Looking Over My Shoulder

Okay, I read ahead.

I'm teaching tonight out of Hebrews 9, but I kept going all the way through the rest of the book. It's that good. And when I got to Hebrews 11, I slowed down and let it sink in.

People have been living out their faith in God and dying for it for over 2,000 years. They lived so purposefully and so passionately that the Bible sums it all up by saying this:

39 Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised. 40 God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours.Heb 11:39-40 (MSG)

That's why we look back at the Old Testament, it informs the believer today. But we don't live there. Some people want to go back and relive the feasts, festivals and laws like the Jews did back then.

They remind me of people still fighting the civil war. One of my favorite Christians of all time, Clarence Jordan, confronted someone like that.

The story is told that after one sermon before a southern congregation, an elderly woman approached Clarence and said, “I want you to know that my granddaddy fought in the Civil War, and I’ll never believe a word you say.” Returning her steely glare with a gracious smile, Jordan replied, “Ma’am, your choice seems quite clear. It is whether you will follow your granddaddy or Jesus Christ.”

I love Clarence Jordan. He cuts to the chase. Well, let me try too.

We are NOT under law, but under grace. The stories of the Old Testament saints can inspire us because of their devotion, but they lived without understanding everything that God had coming in Jesus.

Any system that substitutes a new set of rules (or requires submission to the old rules) isn't biblical Christianity. God put the old covenant on the shelf when Christ came, and the tablets He wrote on then weren't stone. He wrote them on the hearts of everyone who believes in Jesus and His finished work on the cross.

Every time I read Hebrews it feels as if those saints are looking over my shoulder and urging me to preach the fullness of God's grace in Jesus. They couldn't get there then, but they want you to get there now. Here's my favorite verse about how to do it.

"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. 29 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. 30 Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Matt 11:28-30 (MSG)

Close the distance between you and Jesus. Then just follow Him with everything you've got - heart, mind, body, and soul. You're going to find peace where guilt was, and freedom exchanged for shame. For maybe the first time ever, you're going to feel like you are who you were meant to be.

Grace and peace,

David

Sunday Recap 9/26/10

Had a great day at New Hope Sunday. I was excited because I was going to get to teach our Kidmo kids about loss and God's answer to the pain and grief. Can't tell you how impressed I was to see that the Kidmo writers not only tackled the issue of death, but how they did it for these elementary aged kids. We need more Biblical teaching about real life events as early as the kids can grasp it. Good job, Kidmo guys.

The class went well, with the kids telling me about losses of pets, uncles, and in one case, their father. We learned that it was okay to be sad - Jesus was too. But we also learned that God had given us Jesus who conquered death by rising from the dead, and had given us all a place in heaven if we believed in Him. They actually drew a map to heaven and it began with Jesus.

It all begins with Jesus, doesn't it? If we could just get everyone - whatever age - to begin every day following Jesus wherever we went, the Kingdom of God would advance faster.

The worship set:

Holy Is the Lord
God You Reign (first time we have sung this - love the words)
Forever
A Shield About Me (so worshipful)
Amazing Grace

The message finished our walk through Colossians 3 with a call to work for God no matter who your earthly boss is or whatever your earthly job is. In this military community, I tried to draw a distinction between "Employed" and "Deployed." We might be employed by McDonald's or the Air Force, but we are deployed by God to be His agent there.

Had some folks back from extended vacations which was awesome. New Hope together is a force for God. On that note, our Child2Child girls' efforts on behalf of the Full Belly Project netted over two hundred dollars which will help the group help the poor to rise up and provide for their families. Great job again girls!

Here's the powerpoint, the sermon audio should be up later.

The Times, They Are A Changin'

My friend who I've never met in person but have admired for years, Marty Duren, has written what for him is a very rare post about something in the inner workings of the Southern Baptist Convention. He does a great job with it, and you should read his thoughts on the "Great Commission Resurgence" document. I've also been meaning to write something about where we at New Hope find ourselves, so this is that rare day when both Marty and I write about the SBC. I expect Halley's comet's return before it happens again.

Having successfully avoided every state and national convention for the 36 years I have been a Baptist, you could say that I'm not really interested in what happens in the SBC. You'd be wrong. I care a great deal about what the SBC does where the rubber meets the road. That would be the local church, BTW. People seem to forget that the convention exists to serve the churches instead of the other way around, and that the various entities that make up the SBC exist for the same reason. Absent that need, they should not exist.

Our church is a contributing member of the local group of Baptist churches, the Florida Baptist Convention, and the Southern Baptist Convention. We give money. We pray for our leaders, and those who serve our Lord as missionaries. As far as I know, that's about all they want from us.

That's just not enough.

We have flung the door open for a delivery of new wine skins and aren't looking back. Our people are being encouraged to sponsor children through Compassion, World Vision, or other Christian efforts. (We'll soon hit a dozen kids!) They are engaged in helping across the world with other groups who are making a difference. For example the younger girls have in successive months made crafts that were sold to fund stainless steel food bowls for kids in Haiti, formula for an orphanage in Guatemala, and VBS materials for kids in the Ukraine. We've given the shoes off our feet (and out of our closets) to Soles4Souls.org and left worship barefoot. We're about to embark on the most radical thing I've ever been a part of - a challenge to eat as the orphans do for 5 days, and give the money difference between that and what we normally eat - to the orphans at Amazima Ministries in Uganda.

Oh and lest you think we've forgotten the Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria part of the Great Commission - we have 17 folks away on mission to Appalachian KY right now, have done more local benevolence work this year than ever in our history, and are about to start our summer movie outreaches.

And exactly what has the SBC have to do with any of that?

Nothing.

That's not intended to be a swipe at the SBC, just a fact. Times are changing. Churches are looking for ways to DO SOMETHING, not outsource it to "professional missionaries." There are many outlets for that desire that lie outside the SBC and are easy to find. Why is that? And why are the leaders of the SBC fixated on a document like the "Great Commission Resurgence" (which in classic SBC fashion will be submitted to a committee at the convention to be studied for a year) instead of asking the local church what we need?

We're going to continue to look for the most effective way our local church can change the world for God's glory. If that's through the SBC, great. But I doubt it. I also expect that we will find a better way to ensure that the monies we contribute to God's work through the SBC don't get frittered away at the state level or absorbed into the "machine" and get to the missionaries on the field. The times, they are a changin' - and I'm thrilled about how much more impact we are having for the Kingdom of God - and can't wait to see what's ahead.

Priorities :)

And no, I don't think I'll ever be THAT bad. :)

Think about this quote

“The point is.. all the effort to fix the church misses the point. You can build the perfect church–and they still won’t come. People are not looking for a great church… The age in which institutional religion holds appeal is passing away.

“Church leaders seem unable to grasp this simple implication of the new world–people outside the church think church is for church people, not for them.” Reggie McNeal

He goes on:

“The church was created to be the people of God to join him in his redemptive mission in the world. The church was never intended to exist for itself. It was and is the chosen instrument of God to expand his kingdom. The church is the bride of Christ. Its union with him is designed for reproduction, the growth of the kingdom. Jesus did not teach his disciples to pray, “Thy church come.” The kingdom is the destination. In its institutional existence the church abandoned its real identity and reason for existence.

“God did not give up on his mission in the Old Testament when Israel refused to partner with him. God is a reckless lover. He decided to go on with the mission himself. We do not need to be mistaken about this: if the church refuses its missional assignment, God will do it another way. The church has [refused], and he is [moving on]. God is pulling end runs around the institutional North American church to get to people in the streets. God is still inviting us to join him on mission, but it is the invitation to be part of a movement, not a religious club.”

Sometimes I wonder about why I see the church's future to be not in bigger buildings but in bigger people - people who see success as followers of Jesus not in the "position" they hold in the organization, but in the influence their life has on their family, their workplace, their neighborhood.

Why can't I be satisfied with where I am? With where we are?

Because I know in my gut that time is running out - not just for the organizations we call our churches, but for the opportunity to redeem the time we've been given in this life for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.

Because lost people matter to God.

This Isn't Rocket Science

It's easy to dismiss the smaller church today. The rise of the mega church, not just the big church - these are small cities - grabs all the attention and makes most all of the noise. With their names and their pastor's names legends around the evangelical watercooler, those of us who work in smaller churches could suffer from inferiority complexes. Granted, I've written before about the "Walmart Effect" that the mega has on smaller churches around it - kind of like "that's no moon, it's the deathstar!" But today I'm here pounding away to say we've got much bigger fish to fry.

A recent book, The American Church in Crisis, by David T. Olson reports these

1) Less than 20% of Americans regularly attend church - half of what the pollsters report. There are approximately 330,000 churches in America; out of those churches approximately 17.7% (52 million) of Americans attend church on an average Sunday.
2) American church attendance is steadily declining.

* Evangelical 9.2%
* Catholic 5.5%
* Mainline 3.1%

3) Only one state is outpacing its population growth. Hawaii.
4) Mid-sized churches are shrinking; the smallest and largest churches are growing.

* Churches under 50 and over 2,000 are growing
* Average attendance of Protestant church: 124
* 1,250 mega-churches in America/one emerges every three days

5) Established churches, 40-190 years old - are, on average, declining. New church starts reach more people better, faster, cheaper than existing churches.
6) The increase in churches is only ¼ of what's needed to keep up with population growth.

* 3,000 churches close every year
* 3,800 new church starts survived
* Net annual gain: 800 new churches
* Net annual gain needed to keep up with population growth:10,000 new churches

7) In 2050, the percentage of the U.S. population attending church will be almost half of what it was in 1990.

* US Population in 1990: 248 million/20.4% church attendance
* US Population in 2050: 520 million/11.7% church attendance

Chew on that for a while. Then come back and tell me why your church doesn't need to change.

I read this obituary yesterday, written by a pastor. Only he doesn't know it is one.

My church is a small congregation with the average age probably in the mid to latter-fifties. They enjoy singing hymns and when I have provided an alternative it has not been well received. They have indicated that they would like to attract younger couples with children to the church but are not totally open to doing a few things different to attract this age group.

Here's what happens.

I was in a church like yours about 25 years ago. My husband and I were the young folks they wanted to keep but we left. They said that they welcomed young couples but treated us like young children. They never considered any of our suggestions because they didn't want to change. Out of the couple hundred hymns in the Hymnal, they sang the same few of them, week after week. No one would sing if it was a new song. They are very nice folks. They are kind and faithful. But we wanted to improve and grow.

In this case, the couple left and found a church that welcomed people of all ages, that listened to them, and that ministered to all ages and intentionally changed to reach people that weren't just like them.

But not all of those who leave try again. Then there are the countless others who never even think of entering a church. Lost? They don't even know what it is they are missing. What they need are friends who will take the time to invest their time into the relationship. To listen far more than talk. To be there to live out the Way. To be ready to give an answer with gentleness and respect.

We need followers of Jesus who gather for worship and help understanding what Jesus wants them to do who then scatter and live those instructions out in their everyday lives. Who do more together than they could ever do separately and who look for ways to partner with other Christians to do even more. Who will be salt to flavor the communities and workplaces in which they live, and light for others to see the way home by.

This is not rocket science. But it is mission critical.

Are you in?

New Hope@ Worship 071308

The whole framework today was to create a place for people to contemplate the transcendent nature of God and how accessible he is through Jesus. So we used some great newer music and one great, great older one.

Indescribable - "he knows the depths of my heart and he loves me the same"
Forever - "he is with us, forever"
Your Grace Is Enough - I LOVE this song!
Holy, Holy, Holy- updated arrangement
Offering - really was a fitting conclusion



Unfortunately, the recording didn't work again. Our crack team of media-wizards are on it.

If You Could Do One Thing

One of the guys in an online pastors forum has asked the question today and I think it deserves a larger audience for reflection, so I'm posting it here.

"What one thing would you do to triple your worship attendance in 6 months?"

It's a good question, but I wonder if it's one that is really in need of clarification. Are these people who will make up the 300% unchurched or churched (just shopping).

BTW the first response was "For those numbers, there is only one answer: Free beer."

So let's toss that one aside.

I'll give it some thought today and come back later.

Ok, it's later.

I'd sell the property and move to either the Elementary or Middle School, and use the money gained to hire a worship leader, buy top notch audio and video tools, and paper the area with postcards for our upcoming Dave Ramsey classes and series of messages on "Get Unstuck!"

Yep. That'd do it.

New Hope @ Worship 29 June 2008

Great feeling after the "Movies in the Park" outreach last night as all the Newhopians might have been a little tired, but it was one of those good tired's. Bunny was sick today so one of the things she's been working with Sean on for a while finally came through. Sean was the lead guy today in the praise team. We had Jarrod on bass, Amy on flute, and yours truly on acoustic.

"Come, Now Is the Time To Worship" - chose it because it might be old now, but it's something people love to sing. Maybe those endless commercials for WOW CD's paid off.

"God of Wonders" - worked well with Sean's Rickenbacker guitar on lead.

"Ancient Words" - totally different feel without keyboard. I think it needed the piano.

"A Shield About Me" - I love this song, especially when we break into the Hallelujahs at the end. To me, it is really worshipful. The instrument mix worked pretty well on this one.

I'm having some difficulty with invitation music. There seems to be so little out there to use. And I'm wondering if we couldn't shake up the end of the service some to give people more space to consider the opportunity for commitment. We used

"Have Thine Own Way" - I know we've sung it forever, but it just didn't seem to "do" anything today. Got to work on more songs for this important part of the service, or change what we do there.

We continued the "Identity Theft" series by looking at what our culture has tried to do to Jesus.

For the Next Few Days...

As you read what's happening at the annual Southern Baptist Convention, held this year in Indianapolis, Indiana, try to remember the message contained in this video.

If it's a typical convention, you'll hear about boundary markers like alcohol, cultural battlegrounds like the public school system, and about how churches sometimes have trouble counting just exactly how many people are suiting up for their team.

Go watch the video again if you get confused.

The people and churches of the Southern Baptist Convention are at their best when they are living out the words of Jesus, not shouting them at a group that doesn't hold the same values.

The people and churches of the Southern Baptist Convention are at their best when they are giving themselves and their fortunes away to people in need, not hoarding them for consumer goods or burying them in million dollar "campuses."

The people and churches of the Southern Baptist Convention are at their best when they come as people once broken, but restored in Jesus and compelled to help those with lives still torn apart.

You might forget that if you read the papers over the next week.

Bookmark the video folks, that's who we are or hope to be.

Shalom,

David

Church Matters

Love cannot exist in isolation: away from others love bloats into pride. Grace cannot be received privately; cut off from others it is perverted into greed. Hope cannot develop in solitude—separated from the community, it goes to seed in the form of fantasies. No gift, no virtue can develop and remain healthy apart from the community of faith.-Eugene Peterson

The longer I'm a pastor, the more I see the value in the community of those who fell and were restored to wholeness through Christ.

If that community is focused and attentive to Jesus, it can do incredible things - things that can only be attributed to the supernatural power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Lord, keep us close to You.
Lord, let us see Your Way and give us the courage to follow it.
Lord, fill our hearts to overflowing with the same love you have for us.
Lord, let us be Yours together and gather others for the glory of Your Name.
Lord, make us one.

Take Tab "A" and Insert in slit "B" doesn't seem to work here

Once upon a time it seemed to me that all a Southern Baptist church had to do was to follow the program and things would move along very smoothly. You'd do Sunday School using the Lifeway Curriculum, then head to worship where you'd sing out of the Baptist Hymnal, read your KJV (personal or pew copy) as you followed along with the preacher standing behind a pulpit and wearing a suit.

Then you'd do it all again at 6PM that evening.

On Wednesday night, you'd have Royal Ambassadors for the boys, Girls in Action for the girls, some sort of youth group, and then "prayer meeting" and some sort of Bible study.

And it worked. And it was easy because all you had to do was work the system and the system would produce baptisms and growth. Or so it seemed.

It was like assembling something. Just follow the directions and you'd find success.

Well, not in this context. I do not know one church here who follows that model anymore, except maybe a couple who are on life support.

When the program was proved to be ineffective, there was a gasp, and then a scramble for the next program. Some churches moved quickly to the Willow Creek model, which meant moving away from Bible study and worship by believers to seeker sensitive.

Others couldn't go that far, and found a friend in Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Church model. It was far higher in the commitment level expected of each member, and just sort of felt right, like the next evolution of things.

For a while, churches had success, some of them anyway, with these models.

I think the age of the "Model" is fading fast.

It's being replaced by a couple of things - franchises and cafeteria style.

Franchises are those church plants that are simply extensions of the mothership. Not really stand alone, and many are just video venues where the main church teacher is broadcast to. A church in Texas decided it needed a branch in Miami. Makes sense, after all, the NT says the gospel spread from region to region... or was it house to house?

Then there's the cafeteria. In the absence of a true Model, churches are taking a bit from this mega or denomination, and a bit from that one. You'll see churches that are Purpose Driven but using Andy Stanley's Northpoint children's materials, or Willow Creek's small group stuff.

For the smaller church, things get a bit dicey, because most of what the mega models call for requires size. Resources are always spread thin. If Lifeway would only wake up and realize that smaller churches are under served by any of the current models, and use the collective power of people across the SBC, maybe, just maybe they could enjoy some part of the success they had long ago.

Right now, we are struggling and praying about how to connect our efforts in one area so we can maximize our effectiveness. There's so little out there that's not fluff, or dry, or not too expensive. We have to make hard choices all the time, knowing that we will do the best we can with passion and determination to glorify God.

I just wish there were more options.

After Sermon Thoughts

It's late Sunday evening, and I'm about to follow my wife to bed and call it a day. It's been a full one. But like most of the people called "preacher-creatures" by my friend Ian Anderson, I keep thinking about this morning's sermon and wondering - did I do it? Did I give them what God wanted them to hear? If I did, did I do it well? Who heard it? Who responded to it, even though I may not know?

It's funny, because today I was preaching out of Acts and one of the parts I touched on was Peter's first sermon.

3000 people - hostile people - the people who put Jesus to death - get SAVED!

It's your first sermon. You're not a preacher, you're a fisherman. But it happens.

Can you imagine what Peter thought? "That went better than I expected."

I can so see him turning around and asking the other guys...

"Is it going to be this way every time?"

One of the things you learn to do - if you're willing and capable of learning from what you do - good or bad - is to analyze your part in the process, make sure you did the best you can do, change if you didn't, and leave the rest to God.

There's no way Peter was able to do what God did through him that day. God can use anyone, anytime.

And fellow preacher-creatures, regardless of how you did today, God can use it.

So let him.

Now, about next week's sermon. :)

The Baptist Association Revisited

New Hope had a business meeting tonight to discuss the plans our local Baptist Association has for building on the lot next door. We talked about what that would mean for the association, for our neighbors here in Valparaiso, and for New Hope. Then we talked about what our response would be.

As the Holy Spirit worked among us, we worked through misunderstandings, moved past the quick and easy snap judgments, and arrived at common ground and a graceful response. I know some people have a problem with the words "Baptist Business Meeting", but if you feed Baptists dessert beforehand they are much sweeter. :)

I'm sitting here now about to go to bed and thinking about how I wish, wish, wish the association would relate to us as a smaller church. Back in January I took this up and wrote:

First: Quit trying to do the work of the local church.

Second: Quit hurting the work of the local church. Every dollar spent on associational buildings and people that cannot be justified by a resultant effect in growing the Kingdom through the work of the local church is wasted. Wasted.

Three: Help our pastors help our churches. I know we're a prickly bunch and not easily led or helped, but we are the people that God called and placed in the churches of the association to help see His will done on earth as it is in heaven. And we are the ones who will have to give an account for what we have done and haven't done. We need help - especially (but not limited to) those of us who pastor smaller churches. Every new initiative we undertake - someone has BTDT. We need the DOM and the association to serve as facilitator and network respectively. Hook us up when we get a wild idea with someone who knows how to pull it off. Help us find the resources to accomplish it. Maybe the association could serve as part file cabinet, part rolodex, part storage building.

Personally I'd love to see our association buy a trailer like they use during emergencies to feed people. Self contained kitchen etc., but with a PA system and a few of those "jumpy toys" and stuff like a rock climbing wall so we could do block parties and cross church fellowships. But that's just me.

Perception is that the current system of funding the DOM position makes him far more attentive and reactive to big churches and big church pastors. It ought to be just the opposite. YMMV. I'd love to see that position become a Missionary position again with the small church and church planting through all the churches be the focus. I know there are a lot of DOM's who do a great job of looking after the needs of smaller churches, but not all of them do.

Finally (for now) - Help us see the bigger picture. Fight us to help us see it. By that I mean the DOM has to be working to take what the pastors dream and see if it will synergize into something that will not only allow the local churches to fulfill their calling, but will help other local churches do the same. We need to see more of that birthed out of what God is telling the local churches, not out of the Lifeway catalog or a DOM association meeting.

For me, this is sort of a final attempt to try to work through what an association ought to be and do. In the small church I serve, we're not going to nod our heads anymore and send our money to anything that doesn't help us do our job more effectively than we could do alone.

Since then, none of those things has happened, if anything the local association has moved in the opposite direction. But New Hope has worked on its own to build relationships with a local Presbyterian church and the City of Valparaiso, and we'll be seeing some real impact come from those.

We just don't have the luxury of spending time worrying about them - too much to do.

If anyone anywhere can give me some examples of an association that's working to help the average sized Baptist church reach their neighbors, let me know.

New Hope @ Worship - May 11, 2008 Mother's Day

Originally, I had planned on continuing the "Blind Spots" series. We formed the music set expecting that to be the case. Then at the last minute, I felt led to go back and preach a message more tied to Mother's Day about Hannah from 1 Samuel.

Lord I Lift Your Name On High - a New Hope favorite
Forever - Chris Tomlin is such a blessing

I really enjoyed Joe Stoy's children's message in between the two groups of songs. He does a great job every week, but this week was exceptional.

All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name - updated arrangement
Be Thou My Vision - updated version

Just As I Am - classic version :)



The link to the audio is on our Church Cloud website.

If you compare the notes to the audio, you'll see a significant deviation at the end. I'm crediting the Holy Spirit with bringing that out.

The price of Admission

A couple of nights ago, I was looking for something to read that didn't have to do with the church, or theology. My life is so centered on New Hope and what God is doing and wants to do through all of us here, that I don't really read anything else. In years past I spent a lot of time bring drawn into the stories of Mark Twain's characters, William Faulkner's Mississippi, Steinbeck's California, and the military fiction of W.E.B. Griffin and Tom Clancy - and others, lots of others.

But as time has passed, I've spent more and more time in books about church.

Well, Tuesday I went out in the garage, where boxes of books still lie packed up from our move almost two years ago (the rest are in the attic or at church) and found "Flags of Our Fathers." I remembered reading it a while back and how it helped me understand a little bit of what my own father had gone through in that era.

So I picked it up and started reading again. The author is the son of one of the men forever immortalized as the "flag raisers" on the island of Iwo Jima. After his father's death, his family finds a couple of boxes in the closet with clippings about that event. They discover things they never knew about their father's courage and his relationship with the men he shared that "mountain top experience" with that day. Great book I highly recommend.

One of the men whose life he examines had come into military service the same way my father, who passed away a couple of years ago, did. When the war broke out, this individual was in an outfit called the Civilian Conservation Corps. The author explains how it was created to help men whose families were impoverished out of that hole called the Great Depression, and served as an intro to the rigors of Army life.

Here's what caught my attention. In order to participate in the program, that would lift your family out of poverty...

You had to admit you were poor.

That you were in need.

That was the price of admission, and I suspect there were some whose pride would have kept them from participation. My father and his family must have done that, or they wouldn't have gotten helped. I'm so thankful that they did. For my father's joining the CCC was their first step up from poverty - a poverty so bitter that decades later my father would point out certain weeds and explain to his boys that "those were all we had to eat." Times were hard, but hope was available - if you paid the price of admission, and swallowed your pride and said "I need help."

Funny how similar that organization is to this one - the Church.

I've been reading with interest Ed Stetzer's posts on the future of the SBC, as well as a few of the posts examining what the findings mean.

What has amazed me frankly are those who are rushing forward to claim that declining membership doesn't mean anything is wrong. There's so much wrong that for once I do not think any church growth guru can possibly design the next Lifeway program to help us pretend to fix it.

I'm reminded of one pastor's encounter with some Nob Hill socialite who was recounting a litany of woes. The pastor patiently hear her out and suggested that the woman needed to admit she needed help and call upon God.

"Has it come to that?", she is said to have replied.

Yes brothers and sisters, it has come to that.

I Want It Now

I want the works
I want the whole works
Presents and prizes and sweets and surprises
Of all shapes and sizes
And now
Don't care how
I want it now
Don't care how
I want it now - from the Oompa Loompa song

Earlier last week, I was cleaning up in the closet and noticed that there was a copy of "Civilization II - Test of Time." It's an old, old game for the PC that lets you pick a people group and build a civilization. That's right, you get to RULE THE WORLD!!!!

So I began the game and decided to be the Ancient Greeks. I figured I had a depth of knowledge about them, knew the geography, and might get to show Alexander how a REAL general would handle those pesky Persians.

But it's so darn slow, this empire building. You have to convince people to settle, and farm, then build cities and defend them. There's danger of loss from outside forces and from treachery within. Even if you make yourself supreme ruler (they actually have a "despot mode" of government mode) people will be - people. Everything just takes so long.

That prospect of making things happen NOW! is most appealing to the pastor of a small church, friends. There's so much of what happens here that can best be described as incremental gains. You cheer when a couple more guys join the men's group. You're ecstatic when a couple of families seem to be fitting in. And have someone cross over to faith in Jesus, and it is as if everything you are doing is paying off.

This is not the place of giant leaps, or miraculous growth. No Beanstalks - more like centipede grass.

In the game, they have "cheat codes" you can use to speed up the process - to advance beyond what you could have expected to normally.

Ever hear of anything like that in the church? Or ever think about how easy this would be if only *those* people got out of the way or *those* people would come and join you?

I'd be surprised to meet a pastor who didn't want to see God glorified in His church. Or who didn't want it to happen sooner rather than later.

It's that "Don't care how" part that worries me.

I'll let God be the judge of other people's ministry. But I'll answer for mine. So if you'll pray for me to keep my desires in line with God's plan, I'd be grateful.

Life On Tiptoes - A Glimpse of New Hope!

When I was a child growing up in Macon Georgia, our family used to go downtown every year to watch the Christmas parade. I can remember vividly some parts of what I saw - the excitement of the marching bands, the hilarity of the Shriners and their little cars, and of course, Santa Claus, who always was the last float in the parade.

I can also remember trying hard to see around other people, knowing that something was coming that I absolutely did not want to miss. It's been a while since then, but I got that same feeling today when I was reading the 8th chapter in Romans. Verse 19 says, "The creation waits in eager anticipation for the sons of God to be revealed." The word behind the English translation "anticipation" has a sense of straining to see, or looking around and over barriers to see." So J.B. Phillips translated it this way:

"The whole creation is waiting on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of God's sons and daughters coming into their own."

Isn't that awesome?

Yesterday was Earth Day, and all around there were people reminding us of our responsibility to care for God's creation. We were offered a tree at one store, asked if we wanted a bag for a book we purchased "or did we want to celebrate Earth day and forgo one?" People took time yesterday to think about how our actions affect this planet we share. That's a great thing that we should all do.

But the Bible says to take it further - much further.

All of creation has been affected by our fallen nature, and is waiting like a boy on tiptoes at a parade to see what will happen when Jesus returns for His children! Since the fall, despite our best efforts, mankind has never been in harmony with nature. So all creation is waiting.

And one day, Jesus will return and make all things new.

Oh, glory!

So friend, as long as you live, take care of what God has graced you with - His glorious creation. But know this - "no eye has seen, no mind has imagined, what God has in store for those who love Him."

Until then, live life on your tiptoes.

Grace and peace,

David

Clarity. Movement. Alignment. Focus.

Clarity. Movement. Alignment. Focus.

Those are the hallmarks of the Tao(Way) of Simple Church. When I read the book a few months ago, I actually wound up reading in immediately again, because I didn't "get" what was so amazing about the way Geiger and Rainer went about explaining how to "do" church. It seemed so simple.

Now that I'm actually praying and thinking through how to make a good church better, I begin to see that the "Simple Church" process might be harder to achieve for the church that's doing okay than for the one in flames or falling to pieces. When you are doing okay, to do well means you will have to change or eliminate something that's working - sort of - but isn't working toward your foundational goals. I've been looking through some other church's processes as they turned toward a "Simple Church" way. Here's one example.

From CECWORSHIP: It teaches basically to come up with principal areas of ministry and an order of discipleship process. We have heard that before, but the difference with this is taking a look at the church ministries and taking out the ministries that don’t fit into that process.

Our pillars are:

Live For God
We commit to daily give our life and will to God, getting to know Him through prayer and His Word, while seeking to live in a way that would please Him

Grow Together
We commit to a weekly time of fellowship with other believers, where we can grow together, and support each other in our walk with God

Give to Others
We commit to a ministry or other service activity, whether in the Church or the community, through which we can express God’s love working in and through us

Go and Share
We commit to sharing the gospel in word and action, and that when given the opportunity we will invite others to join us on the path of life

Our Church slogan if you will is Together on the Path of Life

The book makes the case that business as usual produces the usual results.

We are talking about people not being transformed. Week after week, year after year, many people are the same. The building project of people’s lives is stalled. Stagnant believers and congested churches go hand in hand.

Sadly, in many churches people are stuck in the same place spiritually. And there is no intentional process to move them.

The Bible paints a different picture of spiritual growth. According to Scripture a believer’s life is to be transformed more and more. People are not supposed to be the same. There is to be progression, movement.

Our churches should be filled with people who are becoming. Becoming more like Christ. Becoming more loving and joyful. Becoming. Being transformed (136).

Exactly. I want to resist the urge though, to treat discipleship as a business model, and people as a product that comes as a result of the application of the model. The Holy Spirit is the One Who produces results as people yield their lives to His instruction, correction, and rebuke - as Christ is formed in them.

People should be changing, morphing into awesome examples of the grace of God inhabiting their lives in the person of the Holy Spirit. Some will. Many won't, choosing instead to become a shadow of what they could have been if they were completely surrendered to Christ.

So we pray for wisdom now Lord. Help us to be clear on what You want from Your people through Your Church.

New Hope @Worship 03.30.08

It was Spring Break weekend and I had been braced for at least a 20% drop in attendance this Sunday in worship. But lo and behold, some people who were supposed to be away wound up coming, and others brought new friends. Then we had other visitors who had never been with us before. All in all a very good turnout.

Worship set -

Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing) - I love the way this gets us moving.
Nothing But the Blood (Redman version) - one of the best examples of older hymns refreshed
Shout To the Lord - we don't sing it often, but when we do we SING it
God of Wonders - on a beautiful Spring day with flowers blooming and the azaleas ablaze...

Come Unto Me - Kira Stoy and Emily Shermer did a great job with this and our son Sean absolutely killed on acoustic guitar. (Proud dad I am :) )

I Surrender All - after my call to go all in, made sense to use this as invitational hymn.



I started by reminding people of all the questions Jesus asked and how when studying that personally, I wondered what would happen if Jesus asked me "What do you want me to do?" Would I think of others, or of God's work at New Hope and elsewhere, or would I go immediately to what was best for me. Obviously from the text, the disciples struggled with that too.

This sermon begins a series on "Big Questions". More about that later as I develop it.

We are doing a service project Saturday, raising money for our partners across the street at Valparaiso Elementary in their "Relay for Life" team effort. Our bit is holding a carnival at New Hope with games, rides, movies and food. It's the Saturday of spring break so hopefully we'll raise a good bit of money for a worthy cause. Great idea from Amy Anderson.