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 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?

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

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?

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.

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.

Dr Tom Ascol via Timmy Brister

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.

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!

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.

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

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

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

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

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?

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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.

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

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

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

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.

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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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.

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.

It is more difficult to take 10 people and grow a living organic body of Christ to 150 than it is
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.

Go read it all. Then forward it to the pastor of any small churches and struggling plants you know. David Fitch, you are my hero.

Technorati Tags: David Fitch, small church, missional, community, David Wilson, It's Like Herding Cats

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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.

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.

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

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.

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

... 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.

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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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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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:

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?

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.

Getting Your Church on the MOVE!!!

Now these people know how to get a church MOVING!!!

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?

What We Don't Need From New Wave Pastors

Andy McAdams, over at The Mayberry Driven Church has written a great article on where the church is today, focusing on the smaller church in this culture. "The Condition of the Church In America" is worth a read, a clip, and many prayers. I can see Andy's heart for the church in it. Though the statistics are sobering, and the challenge is great, knowing that there are people who get what the life of a small church is about really helps.

Contrast that with the writings of some of the young, successful, and hip new wave pastors lately about their fellow workers for Christ.

I’m sorry I will never understand guys who do this because it is a job, because they are stuck, because they are to big of chumps to get a “real” job. I pray I never become the fat, cynical pastor who has “been around the block.” I will never understand how people who God has called burn out and are always sending resumes out looking for the next great thing. We have the greatest calling in the world and the large majority of pastors I talked to are to freaking busy whining about how hard they have that it is no wonder they aren’t making an impact for the kingdom of God. If that offends you I could care less.

If I have another church planter or pastor call me or email me telling me how hard it is I am simply going to kick the crap out of them. YES, it is hard. What the crap did you think you were signing up for? You are on the frontlines of the battle between good and evil. Did you think it was going to be a cake walk? What fantasy are you living in? When you are making an impact for God, the devil is going to come after you with everything you have.

I am so sick of excuse making pastors. I am talking about the ones who always think everyone else has it better then them and they can’t accomplish what they want to because someone else got “the breaks.” Shut up and do something for God.

You know, I'm not hearing much whining at all among my friends who pastor smaller churches. What I hear most often is an acknowledgment of just how tough the task is and how they are driven on depend more on God.

When we talk, we deal in reality to be sure.

That doesn't make us whiners, or burnt out, or looking for our next gig.

Frankly, the ministry isn't Ultimate Fight Club, so if the new wave would drop the "I'll punch them in the throat", "kick the crap out of them" bravado, they'd seem more Christ-like. At least.

What we need isn't opposition. What we need is support. What we need is your prayers.

Someone said the other day that what happens is we get blind - blind to our faults, but only blind in one eye, because those of others are plainly visible.

Well, I admit I am blind in one eye. Would it be too much to hope that the new wave would admit that they are too?

List of Christian Bloggers

I've been remiss in not doing this earlier, but I wanted to mention that I added my blogs to a list of bloggers created by Mark Kelly from Saddleback. He and Rick Warren put together the Christian Bloggers list and I can say that many of these people are excellent resources for help, encouragement, and insight.

http://ginamcclain.wordpress.com
http://evenyou.blogspot.com
http://www.djchuang.com/
http://www.flowerdust.net
http://www.lapalabra.ws/blogs
http://www.mattandnancy.org
http://theviewfromosprey.blogspot.com/
http://2timothy22.blogspot.com
http://nathandiehl.com
http://www.thislamp.com
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
http://missionalchallenge.blogspot.com
http://blog.aspiringindie.com
http://www.xanga.com/samwisegmge
http://www.growthstarts.org
http://www.jonathaneverette.blogspot.com
http://tonystewardblog.com
http://www.imageforth.com
http://discipletim.blogspot.com/
http://littlepastor.blogspot.com
http://www.churchrelevance.com
http://thegatheringplacehome.blogspot.com
http://www.anotherstorm.com
http://www.xanga.com/revshortridge
http://www.gupdate.blogspot.com
http://www.curtbradford.typepad.com/
http://lizardsmommy.blogspot.com
http://www.brianeberly.com
http://www.mattsingley.com
http://www.discoverychurchjason.blogspot.com
http://tommyham/typepad.com
http://www.unfoldingneurons.com
http://johnsmulo.com
http://gotgrace2.blogspot.com
http://blog.myspace.com/ricolsen
http://microexplosion.com
http://lenscleanse.blogspot.com
http://www.evtales.com
http://nanolog.blogspot.com
http://friesville.net/blog
http://jeffreycrawford.blogspot.com
http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com
http://edbuford.blogs.com
http://paulmayers.blogs.com
http://gomotion.blogspot.com
http://www.paulpeterson.wordpress.com
http://www.johannesrueschel.de/
http://www.robertpooley.org
http://revnorman.blogspot.com/
http://elblogdecristianosh.blogspot.com
http://www.cowboycountrychurch.com
http://www.despuesdeldomingo.com
http://www.fbcsulphur.org
http://www.pastorjohnccc.blogspot.com
http://michaeldeutsch.blogspot.com
http://www.markbatterson.com
http://themerge.blogspot.com
http://chuckwarnockblog.wordpress.com
http://www.kevinpurcell.org
http://www.glenwoods.blogspot.com
http://marshilltop.blogspot.com/
http://reformedchicksblabbing.blogspot.com/
http://www.xanga.com
http://www.adoracionyartes.blogspot.com
http://www.jenniclayville.com
http://churchtechmatters.com
http://www.pastorsview.blogspot.com
http://www.marriagevictory.com
http://www.blindbeggar.org
http://faithfulweb.wordpress.com
http://www.360.yahoo.com/genblessings
http://www.kimzweygardt.com
http://straightfrompastor.blogspot.com
http://www.simplyhsp.multiply.com
http://www.myspace.com/blogpastor_charlie
http://becoming.voxtropolis.com
http://tonymorganlive.com
http://bucketsfromgoldie.blogspot.com
http://www.timschmoyer.com
http://veldugo01.blogspot.com
http://blog.myspace.com/servingtheking
http://jeffsmithspeaks.blogspot.com/
http://bittersweetblue.blogspot.com
http://checkyourcompass.blogspot.com/
http://www.post-methodist.blogspot.com/
http://www.sequimur.com/banditsnomore
http://www.macmike.typepad.com
http://www.revitalizeyourchurch.blogspot.com
http://julieclawson.blogspot.com
http://themerge.blogspot.com
http://www.newlifebrisbane.blogspot.com
http://www.danieldecker.net
http://www.preacherjoe.blog
http://ngpfocus.wordpress.com
http://www.determinacionhoy.net
http://missiodeiscandia.wordpress.com/
http://chriswhitehead.blogspot.com/
http://www.ifjesushadawebsite.net/
http://becoming.voxtropolis.com
http://churchonomics.com/
http://marcpitman.com/
http://www.ridgethoughts.blogspot.com/
http://bridgecommunity-mike.blogspot.com/
http://www.simplyjosh.com
http://www.johnnylaird.blogspot.com/
http://verge.lifepointblog.com
http://www.completinggodsmission.com
http://www.anchorite.org/blog
http://mountain-top-musings.blogspot.com/
http://mattandmeganmckee.blogspot.com
http://www.prayershake.blogspot.com
http://grantlharrison.com
http://www.pursuingholiness.com
http://patamo.blogspot.com
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The 100

The 100... million

"You live and learn" is what people say.

But is it just me, or does much of what we learn not get used?

Algebra... now when is the last time you used that. (Don't get me started on Trigonometry etc.) Some of what we learn just gets outdated. I knew how to use a slide rule once upon a time, could run MS-DOS off a command line prompt, and could tell you a lot about handball. But none of those are in use anymore, at least not by me.

But once upon a time I was a wiz.

One of the areas of knowledge I still do use is statistics. So when I read this week about the 100 - the 100 million people who haven't been to church once in the last six months, my keen intellect determined immediately that first - 100 million is a lot, and second, people are inclined to stretch the truth about going to church. So I am very sure it's more than just 100... million.

And here's what bothers me about those stats.

I know some of them.

They are people I care about.

And if I have lived and learned, then why aren't I - and the church that I serve better at helping them find Jesus?

Why aren't we all?

100,000,000 souls..........................

Why Fight?

Our church has found a great Web 2.0 social networking tool called MyChurch. Check it out.

We're using it a lot these days to keep people informed, distribute resources, build fellowship, and offer another front porch for people to sit on while they meet us.

Personally, I've really enjoyed getting to know some people who I probably never would have met. For example, one of the friends my wife and I have on MyChurch is a man in India. That's really neat.

I can see the potential of using sites like these to link and strengthen links with Kingdom partners across the globe.

But exposure to a wider number of Christians also means exposure to the people who hold weird theology, and want everyone to know how they are in error. Just a few minutes ago I read a series of posts by a King James only advocate, then what appeared to be a person denying the Trinity, and finally a person giving a "prophetic word".

There's a part of David Wilson who really wants to set those people straight. A BIG part of David Wilson.

The KJV only guy, God bless Him, is stunningly wrong in almost everything he copies and pastes. The Oneness advocate can't spell. And for a prophecy supposedly from God, well...

But why fight?

Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights. 2 Tim 2:23

Stay away from mindless, pointless quarreling over genealogies and fine print in the law code. That gets you nowhere. Titus 3:9

It's just not worth it. I've labored for years under the false opinion that through the force of logic I would educate people out of darkness. No, what I did was raise my blood pressure and waste a lot of time.

Someone once told me, "You know, you don't have to attend every argument you are invited to."

So repeat after me... "The Lord's servant must not quarrel..."

Can I Get An Amen?

“The churches that will cease to exist are not those who are doctrinally errant, but are spiritually errant. You can’t get away with it anymore. You can’t just talk about what the bible says, you better flesh it out or you are dead. That’s what’s exciting about the world in which we live. Only the viable church of Jesus Christ will survive, the inauthentic need not apply. I want to live in the world that if the church is not the revolution that Jesus died to establish 2000 years ago it ceases to exist. I want to live in a world where the church has no more crutches, or buffers to guard her from injury. I want a church where a culture no longer protects her. Whenever the gospel enters an environment, it prevails.”
- Erwin McManus

Little places

"Father, where shall I work today?"
And my love flowed warm and free.
He pointed out a tiny spot and said,
"Tend that place for me."

I answered him quickly,
"Oh, no! Not that!
Why no one would ever see,
No matter how well my work was done;
not that little place for me!"

The word he spoke, then, wasn't stern.
He answered me tenderly;
"Nazareth was a little place.
And so was Galilee."

-- Anonymous

from Revitalize Your Church by Mark O. Wilson

Mark, I just needed to read this today. I put it on my blog so I can be reminded from time to time that what those of us that serve in little places serve a Big God. Thanks for posting this.

The Cloak of Invisibility - Church Style

Ever feel like no one knows your church exists? Here a list of things that one person sees as ways for churches to stay invisible. HT Church Redone

Here are 10 real ways I’ve experienced that churches keep from being discovered:

1. Don’t have a website
2. Be completely inactive in the community.
3. Don’t answer your phone
4. Allow misinformation
5. Lack clear signage
6. Have insufficient parking/seating
7. Ignore Visitors
8. Respond half-heartedly to inquiries
9. Be evasive about your beliefs
10. Lie to me : When all else fails, simply lie to me about your church.

Ouch!

Like A Bear Fed By Tourists

Ed Stetzer gets it.

Today, the church is like a bear fed by tourists. It's lost its natural ability.

We need to share Christ in meaningful ways without just inviting people to a congregational event. I can just suggest one brief idea: let's get that back by starting where people are, listening to them, building a relationship, telling them about Jesus, sharing with them the story of redemption, and bringing them to a bloody cross and an empty tomb.
Ed Stetzer

HT: Catalyst

Love wins.

You need to know that. I need to know that. We look around and we see so many things that are broken - some irreparably. We look back and remember painful events that left scars on our soul. We look ahead and can only see more of the same.

I've been here this afternoon praying.

Praying for people. The young mothers with their children in foster care, because they can't break free of addictions. The children who suffer as a result. Families separated because of a war that seemingly will never end. People trapped beneath a mountain of wrong choices. People dealing with pain, with heartache, with grief. Young and old, everybody hurts. So I pray for them, that God would supply all their needs through Christ Jesus. That the author of all compassion and comfort will surround them with His love. That they will see God and know He loves them.

Praying for New Hope. We're the church in the neighborhood, with a heart for anyone who comes through our doors. We've seen many people come to faith here, and others deepen in faith here. I pray for understanding of where our church can see even more of God's mercy and grace shine around us. I'm praying for those who've come here for a season but who just cannot seem to put down roots. Like a child who breaks away from a loved one's embrace, they run outside. Again, and again, and again. And it breaks my heart.

So I'm praying.

There are times when being a pastor is sheer joy, and times when it plumbs the depths of sorrow.

In both the good and the bad, I remember -

Love Wins.

No one's ever seen or heard anything like this,
Never so much as imagined anything quite like it-
What God has arranged for those who love him. 1 Cor 2:9 The Message

Friend, do you love Him?

If someone new came into your life this week, and was around you most of the time, could they tell you love Jesus?

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

Remember

Good reminder as we head toward Easter

USA TODAY recently reported on America’s religious illiteracy. The article included the following interesting statistics that shed light on how well Americans know the Bible:

60% of Americans can’t name five of the Ten Commandments
50% of high school seniors think Sodom and Gomorrah were married
8% of public high schools offer an elective Bible course

Remember that America is now a place of distorted truth and little knowledge of the Bible. If part of your sermon only references a Bible story, there is a good chance that people in the congregation may not be familiar with it or may assume it is about something completely different.

Hat Tip: Church Relevance

Article In Christianity Today On Salvation

An article in Christianity Today this week has me wondering when the author sees salvation as occurring.

Jesus and the Sinner’s Prayer - What Jesus says doesn’t match what we usually say.

David P. Gushee

I suggest that we tend to confuse the beginning of the faith journey with its entirety. Yes, believe in Jesus—that's the first step. Yes, invite Jesus into your heart as your personal Savior. Then, empowered by God's grace, embark on the journey of discipleship, in which you seek to love God with every fiber of your being, to love your neighbor as yourself, to live out God's moral will, and to follow Jesus where he leads you, whatever the cost.

If Jesus is to be believed, inheriting eternal life involves a comprehensive divine assessment at every step along our journey, not just at its inception.

Mediocrity and hypocrisy characterize the lives of many avowed Christians, at least in part because of our default answer to the salvation question. Anyone can, and most Americans do, "believe" in Jesus rather than some alternative savior. Anyone can, and many Americans sometimes do, say a prayer asking Jesus to save them. But not many embark on a life fully devoted to the love of God, the love of neighbor, the moral practice of God's will, and radical, costly discipleship.

So my question is, then when are we saved? While I agree with the author that there is far too much easy believerism in our churches, I am not sure what his prescription would mean.

Grief

It is the first emotion I remember.

As a boy, standing beside the road as my father carried my beloved collie away, killed by a truck.

It is the only one I cannot put away.

Even now, just typing the phrase "my father" brings tears.

And yet it made me love Jesus more intensely - to cling to Him for life. To make me want to know Him more - to spend more time in His presence.

Because He knew... grief.

It was my first sermon. I had prayed, oh how I had prayed. Day after day I had opened my Bible and read, asking God to give me a "word" for the people at a little mill village town in Forsyth, GA. It was outside that mill that my grandfather had been struck by the car of a rich man's daughter. He died a few days later. I wanted to go there and speak a word of hope, of encouragement.

But God led me to a snippet of Scripture.

No great and lofty text. No commonly known passage. No safe, preacher's portion. I didn't do it justice that day. Perhaps no one ever could. For what it says about the Son of God is too wonderful for words.

11 Not long after that, Jesus went to the village Nain. His disciples were with him, along with quite a large crowd. 12 As they approached the village gate, they met a funeral procession— a woman's only son was being carried out for burial. And the mother was a widow. 13 When Jesus saw her, his heart broke. He said to her, "Don't cry." 14 Then he went over and touched the coffin. The pallbearers stopped. He said, "Young man, I tell you: Get up." 15 The dead son sat up and began talking. Jesus presented him to his mother.
16 They all realized they were in a place of holy mystery, that God was at work among them. They were quietly worshipful— and then noisily grateful, calling out among themselves, "God is back, looking to the needs of his people!"

Luke 7:11-16 (MSG)

That day, I said all I knew to say about that passage in about 6 minutes. I was young. No one in my family had passed away. Since then I've had too many occasions to remember how Jesus reacted to the widow of Nain.

You know, when I pray for those at the point of death, I pray for God's will to be done. That doesn't mean I haven't fought the fierce inner struggles we all do when we want our loved ones restored as Jesus did that day outside Nain. No one wants those they love to leave them. But I know that God's will is always best for His children.

Because He's a God whose heart can be broken over their grief.

Some of you know exactly what I mean. I wish all of you could someday. The days, weeks, and months after someone dies do help with the pain, but it never really leaves entirely. And at certain times, or on certain days, it leaps back into your mind. That's when I turn to Jesus. That's when He looks at me and I know He shares my pain.

Even in grief, our God is there, looking to the needs of His people.

And He's exactly what we need.

May God give you peace,

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

3 Questions

Monday Morning Insight is one of my favorite emails each week. It frequently causes me to think or teaches me something I didn't know. Today's article made me think and taught me something. Here's 3 questions.

1. If you weren’t on staff at your church, would you worship there?
I think we’ve all served at churches that we wouldn’t worship at. (I know I have). And many times we are in the process of transitioning them into a church that we’d love to attend. If you’re in that position right now, this is still a great question to ask. Why wouldn’t you want to worship there? And what is keeping other people away from the church that you serve?

2. If you didn’t know ANYTHING about Jesus, what would you know about him after a normal weekend at your church?
Think about your service yesterday. If you didn’t know squat about Jesus yesterday morning; what would you know about Him or think about Him today? This is a question that we need to ask each and every week. How does your church communicate Jesus?

3. If you had a loved one who didn’t know Christ, and they had one week left to live, would you take them to your church or another?
In this last question, it goes one level deeper. How’s your church doing at communicating the main message? Truthfully; would you take your dying unsaved mother to a service at your church or another church across town? How clear is the gospel presented in your church?

So what do you think?

Searching

She was of dubious pedigree. Purchased as a full-blooded miniature schnauzer, it seemed obvious as she matured that she was all that - and a little bit more. Her coat was rough, her ears large. What else would you name a dog like that but Daisy?

And Daisy was wholly and dearly loved.

Chief among her admirers was her owner, Adam. As a young boy, his obedience to his chores had earned him enough points that he could have gone on a Toys R Us shopping spree, taken a trip to Six Flags, or get a puppy. He chose Daisy, and from the moment they met, the two were as one.

That's not to say that Daisy didn't have room in her heart for the rest of the Wilson clan, she did. After all, a dog's heart was created to love without limits. But for Adam, she reserved her utmost affection. At night, they'd go to bed together. In the morning we'd go in to wake Adam up, and find Daisy literally wrapped around his head like some sort of four-legged aviator's helmet.

Daisy was personality plus. Her antics kept us all laughing, but she could also be used to great effect to calm anyone down. Holding her in my lap lowered my blood pressure many times. So much so that when I was freaking out trying to balance work, school, church, and family, Bunny would tell the kids "Go get Daisy for your father. He needs a schnauzer break."

For all her awesome personality traits, Daisy had one that drove us crazy.

She'd run away.

We'd take her outside 100 times in a row without incident. But on that 101st trip, if you turned your back, she'd take off. Through the neighborhoods and to God knows where she would go. We would be frantic, scouring the neighborhood calling her name. Sometimes we'd get lucky and find her a couple of blocks over. Other times, though we searched on foot and by car, we couldn't find her. Hour after hour we would look, but it would get dark, and we'd pray that she would be found and promise each other we would look again in the morning. Adam would go to bed in tears as we reassured him that we would find her.

Then she'd come home, wet, muddy, and hungry.

And we'd love her again.

I thought about Daisy today because I was praying about others we know and love.

We've laughed together. We love things in common. When things are going well in their lives, they are great to be around. But they have one trait that relentlessly stalks them - they run away.

Every time they begin to make some progress in their lives, or their relationship with God, something deep within them begins the rebellion. It may be 6 days, 6 months, but one day you look up and they are gone.

And you're scared, it hurts, and you don't know what else to do.

That's when we have to put our faith in Jesus. No one loves the runaway more.

Jesus used this illustration: ⁴ "If you had one hundred sheep, and one of them strayed away and was lost in the wilderness, wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine others to go and search for the lost one until you found it? ⁵ And then you would joyfully carry it home on your shoulders. ⁶ When you arrived, you would call together your friends and neighbors to rejoice with you because your lost sheep was found. ⁷ In the same way, heaven will be happier over one lost sinner who returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven't strayed away!

Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997 (Lk 15:1-7). Tyndale House: Wheaton, Ill.

One thing about lost sheep, lost dogs, and yes, even lost people. It can happen again. And again. People get tired. Call it compassion fatigue. Call it a broken heart. But to overcome it, we have to call out to Jesus. Jesus said He came to seek and to save those who are lost. He never stops.

Only a heart like Jesus' can give us the courage - the hope to keep wanting to search when history, family, and friends are telling us to give up. Only a heart like His.

Friend, would you pray with me for a heart like Jesus?

For there are not enough searchers and too many who are lost.

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