a person who exhibited true leadership. Her sermon was noticed by Rich Karlgaard of Forbes magazine, who though redacting her references to Jesus, was impacted by her desire to express was true leadership is. His article is called "Godly Work" and I urge you all to read it, as well as listen to Nancy's sermon on the Menlo Park presbyterian site.
An example from her sermon:
"It was about 10:30 p.m. The room was a mess. I was finishing up some work on the chart before going home. The doctor with whom I loved working was debriefing a new doctor, who had done a very respectable, competent job, telling him what he'd done well and what he could have done differently.
"Then he put his hand on the young doctor's shoulder and said, 'When you finished, did you notice the young man from housekeeping who came in to clean the room?' There was a completely blank look on the young doctor's face.
"The older doctor said, 'His name is Carlos. He's been here for three years. He does a fabulous job. When he comes in he gets the room turned around so fast that you and I can get our next patients in quickly. His wife's name is Maria. They have four children.' Then he named each of the four children and gave each child's age.
"The older doctor went on to say, 'He lives in a rented house about three blocks from here, in Santa Ana. They've been up from Mexico for about five years. His name is Carlos,' he repeated. Then he said, 'Next week I would like you to tell me something about Carlos that I don't already know. Okay? Now, let's go check on the rest of the patients.'"
Ortberg recalls: "I remember standing there writing my nursing notes--stunned--and thinking, I have just witnessed breathtaking leadership."
Yes she did. Go read the article, watch the sermon, and go lead.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
I See Dead People
Again and again over the last few weeks, God has shown me how little impact the church has on the culture. First it was Good Friday, when we had our Tenebrae service and at the same time, the Little league was going great guns across the street. Our parking lot LOOKED full, but it wasn't from people wanting to experience the bittersweets of Good Friday worship.
Then again today, the air show at the base began at 9AM, and the F-15 demonstration team acrobatics began at 11:30. I was talking with someone who had retired from the Air Force just a few years ago and he said, "that wouldn't have happened 5 years ago. They'd have waited until after church worship was over."
Our church is healthy relationally, active spiritually, and needy monetarily. Almost every church around us is bigger, has more facilities, staff, etc. But none of us is doing squat when it comes to reaching lost people for Jesus.
Tonight, we had a business meeting where we talked a while about the usual events planning, membership bookkeeping, and money. We need more. The cost of doing business is rising steadily, and income isn't keeping pace. The good people of New Hope in attendance stepped up and challenged each other to give more, to pray more, and to enlist others to do the same. It's obvious they love their church and its staff, and for that I am very, very thankful. My wife and I love them dearly.
But we may be on separate paths.
Their concern was to do what it takes to handle the financial emergency so we could keep things going as they are.
My concern was to do whatever it takes to handle the financial emergency so we could change things and become exponentially more effective in reaching people. That would ultimately involve selling our buildings and becoming the church that meets in the elementary school and in homes.
We're in a building now that seats 130 with a budget that needs 200. (based on what the average Baptist church member gives) Our money takes care of us by and large - not doing ministry, but Me-istry. And that's increasingly an issue that God won't let rest in my heart. I can't be simultaneously ineffective at reaching out and spectacularly effective at taking care of those already here. I can't enjoy this awesomely loving and giving group of people here, because I keep seeing the faces of the dead people outside, yet to come.
It is precisely at this point that we've arrived today.
And I go to bed now with a sense of loss.
Then again today, the air show at the base began at 9AM, and the F-15 demonstration team acrobatics began at 11:30. I was talking with someone who had retired from the Air Force just a few years ago and he said, "that wouldn't have happened 5 years ago. They'd have waited until after church worship was over."
Our church is healthy relationally, active spiritually, and needy monetarily. Almost every church around us is bigger, has more facilities, staff, etc. But none of us is doing squat when it comes to reaching lost people for Jesus.
Tonight, we had a business meeting where we talked a while about the usual events planning, membership bookkeeping, and money. We need more. The cost of doing business is rising steadily, and income isn't keeping pace. The good people of New Hope in attendance stepped up and challenged each other to give more, to pray more, and to enlist others to do the same. It's obvious they love their church and its staff, and for that I am very, very thankful. My wife and I love them dearly.
But we may be on separate paths.
Their concern was to do what it takes to handle the financial emergency so we could keep things going as they are.
My concern was to do whatever it takes to handle the financial emergency so we could change things and become exponentially more effective in reaching people. That would ultimately involve selling our buildings and becoming the church that meets in the elementary school and in homes.
We're in a building now that seats 130 with a budget that needs 200. (based on what the average Baptist church member gives) Our money takes care of us by and large - not doing ministry, but Me-istry. And that's increasingly an issue that God won't let rest in my heart. I can't be simultaneously ineffective at reaching out and spectacularly effective at taking care of those already here. I can't enjoy this awesomely loving and giving group of people here, because I keep seeing the faces of the dead people outside, yet to come.
It is precisely at this point that we've arrived today.
And I go to bed now with a sense of loss.
Friday, April 13, 2007
I'm Just Saying...
It's gotten to be a joke between my bride and me - my use of the phrase "I'm just saying..." as I try to make a case for an opinion or qualify something I've said. One of the great joys of this life has been and is that I get to spend time with someone who knows me intimately and yet loves me as I am.
My wife has a knack for "helping" (I typed that wincing, BTW) me to see not just whether my arguments are good ones, but perhaps as important, whether the way I'm putting them forward is good.
You see, I'm a passionate guy.
This life, role, position - this whatever you call it - how about - Christ-follower- demands that I never "phone it in". I'm supposed to be ever learning, ever changing, ever growing as I follow Jesus as his disciple. Love for Him drives me to really work at that - every day.
But there are times when even while driving hard after being like Jesus, being conformed to His image, I wind up portraying just the opposite. And what's crazy, I can do it without even realizing it.
"I'm just saying..."
If my Spirit-filled wife is really good at pointing that out, there is someone who's even better.
The Holy Spirit.
So I'm reading the story of the prodigal son today in Luke, not looking for anything specific, just wanting again to experience how much God loves "lost" things and through that remind myself of how much He loves "lost" people.
You know the story. Guy gets full of himself, tells his old man he's splitting, and to give him his part of the inheritance. Dad does, guy goes off to Las Vegas (my modern day paraphrase) and loses it all, and winds up sleeping with the pigs and living low on the hog. Realizes finally what he left behind and gets up and goes to try to make it right. Has his apology well rehearsed, probably repeating it over and over as he nears his old home. But his daddy, whose been pleading with God every day for him, and expecting God to bring him home, sees his son coming and runs to meet him. Grabs him. Hugs his filthy self and tells him it will be okay. BBQ ensues. (irony there, eh?)
With me so far?
Ok. Here's where I found myself in the story today.
28 "The older brother was angry and wouldn't go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, 'All these years I've slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!' Luke 15:28-30 (NLT)
I could see the older brother, seeing what went on and getting furious. Then as we used to hear in Georgia, he "showed himself."
All those years he spent doing the right thing - for the wrong reason - had changed him alright, but not in the way they should have. They made him more cynical, more willing to find fault in others, more blind to faults in himself.
When his daddy protested 'Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!'"
Luke 15:31-32 (NLT)
I could hear that older brother say,
"I'm just saying..."
Friends, that's just wrong.
And I thank God for the people He's put in my life to help with the corrections necessary sometimes when I start to veer off the Way.
What about your life, if you were able to step back and see it as others do, would make you realize that changes were needed to get back in step with the Spirit?
Maybe it's time to really commit to becoming part of a community of faith where each person holds the other accountable to Jesus, in love. Maybe it's time to really follow Jesus as His disciple.
I'm just saying... :)
Grace!
David
--
Visit with me at my blogs:
http://davethepastor.livejournal.com/
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/
http://www.mychurch.org/newhope
It's gotten to be a joke between my bride and me - my use of the phrase "I'm just saying..." as I try to make a case for an opinion or qualify something I've said. One of the great joys of this life has been and is that I get to spend time with someone who knows me intimately and yet loves me as I am.
My wife has a knack for "helping" (I typed that wincing, BTW) me to see not just whether my arguments are good ones, but perhaps as important, whether the way I'm putting them forward is good.
You see, I'm a passionate guy.
This life, role, position - this whatever you call it - how about - Christ-follower- demands that I never "phone it in". I'm supposed to be ever learning, ever changing, ever growing as I follow Jesus as his disciple. Love for Him drives me to really work at that - every day.
But there are times when even while driving hard after being like Jesus, being conformed to His image, I wind up portraying just the opposite. And what's crazy, I can do it without even realizing it.
"I'm just saying..."
If my Spirit-filled wife is really good at pointing that out, there is someone who's even better.
The Holy Spirit.
So I'm reading the story of the prodigal son today in Luke, not looking for anything specific, just wanting again to experience how much God loves "lost" things and through that remind myself of how much He loves "lost" people.
You know the story. Guy gets full of himself, tells his old man he's splitting, and to give him his part of the inheritance. Dad does, guy goes off to Las Vegas (my modern day paraphrase) and loses it all, and winds up sleeping with the pigs and living low on the hog. Realizes finally what he left behind and gets up and goes to try to make it right. Has his apology well rehearsed, probably repeating it over and over as he nears his old home. But his daddy, whose been pleading with God every day for him, and expecting God to bring him home, sees his son coming and runs to meet him. Grabs him. Hugs his filthy self and tells him it will be okay. BBQ ensues. (irony there, eh?)
With me so far?
Ok. Here's where I found myself in the story today.
28 "The older brother was angry and wouldn't go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, 'All these years I've slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!' Luke 15:28-30 (NLT)
I could see the older brother, seeing what went on and getting furious. Then as we used to hear in Georgia, he "showed himself."
All those years he spent doing the right thing - for the wrong reason - had changed him alright, but not in the way they should have. They made him more cynical, more willing to find fault in others, more blind to faults in himself.
When his daddy protested 'Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!'"
Luke 15:31-32 (NLT)
I could hear that older brother say,
"I'm just saying..."
Friends, that's just wrong.
And I thank God for the people He's put in my life to help with the corrections necessary sometimes when I start to veer off the Way.
What about your life, if you were able to step back and see it as others do, would make you realize that changes were needed to get back in step with the Spirit?
Maybe it's time to really commit to becoming part of a community of faith where each person holds the other accountable to Jesus, in love. Maybe it's time to really follow Jesus as His disciple.
I'm just saying... :)
Grace!
David
--
Visit with me at my blogs:
http://davethepastor.livejournal.com/
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/
http://www.mychurch.org/newhope
Thursday, April 12, 2007
They're Back!
One of the great blessings of being a pastor here is being around some of the greatest folks I have ever known - our military. If I had been younger when I came here, there's no doubt Bunny and I would have sought to join the Air Force as a chaplain and wife.
Every few years, we have an air show, and the Thunderbirds come. New Hope being directly under the final approach path, I'll go outside and get treated to an air show over the parking lot. Today was practice, tomorrow they will do a show for the military and dependents on base, and the air show is Sat and Sun.
Talk about teamwork, and trusting your teammate!
Now we return to our regularly scheduled church stuff.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
It's Early, But This Did Make Me Pause
From the comment stream after one of John Frye's excellent posts at Jesus the Radical Pastor
Doug Jones wrote
And we wonder why people aren't more committed to the work of the Body of Christ? What work? What Body?
Our theology has to include, but progress far past "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." We have to help people create a holistic view of their place in God's overarching plan for the Kingdom of God.
I'm beginning a series on that plan as revealed in Scripture. My hope is to ground people in that understanding of the work of the Kingdom of God and my prayer is that the Holy Spirit moves them into the flow of God's work all their lives.
Act One - Creation begins this Sunday. Stay tuned.
Doug Jones wrote
... one result of this kind of church (where we are concerned about numbers, measurement of "growth" and expansion) has convinced many that Christianity is really just a system of moralistic, therapeutic Deism (Christian Smith, Soul Searching). In other words our churches are successfully helping teach too many that God is something like a combination divine butler and cosmic therapist, who comes when called, helps you to feel better, but doesn’t get too personally involved.
And we wonder why people aren't more committed to the work of the Body of Christ? What work? What Body?
Our theology has to include, but progress far past "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." We have to help people create a holistic view of their place in God's overarching plan for the Kingdom of God.
I'm beginning a series on that plan as revealed in Scripture. My hope is to ground people in that understanding of the work of the Kingdom of God and my prayer is that the Holy Spirit moves them into the flow of God's work all their lives.
Act One - Creation begins this Sunday. Stay tuned.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Moving At the Speed of Love
LUKE 24:13-35: THE EMMAUS ROAD
Kosuke Koyama wrote an article called Three Mile an Hour God:
God walks 'slowly' because he is love. If he is not love he would have gone much faster.
Love has its speed. It is an inner speed. It is a spiritual speed. It is a different kind of speed from the technological speed to which we are accustomed.
It is ‘slow' yet it is lord over all other speeds since it is the speed of love. It goes on in the depth of our life, whether we notice or not, whether we are currently hit by storm or not, at three miles an hour.
It is the speed we walk and therefore it is the speed the love of God walks.It's Easter. I've got 3,287 things flashing through my brain. Lord, help me to let You set the pace. Let me walk with the people who come tomorrow at the speed of love.
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Thursday, April 05, 2007
Hmm... Study on Church Hoppers
Most Church Switchers Choose Non-Traditional Worship | Christianpost.com
In a series of studies on adults who switch churches, LifeWay Research found "church switchers" often choose a new church that is different in several ways from their previous church. And most do not end up attending traditional services as they formerly did.
According to the study, 53 percent of church switchers attended traditional style worship. Of that, only 29 percent switched to churches that hold traditional services. The most popular worship styles among church switchers are blended worship (38 percent) and and attend a contemporary worship (33 percent).
"Clearly, selecting a new church with a more contemporary worship style is a current trend," said Scott McConnell, associate director of LifeWay Research, in the report. "These changes are intentional, as indicated by eighty percent finding worship style an important factor in selecting a new church."
Nearly half (46 percent) of those who switch churches move to a larger church, the study also found. Meanwhile, 29 percent switch to a smaller church and 25 percent choose a church the same size as their former church.
Among those who attended a church with 100 or less people, 79 percent switched to a larger church.
Among people who attended a church with more than 500 in worship attendance, 57 percent moved to a smaller church.
“The trend clearly shows church switchers are moving to larger churches,” McConnell noted in the report. “However, there is a smaller counter-trend among those who attended larger churches; some of them select smaller new churches.”
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Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Poking Around In Dark Corners
Tonight I broke into the dark corner of the Scriptures that is the book of Numbers. I've been a follower of Jesus for 33 years now, and I have never heard or been taught anything about this book. Never studied it. Never read anyone else's work on it. So all of this is new information to me.
That kind of ticks me off.
Jason's point after my last post was that we have a tendency to stay very close to the water's edge when it comes to our study of the Bible. It's "Jesus saved my soul and I'm going to heaven when I die" all the time from day one to day 5,201.
And yet as I've progressed through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and now Numbers, I can see just how much we have been missing - how much I have been missing.
Ray Steadman says of the book:
Given that, wouldn't it make sense to study this book?
That kind of ticks me off.
Jason's point after my last post was that we have a tendency to stay very close to the water's edge when it comes to our study of the Bible. It's "Jesus saved my soul and I'm going to heaven when I die" all the time from day one to day 5,201.
And yet as I've progressed through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and now Numbers, I can see just how much we have been missing - how much I have been missing.
Ray Steadman says of the book:
In Numbers we have dramatically set forth what is perhaps the hardest lesson a Christian has to learn – to trust God instead of his own reason.
This is where we struggle, isn’t it? We think that what we want to do and the way we want to do it is the right way. The hardest struggle we have, even as these Israelites had, is to learn to believe that God knows what he is talking about and that what he tells us is the truth, and is for our good, and to operate on that basis despite what friends and others around are telling us concerning the right way.
Given that, wouldn't it make sense to study this book?
Monday, April 02, 2007
Bibles and Bible Study
Last night I finished a small group study of Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods. I was able to find some of the charts he uses online for people to take home with them, which made teaching it much easier.
I went over to my office and grabbed a few of the tools I have used over the years for Bible study. Now I basically am an internet user, but I used to have to pull books like Strong's Concordance, Bakers Bible Dictionary, Robertson's Word Pictures, etc. off the shelf to do serious work. The internet makes that simpler, and good Bible study software like Bible Explorer really helps a lot.
We looked at various study Bibles as well. Remember how awesome it was when the NIV study Bible came out? Then the Life Application Bible, the Hebrew-Greek Study Bible and all the rest really accelerated a person's ability to dig deep without having to carry a library with them.
But which version to choose? Well, I'm an NLT, HCSB, Message man myself. Here's a link though to Wayne Lehman's studies on evaluating English Bible versions.
I came away from last night's group believing that we needed to do a much better job of teaching our people how to study the Word. The people around the tables with one exception had been Christians for decades. They should already be past this and they weren't. Where does that leave the new believer?
We need to help people grow deeper. Next week's project is to develop a vehicle to get that done.
I went over to my office and grabbed a few of the tools I have used over the years for Bible study. Now I basically am an internet user, but I used to have to pull books like Strong's Concordance, Bakers Bible Dictionary, Robertson's Word Pictures, etc. off the shelf to do serious work. The internet makes that simpler, and good Bible study software like Bible Explorer really helps a lot.
We looked at various study Bibles as well. Remember how awesome it was when the NIV study Bible came out? Then the Life Application Bible, the Hebrew-Greek Study Bible and all the rest really accelerated a person's ability to dig deep without having to carry a library with them.
But which version to choose? Well, I'm an NLT, HCSB, Message man myself. Here's a link though to Wayne Lehman's studies on evaluating English Bible versions.
I came away from last night's group believing that we needed to do a much better job of teaching our people how to study the Word. The people around the tables with one exception had been Christians for decades. They should already be past this and they weren't. Where does that leave the new believer?
We need to help people grow deeper. Next week's project is to develop a vehicle to get that done.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
The Super Bowl, World Series, World Cup and the Masters
Well, it seems like that way.
It's Holy week.
Even people who don't think about church the rest of the year think of it during Holy week. Maybe it's the blizzard of invite cards from churches. Maybe going to CVS for Easter candy stirs their memory. But it is one of those times of opportunity.
At New Hope we're working through our people, equipping them with invitations for their friends, coworkers, neighbors and loved ones, and asking them to personally invite them. We prepared two types, one for adults, and another for youth and older children. Personally, I like "Come Hang Out With Your Peeps", but that's just me.
Later this week we'll have a family time of communion on Thursday and then our Service of Shadows on Good Friday. That is a time of darkness and reflection on the cost paid for our sins. It is my favorite service all year. I need to remember.
And then Easter - CELEBRATION!!!
But after the crowds, then what? I was grateful for Gary Rohrmayer's blog post on how to follow up on Easter. "The "Next Steps" Principle" is an excellent primer on just how to make Easter the jumpstart you want your church to experience.
What "Next Steps" are you going to offer this year?
It's Holy week.
Even people who don't think about church the rest of the year think of it during Holy week. Maybe it's the blizzard of invite cards from churches. Maybe going to CVS for Easter candy stirs their memory. But it is one of those times of opportunity.
At New Hope we're working through our people, equipping them with invitations for their friends, coworkers, neighbors and loved ones, and asking them to personally invite them. We prepared two types, one for adults, and another for youth and older children. Personally, I like "Come Hang Out With Your Peeps", but that's just me.
Later this week we'll have a family time of communion on Thursday and then our Service of Shadows on Good Friday. That is a time of darkness and reflection on the cost paid for our sins. It is my favorite service all year. I need to remember.
And then Easter - CELEBRATION!!!
But after the crowds, then what? I was grateful for Gary Rohrmayer's blog post on how to follow up on Easter. "The "Next Steps" Principle" is an excellent primer on just how to make Easter the jumpstart you want your church to experience.
What "Next Steps" are you going to offer this year?
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