What's the Mission, Pastor?

There's no question that engaging in social ministries is the hot thing for the evangelical church today. Some might even argue it's the line of demarcation for being missional or emerging or emergent...sorry, I tend to get it all mixed up. I've briefly posted on this issue before but ran across some great thinking in a little book I read over the Christmas holiday (thanks Jeff) which I believe is very germane to the discussion of what the church (specifically the pastor) is called to do with the Gospel. The book is Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy & Fairy Tale by Frederick Buechner.

What's also great about this book is that it was written in 1977 by a minister/author whose denomination (PCUSA) was learning to make waves in the "Social Gospel" waters and today could easily teach swimming lessons to other churches and denominations. C.S. Lewis once wrote, "Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books." While Lewis was calling us to read books outside our century, Buechner's work has had enough birthdays to put it outside the current circle of debate on what the church should be doing in order to be missional. With that being said, Buechner's thinking is insightful in word if not prophetic in spirit.

Read and ponder...

To speak the truth with love is to run the risk always of speaking only the truths that people love to hear you speak, and the preacher's temptation, among others, is to deal with those problems only to which there is, however complex and hard to arrive at, a solution. The pressure on the preacher is to be topical and contemporary, to speak out like the prophets against injustice and unrighteousness, and it is right that he should do so, crucial even, and if he does not goad to righteous action he fails both God and man. But he must remember the ones he is speaking to who beneath the clothes they wear are the poor, bare, forked animals who labor and are heavy laden under the burden of their own lives let along the world's tragic life...For the preacher to be relevant to the staggering problems of history is to risk being irrelevant to the staggering problems of the ones who sit there listening out of their own histories. To deal with the problems to which there is a possible solution can be a way of avoiding the problems to which humanly speaking there is no solution. (34-35)

It is not the great public issues that Jesus traded in but the great private issues, not the struggles of the world without but the struggles of the world within. (62)

I believe these are good words for preachers who feel the temptation tailor what they preach solely for the need to be seen as relevant by either their parishoners (maybe they'll think our church actually is making an impact, see us as culture current, like my sermons better because they are so practical, etc.) or other preachers (maybe the cool, "with it", hip pastors will see me as a [insert whatever aspirations of ego you have here] missional? emergent? emerging? "with it" leader too!).

May we, as pastors and those pastored, live for God's Kingdom by sharing with all the Good News of how Christ's work at the Cross has overcome their humanly hopeless condition of the soul.

Andreas Kostenberger's "God, Marriage, and Family": A Brief Review

This evening I finished Andreas Kostenberger's God, Marriage, and Family. It was a book I recommended to my congregation from the pulpit a few weeks ago and I try as much as I'm able to only do that with books I've actually perused myself. I'm glad I both recommended and read because Kostenberger's work is a biblically well-rounded piece on marriage, family and the pertinent issues surrounding them. It also has a section devoted to additional study resources, a discussion guide and answers to that very guide.

While not having the current literary characteristic of defending a position by shallow slogan-crafting or anecdotes full of pathos without a point, I deeply appreciated the author's interaction with the divergent views and interpretations which so often are at the heart of the matter for today's ethical and biblical struggle with culture. Time after time Kostenberger takes a refreshingly ad fontes approach to issues such as divorce, remarriage, and homosexuality by continually looking at the Scriptural testimony. It is for that primary reason I believe this book would be good for small groups who wanted to build a biblical foundation for marriage and family.

While some, looking for a book aiming to move them emotionally, might pass on GM&F due to its rather forthright and detailed exegesis and studied theological approach, I believe it is exactly those critical qualities that make it such a sterling choice for reading...and recommendation.

Piper on the Prosperity Gospel

I'm a huge John Piper fan. In fact I finished his "What Jesus Demands from the World" this past Wednesday - what a wonderful reflection on the words of Jesus in the Gospels. Piper's passion for Christ is inescapable and God uses his words, more times than not, as a salve for my soul...and at times a scalpel.

Also, in our nation where most think of one church (I'll let you guess...it's not hard) when Houston is mentioned, let it be known that most of us haven't swallowed the "Health & Wealth" Kool-Aid and have warned our flocks of this damning teaching. So while these words stand on their own, you could put my name (and a countless number of H-Town pastors) right there with Piper's.

(HT: Keystrokes of a Worship Pastor)

Church Planting - Lesson 3

One of the values we've cherished through our church’s lifetime is sanity. Most planters know all too well the slippery slope of doing way too much in too many areas for far too long. Do you see heavy rotation of “too” here? Often what is true of you is true of the volunteers in your young church. It’s not uncommon to see a sold-out parishioner move chairs and setup the coffee table on Sunday morning, lead music for the student ministry on Wednesdays and facilitate a small group on Monday evenings. The plate can quickly fill.

And isn’t that a great thing? I mean, church-planters need all the help they can get! While bigger, more established churches may have ministries that are “luxuries” which get staffed with all kinds of people, fledgling congregations usually only have ministries which are seen as necessities in beginning a church – and the bottom line is they need people to serve. Period!

However, more times than not, the sobering reality of burnout surfaces with many of your best and brightest volunteers. Far too long they ran the ministry race without a “restrictor plate” and pushing them to opt for no more laps around the track. I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t have names of people right now who fit this description running through your head. I've got a few.

This is where the moment of truth comes. You must decide early on if you want to shepherd people or use people. Using people may give you the illusion of helping get you where you want to go more quickly but in the end you likely wind up hurting their health, their family, even their faith. Choose to shepherd people. At time that means dialing back on the commitment of others to a level which helps them, and not just the church, grow.

The way we tried to help people see their over-commitment and our (hopefully) commitment to their spiritual, emotional and physical well being was what we call the “two sticky” rule. One evening when we had our core volunteers and leaders together we gave everyone two little Post-it notes with their names on them and displayed a huge whiteboard with all our ministries listed on it. Then we told them that, in the name of sanity and shepherding, they could choose which areas they wanted to serve – but they could only use their “stickies”. Yes, that meant they only could participate in two ministries. We didn’t hold a gun to anyone’s head who desired more (many wanted a third sticky), but we strongly held our ground, “Two stickies, that’s it. Two stickies, we love you. Two stickies, for your health…and the church’s.”

Some didn’t like what we did. It ticked them off. They kept arguing about how high capacity they were, how important it was to their spiritual growth that they do more. We held our ground – two stickies. Ironically, many of those same people came back to us after some time had passed and thanked us for making the hard call. While disappointed at first, they soon discovered how much their retooled involvement in serving positively impacted their life. They had more quality time with their families, there was less rush and hurry in their week and in the end, they had greater energy and enthusiasm in the two ministries they chose to serve. They clearly saw AND FELT cared for. It was a win for us in more ways that one!

Two stickies may sound like a leap of faith for a planter, especially when he continually feels under-resourced in so many areas, not the least of which is with people. But in the end you must ask the question, “Do I want to use people or shepherd people? Do I want my focus to be on growth or health? Will I be responsible for those God gives me early in our church’s life so that possibly he might grant me more to be faithful with in the future?”

If shepherding people, focusing on health and wanting to be responsible for those God has presently given you is important, consider introducing the “Two Sticky Rule”.

Wayne Grudem's "Systematic Theology": A Brief Review

I like studying theology. In fact, I've read a handful of systematic theologies throughout the years and liked every one of them. If theology simply means "the study of God" then it would figure that most Followers of Jesus should engage in theology at some level. So if you find yourself wanting to better ground your mind and heart theologically let me highly recommend Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology.

It is clear, accessible and sincere. When you read it you don't feel like you must have an interpreter with a seminary Ph.D next to you whispering what the text says in a layperson's language. And yet for all of its "down-to-earth" nature it is robustly comprehensive, fair-minded when presenting diverging views and saturated with Scripture (not just Scripture references). It is a serious theology for serious Christians.

Grudem is upfront about his perspective (biblically-based and defended) being Reformed. He is responsibly (and I stress responsibly) charismatic and follows a Baptist perspective on baptism. Yet along with these convictions he graciously highlights other views from the church on these issues leaving you with a corpus that feels both focused and ecumenical.

This fall I've led our church's Spiritual Formation Team through this book. I think I can say with confidence that each person thoroughly enjoyed his work. Even those who had never studied systematic theology before were greatly taken with Grudem's effort. His theology so well mirrors our church's that we've used his smaller Christian Beliefs as the doctrinal instruction for our small group leaders. Needless to say, we feel very blessed to have encountered Dr. Grudem's work.

This evening I finished the last two chapters (the entire book is around 1200 pages in length) and thought I'd give it a plug before putting it on the shelf (though I'm confident it will come down from it frequently).

Go pick yourself up a copy, read it in community and grow in the grace and knowledge of God.

UPDATE: Here is the reading schedule I put together for our team.

Church Planting - Lesson 2

No matter where you are on the church-model spectrum few would argue that growing a congregation is something most church planters keep their eyes on. From your initial “public service” to the attendance ebb and flow of the year, emotions (and unfortunately esteem and worth) can easily rise and fall with how many more plastic, “easily stackable” blue seats you’ve put out on the rented elementary school’s “cafetorium” floor than when you first began. Far from being unspiritual as some might have you believe (see book of Acts), growing numerically is a chief concern for a planter. That is if he desires to add staff, meet monthly church expenses, increase ministry resources, not to mention paying a home mortgage, supporting his family and continuing to eat. I’m sure there may be a few more reasons that have slipped my mind. Needless to say, having a newly planted church gaining in attendance is a big factor in said church staying in existence.

However a caution must be issued and a suggestion extended. Before you build a crowd you should first build an army.

Many planters know this but several dismiss it in pursuit of adding to their membership roll way too soon. The idea is simply that until you do anything to really promote or market your church, you first build into a core group who “lock, stock and barrel” buy into your vision, values and ministry model. These men and women will go to the wall for you. They’ll defend you even if they don’t have all the information. They’re loyal, committed and put their service where their mouth is. Usually armies like this aren’t assembled, they’re forged – with your blood, sweat and tears being the catalytic mixture. In other words, forging takes intensity and time…a lot of it. You can’t build an army at an “established church”-pastor’s pace. You’re a church planter which means an insanely inordinate amount of front-end work to get your core to where they need to be – a lot of dinners in the homes of others, grabbing breakfast with a different collection of guys at the local Denny’s every other day and a bunch of work in between. Tiring? Yes, but remember you’re building an army not a crowd.

Think of your core group as your church’s antibodies. The more you have the less exposed your congregation is to the illnesses of renegade lay leaders who want to change the church’s mission, pockets of “hobby horse” groups who bring disunity over what the pastor (and his team) haven’t done ministry-wise and a whole host of other malignant attacks church plants usually suffer. Remember that when you’re about to explode from eating out so much, or when you forget what day it is due to the breakneck pace of the last seven days (or was it the last fourteen?) or when you find yourself in a message-prep “cram session” on Saturday night because important meetings filled up most of the day, you are doing the hard work now so when potential congregation-destroying “germs” hit your church during its fragile infancy you’ll come out the other side intact and focused on your mission because you’ve given it a robust immunity system. Don’t worry, you’ll likely have enough examples of how church planters didn’t do this well – they’ll either painfully meander the ecclesiastical desert of strip malls with about 100 people for years, raise the white flag and merge with another church or just close up shop altogether.

I would also encourage the church’s first public service (and maybe even the next couple following weekends) to be dedicated to extolling and explaining the mission and vision of the church. Set the tone early for those who’ve just shone up and are wondering if they want to pitch in with the rest. Tell the people who you are AND who you are not. The message should both attract and repel - it should aim at inspiring the people who will stack hands on the church's mission and push away those who want something different from you and the church. This kind of sermon (or sermon series) will also galvanize your army even further as they see that all the leadership you’ve given to this point wasn’t just smoke and mirrors but truly the DNA of the lead pastor (and by association…the church he is beginning). By the way, I hope you like giving these kind of messages because you’ll be preaching them to the congregation for the rest of your life with the church. At least you will if you’re a good leader.

So remember, fight the idea of building a crowd in lieu of an army. It’s not worth it. The penalty may be far more congregational fires than you are willing, or even able, to put out. Don’t prematurely shoot the starting pistol until you’ve done all you can to forge a group who will be willing to cross the line in the sand for the church’s mission and your leadership in it.

Build an army before a crowd.

Church Planting - Lesson 1

One of the earliest lessons learned when starting a church is that while a lead pastor (and his staff) may have a big vision, usually the resources at the church’s disposal to match that vision aren’t quite so extensive. That hard truth rears its head quite early and often in the daily ins and outs of the church leader…

• “Man, what we really need is that HD video screen to run our Sunday morning slides. Can we get one?”
  
• “Hey Pastor, I think we need to do a Singles’ Outreach Concert. Don’t you think that’s a good idea?”
  
• “If we’re going to go to the next level as a children’s ministry we definitely need another staff person.”
  
• I could go on ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
  

A good leader should constantly be mindful of two circles (one inside the other) – the vision circle and the resources circle – and how your vision should always determine the focus and intensity of the resources circle. Vision is always larger. Pastors usually have tons of vision. Ask them about their vision and they should be able to spout “vision” all day and night. The needle for vision is often past the F on the tank of a pastor’s heart. But vision is also cheap. It doesn’t cost anything to think of what you want to be, where you want to go or what you want to do. Resources? Well, that’s another story.

Resources by definition are limited. And for some who are beginning a new congregation, “limited” can be putting it modestly. I would guess planters are limited in time, money and people probably more in the seminal years of the church than any other season. That’s why it’s critical to understand the two circles very early in the game.

Think of your vision as the bigger outer circle (and really the furthest edge of the circle is our concern) and your current resources as the inner circle. [See fig. 1] In a perfect world our resource circle matches, if not exceeds, the size of the vision circle. If we see it we can do it. Ah, what a nice world in which to live! When you arrive tell me how it feels because I’m nowhere close. I don’t think any of us are. Most of us have ever-increasing vision. Our resources, on the other hand, for the most part are fixed in size. Yes, we want them to grow and hopefully they will but it’s so incremental that for all intents and purposes the inner circle we draw is normally much smaller.

Question: What happens to your resources as you try to move them toward your vision? The circle flattens out a bit – more oval than circle.


This should help us see that in order for us to “resource the vision” other things which don’t serve your particular vision (possibly new ministries, additional but not essential staff, etc.) may need to be taken off the table financially speaking. This sometimes tough leadership call is critical or you’ll find yourself throwing time, money and people at distracting endeavors that will keep you from meeting your vision. You may be doing a lot of things as a result, but rarely will you be doing the best things – things that move you down the road toward your vision. In the end you wind up with the same circle you began with because it's stretching toward every direction trying to meet everyone else’s passion, focus and vision.

The most effective churches I know are led by those who work hard at moving the resource circle to the right vision and fighting off attempts to do anything less.

So how do you best stretch the resource circle? Here are a few ideas:

1. Know your vision. Know your vision. Know your vision. If you can’t articulate your vision in a heart-inspiring, troop-rallying, dig-in-for-the-long-haul fashion, you better fix that quickly! If you didn't learn this in Church Planting 101 you may need to go back to school. Seriously, if you need help you might check out Acts 29 Network. These guys are solid.
   
2. Learn to say “No” early and often. You don’t have to be a jerk but you do have to be “graciously tenacious” in redirecting the gaze of those you lead to better paths. This is where your ability to communicate the vision will come in handy! It takes hard work to shepherd (and not manipulate or domineer, cf., 2 Cor. 1:24) people to your spot on the vision circle.
   
3. Work at enlarging the resource circle. Teach giving early and with regularity. Don’t be apologetic or embarrassed when you’re in the pulpit. It’s biblical. Get over it. If you can’t muster the courage, don’t complain when your resource circle hasn’t kept up with the congregation’s spiritual growth in other areas. I appeal to you that it is for Western Christians just as much about discipleship as anything else.
4. Regularly evaluate how you’ve done. Does your spending overlap well with your vision? Have the financial, staffing and other leadership decisions you’ve made recently stretched the resource circle or pulled it back to its ineffective roundness in an attempt to meet additional (read:lesser) visions? Ask the hard questions. Get the brutal facts. Then, like a great football team at halftime, make the right adjustments.

Lessons Learned on Church-Planting

I'm not a church planter. I came to the church I presently serve when it was 4 1/2 years old. It is now 14 years old. While I did contemplate planting a church prior to coming, the young age of the church was motivation enough for me to join the team as Teaching Pastor. I knew I could still be someone who could influence the direction of the church in a strategically foundational way - something which for me was a deep thirst whose slaking was non-negotiable.

To keep the story short, let me just say that's exactly what happened (and by God's grace continues to happen).

Over the next few posts I'd like to share some lessons learned about being a part of a church plant. I don't promise anything earth-shattering or even insightful. These are ideas and thoughts that helped me and my team. With that being said, please know I'm not sure how many of these lessons are mine and how many belong to others on our team. Time and teamwork have wonderfully blurred the lines. No matter where they originated (as if anything is original) they are beliefs, ideas and insights that have shaped our church, honed the leadership quotient of our team - one which I believe rivals any around - and continue to guide us in many respects.

As I have the opportunity to counsel (and be counseled) by those who, like me, have been given the great honor and responsibility to shepherd relatively new congregations, these lessons continue to resurface in my conversations. So I thought I'd put them down...for better or worse.

Stay tuned...

Thanksgiving 2007

Thanksgiving holiday was good. Time at the ranch in Kerrville with my extended family, some of which I hadn't seen in years. Watching my kids run up and down the Hill Country with their plastic rifles acting like they were the new sheriffs in town. Feeling the chilly breeze of a good northerner and seeing the tall grass shudder in concert with every gust. Hanging out with my wife and not having to mess with cleaning the dishes, leaving for work or the other things that take away from being with her. Getting home safely after driving in flash flood rains for three hours straight after San Antonio. (By the way, thank you Lord for the state car of Texas - I love suburbans!) Did I mention that Thanksgiving was a good holiday?

And yes...my wife is hot. ;)

Expulsive Power

"The love of God, and the love of the world, are two affections, not merely in a state of rivalship, but in a state of enmity, and that so irreconcilable that they can not dwell together in the same bosom. [It is impossible] for the heart, by any innate elasticity of its own, to cast the world away from it… the only way to dispossess it of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one."
- "The Expulsive Power of a New Affection", a sermon by Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847)

These sentences are so pregnant with the truth many churches need to heed today. Being at a seeker-targeted church we've had more than our share of criticism that fellowships of our ilk water down the truth and distance people from true transformation because teaching is predicated on giving people what they want to hear...which is usually not the biblical Gospel. Unfortunately, I think those who've painted seeker-targeted churches with such broad strokes have missed at more than what they've hit - but that's grist for another mill.

With that being said, I believe our pastor-teachers try very hard to make sure we aren't giving our people the "new law" of moralism or trying to paint for them a Christianity which is simply a God-approved upgrade in the American Dream. On the contrary, we vigorously aim to hit the Gospel-mark. We have no choice! I've seen the emptiness of Dr. Phil-esque approaches churches take to life change. I've watched how people will sizzle with excitement of learning three practical ways to change only to fizzle mere weeks later when there is no power behind their ephemeral, consumer-crippled motivations. Thus we call upon all to discover a power which can give a man a new love and new loves. We exhort all to turn to the expulsive power of the Gospel.

So I thank God for recently running across the soul-mending words of the old Scottish divine Thomas Chalmers. They are a good reminder that for those who find themselves hard pressed with worldly infirmities, there is no true medicine which can be found but in Christ's Gospel-provisions. They are also a shot across the bow to all pastors who seek to take others down other paths hewn by the hands of men when only one road to real, expulsive power life change can be found.

“Yeah, I know, I know...Repent.” [Sigh]

Want to bum people out who come to you for spiritual guidance when they have sin in their life which becomes a barrier to their spiritual growth? Tell them they should rid themselves of those sins by turning away from them and strive to follow Jesus. That’s right, call them to repent.

Do that and I can almost guarantee you won’t be the “cool’ pastor in their eyes anymore. It happened to me this week. I spoke with a guy who stumbled into our church and asked if I (and a few others) would pray over him and ask God to “pop” him with the Holy Spirit. “I really need a strong one,” he told me. Apparently he wanted some of the pastors to pray over him and be “slain in the Spirit” or be delivered from the demonic because his life had gone south and he wanted God to intervene. In the past I probably would’ve strategically suggested he try a different type of church but I felt the need to spend more time with him to get to the bottom of where he was coming from.

A lengthy dialogue revealed some serious pockets of rebellion in his life, areas he knew to be wrong but didn’t really want to give up. It was at that point I humbly suggested that in order for him to find greater “deliverance” in his life he needed to turn from those sins which were seriously quenching his spiritual life. I’m not sure that was the answer he was looking for.

Frankly, he wanted something much more “sexy” – some kind of supernatural quick fix that demanded more of God than him. He wanted something to happen to him that would let him see how high the Holy Spirit caused him to jump, but he was much less concerned with the Holy Spirit’s work in how straight he should walk when he hit the ground. I have a feeling he didn’t recommend me to many of his friends because the only guidance I really gave him, outside of connecting with fellow believers for strength, was to repent. Needless to say, he was rather nonplussed by the suggestion. Each time I would call him to repentance he would try to coax me into another route – cast out a demon, slay him in the Spirit, etc., and each time I would give him the same answer.

“I know. Don’t tell me. Repent.” His head buried in his hands.

Sensing his frustration I tried to let him know that I wasn’t trying to be naïve to his situation or calloused to his story, but based on what he had told me, repentance seemed to me the most appropriate path for him to walk. And to each call to repentance he’d reply, “But…” You can fill in the blank. It doesn’t matter, the answer is still the same, “But I still want to do what I have been doing.”

I’ve come to see in the pastoral part of ministry that repentance is the great equalizer. It takes on all who want spiritual guidance and separates the contenders from the pretenders by exposing those who really want to change from those who just want you to do it for them.

Touchdown! (The Other Kind)

Thanks for those of you who prayed for the STS-120 flight. Discovery landed at 12:00PM (CST). The mission lasted 15 days, 2 hours, 24 minutes and 2 seconds. We can't wait to get the skinny from our boys Doug and George on the trip many considered the most aggressive and difficult in recent Shuttle history.

Bella - It's a "Beautiful" Thing

This evening I watched Bella. It is a movie shot in twenty-four days and with a cost of a measly $3 million. However, not only did it have all the trimmings of a regular feature film you would see on any given weekend but it beautifully dealt with issues of substance...and from a robustly biblical viewpoint. I won't tell you the story of Bella, you need to see it for yourself.

I mention the movie because in seeing it I was reminded about how people of faith can make significant contributions to culture that doesn't cheaply imitate secular counterparts (e.g., much contemporary Christian music) but submits original, artistic and God-honoring creations. Bella even won the prestigious People's Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival. Not too shabby.

But for as much of a gem this movie is, it lives in rarefied air. All too often some of the best movies dealing with themes (redemption, struggle, meaning, etc.) important to Followers of Jesus are created by those who, if not placing themselves on the outside of Christianity, dangerously tread its periphery. Oh what a world it might be if Christians, once again, led the way in literature, painting, drama and other spheres of art!

Thanks to the creators of Bella reminding us that the arts, like everything else, can...and should bring glory to God.

Happy Birthday & Reformation Day

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'"
- The Epistle to the Romans 1:16-17 (ESV)

We know today as Halloween but for many Followers of Jesus, October 31st is an important day because it marks the time the Church sought to return to the Gospel. On this date in the year 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The theses detailed the doctrinal corruption of the church and opened the door for the Protestant Reformation. It was a good day.

It also happens to be the day my local church began in 1993. We are fourteen years old today! I've been here for close to ten of those fourteen years and am grateful for every day.

So Happy Reformation Day (#490) you Followers of Jesus Christ! And Happy Birthday those of you at my church!

In honor of these two great events, we've worked it out with the nation that if you go to people's homes, most of them will give you candy. ;)

A Kid Who Gets It.

The following is a phone call into our local Christian radio station KSBJ. It is from a 12 year old kid named Logan who listens on Sky Angel because he lives on a ranch in a remote Nebraska town. He called the station distraught because he had to "put down" an animal. After numerous requests to place this online KSBJ graciously posted it. It is quite remarkable. Listen to the call from the kid they refer to as the Sky Angel Cowboy.

Logan's call

Having a "Moment"

Today I had the chance to speak very briefly with the leadership and volunteers of our children's ministry and experienced one of those "moments" of what it's like to be a part of a church who, while far from perfect, is trying to fulfill the mission of making disciples.

In December we will kick off a second campus and the children's ministry will have a space station theme in the new location. In light of that, the children's director showed a video from our two church members who happen to be in space at the moment (see earlier post). Both gentlemen spoke of the importance of the volunteers' service in light of eternity compared to their own fleeting fame. It was really an incredible sight - watching a video from two guys who were literally nowhere on earth. It was cool. But it wasn't the "moment" for me.

That came when after the video we had another person briefly address the team. She too was an astronaut, quite an accomplished one at that. As she introduced herself, in trying to give context to the space theme of the children's ministry, she noted her numerous space flights, NASA duties and current space responsibilities. Then she said, "But greater than that I'm a member of the church," and proceeded to talk about the mission of making people fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

I was done. I didn't need to say anything to these volunteers. They had all they needed in what they had just heard! It actually choked me up to hear a person who many admire and adore for all she has contributed to space exploration clearly communicate that while those things are wonderful they pale in comparison to making disciples. She spoke so matter-of-factly. It was simply true for her. Helping others know Jesus was more important than anything she had done in her spectacular career. It wasn't that what she had accomplished in a rocket ship was worthless, it just wasn't greater than her work for the Kingdom.

That was a "moment" for me! All I could think of us was, "Wow! I'm so very glad and incredibly grateful to serve with people like her!"

O God, thank you for missionary-astronauts, missionary-teachers, missionary-stay-at-home-moms, missionary-accountants, missionary-engineers,
and everyone who chooses to make your name in Christ known!

I Kissed "Once Saved, Always Saved" Goodbye

For those of you sound in doctrine my title may disturb you. Let me calm your fears. I believe that when a person is genuinely saved their salvation is secure forever. However, like Joshua Harris with dating, while the teaching of “once saved, always saved” isn’t inherently bad, it’s lost its luster for me. For quite some time I’ve ditched that angle on eternal security for the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints (where God will ensure the faithfulness of the faithful). It's a much better and biblically defensible alternative. You could say it’s the courtship of dealing with the security of someone’s salvation.

“Once saved, always saved” while having merit (because it’s true) far too often gets used by Christians and church staff trained on the denominational party line as a false sense of security for people who’ve shown no demonstrable sign of regeneration but can stir up a yarn of how they said a prayer when they were little. This view of eternal security mistakenly places the weight of salvation in the wrong thing– the person’s decision. However, it seems the New Testament’s idea of helping people feel secure in their salvation revolves around their present-day faith and practice. A cursory glance at 1 John, which was written for those “who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.”(5:13), highlights areas like submission to God’s Word, trusting in the Gospel, love for the church, etc. (e.g., 2:23-24; 3:9-10, 24; 4:6; 5:18)

From a biblical perspective, the focus is always on the current obedience of the believer, not a decision he made years, if not decades, ago. Thus I believe the perseverance of the saints is a much better road to walk when helping other Followers of Jesus understand their eternal security (a term who's usefulness I question in light of this discussion). It should grant confidence and peace to the one who pursues Jesus and deliver uncertainty and sober introspection to the one who doesn’t. There is nothing better than "Perseverance" to best frame and give perspective to that biblical tension on the issue of eternal security, something “once saved, always saved” fails at miserably. You've got a better chance with helping others avoid false confidence, empty confessions and cheap grace.

Therefore, while not rejecting “once saved, always saved” in principle, I have essentially jettisoned it from my vocabulary in pastoral discussions with those under my care. In my humble opinion, the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is a much better (and biblical) alternative to others teachings on eternal security.

"They went out from us, but they were not of us;
for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.
But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us."
- The Epistle of First John 1:19 (ESV)

3...2...1...LIFT OFF!

One of the blessings I have in serving at the church is that I get to bump into the best and brightest this nation has to offer. Living next door to NASA has filled our church with people like rocket scientists, spaceship engineers and astronauts. When a ship goes into orbit it's not just a national event, for us it's personal. Tomorrow will be another example.

At 10:38AM (CST) the crew of the Discovery will launch from Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Two guys who belong to our church will be part of the crew - astronauts Doug Wheelock and George Zamka. My wife and I were invited to attend this launch but unfortunately were unable to go.

Please pray for these men and the entire crew as they prepare for their fourteen days in space. This mission will be to bring the Harmony module to the International Space Station which will provide attachment points for European and Japanese laboratory modules.

For our friends, Doug and George, this will be their first trip into space and what they have dreamed about since they were accepted into NASA's Astronaut Candidate Training Program in 1998. May God be glorified in the journey they are about to undertake. Blessings upon them.

Discovery's Crew for STS-120

*UPDATE: Flawless liftoff!!!

My Family Portrait - Simpsons' Style

Dealing with the Pharisee in Me

"...but set the believers an example in speech,
in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity."
- The First Epistle to Timothy 4:12b (ESV)

I hate the fact that I'd much rather tell someone what to do than do it myself.

This evening was a perfect example of my Pharisaical heart. I spent the better part of an hour telling (berating, really) my wife how she needed to share the Gospel with a specific person. I was overly intense, unrelenting and unforgiving. More claws than compassion, more grit than grace, speaking more at her than with her.

Adding to my hypocrisy is the cold hard truth that there are more than enough people God has put in my life with whom I should share the Gospel. Why am I not as fired up when I look at myself? It's because it's easier to call other people to be obedient to Jesus than to do it yourself. When you talk to others about what they need to do you can look mature, bold and fearless - "Man, that guy can tell it like it is!" - but if there's no personal commitment to those same things then you've become a paper tiger only a few raindrops away from being exposed.

In reflecting upon this unfortunate conversation with my wife (of which I repented to her), along with a good sense of humility and contrition, I'm soberly reminded that the first person who needs to hear (and practice) my sermons is me.

In Rainbows

Ahhhhhhh...

The greatest band in the world, Radiohead, has released their new album In Rainbows via the internet a few minutes ago.

Of course, I downloaded my copy right away. Now I'll surely be up to the wee hours of the morning listening with glee (it's already 1:15AM).

Image Problems

"Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time."
- The Epistle to the Colossians 4:5 (ESV)

Time magazine recently ran a story about the Christianity's "image problem". Leaning heavily on David Kinnaman's new book UnChristian, the piece relates how more and more Americans negatively perceive Christians.

Kinnaman says non-Christians' biggest complaints about the faith are not immediately theological: Jesus and the Bible get relatively good marks. Rather, he sees resentment as focused on perceived Christian attitudes. Nine out of ten outsiders found Christians too "anti-homosexual,"

While the statement is contradictory (the Christian understanding of homosexuality is directly tied to theology), the point is quite clear. Non-Christians don't like the latest version of Christianity they see.

I think many Christians would agree with them.

Yet we must be careful in our response because their angst with the church is more complex than we may think. Some of their belly burn may come from stances we hold (e.g., homosexuality) because they are clearly biblical while other issues may be because the church is dropping the ball due to hypocrisy, ignorance, etc. Thus, while I might nod my head in agreement to some of their grievances, I might also find myself graciously and lovingly disagreeing with them.

This article is another sober reminder to continually examine our beliefs and behaviors to see how much of what we do is shaped by the Bible or the culture. Because if we are going to suffer an "image problem" let it be for the right things.

Advice to a Timothy

By no stretch do I think I'm over the hill or some big shot in ministry, but I have been able to share and counsel with many who, by nature of their age, are a little further back in the road of teaching ministry. The following is an excerpt from a recent note I sent to a "young gun" (and collegiate baseball player) with advice about how he should use his time ministry-wise. Let's call him "Jim"...

So the plan for the year is no school, just ministry? Alright here's the deal. Teach your tail off! Hone your skills/gifts during this season as much as you can. Work hard at it! Think of it like taking some time in the batting cage...working on your swing. So when you reach an old age of 30-something you'll be light-years ahead of your contemporaries who decided to start learning how to teach/preach later on in their ministry. When people think of Jim and teaching God’s Word they’ll say, “Man, that guy can bring it!”

What to do in the cage-phase? Evaluate! As you spend this time speaking/teaching be relentless evaluating yourself. Remember this is the cage! (Not that this season isn't important and real for the people you teach but I'm thinking of the long-term perspective) You want to try to rid yourself of as many bad habits you can which are so easily picked up in teaching. Grab mp3's of yourself. If the places you speak don't do that, ask them to, or grab your own recorder. Once you've got yourself recorded, listen to it a day or two later. This extra time away from the preaching-event will give you more objectivity. Okay, now here's the tough stuff...

When you listen to it, be as painfully honest/critical as you can be. Ask yourself stuff like, "Did that transition work? What was the one thing I was trying to communicate? Did I address the 'why' they needed to hear this message? Did I deal with their next step? What was my emotional level like? Did it match the moment? Did I faithfully exegete the Scripture? Did I teach in context and not sellout by forcing the Scripture into my message?" Stuff like that. I know of fewer things that are as helpful becoming a better teacher than that. By the way, if they can get you a video it's even better.

Just know that you'll hate doing this stuff! Teachers are their worst critics. Frequently I'll listen to myself and think, "You better find a new job brutha because you’re terrible at this!" Seriously! But that's where you must believe a very essential truth...

God calls us to this, empowers us to do it and enables our listeners to respond. In short, it's up to him anyhow. Therefore, we preach by faith. Let that counter-balance any hard feelings you might have after evaluating (or after a sermon you just gave that makes you want to stick your head in the sand). I can't tell you how many times I felt like I put a "poor swing" on a sermon only to have God move mightily in people's lives as a result. It's God's way of saying, "Don't get too big for your britches. If I don’t do it, it doesn’t happen!” That shouldn’t surprise you but it will. When I’ve depressingly thought I hit a weak single with my message, it became a homerun for someone else listening. That’s humbling and reassuring that when it comes to the teaching/preaching event, it’s not about me.

Jim, I’m proud of you! I’m grateful that you’re staying the course and diggin’ in with all you’ve got. Grace to you as you grow in him. There is no better place than being in the center of his will! Love what you do and who you get to do it with. Settle for nothing less!

Now get out there and take your hacks!

Gucci Little Piggy

The Glory of the Cross - Whose Glory?

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
- The Epistle to the Romans 5:6-8 (ESV)

Ever notice humanity’s penchant to make everything about us? You don’t have to look far to see our culture’s narcissistic bent; TV celebrities reminding our children through Saturday morning PSA’s how great they are, advertising which traffics in the currency of the almighty consumer, even the church is not immune from the unhealthy love of self.

For some Christians, the Cross has become a symbol of the lovability of humanity. "Oh how wonderful we must be because Jesus died for us!” Just look through some of bestselling Christian books, music and television programming and often you’ll hear how great we are because of the Cross.

That's missing it to say the least! The only greatness displayed in the Cross doesn’t revolve around us but God. The Cross isn’t a declaration of how wonderfully loveable humanity is but how wonderfully gracious and glorious God is. Romans 5:6-8 clearly says that it is God’s love which is displayed in the Cross not our worthiness to receive his love. As a matter of fact the text says that the contrast between the love God displays and the lack of loveliness in humanity is exactly why the Cross is a testimony to God’s grace and glory. Thus the Cross tells us not how good we are but how great God is in that he extends his love to those who have only merited wrath.

Frankly, he is good to us in spite of us! Now whose glory is displayed in the Cross?

So be alert the next time you hear a sermon, read a book or listen to a song that essentially makes the Cross a mirror reflecting our greatness. Trust that there is only one glory reflected at Calvary and it is not ours.

Fear and Loathing in Church Leadership

I must begin by saying I'm not against learning from the world of business and secular leadership as it intersects church. I've read more than my share of books from that sphere with all their buzzwords, catchphrases and sayings. I found many, if not most of them, very helpful for insights about leading.

It's just that lately I've found myself being more protective of letting the church devolve into an spiritually impotent, crowd-chasing, goods and services supplying organization which takes unhealthy pride in its well-oiled systems, clean org chart and articulate vision statement. Now let me be clear. I don't believe my church is like that...at all! It's just that when I swim in the waters of marketing strategies, brand development and all the bells and whistles associated with that arena for a long period of time there's a part of me which says, "This is all for naught if it threatens the main thing from remaining the main thing!" What is the main thing? The Gospel, of course.

The Gospel is the only reason I do what I do. It's the lifeblood of the church and sometimes, frankly, after a spending a lot of time examining business models, discussing the value of "values" and wondering if our goals are big, hairy or audacious enough, I reach my fill. I want to push back from the table and say, "If I hear one more discussion on our 'brand functional impact' I'm going to scream because the Gospel cannot get lost in the morass of systems and schemes! It can't be trivialized or trite! It can't be managed or massaged! It's not always 'positive' and 'happy' because it beckons men to take up their cross and die. It's not the fix-it-all answer to everything because somehow sin still exists on this planet. It doesn't make us better 'Rich Young Rulers", it makes us slaves!"

Then I realize I've overreacted, made some straw men and was getting excited at the prospect of burning them up. But there's still a little voice inside telling me that my little internal emotional blow up was a good sign because when I take for granted that my church keeps the Gospel central to what we do and say (especially as leaders) that may very well be the day my church has become the very thing I loathe.

Blessings and Bad Churches

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
- The Epistle of First Corinthians 1:3 (ESV)

At first glance this seems like a simple greeting from Paul to one of his many churches he ministered to. But when you consider what type of church he was dealing with his words of blessing are quite striking. Corinth, simply put, was a very, very messed up church. This congregation with its lascivious behavior would’ve been the talk of the denomination, probably had a few write-ups in the national Christian magazines and definitely been the topic of discussion for the local radio talk shows. For example, members at Corinth Community Church were getting sloshed (that’s the Greek term) at the Lord’s Supper. Now that’s some type of worship service, eh? Not only does that tell us they weren't Baptists, it also tells us they had some pretty deep issues going on.

And yet when Paul gets word about the train wreck that was Corinth (a church that he planted by the way), the first thing he gives to them is a blessing. A blessing? How about a butt-kicking or something along the lines of “You better get outta there because I just asked God to ‘Sodom & Gomorrah’ you screw-ups!” Okay, okay…I’d be a bad apostle but c'mon, these guys are totally blowing it!

But Paul’s words help me see the truth that no matter how messed up the church is it’s still the church. It’s still the primary way Jesus has chosen to work in the world, and our hearts should be for its success…even if we’ve been disappointed or even burned by it!

This little verse of blessing instructs me on how I handle messed up churches? I should pray God would bless them! And that blessing could be God removing bad leaders, it could be him closing the doors of a church that’s forsaken the Gospel, but it also might be reviving them for the mission of Jesus in the world, of them repenting and realigning for the Kingdom. Unfortunately, I’m too trigger-happy in writing them off when I should be humbled by the fact that if it weren’t for God’s grace my church might be a Corinthian congregation as well.

So next time, instead of pointing a finger or two, I should work on folding them and whisper a blessing that God would bring his grace to them.

Tats and a Fire in the Belly

This past weekend I got to hear a cool story about a guy and his tattoos. You see, we're doing a sermon series called "Inked" and our church video team was filming him as he got his company's logo inked in his inside right forearm. He owns his own clothing company and the logo is this sweet-looking eagle. (See picture)

So before he gets the tat he says that one of the reasons he is doing this is that when he gets older, say 50 or so, and complacency fights for more real estate in his heart and life, he can look down at his tattoo and be reminded that there was a time when he had "a fire in my belly". And when he said it, he didn't say it in an "I wish for the old days"-kind of way but a "I hope that fire's still burning" fashion.

Man, that impressed me so deeply. I spent some time with him today at his warehouse telling him how I absolutely loved the way he expressed himself! That is so where I want to be - to make sure that twenty years from now I'm still, if not more, passionate about doing what I do. I don't want to be the guy who's on cruise control in life - playing way too much golf, always seeking ways to build his portfolio and griping about the weather to his buddies while there is still great Kingdom-work to be done. I don't know if I need to sport a tat or not to remind me to keep my kindling dry, but if there ever was a reason to embed ink under my skin, this might be it.

O God, let the fire still burn for you.

Formulas and Presumptions

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts."
- Isaiah 55:9 (ESV)

"We've been dating for almost a year, surely God wants us to be together."

That was the rationale given to me by a someone in my congregation as to why he should still pursue a woman who wanted time away from him to "think things over" about the future of their relationship. While this person, I believe, has a honest heart about the situation I cautioned him about his reasoning because it risks crossing the line of presumption and seeing God's work as formulaic.

Hear me, I'm not the one to throw stones. I think many, if not most of us, are tempted to "know" what God wants by seeing only one interpretation of events before everything got complicated...and use that interpretation to say that if God did A then surely he will do B. The only problem is that we presume that we know what B is. The truth is by making God work by predictable formulas we tread the faithless ground of presumption.

Again, to be fair, most of our reasoning flows from logical conclusions; however, when our hopes/dreams get a kink in them we tend to go back to "surely this is what God wants" like a young child seeking after his blanky. We do it because it brings us comfort. The problem is it doesn't change reality, nor the heart of God.

I don't need to give examples of how people thought God should do something for one reason only to see him do something else - they're all over the Bible. Thus, there is a very real chance that God's will is to have a person date someone for a year not so that they might wind up married but for something else that will be for each of their good (Rom. 8:28). The point is no one but God knows.

That's why it's wisest to steady your trust in God when the "kinks" come, not using the past as justification as to why God must act one way or another. That is usually just a sign you've succumbed to the temptation of emotion instead of letting the bedrock of God's truth lead you. Leave the predictable formulas and faithless assumptions to others, instead, as difficult as it may feel, be open to the possibility that there are other outcomes God may bring. And whatever the outcome is we must look with the eyes of faith to trust that it will be for our growth and his glory.

James 4:13-17, "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit'— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin."

Making Friends or Making Disciples?

Here's a thought...you must decide which holds a greater preeminence in your life: making friends or making disciples. (When I say "making friends" I mean that in the most popular sense: trying to make people feel good about themselves, staying away from controversy, packing up the hard conversations in favor of the peaceful surface.) In my experience, there will be times where you must decide which is your ultimate aim because, for one reason or another, you cannot have both.

Sometimes making disciples means we graciously and truthfully drill down deep on someone's sinful patterns in their life, patiently calling them to repentance and pursuing them like a shepherd running after a wayward sheep. It may mean conversations not typified by smiles, laughter or an easiness of spirit but a quiet intensity, sober resolution and slow, steady, stern words. Making disciples may turn your stomach into knots, make you feel a little queasy or cause you to break out in a nervous sweat as you anticipate the "hard conversation" you've got in about an hour from now, hoping somehow they might have to cancel on you at the last minute.

This isn't to say you can't make disciples and have friends. This is to say that in the realm of helping people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, one will influence the other.

Which one will it be for you?

O Canada!

Over the next week I, and six of my college buddies, will be off to the Canadian Rockies for a new set of adventures. I will post when I return (God willing). If I happen to fall off a cliff or get eaten by a bear, let it be known...

Jesus is Lord.
His love is supreme.
His kingdom has no end.
His cross is my confession.

Trying to Be Real...Or Just Another Kind of Cool?

"I have become all things to all people,
that by all means I might save some.
I do it all for the sake of the gospel,
that I may share with them in its blessings."
- The Epistle of First Corinthians 9:22b-23 (ESV)

Isn’t it interesting how “authenticity” for some is really just pining for a different type of cool? I find it somewhat funny how some, especially those a generation younger than me, critique many “contemporary”-styled churches as being too slick because their weekend service happens to be tightly programmed and runs smoothly but a church is much more real, “organic” and authentic if, for example, what takes place on Sunday seems as if it’s just happening and put together on the fly. The “More Authenticity” movement says, “Don’t give us theatrical lighting or well-timed, seamless transitions in the service, we should just throw a band out there that ‘knows’ how to worship and some guy who can ‘bring the truth’.” Really?

I guess then we shouldn’t pay any attention to the fact that the “worship team” (read: band) always seems to be dressed in the guise of any number of one-hit-wonder rock groups on the cover of SPIN magazine? Sport some disheveled hair, a well-worn skinny-T (preferably of a secular band the fundamentalist church of your adolescence would hate), a few tats, throw in a piercing or two, and don’t forget to give some obscure writers/theologians as your influences and BAM, you too can have insta-worship-cred for many in the “More Authenticity” movement. But what do we do with the fact that both types of churches often sing the same songs? Hmmmm...

Nor should we ever think to ourselves that the pastor of the “More Authenticity” church, with his frayed jeans, leather wristband and earthy sandals, always seems to look like he just came from a photo shoot for a Hollister catalog. Maybe those “attire desires” are the product of someone who is genuinely more in tune with the Kingdom of God than the poor souls who’ve committed the sin of donning socks and slacks in the pulpit (being the superficial people they are). I’ve forgotten, but can someone please tell me the reference where Jesus took off his mother-of-pearl-buttoned cowboy shirt and used it to wipe the feet of his disciples?

Okay, okay, maybe (just maybe) this is somewhat overstated, but it’s not as hyperbolic as some might think. The truth is, while some banter about the idea that the contemporary church is too inauthentic what they really mean is that the people on stage and the environments where they gather aren’t as cool as they’d like. The bottom line is that these critics, in their noble quest for authenticity have simply taken the lesser (and ignoble) route of image management – which is as far from authenticity as you can get!

Listen, I don’t have a problem with a band who thinks guys wearing eyeliner is cool or a speaker inked with some obtuse looking tattoo on the inside of his wrist that takes him an hour and two philosophers to explain, but don’t tell me it’s more authentic than the guy who wears a sweater-vest with a local golf course crest stitched on it or the worship team where everybody sings in a line with microphones in their hands. Frankly, while I prefer probably the former to the latter, hopefully both are an attempt to contextualize the presence of the church (and the Gospel) to their community. They are simply trying to reflect what the people in their communities look like, talk like, live like - trying to live amongst them (as “normal” as they can be) to lead them to Jesus. Now that sounds authentic regardless of your style palette.

So be careful when you hear someone spouting off about how much more authentic their church is than the one down the street all because they’ve lit candles while the others have chosen to utilize Edison’s discovery! They're just promoting another kind of cool.

I close with a story. A friend of mine (who leads a contemporary church) asked a “More Authentic” devotee, who was critical about the “slick” programming of my friend's services, if being more authentic meant the church staff didn’t need to work on putting a coherent, well-ordered service together. The response: “No, they can plan it out, just don’t make it look like it was planned out.”

Authenticity indeed.

Causes and the Cause: A Case of Means and Ends

***Okay, this is bubbling in my head currently. I'm not sure if my thinking is completely straight but I reserve the right to get smarter. So let me share my semi-baked thoughts...

"And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them..."
- The Book of Acts 4:33-34a (ESV)

Right now the rage for evangelical churches is to engage in more social causes - global poverty, slavery, children militias, etc. What had been the agenda of theologically liberal mainline denominations for the past several decades has now been adopted by the wider ecclesiastical crowd.

Before I go any further let me say that I believe engaging these causes can be a very worthy endeavor. As a matter of fact I have good friends who are leading the way in a few of these causes (Fair Trade Sports, Tom's Shoes, Invisible Children). One would do well not only to look at what they are saying but consider if he or she should dig in and help. But as church upon church jumps on the social cause bandwagon I humbly suggest they should pause and ask a question: Will these become a means or an end for us?

To discover the mission of the church is to look at the Book of Acts. Page after page describes how followers of Jesus went into all the ancient world declaring that the kingdom of God had come in the person of Christ. Their strategy was quite simple - share what you have heard, seen and experienced in Jesus. Listen to the Commander-In-Chief giving the orders in Acts 1:8, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." The initial call of nascent Christianity was clear: go into the world and proclaim who Jesus is and what he has done through the Cross...be a witness. That was, if you will, the end toward which Christians were working, a soulish-end where people received forgiveness by grace through faith in Jesus as Lord (cf., Acts 2:41). Everything else the church did - healing diseases, making the lame to walk, giving sight to the blind - only served as a means towards this end. Like their Master before them, they saw these causes as supporting the greater purpose of proclaiming the Word.

We would be wise to keep this in mind today as more and more churches go for the land-grab of cause after cause. As far as the church and her ministry is concerned, these social justice endeavors should be understood in light of the Gospel and not the other way around. Is helping feed the hungry important? Yes. Is clothing the naked? Yes. Is giving aid to the sick? Absolutely. But they are important tributaries that flow from the very powerful and preeminent river of seeing others give their heart and life to Christ Jesus and his saving work of the Cross! I'm not arguing we can't give a blanket to someone who is cold unless they first read a tract we shoved in their face; I am arguing that all the blankets in the world won't mean very much for anyone's soul a thousand years from now unless, like the Book of Acts, we connect our causes to the great cause of repentance and faith in Jesus.

When the weight of what a church says and does devolves to only (and I stress only) dealing with AIDS in Africa, eliminating the debt in underdeveloped countries or building a fresh-water well minus the framework of the Cross then we've made ends out of means. Frankly, we've been there and done that - it's called the liberal church who gutted the Gospel in favor for social issues. Should it surprise us that they are drying up as quick as spit on a summer sidewalk? To embrace social causes at the expense of the Gospel is like quitting a journey halfway into it because you've convinced yourself you've arrived. This won't do. With our apostolic and ancient forbears as inspiration, the church should engage in causes because of the Gospel not in addition to it.

To do so is to confuse the means with the end...and possibly those wondering what the church is all about.

Acts 5:42, "And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ."

I Dream...

Today we had a staff getaway where we looked over a document which outlined a vision for the staff of my church. You might call it a "dream page" as each paragraph began with the wording "I dream of..." followed by the hopes of what our staff would become (e.g, people who passionately love Christ, are the best in their respective fields, have a loving rapport with each other). At the getaway we were asked to reread it and offer any edits or additions. The following is an addendum I wrote:

I dream of a staff that seeks to be sound doctrinally, where everyone considers themselves to be a theologian instead of ceding it to the academic and ecclesiastical elites. I dream of working with people who desire to be theologically astute so that both God and man might be loved with increasing intensity, frequency and fidelity. I dream of a staff who knows, believes, proclaims and defends the essentials, who is magnanimous in the non-essentials, seeking to bring every thought and action captive to Christ. I dream of a team where liberty is our flag and responsibility the staff on which it waves.

Reformed Resurgence

“I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that,
if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him;
and I am sure He chose me before I was born,
or else He never would have chosen me afterwards.”
– Charles Spurgeon

Lately I’ve noticed the upsurge of Reformed theology in the evangelical church. It seems that, especially in the eyes of the twenty and thirty-somethings, historically Calvinistic understandings about salvation are on the rise (for example, see one of the seminal articles addressing this growing Reformed wave). But is this just the theology du jour, a trend ("Calvinism is cool!") that hip pastors and parishioners want to be a part of simply because it's trendy? I don’t think so.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a (super)natural response to the fruits of a self-centric Christianity of the last quarter century with its inch-deep (read: trivialized) worship choruses, therapeutic (read: new law) sermons and over-sentimentalized (read: near idolatrous) view of the Holy. In the end you have a painting that claims it is about God but unfortunately amid all the brilliant colors and broad strokes the only image that seems to rise from the canvas looks a lot like us.

I like Mark Devers' quote: Where'd all these Calvinists come from? Quietly, all over the world young Christians, young ministers have had their spiritual tummies rumbling after they've been reading many of the spiritual bestsellers, books that are full of jokes and life tips, whose height of profundity have been something like "Lighten up and Live!" And someone has turned them on to [Reformed teaching]. And, by God's grace, they have learned about the grace of God, and the God of that grace.

The reality is, today, that younger generations are seeking a better frame in which to view God, one where God is displayed as the God of the Bible. And it appears many have found it in the Doctrines of Grace.

That surely was the case for me. Early in my journey with Jesus I learned about comprehensive depravity, unconditional election and the other doctrines which revolve around the fact that salvation is entirely of God alone. For that I am very grateful and indebted to the Lord because those truths have increased my sense of awe, reverence and humility toward him like few other avenues have. Needless to say, I am encouraged to think this is going on around churches throughout our nation.

For what it's worth...
I don’t like to define my understanding of what I believe as Reformed or Calvinistic. I feel that doesn’t do justice to them. I’d rather say I am attempting to believe what the Bible teaches as best as I can understand it…period. I use the term Reformed because I acknowledge there are many who have arrived at different positions than mine who would say the same thing about their pursuit of biblical truth.

Hopefully, one day they'll come to their senses. ;)

PS - At any place where a system for understanding what the Bible teaches conflicts with the Bible teaches you’ve got a problem. But let it be known that I hold to a Reformed view of theology ultimately because of what I believe the Bible, not any one particular man, has said. Big boys get that. Only the immature Christian tends to accuse others of being led astray by personalities (e.g., Luther and Calvin) instead of the Bible. The truth is all of us are taught by others. Of the teachers we embrace, we do so precisely because we believe they have interpreted the Bible most faithfully. The more spiritually mature understand that and refuse to accuse others of blindly following a person. They've learned that many who stand on the other side of the theological street do so because they believe the Bible brought them there. Keeping that in mind should help us dialogue with both fervor and respect.

Searching for a Spark

“The Cross is the blazing fire at which the flame of our love is kindled, but we have to get near enough to it for its sparks to fall on us.”
- John Stott

This past month there's probably been no truth more in the forefront of my mind than the one which Stott is addressing. Unfortunately, I'm finding how all too often I tend to live for something else than the Gospel and how much vigilance I'm to muster in trusting that my approval, security and identity flow from Calvary. I always thought of myself as a fairly steady and sure person but after some introspection I've begun to notice a thread of doubt which runs through the fabric of my responses to people and things. Whenever I find myself uttering self-justifying statements or sense that I'm overly-critical in my assessment of a peer, I can be confident most of that flows from my unbelief, my lack of faith in the Gospel to be my sufficiency. The result is a lame (but pretty shrewd) attempt at trying to control my image.

Stott's words are a good measure of the medication I need. I need the Gospel. I need it again...and again...and again. If I'm going to make any headway into a Cross-centered life I must "take every thought captive to obey Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5) by unleashing the Gospel upon anything I'm trusting in to build me up besides the Cross.

It's the best way I know of getting close to the fire.