James' Random, Stimulating, Missional, Spiritual Thoughts

Move to Missional Outreach Network

2011-02-14T21:11:00.000-08:00

Hi guys. As you have probably seen, I have moved most all of my blog posting over to my website, the Missional Outreach Network. Please look for my postings over there!

Death by Ministry? By Eugene Cho

2010-08-12T08:23:00.000-07:00

As I have studied on health, articles on ministry, ministers, and health keep popping up. Here is an article that came through my Twitter newspaper yesterday with, again, some startling statistics. This article is called "Death by Ministry? by Eugene Cho. I have copied it here (hope this is okay, Eugene.)

Several years ago, I spent several hours/week doing research (and meeting with other pastors) about pastoral health and vitality for my denomination.

I chose to spend some time doing that for selfish reasons. I was and am still learning how to take better care of myself in ministry (as evidenced by the scary picture above) – while completely acknowledging that sometimes, it’s not supposed to feel right.

What I learned was pretty shocking and heartbreaking but one of the conclusions I came to was that as ministry leaders, pastors and other pursuers of God’s work, it helps to understand some of the challenges ahead and to be proactive rather than reactive.

Yesterday, I posted Part I of this post entitled, Why is Being a Pastor so Unhealthy. The reasons are complex and I’ll acknowledge that when one looks for “doom and gloom,” you’ll find some discouraging things. I can focus an entry purely on the joys and blessings of pastoral ministry and feel confident I can write a compelling piece. But these statistics (and stories that many of us are aware of) and our personal stories are hard to ignore.

Here’s a summary of what I learned and shared:

There are varying reports from different sources but I believe most will agree that the ministerial profession (life as pastors) is now considered one of the most dangerous or unhealthiest professions. It’s usually rated last or second to last. Read this from a local Northwest minister,Mark, on a comment on an earlier post:

“At the first church I served we had an insurance agent who was a member of the congregation. When I went to see him about some auto insurance needs, he said “Hey, wanna see something that will scare the crap out of you?”…He pulled out a form that had various professions rated for their risk of giving life insurance policies too…Anyway, to make a lengthening story shorter, he showed me that clergy members were in the same category as Deep Sea Welders and Loggers as the second highest risk group to give life insurance policies to. We were behind crab fishermen but ahead of munitions workers.

It was a little disturbing to know that statistically I was gonna die due to my profession before someone who builds explosives. This was back in 1994 the statistics may be better (or worse) now.”

If you don’t believe the above comment, read some of these statistics:

48% of them think their work is hazardous to their family’s well being. Another 45.5% will experience burnout or depression that will make them leave their jobs. And 70% say their self-esteem is lower now than when they started their position. They have the 2nd highest divorce rate among professions. Who are they? They are pastors. Here are some more overwhelming statistics from this article.

80% of pastors say they have insufficient time with spouse and that ministry has a negative effect on their family.
40% report a serious conflict with a parishioner once a month.
33% say that being in ministry is an outright hazard to their family.
75% report they’ve had significant stress-related crisis at least once in their ministry.
58% of pastors indicate that their spouse needs to work either part time or full time to supplement the family income.
56% of pastors’ wives say they have no close friends.
Pastors who work fewer than 50 hrs/week are 35% more likely to be terminated.
40% of pastors considered leaving the pastorate in the past three months.

Feeling dizzy? Take a breath. Here’s some more statistics:

Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.
Fifty percent of pastors’ marriages will end in divorce.
Eighty percent of pastors and eighty-four percent of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors.
Fifty percent of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
Eighty percent of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years.
Seventy percent of pastors constantly fight depression.
Almost forty percent polled said they have had an extra-marital affair since beginning their ministry.
Seventy percent said the only time they spend studying the Word is when they are preparing their sermons. [compiled by Darrin Patrick]

While I love being a pastor and even more, being called to be a pastor, I want folks to know how incredibly difficult it is at times to handle the complexities and stress of being a minister. Finally, at the of 36, I feel more at peace at how to create boundaries, love my church, better care for my wife and children, support my fellow staff, handle criticism, etc. but there are times, I feel clueless and overwhelmed. I’ve been having occasional visitors from a bhog started by and for pastors’ wives [couldn't find one for pastors' husbands]. Some of their comments have been difficult to read because they hit so close to home. I will not post a link to their blog here but here are but two comments:

“Oh, and the financial part is tough. We live on poverty level. I don’t know how we are going to pay all the bills sometimes, much less buy groceries. The Lord always comes through, though, and on a really tough week, someone in the church will anonymously give us a gift. We have no in between at our church. It’s either people trying to help us out, (it’s all there what we make each week – in black and white) or it’s people that have this attitude - ‘Pastors are supposed to suffer and sacrifice. It’s part of the job.’ Has anyone else noticed that mentality? I don’t know where it comes from, and it is one of my biggest pet peeves. Pastors aren’t supposed to drive nice cars, have nice houses, or buy new clothes. And we are always supposed to be worried about making ends meet I wonder if it is just half of my church that thinks that way.”

Here’s the second comment:

“Today my son approached my husband and randomly said “I guess you’re going back to church now.” And he wasn’t going anywhere! During seminary, he would walk around the house saying “Bye bye Daddy. Bye bye daddy!” So sad, but very true. It’s definitely a calling, isn’t it? I told my husband the other day: “In my classes that I took to prepare me to be a minister’s wife, they told me over and over again ‘it is the loneliest job in the world,’ but I never realized it until we were in the role…

While I feel solid support from my staff, my elder board, and the church as a whole, I know that many of my peers do not feel this way.

Simply, pastors are often underpaid, underappreciated, and at times, undermined.

There is strain on their marriages and families. Two other incredibly real factors that add complexities to the ministerial calling are: 1) the cultural complexity and dynamic of the 21st century and 2) the nebulous but real nature of the spiritual realm & battle. The reality is that being a pastor is not just merely a job nor should it be one. Ministry is a calling. It’s both amazing and incredibly difficult. While it isn’t my desire to over dramatize the significance of ministry, I do believe that the Evil One seeks to impede and harm the work that is to take place through ministers and pastors.

As for the “cultural complexity of the 21st century,” I think this quote captures my sentiment:

“My viewpoint tends to be more organizational, so my take on being a pastor is that it is an impossible job. Here you are asked to be the lead preacher and teacher, available for counseling sessions, leading a staff of people that can span such responsibilities as missions and janitorial, serving as the public face for your organization in the community, networking with other leaders at Christian conferences and denominational gatherings. That’s a lot of hats! … Let’s finally consider the financial issues. I don’t believe pastors are paid very well, so that’s obviously a downer. And if you are paid well, and sometimes even if you aren’t, that has its own issues, for congregants can quite easily feel they own you, since they’re paying your way. What other organizations is the person at top in such an awkward financial relationship with his or her co-workers and clients?” [h/t Lee H]

My point is very simple:

Please care, pray, and love your pastors (and church staff) in your churches.

Seriously, give them a nice pay raise, more time off, regular opportunities to get away for even a day retreat to pray, buy them some dinner certificates, honor their spouses, love their children, pray for them, and regularly share your appreciation and affirmation.

Now, I know that this can easily be intended to perpetuate the victim language or mentality, but it’s a two-way street. Churches must seek to honor and care for its pastors and staff and build healthy structures to ensure such care. Similarly, pastors and their families must make choices to be holistically healthy! We must rest, Sabbath, enjoy God, love the Scriptures not simply for the sake of sermon preparations, be in deep friendships and community, exercise, work on your jump shot, continue to be a reader and learner, love and honor our spouses, nurture our children, laugh and have fun, eat healthy and drink good refreshments [use your imagination here], examine and repent of any possible addictions, and [add your contribution here].

We need to lean on God; stop our self-sufficiency and repent of the idolatry to please all those around us. Easier said than done but it needs to begin somewhere. Why not now?

Some good news:

Despite the intense nature of pastoral ministry, it is also immensely fulfilling. Huh? It makes total sense to me. According to a recent survey, the top five professions are clergy, physical therapists, firefighters, education administrators, and painters/sculptors:

Clergy ranked by far the most satisfied and the most generally happy of 198 occupations. Eighty-seven percent of clergy said they were “very satisfied” with their work, compared with an average 47 percent for all workers. Sixty-seven percent reported being “very happy,” compared with an average 33 percent for all workers.Jackson Carroll, Williams professor emeritus of religion and society at Duke Divinity School, found similarly high satisfaction when he studied Protestant and Catholic clergy, despite relatively modest salaries and long hours.“

They look at their occupation as a calling,” Carroll said. “A pastor does get called on to enter into some of the deepest moments of a person’s life, celebrating a birth and sitting with people at times of illness or death. There’s a lot of fulfillment.” [read the entire article]

So, while pastoral ministry is at times exhausting, draining, depressing, and overwhelming, it’s also meaningful and fulfilling.

May God grant you grace, courage, and strength.

God bless you pastors. God bless your spouses and your children. May you bless your flock and may you be blessed by them. And together, may you bless the Lord as you seek to bless His creation.

Back to Church Sunday - Missional or Not?

2010-08-11T21:49:00.000-07:00

Looking for a fall outreach idea? Outreach is promoting a "Back to Church Sunday." Read the story here. Outreach says that churches that participated in this Sunday last year averaged a 20% higher attendance on this day. I'm considering this for our church (though not this particular flyer--I'll probably design our own). While we do not want to substitute direct mail for personal invitations, we must also remember that the Spirit has already been sent out into the world ahead of us, and he has already touched many people's hearts.

While it is probable that the "dechurched" and lapsed Christians are more likely to respond to this invitation than the totally unchurched, this group would be great to help them re-connect with God. This too is missional. What would not be missional would be just relying upon this approach, targeting Christians from other churches, failing to be involved in the community, failing to serve or help heal areas of brokenness, or failing to share the gospel. And the primary way that we invite is still by personal invitation. Direct mail can reach some, but personal connections are always the most effective.

So--what do you think about the "Back to Church" concept? Is it missional or not?

Outlive Your Life - By Max Lucado

2010-08-09T16:08:00.000-07:00

This is the video trailer for Max Lucado's new book Outlive Your Life. Looks interesting.

Here is the Amazon.com book summary:

"These are difficult days in our world's history. 1.75 billion people are desperately poor, natural disasters are gouging entire nations, and economic uncertainty still reigns across the globe. But you and I have been given an opportunity to make a big difference. What if we did? What if we rocked the world with hope? Infiltrated all corners with God's love and life? We are created by a great God to do great works. He invites us to outlive our lives, not just in heaven, but here on earth. Let's live our lives in such a way that the world will be glad we did."

Have you read or ordered this book? What do you think of the trailer/summary?

Just for Fun - A Chimpanzee Solves a Problem

2010-08-09T15:50:00.000-07:00

Reasons Ministers Quit the Ministry - Part 1

2010-08-09T14:59:00.000-07:00

In studying about minister health, I have come across some startling statistics and studies. One such statistic is that nearly 1400 ministers across America quit ministry every month. At a time when churches are shrinking and good ministers are hard to find, this is a disturbing statistic. And these ministers are not being replaced, particularly preachers. In my own fellowship, Harding University has commissioned a study for why so few people are going into preaching. The reason undoubtedly has to do with the poor experiences that so many ministers have.

Fuller and Pastoral Care Inc have reported research about reasons why ministers leave the ministry. Here are the top 5 of 10 reasons that they give, with quotes.

1. The Ministers Have a Vision that the Church Does Not Share.

"The most disheartening thing ministers go through is to feel they have a message and direction from God for their church but the people are not willing to listen or respond. In one survey, ministers and laity were asked the purpose of the church. 90% of the pastors state the purpose of the church was to reach the lost but when asking the laity, 90% report the purpose is to meet their own needs! Only 10% of the laity stated the purpose was to reach the lost."

When I saw these statistics, I was blown away. Jesus stated that his mission was to reach the lost. Without this mission, there would not even be a church, and we would not have salvation. Of course this is our mission. And yet, 90% of church members believe that the purpose of the church is to meet their own needs--despite Jesus' clear call to his disciples to "deny themselvs." No wonder so many ministers quit. It is frustrating to constantly try to get people to believe and do what they clearly do not want to believe and do. Most ministers are high on vision and integrity, and so they just finally get so frustrated with lack of support for Christ's mission and the inward nature of members that they just quit.

2. Lack of Denominational Support.

For Churches of Christ, this translates into a feeling of lack of support from elders, other ministers, or influential "informal leaders."

3. Feeling All Alone.

"A pastor's work is never done. They report working between 55 to 75 hours a week, often burning a candle at both ends. Most of the calls a minister receives is not to check on how their pastor is doing but because of problems either in the church or in their lives. Complaints seem to come in on a daily basis. 40% of the ministers report having serious conflict with a parishioner at least once a month! Over time, pastors report feeling that others are only caring about themselves, complaining about most everything, and have attitudes of “what have you done for me lately”. Most pastors feel unappreciated. They give so much time to others but who is there for the pastor?"

Loneliness comes, in part, from reason #1 - feeling like no one proactively supports the vision of reaching the lost. Elijah felt this way (1 Kings 19), partly because he was so exhausted. In response, the angel of the Lord told him to eat and rest. And God told him that he had reserved 7000 who "shared his vision." Ministers can better deal with this lonely feeling if they take better care of themselves and make sure that they "have a life"--do fun, non-ministry related things. Still, this is a problem. To work 55-75 hours a week, striving to help others in every way, and to receive daily complaints and serious conflicts every month is enough to make ministers quit.

4. Stress on the Family and Health

"Most people never think about how the ministry demands affect the pastor and his/her family, especially long term. As mentioned before, 94% of the minister's families feel the pressures of the pastor's ministry. 80% report that it has negatively affected them. Children of pastors often report having negative experiences and many do not attend church anywhere today because of those negative experiences!"

Ministry ought to be a blessing to families, but for many, it is a significant source of stress and conflict. I'm blessed with a wife who is supportive of my ministry, and who is independent enough to not resent the nights that I'm away. I seek to have "songs, prayers, and Bible stories"--a family devotional time with my kids five nights a week, and to take my day off during the week. But kids and spouses experience enough problems from ministry that they report it is at best a mixed blessing.

When those who are not in ministry "go to church," they can find help, healing, and encouragement. For ministers, there is no separation between work, family, and church, and the latter is often a source of conflict.

5. Must Be the Most Spiritual/Can't Be Real

"While ministers should set standards high enough for others to follow and want to achieve, the very nature of double standards propel ministers to further distant themselves among others within the church. According to statistics, 66% of church members expect a minister and his/her family to live by a higher moral standard than they do. This pervasive thought lends itself unrealistic, and when accompanied by the demands of the ministry, ministers and their families feel the pressures and desire to further distance themselves even more!"

Where do ministers go when they face life, ministry, or moral challenges? I have been blessed to always have an elder or two that I was particularly close to that I could share with. Still, every minister knows that he must be extremely careful who he talks to about any kind of struggle. Sometimes this is because certain things are only appropriate to be discussed in leadership circles, and other times it is because there is a fear that what they say may end up being shared inappropriately.

What is most surprising or concerning about the above statistics? How can we help ministers stay encouraged and stay in ministry?

"Congregations Gone Wild"

2010-08-09T07:32:00.000-07:00

The NY Times had an article today called, "Congregations Gone Wild." This article followed a previous NT Times article on clergy, in which a study was cited that showed clergy have higher than normal rates of depression, obesity, and anxiety.

In Congregations Gone Wild, the author, Jeffrey MacDonald, a United Church of Christ minister, writes about how ministers are encouraged to give in to a consumeristic, entertainment-oriented membership: "In the early 2000s, the advisory committee of my small congregation in Massachusetts told me to keep my sermons to 10 minutes, tell funny stories and leave people feeling great about themselves. The unspoken message in such instructions is clear: give us the comforting, amusing fare we want or we’ll get our spiritual leadership from someone else . . .

Ministry is a profession in which the greatest rewards include meaningfulness and integrity. When those fade under pressure from churchgoers who don’t want to be challenged or edified, pastors become candidates for stress and depression.

Clergy need parishioners who understand that the church exists, as it always has, to save souls by elevating people’s values and desires. They need churchgoers to ask for personal challenges, in areas like daily devotions and outreach ministries."

As a minister, I can indeed say that there is pressure to not challenge people, to not call them to sacrifice and service, to concentrate on members' wants and ignore the lost. While we might expect this from members who are not very spiritually mature, or who perhaps are hurting so much that they cannot see beyond themselves, this is most challenging when these pressures come from those that we expect would be supportive of these things. As the article indicates, this can be a source of stress.

Overall, ministry a great joy. But this is one of the stresses that ministers must learn to deal with or they will quit the ministry, as so many have unfortunately done. We must, like Christ, our example, continue to preach and teach Christ's message and mission.

So, what stresses do you think that ministers face? How can these stresses be helped?

Atheist Christopher Hitchens Talks About God and Cancer

2010-08-06T21:39:00.000-07:00

Christopher Hitchens is a well-known atheist who was recently diagnosed with cancer. In this CNN interview, he speaks against smoking, drinking, and burning the candle at both ends. However, he says that he still does not believe in God. And if he has a death bed conversion, don't believe it. He would not be himself then. Sad.

What do you think about this interview with Hitchens?

Author Anne Rice Quits Christianity--But is Still a Believer

2010-07-30T02:33:00.000-07:00

Now here is an interesting article. Anne Rice, a one time author of graphic vampire novels, made headlines a few years ago for converting to Christianity. Because of her conversion, she ceased writing these types of novels.

Today she made headlines by announcing that she was renouncing Christianity and being a Christian:

"In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control," the author wrote Wednesday on her Facebook page. "In the name of ... Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen." Read the AP story here.

Here is another quote from Anne Rice's Facebook page:

For those who care, and I understand if you don't: Today I quit being a Christian. I'm out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being "Christian" or to being part of Christianity. It's simply impossible for me to "belong" to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For tenyears, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.

And yet, the article report this: "Although no longer part of any denomination, she remains a believer and continues to read theology and post Biblical passages on her Facebook page."

So, what does this say about the perception of "Christianity" and "Christian"? I am reminded of a joke I heard once in which someone said this in trying to define Christians: "They are against things and go to a lot of meetings." It is interesting that Anne Rice defined Christianity and being a Christian entirely as being against things.

Now, there are things that Christians should be against. But we ought to be known primarily for what we are for. Jesus said that we would be known as his disciples by our love for one another. He said that we should do our good deeds before people so that they would praise the Father in heaven. When Anne Rice thought of quiting Christianity and being a Christian, why did she not think of quitting loving one another or doing good deeds? The reason is simple. Whether we like it or not, the reality is that a great percentage of non-Christians define Christians as being against things and being judgmental.(Check our David Kinnamon's book UnChristian for stats on this.)

It is interesting that Rice says, "In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being a Christian." This seems to confirm that she is making a distinction between what Christ was actually for and about, and what she perceives Christianity and Christians are all about. I'm not sure if she is actually for homosexuality, or is just against being "anti-gay." The Bible, of course, says that this behavior is sinful. Perhaps she is confronting mean-spirited behavior towards gays. It has been said that we should love the sinner and hate the sin. Sounds like a good idea. But so many times, sadly, it seems that people end of hating the sinner, or at least act and speak against "sinners" in a hateful manner. It is interesting that "sinners" seemed to really like Jesus, where as those who fall into the "sinners" category today often run from, well, Christians and Christianity.

Rice is defined by the writer of the AP article as still being a believer, and the writer notes that Rice continues to post biblical passages on her Facebook page. Rice also writes:

"My faith in Christ is central to my life. My conversion from a pessimistic atheist lost in a world I didn't understand, to an optimistic believer in a universe created and sustained by a loving God is crucial to me."

But following Christ does not mean following His followers. Christ is infinitely more important than Christianity and always will be, no matter what Christianity is, has been, or might become.

I am glad that Rice took renounced atheism and has made her faith in Christ central to her life. Praise God! I do not know all the rest of her beliefs, and am not here to defend them--that is really beside the point I am making. The point I am making is this--we need to be known primarily for the things Jesus said that we would be known for, such as our love for one another, doing good deeds in the community, etc. We have a huge PR problem, and many non-Christians do not see us as a positive force in the world.

What do you think is the cause of the world's negative perception of "Christians" and "Christianity"? How can we change this perception?

Missional, Evangelism, and the Kingdom of Heaven

2010-07-27T21:51:00.001-07:00

Here is a pretty decent post, Missional & Evangelism by Richard Dahlstrom. In this post, Dahlstrom quotes The Message, which is a paraphrase of the NT:

“Don’t begin by traveling to some far off place to convert unbelievers. And don’t try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. God to the lost, confused people rigfht here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.” (Matthew 9:5-7).

I'm preaching on the "Limited Commission" on Sunday (Mt. 10), which covers similar themes that are found in this passage--being missional (sent), evangelism, and the kingdom of heaven/kingdom of God.

From looking at Jesus' life and mission, I have often held up three primary things as being central to the missional concept: seeking the lost, serving the community, and sharing the good news of Jesus and the kingdom of God. Without an active seeking, there is no missional thrust that compels us into the world. Without service and acts of healing, we fail to demonstrate the kingdom of God--that God's kingdom is filled with love, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. And in today's world, sharing without serving often places us in the same category as telemarketers and pushy salesmen. Without service, our sincerity is questioned and we may never get a hearing.

At the same time, if we serve without sharing the good news, or evangelism, we fail to give people the hope of their ultimate salvation. The gospel, or good news, is fundamentally about two things: 1) Jesus' life, death, burial, and resurrection; and 2) the kingdom of God. The first might be called the gospel about Jesus, while the second might be called the gospel of Jesus, or Jesus' gospel.

Sadly, the message of the kingdom is often neglected or absent today. But where it is preached and taught, it has a powerful effect. People begin to get a glimpse of a God who is powerful and able to infinitely more than them. They begin to get a taste of a life free of worry, stress, and anxiety, where cares are cast upon the Lord. They begin to find fulfillment in self-sacrifice and serving others.

Let us not forget all three of these aspects of mission--seeking, serving, and sharing.
What do you see is the link between "missional" and evangelism?

The Desire for Simplicity - How can the church respond?

2010-07-19T11:06:00.001-07:00

We live in an incredibly complex world. We have gone from the big 3 broadcast channels to hundreds of cable and satellite channels.

The amount of digital information in the world doubles every 11 hours--an unfathomable rate (see story).

The Internet has brought virtually unlimited amounts news, pictures, books, blogs, videos, and social sites.

And we feel the overwhelming weight of all of this noise. We dread opening our email. There is too much junk email to go through. Too many forwards that are not funny or worth the effort. Too many people who ask questions that require two page answers. Too many people we don't know, with their own agenda, cluttering up our lives.

And the daily choices we have to make--while great in some ways--are overwhelming. Remember the add that highlighted the question at the check out stand, "paper of plastic"? In an overly complex world, even these types of choices can start to overwhelm us.

Our world is longing for simplicity.

For years, consumers responded to having more choices. The more offerings, the greater the appeal to different people. And this is still often the case. But consider the appeal of Google's home page. A single, unadorned text box with no advertising. Simple. No pretense. Nothing else clamoring for our time or attention. Studies have shown that the more you have on your home page, the less people go to it. (Which is one reason I will be reducing the number of choices on MON's home page.)

And despite all of the interest in customization--still a huge desire--it is ironic that the Iphone, with its 100,000 apps, is not able to be customized in its software (see story). People seem not to have minded. In fact, by having a closed system, Apple has eliminated hackers and spammers. Aren't you glad that you don't have to deal with this on your Iphone?

Businesses--often the first to note cultural trends--are responding to our world's desire for simplicity. There are email filtering technologies. Closet organization systems. Simple billing (cell, Internet, and cable on one bill). Simple diets. Simple exercise routines. Simple wills. Sadly, last week I even saw multiple signs for "Simple Divorce" along the highway.

There is much I want to say and apply to the church on this subject of simplicity. But I don't want to do too much at once. I "simply want to ask:

In seeking to be servants, what areas of people's lives can we--individually and as a church--help simplify? Where do people seem overwhelmed in their time, organization, or choices?

In Defense of Missional - Why Is this still an important term?

2010-06-26T05:22:00.000-07:00

So what is the big deal about "missional"? Why is this term even needed?

The term missional was not coined by marketers trying to sell religious books. While there were forerunners to the missional concept such as Leslie Newbigin and David Bosch, the seminal work that introduced the term was Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America. In this work, written by the Gospel and Our Culture Network, the authors were seeking to describe the fundamental sent nature of the church, particularly in light of what the church in North America had become-a vendor of religious goods and services.

The term missional is from the Latin word, missio, which means "sent." From this term we derive the words "missionary" and "missions." While these terms are not translated as such in English Bibles, they could be, for they are roughly equivalent to the generic use of the term apostolos, or apostle, which also means one who is sent. See Barnabas (Acts 14:14), Silas (1 Thes. 2:6), and Andronicus and Junias, who were “outstanding among the apostles” (Rom. 16:6). All of the gospels and the book of Acts have versions of the Great Commission, in which the disciples, which represent the church, are sent into the world (Mt. 28:18-20; Mk. 16:8; Lk. 24:45-48). John’s gospel particularly brings out the concept of sending.

21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (Jn. 20:21)

7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt a in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment (Jn. 16:7-8).

The Father sends the Son, the Son sends the Spirit, and the Son sends us. Thus, mission is rooted in the very nature of God. God is a sending God, and we are a sent people. The authors of Missional Church state this: “’Mission’ is not something the church does, apart of its total program. No, the church’s essense is missional, for the calling and sending action of God forms its identity.” –Missional Church

What are we sent to do? Well, Jesus, of course is our model for mission. And from Jesus’ own words, he came to do at least these three things: 1) seek and save the lost; 2) serve and give his life for others; and 3) proclaim the good news of Jesus and the kingdom of God. The church is missional when its life and mission is modeled after the life and mission of Jesus Christ and does these things. There is much more, of course, to being a missional church, but this is a starting point.

So why is this such a necessary concept? Well, for centuries the church failed to see itself as being in a mission context. Under Christendom--where there was a blending of church and state and everyone was viewed to be Christian--churches were not set up aroudn mission. Their structure, budget, etc. was set up to be religious vendors, serving existing Christians. In the 18th century and on, there was a revival of "missions," but this was relegated to reaching the lost overseas.

In 20^th century, the number of Christians and church goers began to shrink. With this environment, churches began to market themselves to Christians, seeking to attract more “consumers” (who were already Christian) for their product. Reaching the lost and serving the community was forgotten or relegated to a small sub-section of the church. Meanwhile, America became more and more unchurched.

The writers of Missional Church saw this environment and what the church had begun and wrote this work. They saw the need to “send” people across the street, as the US is now the 5^th largest mission field in the world. By using the term missional church they wanted to help reshape people’s imagination from what the church had become—an inward-focused, vendor of religious goods and services to consumeristic Christians—to what God had intended for the church—to be a people whose purpose was to fulfill the mission of God. They write:

'Mission' means 'sending,' and it is the central biblical theme describing the purpose of God's action in history . . . It has taken us decades to realize that mission is not just a program of the church. It defines the church as God's sent people. (p. 4-6)

So why keep the term?

It helps people to check their idea of what church is. It does not exist for itself, but for God’s purposes for the world.

It helps reshape the imagination. There is incredible power in language, which postmodernism has taught us. This term helps people imagine what the church is supposed to be.

It provides an opportunity for teaching. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, it provides a teaching moment to share God’s original vision for the church.

It challenges the status quo. People may be comfortable with what their experience of church has been. They may not want anything to change in the church, because the rest of their lives have so much change. But change is absolutely necessary. We now live in a world in which for the first time in modern history we have 6 generations alive at the same time. The amount of information in the world doubles nearly every years. If we are to stay current, we must change. And God’s people have always grown the most when they have gotten outside of their comfort zone—when they are in the desert or facing persecution.

It puts up front and center what the church is called to be—the people of God on mission. By referring to ourselves as a missional church, there should be no ambiguity as to what our central purpose should be. Those who are most excited about mission will get this. Those who are most consumeristic or believe that the church exists to serve itself will be the most resistant.

I recognize that missional church is a conceptual thought, and those that are intuitive, conceptual thinkers will be most drawn to it. Those that are more concrete thinkers will need to have more explanation. But this is good, as it provides a teaching moment. As I give Missional Outreach seminars around the country, I encourage people to use the term, as it is helpful, but to also explain the concept in many different ways. Always, of course, we should point people back to the life and mission of Jesus.

For myself, this is a profound part of my journey. I can remember reading Missional Church in 2000 as a part of, of all things, a congregational ministry class. Having grown up going on mission trips with Let’s Start Talking, it struck me, that this was exactly what the church was supposed to be. That we must see North America as a mission field, and all that we do should focus upon this mission. I know others that were struck by this as well.

Are some people jumping on a missional bandwagon and using the term in ways that they do not understand? Sure. But whether the term itself does or not, missional is a profoundly biblical-theological concept that will stand the test of time. And as for me? Well, I was missional before missional was cool. And as one who has led two churches directly in becoming outward-focused, and as one who gives missional outreach seminars around the country and attend conferences on this around the country, I can say that it is a term that helps reshape the imagination and motivate many people towards mission. It is not the only way to get across the concept, but it is a helpful term.

We absolutely cannot stay with the status quo. Church attendance in the US is 18%-20% and falling. Read my last blog post for additional stats. If we keep people in their comfort zone, we will continue to fail to reach the world for Christ. And our own children will suffer for it.

Go missional!

What do you think are good reasons for using the term missional?

The Kingdom of God and the Parable of the Sower

2010-06-24T12:07:00.001-07:00

Matthew's gospel has the most extensive teaching on the kingdom of God, which he refers to primarily as the kingdom of (the) heaven(s). The central message of Jesus, of course, was that the kingdom of God, or kingdom of the heaven(s), was near-at hand--all around--in your midst. by using the plural form of heaven, the heavens, Matthew emphasized this nearness (Mt. 3:17). The ancient view of heaven was that there were (at least) three heavens. The 1st heaven is simply the air, the spiritual world that surrounds us. The second heaven is the stars, planets, etc.--the celestial realm. The third heaven is the throne of God, or what we often typically think of as heaven.

Why is repentance linked with the kingdom of the heavens? If God is all around us, if the power and peace of his kingdom is readily available to us, then we need to repent--to change our heart and minds, to open our minds--to his way and this new reality. The kingdom of God is God's rule or reign, and we must repent of trying to rule our own lives, and instead follow God and his ways, and depend upon his power.

If we do not understand this, then we miss most of Matthew's gospel, which is filled with parables and teachings about the kingdom. So now I want to take the parable of the sower. The sower sows seeds, and this seed is the message of the kingdom--that God and his kingdom power is all around us. Note Jesus' explanation of this parable:

¹⁸“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰ The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. ²² The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. ²³ But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown" (Mt. 13:18-23).

1st Group - Some people hear this message about the kingdom, and they don't understand it. How can God be near us? How can he have any real impact upon our lives? They live their lives as if there is no spiritual reality. They do not pray expecting God to do much, if they pray at all. They think that what they achieve is done by their own power, intelligence, and hard work. They live secular lives.

2nd Group - The second group gets excited about the message that God and his kingdom is near. They want to live spiritual lives, dependent upon God. But they are rather shallow--perhaps thinking that God can be manipulated, or prayer works like magic, where God can be forced to do our will by having the right formulas or saying the right words. And when hard times come, they just give up the whole thing.

3rd Group - The third group also gets excited. But they fail to really trust God. They worry about things, rather than depending upon God. They pursue wealth as a means of empowerment, rather than trusting God for their power in daily living. And so, while they may still have an outward belief in this message, they are unfruitful. Nothing comes of it, because their loyalties are divided.

4th Group - The fourth group understands this message of the kingdom and lives by it. They really believe that God and his kingdom are all around. They trust in his power when difficulties arise. They pray fervently and expectantly. They have great understanding. And because of this faith, he produces a crop that is 100 times what is sown. Notice that in this case, God uses the faithful believer in the message to do amazing things.

So my question for you is, which group do you fall into? Do you know and understand the message that the kingdom of the heavens is near? Do you trust in God's presence and power in your life? Or do you trust in your own power? Are you stressed and worried? Or do you trust in God?

Some Startling Statisfics on the Decline of Christianity in the US & the Need for Church Planting

2010-06-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

Mission Alive has put out the following statistics on population growth, church decline, the fall of Christianity in the US, and the opportunity and need for church planting. Note the following:

Here is the bad news:

Between 1990 and 2000 there was a net gain of 4600 churches in the US; however, to simply maintain the pace with population growth a gain
of 38,800 was needed.
Between 80-85% of churches in the US are in numeric decline.
From 1990-2001 the percentage of Americans identifying themselves as "Christian" dropped nearly 10%. At that rate, non-Christians will outnumber Christians of any denomination by 2042.
Many churches struggle with our changing society and increasingly post-modern culture. Perhaps out of fear, many turn inward and are unable to reach their community with the good news.

Here is some demographic data:

The US population is expected to reach 392 million by 2050, up from 300 million in 2006. Most of the increase will be in metropolitan areas. This represents a 31% increase in 42 years.
10 US metro areas grew in excess of 40% in the past decade: metro areas as divergent as Naples, FL., Yuma, AZ, Fayetteville, AR, and Boise, ID.
Estimates are that 60% of the population increase in the US in the next 50 years will be among immigrant peoples.
By 2050, less than 53 percent will be non-Hispanic White, 16 percent will be Black; 23 percent will be Hispanic; 10 percent will be Asian and Pacific Islander.

Here are the opportunities:

American suburban life is changing to be characterized by isolation, individualism, and consumerism, providing both challenges and entree points for the gospel.
New churches tend to grow faster than existing churches, have a greater percentage of young people and incorporate people faster than existing churches.
Churches less than 15 years old gain 60%-80% of their members from people not attending any worshiping body, while in churches more than 15 years old 80%-90% of new members transfer from other churches.

It is clear from these statistics that Christianity in America is on a dramatic downward trend. Only God can reduce this decline. The influx of immigrants represents both a challenge and an opportunity for us. Legal immigration has been very good for America. In fact, this country was built by immigrants, who came motivated and inspired to life a better way of life. As far as minorities and churches, historically, our fellowship has not done a good job of reaching the non-White population. But immigrants are often very open to new faith, as the rest of their lives are in flux already. This is why groups such as Genesis Alliance, a Latino church planting group that I'm on the board of, are so important. We need to plant many new "minority" churches to reach these growing populations.

It is also clear that predominantly white churches and established churches of all ethnicities are needed to plant churches. The sad fact is, very few churches are growing at all, and those that are are growing through transfer growth. Unfortunately, most churches are satisfied if they merely meet the budget and gain members through transfer growth.

We need to plant many, many new churches, as this is one of the best evangelistic methods there is.

What stands out to you about these statistics?

An Unbelievable Story of God Sending Latino Church Planters from Columbia

2010-05-19T20:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is quite an amazing story.

A couple of months ago, I took a trip with Paul Newhouse, who is our missions coordinator, and Sixto Rivera, the Executive Director of Genesis Alliance over to El Salvador. When I came back, inspired by the trip, I featured the work in El Salvador in my Sunday morning sermon. I also had us sing an El Salvadoran song, Bien Benito (I'm so Happy song) in Spanish.

A young lady named Christian came up to me after the service who was Hispanic. She thanked me for singing this song and for our love for the Latino people. She explained that she was from Columbia and had recently moved here. Her first Sunday was during the run-up to Harvest Sunday, when we were highlighting the work of Genesis Alliance and our Hispanic church plant with Carlos Lopez (Iglesia de Cristo in Plano, TX). On that day, she and her husband, Ober Ochoa, met Sixto Rivera. Sixto talked with them, found out their background, and began to look at them as potential Latino church planters.

On Monday, I met with Ober and Christina and Sixto in my office. Now, let me back up and explain the rest of the story.

Christina and Ober are both from Columbia. While she was still single, Christina applied for a visa to come to the US. She has family in the Houston area. When she and Ober got married, they prayed one day that her visa might be accepted. Three days later, it was accepted! But only Christina could come, as she had applied while she was single. So they wrote a letter to the US Conciliar asking for Ober and their child to be given visas as well. They were approved the very day that the conciliar had received the application. This was nothing short of a miracle. As they said to me, you have to be from El Salvador or Columbia or the like to understand how amazing this was. They took this as a sign from God to come to the US.

A bit more on Ober. Ober was brought to faith in Christ when he went to a house church in Columbia. He served faithfully as a member for 5-6 years, and then was made a pastor. His passion is in outreach and evangelism. In fact, he converted his wife, Christina. I asked him if he only studied with beautiful women. I also said that this was an outreach strategy that could only work once! :) (Only one wife is needed!)

Continuing the story . . . When their visas were accepted, they were seeking direction of where to go in the US. Someone suggested McKinney. They said, "McKinney?" So they got on Google and googled McKinney and up came a picture of Towne Lake. Someone in Columbia had a sister in McKinney, so they moved in with her in her apartment complex.

This apartment complex happened to be managed by Marsha Miller, one of our members and a long time family friend. When the Ochoas needed some furniture, Marsha gave them a couch. (Our clothes closet ministry often helps with these types of things.) The person that they were staying with went to McKinney Bible Fellowship. But Marsha said to them one day, in a way that only she could, "Hey--I gave you a couch. Why don't you come to my church?" And so they did.

When their host family asked why they went to High Pointe and not to her church they said that they just sensed an overwhelming love for the Latino people. If I may also share, Christina also said that she felt that I was leading the church to love all peoples, and that this really touched her. For a Caucasian congregation to devote two services to the Latino was just amazing to her. I was very personally touched by this. It reminded me that this work really does have an impact upon people.

Ober and Christina share our view of baptism and even worship. They are a very talented couple that could make great church planters. They are very interested in working with Genesis Alliance and Sixto, and we are very interested in working with them.

Praise God! Clearly, he is at work in mighty ways, bringing together people to fulfill God's mission.

What do you think of this story?!

A Love for Scripture - Something My Mother Taught Me

2010-05-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

As mother's day approaches, I am reminded of my mother, of course. One of the things that always stood out to me was the importance of Scripture and following God's word.

The Bible, of course, does not claim to be an ordinary book. As the word of God, the Bible claims and is inspired by God’s Holy Spirit. The Bible is not merely a human product, for “prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:21).

Scripture’s origination from God is so thorough that it is described as “God-breathed” and is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). For the one whose heart is open, God’s Word points a person unmistakably to Christ, and it is the means for faith.

The Bible also was written by humans (2 Pet. 3:15), and it reflects that human authorship. It is written in the context of human cultures (ancient near eastern, Greco-Roman) in human languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek). Furthermore, even a superficial examination of the Bible reveals that the books of the Bible differ considerably in style, vocabulary, and sentence structure.

This mysterious combination of the divine and the human is a reflection of the incarnation, through which Jesus, who is God, also became human.

I firmly believe in Scripture. I have been blessed to grow up in a home where my mother regularly read Bible stories to me as a child. And in everyday conversation and interaction, biblical truths were regularly worked in.

This is a legacy that Becki and I have sought to pass down to our children. We regularly read to our children Bible stories, memorize Bible verses, draw application from Bible verses, and talk about God's truths. There may be people, ministers, or families out there who do not believe or want to follow Scripture, but this preacher, his mom, and his family is not one of them!

What did your mom teach you about Scripture?

A little love, human kindness, and prayer opens doors to Clothes Closet Bible study

2010-04-15T20:52:00.000-07:00

Today we began having our a devotional time with our Clothes Closet customers. We divided the customers into an English-speaking and a Spanish-speaking group, and had each go to different a portable. Then Glenda Lopez, wife of Carlos Lopez, our Hispanic church planter, gave a devotional in Spanish, while I worked with the English-speakers.

By going into rooms, the customers were able to sit down. This immediately eliminated the "waiting in line," which can be dehumanizing. It certainly does not lead to interaction

.
I had those in the room introduce themselves and tell a bit about themselves. We then did a type of Discovery Bible study. I wrote up a verse on the board which covered the greatest commands. Then I asked them to rewrite this in their own words (they told me this orally). And then I asked them how they could apply it.

They said that the verse meant to love God with their whole being, and to love others--which they translated into praying for others. I also asked them for their prayer requests. These are what they shared:

Morayna – my cousin Oscar has cancer
Reyna – father-in-law has a heart condition
Terri – Family and mother
Shery – Cousin Tammy has cancer
Velma – son in California and sister that has cancer and diabetes
Diana – Mom just out of surgery – Dad has cancer
Tracy – Dad seeing heart specialist
Donna – Mom with diabetes

Prayers for the world, others, don’t judge people who are different, and prayers for our enemies were also requested.

One lady, Diana Brock, said that she didn't know where she was in her relationship with God, clearly feeling distant from him. But she said that she wanted to come and visit our church. She just needs a ride. (Please let me know if you can help give her a ride. She lives off 380 toward Princeton . Her address is1800 Private Road 5461, McKinney.)

I met another lady named Shery who was part of a cowboy church. The minister of this church set up a 30 day fast and a tent down in Van Alystine over Christmas. Shery had been Jewish, but after encountering this minister, she and her family studied and they were baptized--immersed--in a horse trough! She was very open and sincere about her faith.

Next week I'll seek to continue to build this group up to form a type of Christian community. Please be praying for this ministry, and especially Diana at this time.

Praise God for all that he is doing!

What ideas do you have about how to draw this group closer to God, one another, and the church?

Angels Unaware - Food Pantry Inspires People in Community to Give

2010-04-14T08:05:00.000-07:00

Today, Linda Hardin, our church secretary and food pantry ministry leader, wrote this about her experience in a checkout stand while buying groceries for our food pantry. Here is Linda's story:

"Angels unaware. Do you believe in them? I sure do. God sends people into our lives to help or encourage us. Many times it's family members or friends, but every once in a while a total stranger delivers a message straight from God. And it seems to happen at the most unexpected time or place.

That was my experience one day this week after work when I stopped by the grocery store to pick up some sale items for the food pantry. My basket was stocked to the top and so heavy that a young man at the store pushed it up to the checkout for me. It contained 48 cans of spaghetti sauce, 48 boxes of mac & cheese and 96 canned vegetables.

A lady behind me asked me if I was going to feed an army. As the checker counted and totaled, I took a minute to tell her about our food pantry and how one afternoon a week we give a bag of groceries to approximately 50-60 families.

She asked me the name of my church and where it was located. By this time the checker announced my total - $128. As I was digging in my purse for my ATM card, this stranger quickly stepped in front of me and swiped her card.

At first I didn't realize what happened and thought maybe she was cutting in line, but then it dawned on me - she paid my bill. She stepped right up and did a good deed, no a great deed! God touched this lady’s heart and she wanted to be a part of our ministry. I grabbed this total stranger and gave her the biggest hug ever and asked her name. Then I told her I would say a special prayer of thanksgiving for her and ask God to bless her life. So, thank you God for Stacey, my angel unaware."

Isn't this amazing? I have always said that often times the people we reach through acts of service and benevolence is not the people that we are serving, but others who are touched by these acts and who want to be a part of a church/community that serves others in this way. In fact, many church plants begin by going around and asking people in the community to donate food or clothing. Not only does it raise awareness of this church, but it gives people in the community a chance to be generous--which is part of being a disciple--and helping those who are in need.

Thank you, Linda, for sharing this. And praise God for his mighty works!

Have you had people in your community give in response to something that the church is doing?

Inviting the Community into Our Fellowship - Family, Faith, and Friends

2010-04-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

For the last two years at High Pointe, we have been actively seeking ways to serve and impact our community. This has involved many different types of service outreaches, from Habitat for Humanity to FriendSpeak to singing in the nursing home. Three of our biggest service outreaches have been our food pantry, which gave out 2000+ bags of groceries last year, our clothes closet, which clothed over 4400 families, and our outreach to Vega Elementary School, where we help mentor, clothe, feed, and play with kids.

These outreaches have been hugely supported by our members with incredible generosity and active service in these ministries. And visitors to High Pointe and people in the community, from school officials to the local Red Cross, have noted High Pointe's service.

But relationships are the key to sharing the gospel.

So our outreach team, ministry leaders, and staff began to ask the question, how can we relationally connect with those that we are serving? We began praying for those who came in with needs. And then we decided to offer a fellowship meal, once a month on Wednesday night, and invite those from our food pantry, clothes closet, and Vega Elementary to enjoy a free meal.

Tonight was our first such fellowship meal, called "Family, Faith, and Friends." We really had no idea what to expect. We did not know if any would come, but we wanted to try.

Praise God--we had a great turnout of both members and people in the community!

The Hispanic family on the right came to us from Vega Elementary school. The mother's name is Maria Garcia. She said that she had been wanting to come to visit us on a Wednesday night for some time. She works on Sunday, but her husband had said, why not go to the church down the road on Wednesdays? Her husband stayed at home working with some homework with the fifth child. In their conversation, they said that this church was non-denominational, and the church that they had gone to some time ago was non-denominational. It sounded like she had said that this previous church was a church that they had helped start. Interesting--I will have to explore this more.

Maria had said that she was tired this night, but that her son Christopher had encouraged her to go. You have to love those kids! Maria, unlike many of the other Latinos who came on this night, spoke good English. I got her contact information and will follow up with her.

We had a great turnout of people from the community, and I was so glad to see our members mixing so well with those who came. In this picture is Bob Renfro, one of our shepherds, Mary Lou Lively (whose granddaughter was baptized last year) , and Laura Cooper (a mentor for Habitat).

This is Early B. Milstead and his wife Lena, daughter Holly, with an African-American family from the community. It was great to see these families sharing this meal and actively engaged with one another. What a great example to the world!

On the right of this picture is Mike Shuttlesworth, a former missionary to Hungary who just returned and placed membership with his family at High Pointe. Mike is sharing his table and meal with another Latino family from our community.

All in all, it was a great night! We'll follow up with more relationship building, prayer, and Bible study. Tonight was a vivid illustration of what it means to be a Christ-centered community that draws all people together--regardless of race, class, background, or gender--under the cross of Christ.

¹¹Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)—¹²remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

¹⁴For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.¹⁷He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit (Ephesians 2:11f)

How can we build relationships with people in our community whom we serve?

Love and Mission: Compelled by Christ's Love to Reach Out

2010-03-09T07:31:00.000-08:00

Love and Mission, Love and Mission, go together like a horse and carriage.
Okay, this is a bad adaptation of the song "Love and Marriage" (But not as bad as the suggestion I read the other day for adapting Olivia Newton John's song, Let's Get Physical, and making it, Let's Get Missional, Missional."

But love and mission do go together. Note this passage from Paul in 2 Corinthains 5:4f.

4For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

If we have not been convicted by Christ's love for us, we will remain selfish. In order to reach out to others, we must first die to ourselves. And this is tough. It is tough to be selfless in our marriage. We are usually concerned with our needs being met. And we do have certain needs. But the point is, it is hard to be selfless.

And as if it were not enough of a challenge to love others, we apparently struggle to even love one another very well. A study by Lifeway indicates that 58 percent of people who had attended church for at least a year in high school and then dropped out of worship attendance said that they did so because of relationship problems":

26% said that they didn't feel connected to people in the church.

15% said churches were either unfriendly, unwelcoming, or cliquish.

Without a conviction of Christ's love for us, we will always struggle to be selfless. And if our own people do not feel love, how well will we love others whom we encounter?

So, what can we do to increase our love for one another and for others, and be compelled by Christ's love so that we can be better ambassadors of Christ?

If we are not discipling others, we fail to grow

2010-03-05T04:11:00.000-08:00

T oday I had another Bible study with--I'll call him Paul Smith. Paul was baptized into Christ 4-5 months ago. Paul had been angry with God for years because he and his wife had suffered two miscarriages and had not been able to have children. Paul came to us because he and his wife at the time were headed towards divorce. This divorce is now finalized, despite his wishes.

Paul was helped in his faith walk initially by the Celebrate Recovery group. Then we studied the Story of Redemption together with a friend that he had developed in Celebrate Recovery. He accepted Christ and was baptized.

I have continued to meet with Paul almost every week since his baptism. He comes each week with questions--lots of questions. He has questions about how to deal with his wife, his boss, his neighbor. He has had many questions from the numerous sermons that he listens to and the book that he is reading now, The Purpose-Driven Life. He continues to wrestle with God.

Paul came to our study today with a question about when life begins, and when a body has a soul. Is it at birth? Is it sometime in the womb? Is it at conception? When is the age of accountability? Did I believe in this concept. And would children be in heaven? Would they be resurrected as an adult or as a child?

It took me a few minutes into the discussion before I realized that these were not just intellectual questions for Paul . He wanted to know these answers because his wife had had two miscarriages. He always wanted to be a father, and he would often curse God whenever he saw a school bus go by.

As I sought to listen and answer these questions, I had to deal with issues like God's knowledge of the future, God's active involvement in the world, God's love and his discipline, the nature of the Psalms, the resurrection, love for our enemies, forgiveness and more.

And as I went through these topics with Paul, I could feel that my own faith was affirmed. And it struck me. If we are not discipling other Christians, we ourselves fail to grow. These truths which I have studied for years gained new life as I thought about them in light of Paul's very real situation.

This is how God intended the church to be. A church that does not evangelize does not have new Christians. And without this influx of "new blood," we fail to grow spiritually. So evangelism is essential not only in reaching new Christians, but in Spiritually forming longtime Christians.

Who are you helping to disciple? How much do you think that discipling others help us to grow spiritually?

The Pope Dives Into Social Networking-What about your church?

2010-01-29T12:44:00.001-08:00

Here is a recent article in which the pope encourages priests to use social networking to spread the gospel.

The Pope said, "Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the
latest generation of audiovisual resources -- images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites -- which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis," he said.

If the Pope, who is 82 and no technology buff, is calling on people to use social media, what about us?
How is your church using social media to share the gospel? What help can you offer or do you need?

Colleges seeking to make degrees more relevant-what about churches?

2010-01-05T20:28:00.001-08:00

I recovering from a nose job that I had last week. Ha, ha. :) Actually, I had surgery to correct a deviated septum. They removed my stints today-yikes! I hope to be back to full strength in a few days. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

I really have been trying to rest, but I came across an article today in the New York Times entitled, Making College Relevant. The article cites various examples of colleges increasingly seeking to be directly "relevant" in the majors that they offer. The University of Louisiana, for instance, is eliminating their philosophy major, and the University of Michigan is eliminating American Studies and Classics majors. The reasons? Decline of students majoring in these fields.

Increasingly, students--and their parents who are paying exorbitant tuition rates--are asking, how will this major help me get a job? No one can afford $100,000 to get a degree in Sand Script and then work at StarBucks. The loans cost too much. So economic reality is driving this shift in part.

However, there is another cultural force driving this shift--the collapse of Western thought and the rise of pragmatism. Western philosophy was built upon thinkers such as Rene Descartes. Descartes doubted everything until he could find the one thing which he could not doubt--that he thought. Upon this absolute foundation, he then built additional thoughts and conclusions. This led to the rise of "foundationalism," deduction, and rational thought.

In case you had not noticed, no one is buying anyone else's deductions these days. Deductions are viewed to be a way of manipulating and controlling arguments. Not only is there skepticism of the deducers, but we are moving into a post-literate, narrative, image based society where deduction and logic are rarely the primary forms of communication.

For instance, when was the last time you saw a TV show or movie where the form was people making statements and then seeking to prove them? Purely deductive sermons--once the norm in churches--are now death for communication. No speaker comes in to an audience--even a Christian audience--with enough clout to pull this off consistently. People are already skeptical.

At the same time, people are skeptical of induction to form conclusions as well. Science claims to be inductive, based upon emperical evidence. But as the recent scandal on global warming shows, data can and is often manipulated by humans--whether scientists or other mere mortals--to fit pre-conceived conclusions.

What are we left with, then, if both deduction and induction are viewed skeptically today? Pragmatism. What really works. People don't have time or patience for theories or knowledge for knowledge's sake. Give me something that works, and that I can see that works.

This has huge implications for "how we do church."

Sermons need to have practical application and inspire people to actually take action.
Bible classes need to be much less about knowledge--which can be found anywhere on the Internet--and more about real life issues - marriage, relationships, child raising, friendship, Christianity in the workplace, how to reach out. And because people are dealing with different issues, we need all kinds of "classes" in all kinds of places.
Elders need to spiritual life coaches, not board of directors. Younger people are dying for mentors, role models, marriage examples, and people who care about them.

People today say, don't tell me about the doctrine of grace. Tell me how grace can help me forgive my wife or husband. Or make me not beat myself up. Or be kind to my children when they are acting like little rebels!

Many college administrators are bemoaning the fact that college students are not that interested in philosophy and are so pragmatic. They want college students to receive a broad based foundation that goes beyond an immediate job and helps them learn how to think. There is value in this. But if no one signs up--whether for a major or for something church related--then this thinking does no good. A more integrated "curriculum" that provides broad based thinking while emphasizing practical application may be a necessity for today's pragmatic society.

And, after all, shouldn't Christianity "work?"

What do you think of the pragmatic emphasis in culture? How should this be applied in the church? What should be avoided? What is good about this?

Carolers Bring Joy to Colonial Lodge Nursing Home!

2009-12-26T16:31:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday night, we did not have Bible classes at High Pointe. But the church still met. The church, of course, is present wherever two or three Christians are gathered in Christ's name.

A great group of singers from the High Pointe Church of Christ met at the Colonial Lodge, a nursing home in McKinney, to sing Christmas carols and bring a little Christmas joy to the residents and workers. It was a good mix of young and older Christians, with whole families singing together.

For some time, High Pointe has had singers meeting together on Wednesday night to sing and learn new songs. But Phil Prosser, who leads this group, and these singers have started going out about every other Wednesday to sing at nursing homes. This is a great example of taking a group that could be just inward focused, and making it outward focused.

You see, every group, Bible class, and ministry ought to adopt some type of outreach or service. We are really going to encourage this adoption this year at High Pointe. Doing acts of outreach and service can foster Spiritual formation, as well as helping the church in its mission. All of us, as individuals and groups, need something or someone outside of ourselves to serve. Without this, we become stagnant and stale. With it, we build up memorable experiences and bond as a group.

I am so appreciative of these singers! I have been engaged in evangelistic Bible studies on Wednesday nights, and I was off of work this week. But Gina (my 8 year old daughter) and I were able to join the group on this night. It was good for all of us to remember how blessed we are, and for all of the kids to "learn" about blessing others through this singing.

It was great to carol together. And the nursing home residents were very appreciative. One of the older ladies gave me a kiss on my cheek and said, "I haven't kissed a man in years!" This was a night to remember!

"27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:27).

What experiences have you had singing for others? With widows or the elderly? What do you think is the relationship between outreach and service and spiritual formation?

Daniel Ursey baptized into Christ! (Facebook contact)

2009-12-16T21:08:00.000-08:00

Daniel was baptized into Christ on Sunday, 12/13/09. It was such a great day! I spoke on "The Community of the Christ Child," and how Christ draws together all people (wise men and shepherds). We had a graduation for Dyanmic Marriage, and then Daniel was baptized.

Daniel and I have been studying together, going through the Story of Redemption. Originally, Daniel came into contact with the church through a girlfriend that worships at High Pointe. Then he asked to friend me on Facebook, and he sent me a Facebook message asking about studying together. He said that he wanted to become a better person.

It is important for ministers and churches to stay current with culture, communication, and technology. When we speak someone's "language," it shows that we care about them. Facebook and texting are the language of new generations.

I am so glad that Daniel has put Christ on in baptism. He has come from a long way off, with almost no church background. It is great to see his tranformation. He is very excited about his new walk with Christ. Please pray for Daniel as he starts his new life in Christ.

Daniel will be transferring to Texas Tech in January. We will get him hooked up with a church in Lubbock. And we will try to reach out to his family that lives here in McKinney. I will miss him. Tonight he and and another new convert sat next to me at our "Celebration of Blessings." And someone else I'm studying with, Will, came tonight and told me that he plans on being baptized on Dec. 27. God is at work!

Does your minister or church use Facebook to help connect with people?

5 New Baptisms from Genesis Alliance! - Church Planting Discussion

2009-12-09T14:22:00.000-08:00

These two families below (5 people) were baptized into Christ by Sixto Rivera on Saturday night, 12/5/09. They heard Sixto on the World Radio Hispanic broadcast that Sixto speaks on each week. They contacted Sixto, and he studied with them. They live in McKinney, TX, and a new church may form around these families. Praise God! My family and I were blessed to witness these baptisms at the High Pointe Church of Christ building. (I was up at the building working, and Becki was facillitating the ladies' Christmas party.)

When should new converts start to reach out? When are they "ready"? The story of the "Woman at the Well" might be instructive. In John 4, the woman at the well had an encounter with Christ, and she went back and told her whole village about Jesus.

What was the result? John says, "39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers." (John 4:39-41)

So, so question is, what is needed to start a new church? What do the people need to know? Can new converts be the basis for a new church? What would else would they need? What biblical or historical evidence can you cite?

To make a contribution to Genesis Alliance, click here. Help us plant new latino churches!

Global Warming & the Nature of Science - Reflections on the recent scandal

2009-12-07T07:49:00.001-08:00

To my readers--I'm sorry about the posting delay. This is an incredibly busy time! But Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I love the music, time with friends, and the focus upon Christ.

By now, you have all probably heard of the recent scandal involving global warming. Emails from the top scientists researching global warming were published, showing that data that contradicted theories of man made global warming were suppressed and other data was fixed. As this Fox news story on the scandal shows, many scientists who disagreed with the man made global warming consensus were shunned, snubbed and even threatened.

What is going on here? Isn't science supposed to be objective and follow the data wherever it leads?

Actually, while "science" claims objectivity, in reality, it is not objective. Postmodernism rightly tells us that everyone has a perspective, and that no one can fully stand outside of a situation and be 100% objective. This is true for scientists as well. Scientists, being human, are subject to the same things as other mere mortals--biases, politics, money, and power. Many have pointed out that global warming has become politically correct, and that researchers for global warming have received billions of dollars in grants. Proponents of climate change, such as Al Gore, have reportedly made a lot of money off of this subject.

Human nature would say that any of us is susceptible to craving power, influence, applause, and money. This may explain some of the evidence that has come out. But is manmade climate change a hoax? That is, do the scientists involved not believe what they are saying?

On this point, I think that it is likely that these scientists believe in manmade global warming. In fact, they believe in it so much, that they do not believe any data that is contradictory. Manmade global warming is a paradigm for how they interpret climate data.

In reality, science works within paradigms. In his profound book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn explores the history of science. He shows that science works within a paradigm, even in the face of contradictory data, if there is no good alternative theory that surfaces. Any new theory is attacked, until the evidence is so overwhelming that te new theory is accepted. Usually it takes the dying off of the old generation of scientists for the new theory to fully be accepted. The classic example of this is the view that scientists once had that the earth was the center of the universe. Contradictory evidence was ignored or explained away, until Galileo brought about a paradigm shift.

So just because "science" says something, that does not make it true. Some theories explain local phenomena, but not global or cosmic phenomena. For example, Newtonian physics (which works on a local scale) was blown away by Einstein's theory of relativity (which works on a cosmic scale). I say this not as an anti-science person--I have a biology degree and love the many discoveries of science. But the idea of pure objectivity of scientists is simply a fallacy.

I am not a global warming researcher, so I do not know if manmade global warming is really happening or not. All of the data needs to be examined. Even then--science would say--we should continue to be open to new data that may come in. As Christians, we have a responsibility to take care of the earth that God has given into our care. We should at least be open to examining the data, and not have a closed minds ourselves. So should all scientists.

Some reading -

There is a from the Huffington Post that views the idea that global warming is a hoax as dangerous--a response which Thomas Kuhn would have predicted. The New York Times published an explanation of and a defense of their coverage of the story. David Frum, in an writing to CNN, has an interesting article on the subject. The Wall Street Journal contrasts "believers" and "skeptics" in global warming. Finally, it will be interesting to see if this scandal has any effect upon the global warming talks in Copenhagen that President Obama is attending.

What do you think about this story, global warming, and the nature of science?

One of my proudest moments as a father -- maybe ever!

2009-11-12T21:09:00.000-08:00

My wife Becki called me at work earlier this week. She usually has something she is thinking about or something she wants my thoughts on. This time she shared with me what my eight year old daughter, Gina, wrote at school on leadership. This is what she said.

10-29-09 Gina Nored 3rd Grade

"If I could be a leader in any area, I would be a Christian leader. I would teach others about god, and try for them to believe in him. I would also tell bible stories, and read memory verses. If there was a bad time, I would try my best to fix it. Also I would make bible classes, and bible studies. I would be just like my dad."

When she read all of but the last sentence, talking about telling others about God, doing Bible studies and Bible classes, I was smiling. But when she said, "I would be just like my dad," I was blown away. I was not expecting these words, and they were powerful. I have to say that it was one of my proudest moments as a father.

It hit me how much our children look up to us. They imitate us--the good and the bad. I'm glad that Gina has had a heart instilled in her for God. If there is nothing else Becki and I can do, that will be a great thing.

Becki said that she read last week that at age 12, kids don't want to be around their parents (or at least they don't share it). She said that we only have 4 years left that Gina will want to be with us, to do things with us all the time. Wow. I need to cherish these years, and continue to try to be the best father I can be.

What are you teaching your children by your life, actions, time, and money?

A wonderful smile!

2009-11-07T17:50:00.001-08:00

Diabolic smile
Originally uploaded by Elishams

Here is a great picture I found on Flickr. Doesn't this smile warm your soul?

What a Church, What a Day! - Serving Our Community

2009-11-04T14:31:00.000-08:00

Today was a great day for High Pointe. Wednesday is the day that our food pantry and clothes closet are open. And today was also a day in which we were taking applications from families for the Angel Tree ministry.

The church was flooded with people who needed help. People with real hurts and struggles. One woman was named Alma. She was there with one of her daughters and grandkids. She has a neice who is gaining community service hours working in our clothes closet. Her sister's girls are struggling due to brokenness in her family. She was divorced, and admitted some mistakes there.

We prayed with Alma and her daughter. And tonight we will study together. She is planning on bringing much of her family, including her grandkids and her neice's kids. One of our children's ministry workers and our youth minister will be meeting these kids tonight and taking them to Bible classes. Alma is hoping that they will receive some good influences to help them in their struggles. She said that though she had gone through some tough times, she had not rejected God.

I also asked Alma if she had anyone in her family who needed to practice their English, as we have a FriendSpeak ministry. She said that the man that she was dating needed this, and that she would bring him tonight. So I called Jim and Donna, our FriendSpeak leaders. Donna will come and help with the study with Alma, and Jim will hopefully work with Alma's friend with FriendSpeak.

It was great to see all of our staff working on this ministry. Linda, our secretary, has a heart for this ministry which has flown over and touched the whole church, getting so many others involved. It was great to see the Bryans, one of our families, work together (the kids are home schooled) serving those who came in, as well as Laura's daughter, Robbyn, who speaks Spanish (very helpful!). Bryan, one of our ministers, came back from his trip excited about spending time with a church that had a large food pantry ministry that had partnered with many businesses in the community to meet these needs. We could do the same thing here.

There is so much good being done by this church, and God is being made known all across our community. Thank you for all of those who have a heart for those whom Jesus cared for!

Can you be praying for Alma and her family?

Spiritual Gifts Seminar at Enterprise Boulevard Church of Christ

2009-11-02T12:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I flew out to Lake Charles, Louisiana, to give a Spiritual Gifts Seminar. (As a side note, American Eagle somehow lost my luggage on a direct flight. That is hard to do.) We had the first night of the seminar last night, and will conclude tonight.

Everyone has been very welcoming and has received me--and most importantly--the Spiritual gifts material--very well. One of the members, Jason Poynter, has been helping to start many good things at Enterprise Blvd., including life groups, a children's worship hour, and most recently, Spiritual gifts.

Jason had been searching on the Internet for Spiritual gifts material and the Church of Christ, and he came across my seminar on my website(s), Story of Redemption and the Missional Outreach Network. Then he went and attended a Dynamic Marriage training workshop that four of our elders attended. When he got back home, he put together my name and the church's name and talked with his minister, Paul Franks, about contacting me and using my book, Using Your Spiritual Gifts.

It turns out that Paul and I have a good mutual friend, John Dobbs, who is at the Forsythe Church of Christ in Monroe, Louisiana. And Paul was at one time next door neighbors with John Mark Hicks, who taught my Historical Theology class at Harding University Graduate School of Religion. It is a small world in the church!

Prior to coming, most of the church took the Spiritual Gifts Inventory that I developed, which gives people their top five Spiritual gifts. After the seminar, starting next Sunday, they will study through the gifts in a small group type of format. Out of these studies and discussions will come new ministries, people who find their place in current ministries, and great application in their daily lives.

It's great to see a church excited about serving, discovering, and using their Spiritual gifts! For information on the Spiritual Gifts Seminar, go to the Spiritual Gifts Seminar page on the Story of Redemption.

Have you discovered your Spiritual gifts? If so, what are they and how have you used them?

Does your church have a Spiritual gifts ministry?

Suburban Christianity Leads to Spiritual Death

2009-10-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

I came across an article on Digg.com today called, Why Does Hollywood Hate the Suburbs? The article points to movies like Revolutionary Road that paint the suburbs as places of "spiritual and mental death." They are also stigmatized "materialism, lack of imagination, and conformity."

I am largely a suburban kid. I went to high school in Edmond, OK, suburb of Oklahoma City. I ministered in Liberty, Missouri, suburb of Kansas City. And now I'm back in McKinney, suburb of North Dallas.

It is no coincidence that I have stayed in suburbia. I am comfortable there. It feels like home. I know the homes, the schools, the chain stores--Home Depot, Target, Chili's. And of course, there is always a mall close by.

Chain restaurants are like suburbia itself--safe, predictable, comforting, and rather unimagitative and boring. I remember Chuck Monan, my preaching buddy, taking me around to a lot of "holes in the wall" in OKC. It was some of the best food around. But I never would have gone to these places on my own. You see, that's what suburban folk do--they stick to the comfortable and the familiar.

So guess what suburban Christians are looking for? A safe, comfortable, predictable Christian experience. Are the playgrounds safe and fun for my kids? Do they sing the 20 most popular Christian songs that are on Christian radio? Are they going through Max Lucado's latest book? (We are going through Fearless right now.)

All of this is fine in one sense, but let to itself, it leads to spiritual malaise if not spiritual death. My friend and missional leader Alan Hirsch, author of The Shaping of Things to Come and The Forgotten Ways, says that there is something about middle class, suburban Christianity that is antithetical to following Jesus. A similiar point is made in the book, Death By Suburb. One of my favorite stories in this book is of parents working on their child's 6th grade science project while their son is off playing videos games. When the child get's his grade, the parents proudly say, "We got an A." The point it that the parents are finding their identity in their child's accomplishments, which is a type of narcissism.

Here are some of the problems with suburban Christianity:

Materialistic Christianity -- This results not only in personal materialism, but it in picking a church because they have the shiniest building.

Consumeristic Christianity - Members come to worship, assemblies, events, etc. to be fed, never to give. They go to the church that offers the most goods and services.

Crossless Christianity - I know that a certain preacher in Houston in one of the biggest churches ever seen has inspired millions of people. I am grateful for this. But I have never heard a call to sacrifice from him. This message, of course, would be counter to suburbia, which never advertises, "Come live in the Woodlands. You will have to sacrifice for others and your kids may not be safe. But if you'll deny yourself, you'll love it here."

Christless Christianity - There is a whole book on this subject which I am eager to read. But Christ just doesn't fit in suburbia very well. Can you see Jesus riding around in his SUV, dropping off kids at soccer practice or church? No, I'm afraid Jesus is far too radical and dangerous for today's suburban Christianity.

The evidence is in, however. Typical suburban Christianity does not produce disciples of Christ. It produces consumers who hop from church to church looking for the best deal for their tithe--or rather, their 2.5% giving. And if the children's or youth program or the preaching or the worship or the carpeting isn't cutting it, their try the store--I mean the church--down the street. Rarely does a family say, where can I be best used? Where does God need me the most?

Calls to go feed the homeless? Far too unpredictable. And messy. Calls to go on mission trips? Too dangerous. And disruptive to one's schedule. Calls to devote money and resources to reaching lost people? Hey, don't you know that I'm the customer? Meanwhile, members take this consumer mentality back to their marriages and their other personal relationships, and we wonder why Christians are divorcing and have few real friends, just like everyone else.

Becki and I are not immune to this malaise. We both would enjoy living in the hubub of the new urban living. We enjoy meeting people and having lots to do. It would be a great place to do ministry. The reason we have ruled it out right now? Our kids. It's not safe or predictable enough.

That is the problem with suburban Christianity. It prevents us from taking any chances or putting us into situations where we would have to grow and depend upon God and each other. And by our actions and inactions, we teach our children that this is what the Christian faith is all about. And our kids drop out in droves.

Have you experienced the spiritual death of suburban Christianity? What is the solution?

Should Christians observe Ramadan?

2009-10-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

Author Brian McLaren has joined with some of his Christian friends in observing Ramadan. McLaren says:

"Ramadan is the Muslim holy month of fasting for spiritual renewal and purification. It commemorates the month during which Muslims believe Mohammed received the Quran through divine revelation, and it calls Muslims to self-control, sacrificial generosity and solidarity with the poor, diligent reading of the Quran, and intensified prayer.

This year, I, along with a few Christian friends (and perhaps others currently unknown to us will want to join in) will be joining Muslim friends in the fast which begins August 21. We are not doing so in order to become Muslims: we are deeply committed Christians. But as Christians, we want to come close to our Muslim neighbors and to share this important part of life with them. Just as Jesus, a devout Jew, overcame religious prejudice and learned from a Syrophonecian woman and was inspired by her faith two thousand years ago (Matthew 15:21 ff, Mark 7:24 ff), we seek to learn from our Muslim sisters and brothers today."

Some have commended McLaren for reaching out to Muslims, while others, such as Mark Driscoll, have condemned him. So is this a good or bad thing?

The tension that any true missionary faces is the tension between a) being incarnational and translating the gospel into a language that people can understand; and b) syncretisim, or the mixing of religions and faith systems.

Frankly, those who are not on mission do not understand this tension at all. When you are sitting in the safety of a church building or Christian circle, it is easy to rail against any "translation" of the gospel as being a violation of Christian faith or practice.

So what about observing Ramadan?

Can one fast or pray (prayer always goes with fasting) with someone who has a different understanding of God? To this I would respond:

1. None of us has the exact same view of God, though of course there are some understandings (such as the Trinity, God's goodness, power, etc.) that would seem to be essential to a biblical understanding of God.

2. Yes, Muslims deny that Jesus and the Spirit are God. But so do Jews. And Paul continued to worship at Jewish synagogues after his conversion. He did so on mission, going to where people were both physically and spiritually.

3. Jesus taught the disciples to pray--and they did not have a good understanding of who he was. He took them where they were, and they came to a fuller understanding later.

4. God apparently adopted the Canaanite's name for God--El--and reshaped it, calling himself El Shaddai, among other forms of El.

5. Paul took the altar to the Unknown God in Acts 17 and said that this God that they worshipped unknowingly was the true God of heaven.

6. Cornelius' prayers went up before God as a sweet aroma, though he was a God-fearer and not a Jew or a Christian. Would it have been wrong for Peter to pray with him prior to his baptism? Would this cause the sweet aromas which existed with Cornelius to turn sour when a Christian prayed with him?

7. When I pray with my children, do they fully understand God? No, but the act of praying together helps shape their understanding of God.

If I were praying with a non-Christian (or fasting, though it is hard to fast "with someone," since fasting seeks to abstain!), I would want them to know where possible and appropriate that I pray in Jesus' name. I do want to share Christ with them! In fact, however, I pray with people prior to their baptism all the time in Bible studies. We probably think nothing of this because we have lived in a nation with a generally Christian worldview. We have never contemplated praying with someone who has a different worldview, so fasting or praying with a Muslim sounds jolting to us.

Obviously, our intent should always be to reach people for Christ, never to give up our faith. If the intent were to say that there was no difference between Christianity and Islam, this would be wrong. But when we show respect for people, this can open doors for dialogue and faith sharing. And who do you think will have more opportunities for faith sharing--the one who fasts or prays with a Muslim, or those who do not do so?

These are the initial thoughts that I have, but I am open to other ideas and discussion. If you can interact with the passages I have brought up and point towards other relevant passages, this would be great.

What are you thoughts?

Baptism Today from Clothes Closet Ministry

2009-09-23T12:59:00.000-07:00

Many months ago a woman came in to our clothes closet who was desperate, fleeing a very bad situation. She needed professional clothes for interviews, and was able to get them through our clothes closet ministry. We helped her in some small ways as well at other times.

This woman has told me about a very kind older man named Pete deLackner who had helped her. She had talked with him about being baptized. And today, she called me to tell me that he was ready to do this. He was baptized into Christ at 2:00 PM today!

What a wonderful story of how others whom we have helped are reaching out to people. The gospel spreading from person to person--kind of sounds like the book of Acts, doesn't it? Praise God!

Isn't this a great story?

Why Jesus Must Be at the Center of Our Faith

2009-09-12T15:59:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I'm speaking on Jesus, the Center of Our Faith. It may seem strange to say that Christ is the center of Christianity. But this needs to be said, for far too often Christ has been forgotten in Christianity.

There can be no doubt that Jesus was at the center of the early Christian movement. Nothing else could generated the fiery zeal, compassion, love, and martyrdom of the first followers of Jesus. Nothing else could have caused a movement to begin with. Passion for "doctrine," worship issues, leadership structure--these would not have caused anyone to even get out of bed.

The time from Constantine through the Reformation was not merely a long time of apostasy, as I was sometimes taught. Many great things happened during this time. Christ became known around the world. Hospitals were started because Christians wanted to care for the sick and wounded. Governments, under the influence of or led by Christians, began to provide for the poor. The Bible was translated into the native language of many peoples, with missionaries sometimes spending decades learning a language and loving a people so that they might write the Bible into their own words.

But somewhere along the way, Christ was at times lost as the focus of the faith. When the cross was put on the shields of Constantine's troops, Christianity became intermingled with politics, force, and power--hardly Jesus' approach to the world. The Medieval world so much focused on the church and its representatives that Christ was surely secondary to the machinations of power. The Reformation and Renassiance focused upon the individual and the glorification of humanity and the arts and sciences. Many great discoveries were made, paintings painted, and sculptures sculpted in the name of Jesus. But it is easy to imagine that these devotions merely drew upon the cultural material that was available in that day. The colonization in the 17th-20th centuries was as much about spreading Western way of life as it was about sharing Christ.

When the European soldiers of WW I saw the bloody mess where Christian nations all came together to kill one another, most did not ever return to their faith. Surely this was not what Jesus was all about. This, coupled with medieval history, is why to this day, institutional Christianity is absolutely dead in Europe.

WW II, Vietnam, Watergate, televangelists, AIDS, poor media coverage, the moral majority, and a million other things, all happening on Christianity's watch, have led to a general distrust of Christians and Christianity.

9/11, just remembered yesterday, also did something. While for a brief amount of time it caused some people to remember God and affirm that there is good and evil in the world (President Bush called those who attacked the US "evildoers," invoking biblical language), it's more lasting impact was to create the New Atheism. This new, resurgent atheism points to 9/11 as evidence that all religion is inherently violent, oppressive, and a threat to humanity.

Our young people are growing up now in this new postmodern world. A world that has shed many of the sins of modernism--pride, arrogance, racism, secularism--that now faces the challenges of skepticism, relevatism, and distrust towards virtually all organizations--especially, perhaps, religious organziations.

If we want to reach people today, Christ must be at the center of who we are. Our young people know if we are passionate about Jesus and his way of life--helping the poor, loving the broken, depending upon the father--or if we just give Jesus lip service. They know if we are really more interested in politics, money, or lesser doctrinal issues that are constantly fought over.

Jesus ought to be at the center of our faith. This has always been the case! Today, however, we have no choice if we want to retain our children in the faith or reach those on the outside.

Do you think Christ is at the center of most churches that you have been a part of and most Christians that you know? What is the evidence for or against this?

Names of Jesus

2009-09-10T11:31:00.000-07:00

Jesus has many names. Here are a few of them listed below.

God - Jesus is the almighty God who became human for us (John 20:28).

Immanuel - Immanuel means "God with us." In Jesus, God came to be with us as he became human, and he is still with us today (Mt. 1:23; 28:20)

Lord/Master - Jesus is Lord, master, the one to whom we owe our obedience--not Caesar or any other earthly power (John 1:1, 14).

Messiah/Christ - Messiah means anointed one. In biblical times, prophets, priests, and kings were anointed, showing their special role from God (John 4:25-26). Messiah is the Hebrew word for anointed one. Christ is the Greek word for anointed one.

Alpha and Omega - As the Alpha and the Omega, Jesus is eternal, a characteristic of God (Revelation 1:8; 22:13).

Savior - The word Jesus literally means "he who saves." As Savior, Jesus saves us from our sins (Mark 10:45, Titus 2:14).

Shepherd - As shepherd, Jesus knows his sheep--us--and lovingly and gently calls us, protects us, and binds us up when we are wounded (Jn. 10).

Light of the World - Jesus is the one who shows us how to live and who God is, bringing light to the world (John 8:12; 3:19-21).

Living Water - Jesus is the one through whom we are filled with the Spirit, welling up inside of us (John 4:10).

King of Kings and Lord of Lords - Jesus is ruler of the rulers, the greatest of all (Mt. 19:16)

Lamb of God - Jesus is the one who sacrifices himself for us, the humble lamb of God (Revelation 3:14).

Mediator - Jesus is the one who mediates between God and humanity--our "go-between" (1 Timothy 2:5).

Bread of Life - As the bread of life, Jesus is the one who feeds our souls and gives us salvation (John 6:35).

Way, Truth, and Life - Jesus is the only pathway to the Father, the only one who can really show us how to live (John 14:6)!

Which of these names stands out to you or do you find interesting?

Swine Flu Alert!

2009-09-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

If you wake up looking like this, don't go into work! You may have the swine flu.

(Thanks to Linda Hardin, our secretary, for sending this.)

Sharing Stories Builds Community

2009-09-02T01:12:00.001-07:00

Community is a key factor in reaching people for Christ. Few people come to faith without first encountering some form of Christian community. So what is it that builds a sense of community?

The article (cited below) gives five elements that research from Howard Thorsheim and Bruce Roberts shows helps people feel a part of a community. The article writer applies this to creating a sense of community at family reunions. Here is what the article says were the five most important elements in creating a sense of community:

- Knowing names. "That was the most powerful predictor" of happiness and well-being within a community, Thorsheim said. And it's simple to promote at a reunion. "Name tags are important, with big, bold letters."

- A sense of belonging. Name tags can include additional information, such as the person's hometown, home state and parents' names, to help people make connections. Before the Solingers' family reunion, members were invited to contribute material for a family history; the book was a great conversation starter, Donna Solinger said.

- A sense of caring. Before the Solingers' reunion, every family member received a call seeking their input, Donna Solinger said. The reunion opened with a ceremony at which candles were lit to honor each family member who had died in the four years since the last reunion. "The candles and bonfire stayed lit all weekend," she said.

- Linking. A meaningful reunion requires "some way to make a connection with others," Howard Thorsheim said. Asking people to bring something to share, whether it's food, music or a story, helps facilitate that.

- Helping - both asking others to help and being asked to help. But when you're the one doing the asking, make sure it's a real job that contributes something to the event.

As we seek to reach people for Christ, let us remember these elements that go towards creating a sense of community. Potential converts need to know members of the church community by name, and they need to feel that they belong amongst the members. A sense of caring should go without saying. Linking, however, could easily be forgotten. Potential converts need to have opportunities to share with the community and to provide assistance, which helps bind them to the community. So we should send potential converts out on workdays and invite them to serve even before they are baptized.

The postmodern truism, "They must belong before they believe" is true for a reason.

How do you think that we can create a greater sense of community for people who whom we are seeking to share Christ with?

From: The tales that bind; Sharing stories is the glue that connects families and makes reunions more meaningful, says a book by two Minnesota psychologists.(VARIETY) by Palmer, Kim
Source: Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), 6/29/2001.
Via: HighBeam™ Research
COPYRIGHT 2009 Star Tribune Co.

FriendSpeak Training Live!

2009-09-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

(Note this was blogged live last Saturday, but delayed in actual posting)

I'm at the FriendSpeak training seminar at the High Pointe Church of Christ. FriendSpeak is the domestic version of Let's Start Talking, a way of sharing one's faith by helping people people practice their Englush. This is done in one on one conversations with readings from the gospel of Luke.

Ben Woodward, the national FriendSpeak director, is our presenter. Ben and I and our families spent a lot of time together from Let's Start Talking.

Ben is sharing some interesting statistics about language in the US.

- 53.3% of foreigners were born in Latin America

- 25% of foreigners were born in Asia

- After Spanish, Chinses is the 3rd most spoken language in the US

- In Texas, 30% speak a language other than English in their homes

Obviously, there are huge opportunities here to share the gospel through conversational English! Present today are Jim and Donna Hannah, Courtney Berry, Bill Goodwin, Dan Rodriquez, Jane Tallant, ima Jean Reynolds, Steve Goff, and Betay Viana. Several others have expressed interest but could not be present.

I am excited about the restarting of this ministry!

How globalization is affecting the spread of the gospel

2009-08-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading GloboChrist: The Great Commission Takes a Postmodern Turn by Carl Raschke. It is a very interesting book that, among other things, explores the impact of globalization on the spread of the gospel.

Globalization has been received in various ways. Trade unions are against it, and anyone who has had his or her job outsourced probably is not a big fan. However, globalization has also helped lift millioins of people out of poverty in India, China, Africa, and other places around the world. It has also made most goods in the US and other Western countries much cheaper.

Whether one is a fan or not, however, globalization is here, and it is an unstoppable force. If companies do not globalize, not only do they miss out on market share, but they also will fail to be competitive and may go out of business.

One might think that globalization would have a positive affect on the spread of Christianity, as Western thoughts and Western technologies flow into non-Western countries and people groups. And it has had a positive effect--but not for the reasons that we might think.

Western culture is moving away from Christianity at a rapid pace. Europe has done so for some time, and the US--while founded with spiritual dimensions and retaining a spiritual vitality--has moved in this direction as well. Filling the void of Christianity has been secularism, consumerism (pursuit of material things), and hedonism (pursuit of decadent pleasure).

According to Raschke, the reaction of the "Global South" to globalization and the exporting of Western values has been a strong move towards religion, as these forces have been seen as a threat to their values and way of life. The two religions that these countries are turning to are radical Islam and devoted Christianity. While these religions are obviously very different in terms of theology, they share a common vitality and all-encompassing worldview that inspires their adherents.

This helps explain the phenomenal growth of the gospel in continents like Africa. In 1910, after colonialism with its enforced, non-indigenous expression of Christianity, there were only 108 million Christians. By the mid-1980s, however, Christianity had grown to be the majority religion in Africa, growing at the rate of 6 million new adherents per year. (p. 43) Radical Islam has grown significantly during this time as well, resulting in events like 9/11.

One of Raschke's most interesting--and scary--points is that anemic, consumeristic Christianity as is so typical in the West does not have the power to compete with the fire and passion of radical Islam. It is seen as the product of a corrupt, consumeristic West. Only the "real deal"--a passionate, Christ-centered Christianity offers a real alternative to the appeal of Islam. As globalization brings eastern religions and Islam backflowing to the US, they may have great appeal to Americans. Indeed, Wicca and Islam are currently the two fastest growing religions in the US. Churches that offer weak, add-on Christianity to a consumer lifestyle will suffer attrition to churches--and other faiths--that offer a more devoted, comprehensive worldview.

GloboChristianity is a fascinating read for anyone interested in globalization, Islam, and the spread of world-wide Christianity. i recommend it.

What do you think of Raschke's conclusions?

What does the world think of us? Check out these headlines

2009-08-20T09:18:00.001-07:00

I did a search today on http://www.digg.com/ on "church" to see what articles would come up with this in the title. Here are some of the article titles that I found and the categories that I have placed them in:

Political
- Mormon Anti-Gay Machine Cranking Up Against IL Civil Unions
- Why Do American Christians Approve of Torture?
- New Proposed Arkansas Law: Take Your Gun to Church
- Soldiers in Afganistan Gives Bibles, Told to "Hunt People for Jesus"
Immoral
- Disgraced Pastor Ted Haggard Facing New Sex Allegations
- Pastor Had Sex With Daughters to Teach Them How To Be Good Wives
- Two Catholic Priests Stole $8 Million From Church

Hateful/Judgmental
- Hate on Display: The Westboro Baptist Church Protests the White House
- UK Flooding is God's Judgment on Society
- My Christian Daughter Says I'm Going to Hell

Abusive
- 16 Victims of the Church of Scientology
- Catholic Church Excommunicated 9 Year Old Rape Victim
- Mormon New Zealand Man Beat Daughter Over Church Refusal
- Thousands Raped and Abused in Catholic Schools in Ireland

Out of Touch/Ignorant
- Why the Catholic Church Can't Ignore Science
- Reason is the Greatest Enemy Faith Has
- Faith Healing Parents Charged in Infant's Death

Not Helpful Spiritually
- Spirituality, not Religion, Makes Kids Happy
- Church Signs That Won't Make You Go To Church
- The Eight Most Bizarre Patron Saints
- 7 Year Old Steals Car to Skip Church, Car Chase Video

With all of this negative publicity, it is easy to see why the world is not big on "church." The implications of this are huge.

First, we must not assume that someone wants to "go to church." Non-Christians are likely to fear that they will be judged, hated, abused, bored, or subjeted to politics at church. This means that impersonal appeals and church marketing will continue to decrease in effectiveness in getting people through the church building doors.

Second, we must create safe, non-threatening and appealing entry points into church life. One of the workers that I know at a Starbucks here in McKinney named Brittany attends a house church in Princeton. Small groups and worship gatherings in homes, coffee shops, book stores, parks, and other non-churchy type of settings are places where we need to invite people to visit.

Third, we must do things which give the church a good name. Jesus told his disciples to do good deeds before people so that they may praise the Father in heaven (Mt. 6:14-16). This means we must do things which impact people and the community and are recognized even by non-Christians as being good. This includes feeding people, clothing people, providing school supplies to needy children, helping the abused and lonely.

As an example, you can read this story of how a family praised God because of how the Clothes Closet Ministry and the High Pointe Church of Christ helped the family after they had lost everything in a fire. I also met one of the school representatives who was up at our building today, coordinating with us on school supplies that the church provides. She talked about how this church helps them so much.

Basically, to change the way the world things of us we must act and be more and more like Jesus Christ. Not focused on ourselves. Not spending on ourselves. Not judging, but loving. Serving. Helping. Would not this type of church impact the world and our communities?

What do you think that we can do to change the world's opinion of us?

Pictures and Video of Our Coldplay concert

2009-08-17T19:49:00.000-07:00

Here is a video (Viva la Vida) and some pictures of the Coldplay concert that we went to on 7-21-09. This was an anniversary gift to ourselves, and it was a great one. The concert rocked!

Becki and I at the Concert

We ran into Regina Irons, now married, and her new husband, at the concert! Regina was in the youth group when I served as a youth minister at Wilshire. She is now teaching music at an inner city school in OKC,

These bouncing yellow balls came out on one of the songs. It was fun!

Pictures of the crowd!

Ron and Diane O'Neal--came to the concert too! Ron is a shepherd at High Pointe.

A cool picture of him playing.

The band came out into the audience, not far from us!

Magic fingers at work!

Have you been to a Coldplay concert? Do you listen to them? What are your thoughts?

Is Christianity a movement or an institution--lessons from the health care debate

2009-08-12T07:48:00.000-07:00

There has been much talk about those who have shown up to "tea parties" and town halls to protest government spending and the current health care bills. Principally, the question has been, is this a genuine grass roots movement? Or are these merely events manufactured by political groups.

I'm sure that there are elements of both. But for my part, I see people who have never gone to political functions going to them. I don't condone rude behavior, such as shouting people down, but the people I have seen speaking on the news seem to be very genuine in their concern. I am interested in going to a tea part or town hall myself to get a feel for people's moods first hand.

Bussing in protesters, whether from political groups or unions, would not be a genuine movement. But providing information on where to go? This kind of "organization" does not mean that there is not a genuine movement going on.

So now let's turn to Christianity. Certainly, it began as a movement. There was no massive "institution" organizing them, no manufacturing of responses. The movement was a Jesus movement, a spreading of the message and way of life of Jesus and the kingdom of God. As people heard about this Jesus and responded to him, they passed this on by word of mouth and in the public square. Their primary public spokespeople were passionate believers, willing to die for their faith. As these Jesus followers engaged in mission together, they naturally bonded, coming together to encourage one another, break bread, and pray.

In other words, the church was the result of the movement, not the other way around. When we start with Jesus, we get a church. When we start with a church, we miss Jesus. The faith becomes all about structure, organization, following the rules, and top down management.

So what are we today--a movement or an institution? Certainly, the church has largely become institutional--inflexible, bureaucratic, and hierarchical. Consider the following:
- A movement flows wherever the message needs to go. An institution says that you must go through "government forms" and a lot of hoops to do anything.
- A movement is innovative. An institution is primarily concerned about preservation of established ways of doing things.
- A movement has natural leaders who surface as the message is being spread. An institution requires a person to run for office and have an official title, designated by the institution.

Not convinced? Try changing your assembly times each week in response to the needs of the message or community. In many churches, try doing something religious (hold a Bible study, outreach, or worship) without getting approval. Try ditching Wednesday night service for Saturday night neighborhood outreaches. What would be the response?

So you tell me--is the church a movement or an instituion?

Why recruiting leaders in churches does not work

2009-08-08T16:17:00.000-07:00

Most every church I've known has struggle in finding ministry leaders. There are undoubtedly reasons for this that are specific for individual churches, but I want to highlight a few reasons for these struggles that tend to be true in most churches.

Here are the mistakes that churches make in trying to recruit leaders:

1. Recruiting through impersonal means.
The bulletin is a lousy place to recruit. True, it may occassionally catch someone's eye and interest. But most of the time, it doesn't. Same goes for sign-up sheets, unless it is done in the worship assembly, in conjunction with a message on the subject, with time given for people to respond. Even then, one study has shown that personal recruiting is 5 times more effective than impersonal methods.

Reliance on impersonal methods is even less effective in big churches. Why? Everyone assumes that someone else will do the work or task. And in a large group, there is less relational pull. No one will know if you are a spiritual bum and never lift a finger to help. In smaller churches, it is harder to hide.

While I will at times put out invitations to serve in the bulletin and pass around sign-up sheets, I know that this usually at best raises awareness of the ministry. Primarily, the church bulletin is a place to celebrate ministries. A great picture or a powerful testimony of a ministry at work can do more to recruit new people than any generic announcement. (But personal recruiting is still best.)

2. Failing to consider a person's Strengths and Spiritual gifts when recruiting.
The fact is that when a person is given an opportunity to serve in the way that God has made them, rarely do their arms have to be twisted. Churches are horribly guilty of finding people to fit ministries, rather than letting ministry flow out of a person's giftedness and heart's passion.

True, some ministries need better organization and publicity. But much of the time, churches need to let ministries die if there is no one to fill the post. We are in the people business--and so is God--not the program business. A program is a life of its own that continues regards of the people involved. We need to let more things die in churches so that people can be freed to pursue the ministry God has put upon their hearts. At High Pointe, most all of our new ministry leaders have come from people going through a personal strengths and Spiritual gifts assessment.

3. Failing to reach out and make new disciples.

I am finishing up reading Organic Leadership by Neil Cole, a very interesting book. He says the following:

"When churches reach new people, the changed lives infuse the whole congregation with energy . . . . If your ministry is struggling without leaders, do not reevalutate your leadership development program. It is time to reevalulte your disciplemaking system. If you are doing next to nothing to reach lost and broken people, your leadership development system will yield very few resutls." (p. 138-39).

I am very pleased when I go back to Liberty (my previous church where I ministered for six years) and I find new converts serving on the minister search team, serving on outreach teams, and serving as ministry leaders in finance, transportation ministry, and more.

Recently at High Pointe, one of our new converts from Celebrate Recovery said that he wanted to help transport our clothes for our Clothes Closet ministry. (Read his story). And he volunteered to do this even before being baptized! New converts provide passion, energy, and new leadership in all kinds of different ministries. (Of courses, we should not forget that the primary goal is to send them back on mission and not become part of an internal church ministry machine.)

So, if you want to find new leaders, recruit personally, help people discover their strengths and spiritual gifts, and make new disciples of Christ!

What thoughts do you have about recruiting and developing new leaders?

The Tangible Kingdom

2009-08-01T13:44:00.000-07:00

This is a short video that graphically illustrates the contrast between going to church and being the church out in the community. It promotes the "Tangible Kingdom" the book by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay. See www.tangiblekingdom.com.

The Tangible Kingdom came out in 2008, and it has quickly taken hold in missional and church planting circles. One of the reasons it is pretty powerful is because it tells the real life story of the authors, who church planted in Denver (and elsewhere). They tell their challenges and blessings of being in established churches, and then in church plants.

Some interesting points that they make include:

Telling Christians who want to join their community that they are on mission, and that in order to be a part of this group, they will need to commit to certain missional practices such blessing others, hospitality, etc.
Letting "Sojourners" (those who have not yet fully committed to Christ, but who are searching) participate in their community, including having leadership roles in certain parts of worship.
That starting a church with Christian is not really easier than starting it with non-Christians, since most Christians bring with them a consumer attitude that says, "Feed me," rather than seeking to feed and serve others.
That mission is an essential part of spiritual formation, and that spiritual formation is a process.

They also have four major missional practices:

Leaving - Replacing personal or Christian activities with time spent building relationships with people in the surrounding culture.
Listening - Listening is watching and sensitively responding to the unspoken and spoken needs of Sojourners in ways that demonstrate sincere interest.
Living Among - Participating in the natural activites of the culture around you, with whimsical holiness. This would include eating and drinking whatever was put in front of you (including moderate consumption of alcohol), a la 1 Cor. 10:23-31 and Jesus' example (who was accused of being a drunkard and a glutton).
Loving Without Strings - Pretty self-explanatory!

The Tangible Kingdom is an interesting, thought provoking book with real life application.

Have you read this book? What do you think of the video and above summary?

PIctures of my wrecked car

2009-08-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

Just to commemmorate it, here are some pictures of my wrecked car. As most of you know, a car pulled out in front of us last week. It was Friday, July 24, 2009, at about 5:45 PM, and Becki and our girls were in the car. We were headed down Virginia street going east, about to go under HWY 75, when a teen and her boyfriend turned left in front of us. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt, though I've been dealing with some back and neck pain.

The car was totalled, as you would expect from these pictures. Unfortunately, it is unlikely we'll be able to get anything near what the car was worth. It was a 1996 Honda Accord in excellent condition, with relatively low miles, leather seats--and it was paid for. We will have to pay more to get anywhere close to this.

I was just thinking the other day how great it was to have two cars that were paid for. Looks like I need to eliminate these positive thoughts next time to avoid jinxing myself!

Any thoughts on where to get another similar type and condition of Honda? What tips do you have on getting a good settlement for the car with the insurance company?

Creation, Adam and Eve, and my 8 year old

2009-07-27T19:43:00.000-07:00

Tonight, the girls and I just had Bible stories, not "songs, prayers, and Bible stories." We started late, and frankly, my back is killing me (from someone pulling out in front of our car last Friday, in case you had not heard).

The Bible story that we read was about Genesis 3, which looks at the "fall" of humanity. I could not get through this, however, without Gina, my eight year old, asking all kinds of questions about this story and creation.

She asked questions like, how did dinosaurs and people and the ice age all fit together? And, did the serpent really talk?

Even, Emily our five year old, wondered about the talking serpent. Gina reminded us all of Balaam and the talking donkey, and that it was possible. But she said maybe that was just a way of saying it . . .

I tried to explain that the creation account was not an exact chronology. While true, it was poetic in its explanation and did not give exact timelines. And lo and behold, Gina said, if a day to God is like a thousand years, maybe the days in Genesis are like that.

Wow. That girl is too sharp! She thinks like a theologian and a biblical scholar. Since this discussion was not over her head, as I thought it would be, I went on and pointed out that the creation "days" were not to be taken literally because the sun and the moon were not created until "day" four--and 24 hour days only exist from the rotation of the earth around the sun (Gina completed my sentence about the rotation of the earth around the sun being what made 24 hours). In a literal reading, the sun was not even created until "day" four, so no regular days prior to this were even possible.

Besides being amazed at how sharp my girls are, here is the thought that came to mind. If an eight year old can see the problems with an overly literal reading of Genesis, so can adults--particularly non-Christians.

So let's not try to convert people to a literal 7 days of creation, the age of the earth, or anything other than Christ. He is the one whom we ought to seek to convert people to!

What questions have your kids had about the creation account?

Forgiveness

2009-07-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

This Sunday I am speaking on the subject of forgiveness. There are many, many texts on this, including the "Lord's Prayer" from Matthew 6:9f.

This, then, is how you should pray:
”‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Here are some additional passages on forgiveness:

25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins" (Mk. 11:25).

“If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him" (Lk. 17:3-4).

34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk. 23:34).

10 If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake (2 cor. 2:10).

13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you (Col. 3:13).

What are your thoughts on forgiveness? What do these verses and others tell you? What makes forgiveness so difficult?

Do you dread checking your email?

2009-07-22T09:01:00.000-07:00

Email started as a great idea. In a click of a button, you can send a message around the world. Keep up with friends, share ideas--what a great tool!

Now, however, email is out of control. I don't know about you, but I often dread checking my email. Email is a bad way to send or receive bad news. Many use it to hide from conflicts, be passive aggressive, or avoid personal interactions. Then there are the sheer number of forwards that we both have inflicted on us and inflict on others. And, the whole world is spamming us!

So, when I want to enjoy a day, I may delay checking my email for a few hours. Like last night, when Becki and I went to the Coldplay concert. But then I begin to dread what may await.

Of course there are many positive uses of email. I get wonderful notes of encouragement and support through email, and these brighten my life and my day. But sometimes, you wonder if your life might be better without all of this impersonal contact. If we all lived in the mountains and read French poetry to one another at high altitudes. Or we all lived on the beach without a plug-in.

Sigh. We live in an electronic world. We need to use it for good. But sometimes, I wonder if all of this technology is really good for us. What do you think?

What thoughts do you have about email? Do you ever dread checking your email?

Angel Summoner & BMX Bandit Video

2009-07-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile, so I thought that I would bring back one of my favorite humorous YouTube videos. Feeling overshadowed? Not sure if you need the help of angels? Watch this hilarious video!

Using the Government to Enforce Morality

2009-07-14T07:38:00.001-07:00

What is, and what should be, the role of government in regards to morality?

It seems that both the right and the left want to use the government to enforce different moral positions. The right wants the government to outlaw abortions and defend traditional marriage. The left wants the government to take care of the poor and offer healthcare to all. And of course, both sides want the government to enforce laws against murder, theft, and other universally recognized moral laws.

So, on what basis do we use the government and laws to enforce a particular moral position? If the government should outlaw abortions and defend traditional marriage, why not have the government take care of the poor and offer healthcare? Usually the answer that is given is that it does not work. Capitalism works. Socialism does not.

But this is a pragmatic argument, not a moral argument. Would we argue against laws that outlaw abortion based upon pragmatism? Even if these laws did not work all the time (say, women who who wanted an abortion went to Canada), they would undoubtedly work some of the time. The moral basis for these laws would be upheld, even if they were not 100% efficient.

And we at one time had laws against things such as adultery. Would we be for these laws now? How about laws against pride? Lying? Gossip? Where do we draw the line?

I do believe that some moral issues ought to be upheld by laws. But it seems that we do not have a consistent rational for why we use the law to uphold some moral issues and exclude others. I would be interested in someone providing a good rationale.

What moral issues do you want the government to enforce? Which do you not want them to involved in? Why?

Rev! - A Ministry Magazine Worth Looking At

2009-07-06T12:53:00.000-07:00

I get a lot of ministry magazines just sent to me. I let them stay in my mailbox at work until Teresa, one of my trusty administrative assistants, forces me to go through them. Much of the time, they are quickly skimmed and go in the trash.

However, recently a magazine called "Rev!: Revving Up Ministry Together" caught my attention. The articles were current, insightful, and covered many different areas of ministry, including missional outreach, leadership, and spiritual formation.

Here are some of the articles in the july/august issue:
- Leading On Empty
- Twitter THIS!
- Who's Your Leper?
- Your Sons and Daughters Will Prophesy
- The Browning of Our Churches
- Rethinking and Re-engaging Missions
- The Top Five Church Growth Principles
- Growing Fruitful Ministries
- A Framework for Tracking Spiritual Formation

I have a hard copy of the magazine; however, here is the website link. Let me know what you think!

Do you read Rev!? What ministry magazines/sites do you like?

Would you have been for the Patriots or the Torries in 1776?

2009-07-04T09:56:00.000-07:00

I am a proud American. I love many of the things that America has stood for. We are not a perfect country, but we have been a country that has probably done more good than any other country throughout history.

But what was the basis of our country's founding? We were being taxed without representation. Hey, I'm sympathetic. I don't even like taxation with representation! But would Jesus have been for a violent overthrow of a government for this reason and others like it (such as violation of individual rights)?

Think about it. The British government did believe in God and Christ. The Roman government was thoroughly pagan and polytheistic, and it of course did not believe in Christ. And yet, Jesus counseled "turning the other cheek," "going the extra mile." and "giving to Caesar what belonged to Caesar." He never counselled violent overthrow of this corrupt, pagan empire.

So--whose side would you have been on in 1776--the patriots or the torries? Let's stir it up!

Saying goodbye to a good friend, Steve Cunningham

2009-07-01T22:43:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, last Saturday Becki and I traveled to Liberty, MO--home of the previous church where I served as a minister--to attend the funeral of a dear friend, Steve Cunningham.

When I first moved to Liberty, we really needed a youth deacon who could love and help mentor our youth. At the time there seemed to be no suitable candidates, and I can remember us saying, "God may just have to send someone to us." And that he did!

Steve, his wife Anna-Marie, and their two boys, Jeff and Danny, arrived to us via Chicago and the Cardinal Dr. congregation. With his loving and willing heart, he soon became our youth deacon, and he and Anna-Marie did an outstanding job. They took the kids on youth retreats, hung out with them, taught Bible classes, and helped them reached out to their non-Christian friends through their "Fun in the Son" gatherings. Later, he would help start a young adults ministry at Liberty to try to help this group find a place. He became a voice for them too, and he regularly came to our Starbucks outreaches--a popular hangout place for young adults.

Two or so years later, we were looking to install new elders. I can remember my long time elder friend John Miller and I going out to lunch with Steve. There we told him that we thought that he would make an excellent elder (he was already shepherding the youth), and that we needed him in the group to help us confirm our direction. Steve smiled, leaning forward, and said that he was onboard. He was soon recognized publicly for the outstanding shepherd that he already was.
In our meetings, Steve helped bring out the perspective of younger people, which helped the church go forward in our direction of reaching out. Some leaders bring about change by their ability to persuade or force of personality. Steve, however, was a calming influence, and you got the sense that if he was behind something, it must be pretty reasonable.

Steve was an incredible guitar player, and he, Roger Dingus (guitar; now also an elder), and John Hess (drums) started having a few jam sessions together. They were all a bit older (late 40s), so they started calling themselves the "Assisted Living." I came in for two rehearsals right before our first "Fourth of July" party at the Hess' house and played the whole set that they had worked up, adding keyboard and some youth to this bunch of over the hill Baby Boomers! :) Later, Robert Ritter would be added, playing bass and allowing Steve to concentrate almost totally upon guitar (he sometimes covered bass, and he was excellent with it as well).

Our band played mostly classic rock. It was the genre we played best. I grew up on Billy Joel and 80s music, all very keyboard centered. In this band I learned Boomer classics like "Simple Man," "Smoke on the Water," and "China Grove." I have to say that playing classic rock is a lot of fun. I helped stretch the band by introducing them to some younger sets with U2 and Coldplay. I also love Christmas and Christmas music, and so each year we had a huge Christmas party in our basement, inviting the whole church and our neighborhood. When trying to decide whether or not to leave Liberty for High Pointe--among many other things!--the band kept coming to mind. I didn't want to lose all of those great times we played together. I still miss it. The band represented good times.

Steve, John Miller, and I were also in a "BELLS" discipleship group together for a couple of years. We came together each week, meeting in Starbucks, and talked about who we tried to bless each week, who we ate with, what we studied, what we heard God saying to us, and who we tried to spend time with. These "missional lifestyles" sought to imitate the lifestyle of Jesus. We need these kind of intimate groups for encouragement and accountability. I am a minister, and yet, I found that when we did not meet, I often would fail in these practices. Again, it was difficult leaving behind this group.

I got a call from Judy Dingus, another great friend and co-worker from Liberty about 7 weeks ago. She told me the shocking news that Steve had lung cancer and that he had been given 1-4 years to live. We were stunned. I immediately thought about going up to Liberty right then to see him. But I had meetings . . . and I thought that I would see him for the 4th of July. I thought I had more time. But I did not. I wish now that I had gone.

Last week, Steve's lungs began to fill up. They tried to get the fluid out, but they could not. He had a blockage in one of his lungs, and his heart just gave out. They were able to revive him briefly, allowing him the opportunity to say goodbye to Anna-Marie and his oldest son, Jeff. Danny was at camp. Judy called me on this day, telling me the sad news and that she was going to pick Danny up from camp. I prayed for her and the whole family.

The funeral was on Sunday, and it was packed. Between the viewing and the funeral, there were probably 500 people represented who came out to remember and honor Steve. He had church members from not only Liberty, but Cardinal Dr. in Chicago. There were neighbors there, as well as the friends and parents of his son and their sports teams. His co-workers came--he even had business associates from China attend. Wow! What an impact.

John Miller, who had been with Steve through his ordeal, officiated the funeral. I said a prayer, and there was an "open mic" section in which people shared their thoughts and memories of Steve. Many people took the opportunity to share during the open mic section. There were many great stories about Steve here that made us laugh and cry.

John is also 52, the age that Steve was when he died. We talked, as did others, and we all thought about how short life is. We need to live for today, and make sure that we concentrate on what is most important, as Steve did. What is most important? Loving God and people. Nothing else really matters. It has made me impatient for seeing the things God calls us to do to happen. Both individually and as a church, we need to make sure that we live everyday--starting today--for God.

Thank you, Steve, for teaching us how to love God and people. Thank you laughing with me, praying with me, encouraging me--for showing up at Starbucks, for playing those great guitar leads, for patiently listening, for speaking up for those who had no voice, for being willing to try new things, for truly caring for my life and the life of so many others. We will miss you Steve. I still can hardly believe that you are gone. But thank you for showing us how to live--love God, love people. Nothing else really matters. I hope to be able to impact as many people for Christ as you did with your life. May your love and the love of the Father shine down upon us. We will see you in heaven!

Your friend, co-worker, band member, and brother in Christ.

James

Steve with his boys, Jeff and Danny

Steve with his wife, Anna-Marie

Steve with our Band, Assisted Living

Steve playing the guitar

What thoughts and memories do you have of Steve? What did you learn from him? How did he bless your life?

Renovare Blogging 7

2009-06-23T15:51:00.000-07:00

The main speaker in today's afternoon session is Richard Foster. This is the first time I have heard him in person. I am surprised about some things-he speaks very flowerly and poetically, and he is wearing a suit and tie. I expected this teacher on simplicity to be a bit more, well, simple in style and delivery. But what he is saying is great.

Foster is speaking on the importance of words, as demonstrated in the wires of Moses. No other person in Scripture has more recorded words than Moses.

Words have the power to hurt or heal. Our postmodern world recognizes the importance of words, how they limit or empower. We would do well to take note of this.

The words of the gospel can be words that heal and bring hope and meaning into people's lives. May we share these healing words with the world around us.

What words do we need to share with the church, our family, and the world?

-- Post From My iPhone

Renovare Blogging 6

2009-06-23T09:19:00.000-07:00

What is Spiritual formation? The Renovare conference put together a definition after consulting with 200 spiritual formation authors and speakers.

Here it is: Christian spiritual formation is the process of being shaped by the Spirit into the likeness of Christ, filled with love for God and the world.

Here are some sub-points that they make:

- God calls us all to become like Jesus.
- As we are rooted in Jesus and in the kingdom he proclaims, we ate progressively transformed.
- Our engagement with God's transforming grace is vital.
- Spiritual formation happens I'm community
- Spiritual formation is, by it's very nature, missional.
- We invite all people, everywhere, to embrace with us this calling to become like Jesus.

What do you think of this definition? What strengths or weaknesses do you see?

-- Post From My iPhone

Renovare Blogging 5

2009-06-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

The third speaker in today's afternoon session is Dallas Willard.

Dallas is speaking on Servanthood and the Jesus Way. He begins by saying we should ask not just What would Jesus do, but How would Jesus do it?

The basic message of Jesus was about the kingdom. Repentance as Jesus was about in this context was thinking about your thinking, not getting down on one's knees.

When we come to Jesus. We enter into an interactive relationship with God, which is his kingdom. And Jesus' life is our example of this interaction.

At the last supper, what would Jesus want to leave as a last thought for his disciples? Servanthood. He shared this "thought" by washing their feet. Jesus did this, John tells us, knowing that he had come from the Father and would return to the Father. This is a verse that has always stood out to me.

The Jesus Way is to abandon our own kingdoms for God, putting our trust in him. The desire to build our own kingdom has always been thedesire of humanity, going back to Babel.

The language of the kingdom of God and that God is king emerges out of the exile in 2 Chr. No matter what was hppening in the world, God was still king.

Is God enough? Yes. It is in exile that we discover the sufficiency of God. When we turn over the control of our lives, there is great feedom that comes. The cross relieves us from self-control and fees us to serve others.

The reason we struggle with mercy towards others is because we are not servants.

Being a servant is not about individual acts. We live as a servant of Jesus, acted coming into the kingdom.

When we cast our burdens on God, we are freed and can trust that God has our back.

What do you think is the relationship between servanthood and the Kingdom of God?

-- Post From My iPhone

Renovare Blogging 4

2009-06-22T14:12:00.000-07:00

Chris Webb, the president of Renovare, is also speaking at today's afternoon. He is speaking on sin. He makes the point that we want cleaned up homeless people and prostitutes. We would rejoice in this story. But what about the struggling prostitute, who worships with us and then goes back out on the street? Would an AA group kick out an alcoholic? No. What about a church that kicks out all sinners? It would be empty.

David was a terrible sinner, sinning in most every chapter. But he was a man after God's own heart. When confronted with his sin, he was shattered.

Why do we pretend that sin does not exist in the church? What can change this pretense?

-- Post From My iPhone

Renovare Blogging 3

2009-06-22T14:05:00.000-07:00

Speaking in the afternoon session is Randy Frazee. Randy is the senior minister at Oak Hills Church, working with Max Lucado. I loved Frazee's book The Connecting group, in which he highlights neighborhood and intergenerational troops.

He is talking about giving out a survey, both self assessment and from a few close to him, on Christlikeness. He said that it is too easy for us to deceive ourselves. Chtistlikeness must happen in community.

We all could be helped by asking those around us how we could grow. That is a bit scary, but the fact is that those around us that are closest to us-such as our spouse, close friends-already know our flaws.

Have you ever had the courage to ask those around you about how you can grow?

-- Post From My iPhone

Renovare Blogging 2

2009-06-22T09:44:00.001-07:00

Tonight was the big kickoff for Renovare, the Jesus Way. Max Lucado spoke on fear. It is a subject which I have been thinking about a lot lately, along with worry. In the gospels, fear is the opposite of faith. A fearful church or a fearful Christian is probably struggling with faith.

I confess that, like the disciples in the boat, I often struggle with faith-which sometimes manifests itself in worry about the future. But hopefully God can use me as he did the disciples, and I can grow in this.

Eugene Peterson, author of The Jesus Way, spoke on several different aspects of discipleship. He emphasized how Jesus shows us who God is. We see his divinity through humanity. Our culture, on the other hand, wants spirituality to be outside of our humanity. An escape from reality. A spirituality that has no impact upon how we actually live. I am interpretting a bit here, but this is the track I think he was on.

This is the theme of his book The Jesus Way. That we see glimpses of Jesus in people throughout the Bible-in Abraham, David, etc. I have bought his book and look forward to going through it.

What are your thoughts on fear and faith? What kind of spirituality do you think people are looking for?

-- Post From My iPhone

Renovare Blogging 1

2009-06-21T14:53:00.000-07:00

We changed hotels today so that I could attend the Renovare conference. There are general sessions, and specialized workshop sessions. My specialized sessions are with James Bryan Smith on Becoming an Apprentice to Jesus.

In this session, Smith talks of how we change-metanoia (repentance), spiritual disciplines, community, and the Holy Spirit.

One thing that he said that struck me was that Sabbath was therapy for control. It forces us to not work-and we must trust that God is at work during this time.

We must apply the disciplines at home first. Reading Bible stories with my girls is a typeof Sabbath. I must pause and take time. This is a spiritual discipline.

We must also apply these disciplines at work and in our community.

Another thing that stood out to me-it is our nature to concentrate on the negative. The antidote is counting our blessings.

What do you think of these thoughts?

-- Post From My iPhone

Alamo and outdoor preaching

2009-06-20T13:32:00.001-07:00

We ate at the Buckhorn for lunch. A ggod burger, and some good live music. Thank you to our neighbor Margie for her suggestion!

The girls wanted to go back to the science museum, so Becki gave me a 30 minute reprieve to walk around. I wandered down to The Alamo and looked at it from the outside.

I had been warned by people not to expect too much from The Alamo. Even prepared, I was struck by how small it was. Obviously, the legend is larger than real life. That made me think how God can take our small stands, like those brave men in The Alamo, and use them in profound ways years, even decades later, to inspire others.

Outside of The Alamo was a man preaching about Jesus. I did not hear a lot of the preaching, bit I did hear him singing, Precipis is the Blood of Jesus. Of is still in my head, snd I did not know thesong before he sang it.

Not many people are going to stop for open air preaching, though a really good singing group might stop some. But I thought, I wonder if this could not still touch someone. If I am still singing that song in my head, could not someone else be doing the same thing? Is it possible that God could use this to touch someone's heart for Jesus and later seek him out?

I concluded that God could indeed use this. Somehow, we need to find ways to bring Jesus into the public square. Rather, he is already in the public square. We need to find ways to help people sense his presence.

What do you think about open air preaching and singing? A good idea or a bad idea? Helpful or hurtful to the spread of the gospel?

-- Post From My iPhone

Nored family at Science Museum

2009-06-20T11:39:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures from the science museum in San Antonio. There was a photographer taking pictures for the museum brochure. He took a lot of pictures of Gina and Emily for the brochure, and we signed a waver allowing them to use their pictures for the brochure. I'm glad someone else knows how cute our kids are! (Just kidding!)

-- Post From My iPhone

More High Pointe in Your Park Pictures

2009-06-18T00:16:00.001-07:00

Below are four more pictures of "High Pointe in Your Park." The first two are of the Templeton group. They met in an elementary school playground and played baseball. They were able to invite some people there to pick up games.

The second set of pictures are of the Ledbetter group in the Melissa area. There was a good, diverse mix here--and it looks like they are having fun!

High Pointe in Your Park (Pictures of Nored/Delaughter Gathering)

2009-06-17T19:32:00.000-07:00

Tonight, the High Pointe Church of Christ spread out into parks across McKinney and beyond. We gathered people in our neighborhood who are part of High Pointe, and we invited some of our neighbors.

We had a good turnout. About half of the High Pointe members did not know each other before this, despite living very close to one another. We had a young couple come out to the park--and the husband of this couple I do not believe I have ever seen at our worship. Clearly this was a gathering that was comfortable for him, which is great.

Also, one of our neighbors came down and joined us. Our kids played together, as did some of the kids of the other High Pointe members.

After eating, talking, and playing with the kids, we ended with a prayer for the Russia Let's Start Talking misson team that is leaving on Saturday. We laid hands upon them and prayed for their mission trip. It was great to do this right out in the park.

Our kids said, "We want to do this again!" And we will do this again. It was the great start of a neighborhood gathering, and may form the basis for a new small group. But instead of just Bible study, we can gather together for fellowship with neighbors, prayer, perhaps some neighborhood service. I have also been wanting to do the neighborhood barbeque too, and Chris Chappotin's talk today reminded me of this.

All in all, a great night. We met people and interacted with people that we never would have met or interacted with if we had met in our building. It is great to get out in the community!

Have you done something like "High Pointe in Your Park"? How did it go?

Mission Alive Strategy Lab

2009-06-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

This morning I went over and joined some of my friends at Mission Alive, a church planting organization led by Gailyn Van Rheenen, for their "Strategy Lab." These sessions are led primarily by church planters in the field, and what I heard was excellent--theologically based, Spirit-discerned, contextual, and practical.

Chris Chappotin (featured above) talked about building community. In his context, having a barbeque out in the front yard each week and inviting the neighbors has been a great way to build relationships in the neighborhood. These gatherings can help break the brokennes of isolation that is found in suburbia.

Interestingly, tonight we had geographic small groups spread out across the McKinney area and beyond0--including one in our neighborhood. Chappotin's talk fit well into this concept (more on this in my next post).

How would the weekly barbeque in the front yard work in your context for building relationships with neighbors?

We are going to San Antonio! Family Time, Renovare Conference

2009-06-15T15:21:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, Becki and I and the kids are going to San Antonio! We have never been there, and everyone seems to love it. We'll spend a few days together at Sea World and other places. Then Sunday, I will attend the Renovare conference, which focuses on helping people become better followers of Jesus. It will have an emphasis upon spiritual formation.

Speakers include Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, Eugene Peterson, and others. Should be great! I am ready to get away for a few days.

Have you been to San Antonio? What do you recommend seeing or doing?

High Pointe in Town Lake Park

2009-06-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

Last night we had the third night of our "High Pointe in the Park" nights. High Pointe in the Park is going into parks and other public places in our community on Wednesday nights, seeking to be a visible light in the community.

It is important for service and outreach to be a part of the church's weekly schedule, such as a Wednesday night. By just moving the church outside of its walls, most of church life can be made an outreach.

Yesterday, the main attraction for High Pointe in the Park was at Town Lake, a well know park in McKinney. We had a picnic, paddle boat races, a live band, a bounce house, and the park's playground equipment. We had a great first hour of this fellowship, and some families outside the church joined us for our meal.

Unfortunately, the tornado warning hit at 7 PM, so we had to shut down an hour early. Paula said, "It was a fabulous night.....for one hour." As one of our elders said, however, "There is nothing that prevents us from doing this again."

Below are some pictures from this night.

What benefits do you see from having Wednesday nights in "parks"?

Why do we serve/bless others? Getting to our motivation . . .

2009-06-07T12:25:00.000-07:00

I was doing some reading this week in Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster about the Discipline of Service. In my Spiritual gifts listing, the gift of service is more narrowly towards physical, "menial" types of tasks. There is, of course, a broader understanding of service that would include this, but also could be defined as simply blessing others' lives.

In his book, Foster distinguishes between "self-righteous" service and "true service." Self-righteous service comes from human effort. It is more scheming than anything else, and is "highly concerned about results"--and if these results fail to materialize, the service ends.

In contrast, true service is a lifestyle. It comes from a heart that is willing to help anyone. It both springs from and fosters humility. It is based upon compassion for all of humanity. (See Foster, p. 126-140).

I can remember talking with a church planter once at a symposium. He said that his church had tried service ministries to the poor, but he had had no responses. So he "scrapped" all of that.

I am sympathetic to the plight of church planters. They have limited resources and time, and yes, it is biblical to be concerned about "results." But I told him that my theology would not allow me to scrap all of our church's service ministries to the poor.

I am certainly concerned about results, including baptisms. We need to not just be content to hand out food and clothing. We need to also try to find ways to pray for those who have these physical needs, love them, and share the gospel with them. The Bible counts baptisms. It also, however, counts the 5000 and 4000 whom Jesus fed, and 10 lepers that he healed. Matthew 25 says that at our judment, we will be judged by whether or not we fed the hungry, clothed poor, and visited people in jail. These acts of service are themselves a type of result. As Reggie McNeal writes, we need to count these types of missional markers too.

It seems that Jesus healed people both strategically - it confirmed his message- and because he had genuine compassion upon them. And he sought to share the gospel with those whom he served, without making it conditional. It would seem that this is what we should seek to do as well. To serve with only baptism in mind is mere scheming, and to serve without seeking to share the good news is to fail to show compassion for people' spiritual condition. To fall on either side of this is to fail to fully model Jesus.

What do you think should be our motivation for blessing/serving others?

When you sense a change in posting habits, something may be up

2009-06-02T15:19:00.000-07:00

i was just reading the other day (in one of my many books/sites on social networking) that if you sense a change in a person's posting habits--say, they go silent or sporadic in posting for a time--they may have something else going on. This is commonsense, of course, but sometimes we fail to put two and two together.

Anyway, an elder buddy of mine came by today and mentioned that he had noticed I had been kind of quiet on the blog front. And this is true. Several things have been going on . I had a D.Min. paper to finish and turn in, we had friends in town, and then a lot of ministry stuff throughout.

This week we are leaving for OC's Quest, where I'll be helping with facillitating the missional church track and serving on a panel about leadership, following Dr. Ken Jones. So, the blogging may still be sparse the next few days. I also blog on the Missional Outreach Network and microblog on Twitter. It all keeps me hopping.

Are you able to sense changes in blog/Facebook/Twitter or other kinds of posting of your friends? What do these changes tell you?

Friends coming to town!

2009-05-29T21:48:00.000-07:00

It should be a great few days coming up for our family. On Sunday, Mac and Mary Owen from Celebrate Recovery are coming to share their testimony (click here). I have met Mac and Mary--what great people. Their work is inspiring and their spirits infectious!

Then Sunday afternoon, after our daughter Emily's dance recital, my book friend Keith Stanglin and his family will spend a couple of days with us. Keith, his wife, Amanda, and my wife Becki and I met in the chorus at Oklahoma Christian University, and we have stayed friends throughout this time. Keith has a Ph.D. in historical theology, and he teaches at Harding.

Should be great!

What do you look forward to doing when you see long time friends?

Online Social Networking - How to use it to reach out & meet new people in person

2009-05-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posting, guys. In addition to my normal busyness, last week I was working on finishing up a D.Min. paper on how to use online social networking for outreach.

When I get my paper in final form, I'll put it out on the web. There was a lot of interesting research, and of course, different parts of the paper have been implemented with the creation of the Missional Outreach Network. We also have also launched a High Pointe Facebook page. These are just the start of this, however!

Two interesting sites that I found in my research were http://www.nearbytweets.com/ and http://www.meetup.com/. At the nearbytweets site, you can find Twitters users who are close to you. You can search this group by keyword, such as "Christian," "Texas Rangers," "spiritual," "lonely," etc. and find people with common interests. By following this person, messaging them, you could invite them for a face-to-face get together for coffee or the like. Could be a great way to meet new people. (I thought church planters might really find this helpful.)

A similar type of concept is the meetup site, except it is not based on Twitter. On this site, you join a group based around an interest, and then schedule face to face meetings. Here are the groups close to the 75070 zip code that use the word "Christian." There is a group that meets to discuss outreach. This type of resource sharing is good--much like the Missional Outreach Network. But this can also be used to meet non-Christians. For instance, there is a McKinney Moms Meetup group, a Collin County Progressive Book Club group--in fact, there are 748 meetup groups in McKinney, covering everything from parenting to health to religion to hobbies to business and more.

One of the best things that we could do for outreach is for 2-3 Christians to find something that they enjoy from these groups and start attending one of these groups. (We are much better at witnessing when we have anothe Christian with us, for people can see our love and community.) The mindset must be to really want to be there, to really enjoy the people and interest--and yes, to find opportunities to share faith as relationships build as a natural part of who we are.

Many Christians do not have any meaningful relationships with non-Christians. This is a way to change that. The possibilities are endless.

How do you see that the nearbytweets and meetup sites can be used in reaching out to non-Christians?

How churches are connecting with young people

2009-05-15T15:02:00.000-07:00

Ed Stetzer has a new book out called Lost and found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them. Note this excerpt:

Young adults have very little recollection of communication before e-mail. Now we would not know how to live without BlackBerriers, iPhones, iPods, text messaging, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. American Idol has moved text messaging into the national spotlight, and presidential campaigns use social Web sites to spread the fever for change. So why wouldn't churches seek to embrace technology as a major means to the goal of saturating the planet with the gospel?

In our research I've discovered that a new generation of churches and a growing number of older churches are embracing technology for this very reason. More specifically, churches that are connencting with young adults are increasingly using all sorts of technology:

church Web sites

email and IM

video, video chat

web-based small groups

blogs

social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter)

e-invites and e-vites

e-newsletters (and trashing paper newsletters)

satellite

podcasts

vodcasts

Webinars

---------------------------------------------

The first thing a missionary must do is learn the language of the people he is trying to reach. We must learn to communicate through mediums that young adults use if they are to hear us.

Which of these communication methods does your church use? Which methods does it need to add?

Laurie Parkinson baptized tonight!

2009-05-14T17:26:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Laurie Parkinson being baptized tonight. Jim and Pam Barr and I have been studying with her for about three months, going through the Story of Redemption. God has used many people and many events to lead her to this point. Dick, the minister below who baptized her, was one of those people. He was present at the hospital when her daughter Katie was paralyzed in a car accident.

I am so excited about Laurie's decision! We will now put together a discipleship group around her using the BELLS/BLESS model, which seeks to imitate the lifestyle of Jesus. Baptism is a new beginning, but not the end of our journey with God. Praise God!

What types of discipleship, post-baptism discipleship groups are you familiar with?

The Doctor and Dietician You've Always Wanted

2009-05-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

Q: Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?

A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it... don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?

A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up!

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?
A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain...Good!

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?
A: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!!! ..... Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?
A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me?
A: Are you crazy? HELLO Cocoa beans ! Another vegetable!!! It's the best feel-good food around!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure?
A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.

Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?
A: Hey! 'Round' is a shape! Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets. And remember: 'Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO, What a Ride'

AND.....For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.
1. The Japanese eat very little fatand suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fatand suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
4. The Italians drink a lot of red wineand suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION
Eat and drink what you like.

Now that is a doctor I like! (Note: This blog post is joking. Do not follow this doctor's advice.)

High Pointe in the Park

2009-05-06T13:28:00.000-07:00

1. May 27 - Samaritan Inn/High Pointe in Your House - This is a night we are hosting baccalaureate for McKinney High School at our church, seeking to use our building in a way that blesses our community. We will be encouraging people to use this night to have a nonchurched friend or neighbor into their home, or to go out with them to do something fun. We are also working on having a group that will go over the Samaritan Inn, a local homeless shelter, and share a meal and serve this group that evening.

2. June 3 - High Pointe in "Habitat Park" - High Pointe is sponsoring a Habitat for Humanity build this year, thanks to our congregation's generous giving towards outreach. There is a park right beside all of the Habitat homes in McKinney that we will go to on this evening. We will fellowship and invite the Habitat families to join us for a free meal.

3. June 10 - High Pointe with . . . - Okay, this one is still being planned and is not yet finalized. But I'm excited about the people who will put this together and the energy that they will bring to this.

4. June 17 - High Pointe in Your Park - In this week, we will spread out geographically and have small group gatherings in parks all throughout the McKinney and surrounding areas. We will identify some point people in different areas for members to join up with. The goal will again be to invite friends and neighbors to a nearby park or other gathering place and fellowship, have fun, serve, sing, etc. This can also help our members know what other members live in their area, which may lead to the development of some new geographically based small groups.

I'm excited about what God can do when we get out of our building and into the structure and locality of people's lives. The church is on a mission!

Which of these Wednesday nights would you look forward to the most? Which would be most effective in helping us in God's mission?

The Characteristics of a Missional Church

2009-05-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

Author Tim Keller speaks of how people in a missional church inhabit the world, understanding the problems and lives of ordinary people. This type of church and Christian is not expected by non-Christians, who view Christians as being obsessed with things unrelated to their lives.

What are the larger problems in the world that both Christians and non-Christians see as problems? How can the church help with these issues?

Just how badly are BIble classes failing at spiritual formation?- Part 1

2009-04-30T14:23:00.000-07:00

I confess to you that I have always loved teaching. It is the first spiritual gift that I discovered. I can remember in college teaching my friends material that they missed in our biology classes. I started in ministry by going down to the jail and studying with inmates. Then I began teaching the college class.

I love the dynamic of a Bible class. I enjoy the exchange of ideas, the exploration of the biblical text, the give and take of discussion.

But a couple of years ago I began to notice something. People would nod their heads in class. Acknowledge truth. And then do nothing of what we talked about.

Classes on prayer that changed no one's prayer life. Classes on evangelism that did not result in people sharing their faith. Classes on marriage that did not result in changes in behavior in the marriage. And when I discovered this, quite frankly, it was despressing and disappointing.

Last Sunday we had a lesson that was exploring the goal of Bible study. One of our teachers asked his class filled with 30 something families (my age group) to raise their hands if they thought that our Bible classes changed behavior. No one raised their hands. Then he asked them to raise their hands if they thought these classes did not change behavior. Virtually everyone raised their hands.

Wow. Pretty shocking. If these classes do not change behavior, then why do we do them? And yet, I'm really not surprised at the results. Surveys of Christians have for years shown that Christians often live lives little different from the rest of the population. I have witnessed the lack of change in behavior myself, including my own at times. What is happening?

Why is it that Bible classes are not changing behavior? What needs to be changed, added, or done differently?

Critical Swine Flu Prevention Tip (Humorous)

2009-04-29T14:39:00.001-07:00

One of our members sent me
this great Swine Flu prevention tip.

Critical Swine Flu Prevention Tip

Don't Do This!

Laws Against Religious Discrimination in the Workplace

2009-04-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

As I am going through a sermon series on "The Office: Spirituality at Work," a question has risen. This question is, what can and cannot a Christian legally do in the workplace?

Legally, there are actually pretty broad protections for religious expression in Title 7. For instance:

Employers must let an employee take off for religious holidays, days, times of prayer, etc., in most cases.
Christians can carry around or place on their desks the Bible, if he or she believes that this is a necessary part of his or her faith.
Religious talk is permitted with co-workers and employees in most cases.

Check out these two links on what is legal in regards to religion in the US.

http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/qanda_religion.html

http://www.metrocorpcounsel.com/current.php?artType=view&artMonth=April&artYear=2009&EntryNo=3005

How have you tried to share your faith in the workplace? How much resistance is there to this?

What if parents do not want their kids to learn about God?

2009-04-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

With our culture rapidly moving away from Christianity, a thought struck me today: what if parents do not want their children to learn about God? So much of not only church growth theory but church planting is built around the concept of reaching young families. There has been a belief for years that young people, once they start having children, begin to seek out a church because they want they kids to learn about God. This belief has been justified, and indeed I have witnessed this belief to be true.

But young people used to have memories of going to church. Now, many of them do not. Moreover, many are hostile towards churches and Christians, not just disinterested. How do we reach out if young families are actually seeking to protect their children against Christian beliefs? How do we reach people who do not want their kids to learn about the Bible or Jesus?

Do we even know how to reach a culture that is not pre-disposed towards Christianity? Where VBS and Children's worship and the like is something to protect kids from?

I would welcome your thoughts on this.

Dave Ramsey's Town Hall for Hope

2009-04-23T17:31:00.001-07:00

I'm here at the High Pointe Church of Christ, where we ate hosting one of the 6000 locations for Dave Ramsey's Town Hall for Hope. He has talked a lot about overall economic theory, speaking a lot against the government bailouts and government interference in the free markets.

The theme of personal responsibility keeps coming out. A popular theme that smart politicians and church leaders ought to take note of.

Here are some pictures from our church site. I've met several visitors from our community tonight.

-- Post From My iPhone

Shifting the church from program-driven to people-driven

2009-04-20T22:05:00.000-07:00

A book that I recommend for church leaders to go through together is Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church by Reggie McNeal. Reggie McNeal is a part of Leadership Network and is a nationally known missional leader. I also have an affection for him as one of my teachers in the D.Min. program at Fuller Theological Seminary.

I owe a lot of my ideas for the practical outworkings of missional theology to Reggie. (He also is a pretty engaging speaker.) In this new book he shares a lot of these practical ideas. He goes through three major shifts that the church must take to be missional. These include:

Shift from an internal to an external focus.

Shift from being program-driven to being people-driven.

Shift from a church-based leadership to kingdom-based leadership.

Let me comment a moment on the second shift (from program driven to people driven). What is the difference between a program and a people focus? Admittedly, sometimes there is a fine line between these two approaches. Here are some usual differences:

A program focus is usually inflexible. It has set times and ways of doing things. A people focus is adjustable and customizable.
A program focus leads to a failure to reexamine why programs exist and if they are effective. A people focus is by nature flexible and adaptable to the particular people involved.
A program focus measures success by number of participants and smoothness in operation. A people focus measures success by the impact something has upon people's lives.

We live in a constantly changing world. With the Internet, more and more employers are offering flex time and the ability to work at home. Degrees are offered entirely online. Help on most any topic is available day or night through Google. And yet, most churches all "do church" the way that they always have. Set times for every meeting, with no alternatives. No help available for spiritual formation outside of these times. A curriculum that was made up in another state, for another community, for another era. People are drafted for ministries which they have no gifting in, and the very life is sucked out of them by serving for long periods filling someone else's agenda or a program that was begun 50 years ago whose original aim was forgotten . . . . (I ran that sentence on on purpose).

Being people focused requires more intimate time spent with people. It requires listening to where they are in life and helping them grow in the areas where the Holy Spirit is prompting them. It is hard to think of Jesus being program driven, as most every conversation that he had was uniquely, well, personal!

What do you think of the program-driven vs. people-driven models?

Susan Boyle inspires the world on "Britian's Got Talent"

2009-04-17T07:59:00.000-07:00

In case you somehow missed it, here is a link to one of the most inspiring vidoes in a long time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY (I would embed this, but unfortunately, the embedding was requested to be disabled by someone.)

This video shows, Susan Boyle, an unemployed 47 year old cat owner who has never been kissed, on the show, "Britian's Got Talent"--the precursor show to American Idol. No one expected anything from this woman. People were ready to laugh at her. But listen to what happened.

What an inspiration! This story and video needs to be shown. It made me think of how God can use ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Surprising things. Amazing things. Inspiring things.

What do you think of Susan Boyle's performance? How do you think this story could apply to us spiritually?

Why does the date of Easter fluctuate so much?

2009-04-11T08:36:00.000-07:00

Easter is historically the day in which Christians around the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In reality, each Sunday is a celebration of Christ’s resurrection. In fact, this is the reason we meet on Sunday.

Christians believe that Jesus Christ is God who became human, lived a selfless, sinless life of service, and died on the cross for our sins. Three days later, God raised him from the dead. Sunday, or the first day of the week, was the day that Jesus was raised or resurrected, coming back to life and putting on a new, transformed, spiritual body. The earliest Christians referred to Sunday as “the Lord’s Day,” and took the Lord’s Supper on this day to remember Jesus.

Have you ever wondered why the date of Easter fluctuates so much? So have others! Jesus’ death and resurrection occurred around the time of the Jewish Passover, which was celebrated on the first full moon after the Spring equinox. In 325 AD the Council of Nicea determined that Easter would fall on the first Sunday after the Spring equinox, unless the full moon falls on Sunday. If this happens, Easter falls one week later. The date for Easter thus ranges from March 22 to April 25.

Much of the world has set its calendar around Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. There is a reason for this. With Christ’s resurrection, a whole new age was ushered in.

What traditions do you have in your church or family for Easter?

"The End of Christian America" by Newsweek

2009-04-08T21:33:00.001-07:00

This week Newsweek came out with a front page article entitled "The End of Christian America."This article was prompted by the recent religious survey of Americans that we recently reported on. This survey showed that the percentage of Americans that identified themselves as having no religion has doubled in the last decade to 15% of the US population. This is but one of many signs pointing to the crumbling of Christendom in the US.

Here is an excerpt of the Newseek story:

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In Texas, authorities have decided to side with science, not theology, in a dispute over the teaching of evolution. The terrible economic times have not led to an increase in church attendance. In Iowa last Friday, the state Supreme Court ruled against a ban on same-sex marriage, a defeat for religious conservatives. Such evidence is what has believers fretting about the possibility of an age dominated by a newly muscular secularism."The moral teachings of Christianity have exerted an incalculable influence on Western civilization," Mohler says. "As those moral teachings fade into cultural memory, a secularized morality takes their place. Once Christianity is abandoned by a significant portion of the population, the moral landscape necessarily changes. For the better part of the 20th century, the nations of Western Europe led the way in the abandonment of Christian commitments. Christian moral reflexes and moral principles gave way to the loosening grip of a Christian memory. Now even that Christian memory is absent from the lives of millions."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the past, economic declines have led to people coming back to churches. This has not happened this time, the article points out--yet another sign of the religious decline in America. People are still "spiritual," but more and more they look to places other than churches to find God and self-actualization.This means that churches can no longer adopt a mere "build it and they will come attitude."

Today, I went on an exploration of the North Dallas area with a couple of our elders and two members of Mission Alive. One church in the Prosper area has devoted $20 million dollars to a new facility. With the decline in religion happening so rapidly, one cannot help wonder if these types of buildings--including our own--will be largely empty in 20-30 years.Churches must learn to recapture our mission and share Christ with a world that increasingly does not him and is rejecting what it perceives--rightly or wrongly--as institutional Christianity. Church growth theory is dead and dying. Gathering up Christians from struggling churches will no longer be sufficient to replenish the pews. We must recapture mission as the heart of the church's purpose.
For my part, I would not say that I am eager to face this future, but I am ready. In truth, nominal Christianity, both in our fellowship and in the larger Christian world, is doing little for either God or believers. When laws start to go against us (as they already are) and our political leaders no longer support our causes, this may cause us to wake up and take our faith seriously. The line between believers and non-believers will sharpen. And this may be a good thing, making us realize that we must share Christ with those around us.

What do you think of the religious decline in America? Are you scared, stoice, indifferent, or excited, about the future?

Being Missional in the neighborhood

2009-04-04T14:54:00.001-07:00

Here is Emily at our neighborhood Easter egg party. This was one if those days when I would have preferred to hang around the house, but I didn't want to miss the chance to meet some more of our neighbors. There was a huge turnout for this.

Becki and I met some nice people. One made the comment that most people were not from around here. She and another family said that they were from New Orleans, and had moved due to Katrina. I think that this means that people are more open to friendships-that seemed to be this lady's implication as well.

Becki signed up to volunteer to help with next year's Easter party, and we got a couple of contact numbers. One woman recommended a photography class-something that we have been wanting to do together for awhile.

I wonder if we took all of the time and energy from our church events and just trained our members to go to community events that are already going on and bless people's lives there how many more people we would reach! Missional is a lifestyle, the lifestyle of Jesus.

How can we be more missional in our neighborhood?

-- Post From My iPhone

Facebook Song

2009-04-04T09:31:00.001-07:00

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSnXE2791yg

Sent from my iPhone

The DMV line

2009-04-03T13:18:00.001-07:00

Here I am at the DMV line. I am speaking on joy on Sunday. The Lord is testing my patience . . . .

-- Post From My iPhone

Four Categories of Strengths & Spiritual gifts

2009-03-31T23:01:00.000-07:00

In the new book, Strengths-Based Leadership, the authors divide Strengths into four categories: 1) Executing strengths;
2) Influencing strengths;
3) Relationship building strengths; and
4) Strategic Thinking strengths.
They then suggest that a team ought to strive to have a team that hits on all four of these categories.

I had been seeking to find a way to categorize Spiritual gifts, and so I applied the Strengths-Based Leadership categories to Spiritual gifts. These are the results:

Executing Spiritual Gifts

Administration (Tasks)

Administration (Coordination)

Giving

Helping

Leadership

Service

Influencing Spiritual Gifts

Evangelism

Prayer

Prophetic Ministry

Speaking

Teaching

Relationship Building Spiritual Gifts

Encouragement

Faith

Hospitality

Mercy

Pastoral Care/Shepherding

Strategic Thinking Spiritual Gifts

Missional Leadership

Discernment

Knowledge

Wisdom

For information and resources on Spiritual gifts, see Story of Redemption.

I took these categories for both Strengths & Spiritual gifts and looked at Strengths & Spiritual gifts of a couple of our ministry teams, and the results were very interesting. I think I will add these categories to the Spiritual gifts team theory that I am putting together.

What do you think of these categories? Do you see any changes that you would suggest in how these Spiritual gifts are categorized?

How Can I Know God Better?

2009-03-31T21:10:00.000-07:00

How Can I Know God Better from James Nored on Vimeo.

This sermon is one which I had had very much on my heart for some time. It emphasizes that we do not know God better by just gaining more knowledge. Instead, we come to know God better by a lived out faith, serving and loving others.

How can we move out of the classroom to a lived out faith?

Caught in a snow storm

2009-03-28T11:28:00.001-07:00

Garth and I are stuck in Tulsa right now, caught in a snow storm. We are hanging out at Panera Bread, waiting for the snow to subside. There are trucks jack-knifed on the highway. Please pray that we ate able to get home tonight safely. I have already been rear ended this weekend!

-- Post From My iPhone

A Church that prays for its community

2009-03-28T08:23:00.001-07:00

Josh Ross is speaking about prayer and evangelism. He told a story about a church that prayed for it's community block by block, family by family. Then they sent letters to these families, telling them the specific things that they were praying for. Then they asked these families to call them if they had seen God work in their lives in these areas. They had a huge outpurong of calls. A great story.

It is good to not always be the youngest preacher in the workshop, and great to hear another young preacher speaks of the missional nature of the church.

-- Post From My iPhone

Meeting people online first

2009-03-26T15:11:00.001-07:00

Here is a picture of me with @johndobbs at the Tulsa workshop. I met John first online before meeting him in person today. Kind of stance don't you think, meeting people online first? Glad to know John is a real person and not a Tiawanesee girl in South Africa. :-) We are in a different world today!

-- Post From My iPhone

http://www.reclaimingthemission.com/instilling-missional-habits-in-a-congregation-as-you-walk-among-your-community/

2009-03-26T13:32:00.000-07:00

Check out this interesting post on being missional in everyday life.

http://www.reclaimingthemission.com/instilling-missional-habits-in-a-congregation-as-you-walk-among-your-community/

Sent from TwitterFon

Sent from my iPhone

Ways to promote your blog

2009-03-26T08:26:00.001-07:00

@johndobbs at the Tulsa Workshop right now is giving a top ten list of how to promote your blog and use it for outreach.
1. Read genuine comments on other people's blogs that have similar comments.

2. Post new content several times a week.

3. Show love by posting links to other people blogs.

4. When you post a blog, post it over multiple platforms.

5. Pictures, sidebars, videos, and widgets make your site more interesting.

6. Write about current topics of interest.

7. Ignore trolls and arguments. (People in the community will not find this attractive.)

8. Tell about God's great news in your life.

9. Always respond to comments.

10. Ask for help when you need it.

11. John also recommends using Wordpress.

12. Stay aware of the changing face of blogging. Most of the to blogs are not personal.
-- Post From My iPhone

What objectives should a church have in using social technologies?

2009-03-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

Charlene Li, author of Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, gives five primary objectives that successful companies have pursued in using social technologies:

1) listening to customers;

2) talking and spreading a company’s message;

3) energizing their customers;

4) helping customers support one another; and

5) embracing customers by inviting them into the company’s design process.

Social technologies are technologies like Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, the Missional Outreach Network - basically, interactive technologies that can spread through social networks.

As churches learn to use social technologies, which of these five objectives do you think is most important for them to concentrate on? And who are their "customers"--members or non-Christians?

Being Missional in Our Worship Times - Americans need more sleep

2009-03-19T15:48:00.001-07:00

Being missional must factor into everything that we do. This should include even such things as our worship times. Is this not what a missionary would do? Is this not what a church planter would do? Absolutely! They would say, what time would have the best chance of having someone that we are trying to reach attend? They would not say, hmm, I think I'll have it at _____ time because that is what I like.

So what worship times would be culturally appropriate? That, of course, will depend upon the culture. I imagine that this might be very different in Africa, Europe, or Asia. But what about typical American culture?

Here is where research is helpful--something which every missionary, missional leader, or missional church must do. Consider these three news stories and the research behind them:

ABC News Story on Americans and Sleep Patterns - This news story reports on a2007 study that shows Americans are: ) losing sleep to work; and 2) losing sleep to commutes. This is particularly true in suburbia. Furthermore, cellphones are extending the work days of Americans. Where do Americans catch up on this sleep? "The survey suggests that people who cut back on sleep on weekdays often try to sleep in on Saturday and Sunday."
One-third Of Americans Lose Sleep Over Economy - March 2, 2009 - "One-third of Americans are losing sleep over the state of the U.S. economy and other personal financial concerns, according to a new poll released today by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF)."
Americans Just Want a Good Night's Sleep - This 2005 survey by the Barna research group indiactes that "Seven out of ten adults (71%) said they look forward "a lot" to having a refreshing snooze." This was the number one thing that people looked forward to, above, vacations, travel, entertainment, etc. These results were true for both those with children and those without. It seems that nearly everyone is sleep deprived.

All of this would point towards late Sunday morning start times for worship if one wants to have the unchurched attend. And early morning starts are probably not good for most churched people either, due to a general lack of sleep throughout the week from work and commute times. Ragged schedules at other times due to kids' activities are perhaps controllable, but work and commute times often are not.

The realities of this is why churches that are seeking to reach out often have worship services at 11:00 PM or 11:30 PM on Sunday, and no earlier than 10 PM. Early afternoon services, such as 1 or 2 PM, might also be tried. Some churches have even gone to Saturday night services. The Jewish day began at sundown, so a case can be made for Saturday evening being "resurrection day," though it is not typically thought of in this way for most Western cultures such as the US.

We would withdraw support from a missionary that went to Africa and failed to adjust meeting times to fit the culture, and no amount of saying, "This time fits best with our members" or "This is when we have always done this" would be listened to. The problem is, in an established church, these questions are usually not even asked. Usually, they are not asked because the church views itself as an institution for club members, not the people of God on mission to reach the world for Christ.

Missional thinking must factor into everything that we do.

When do you think your unchurched friends and neighbors would most likely attend a worship service?

Changing the scorecard of the church

2009-03-17T20:37:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading Missional Renaissance by Reggie McNeal. I took Reggie for a D.Min. class at Fuller, and Becki and I heard him speak at a minister spouse retreat. He is very in tune with both the religious and the non-religious world, and I give him credit for inspiring me in a lot of the missional concepts that I've sought to make a reality. He gives practical, usable insights, and in person, he is a very witty guy.

A lot of this material he has shared in his seminars and in the excellent DVD series, The Present-Future. However, this book is an excellent book to hand to church leaders to help them see the practical application of what it means to be missional.

In this work he makes the point that whatever gets counted gets rewarded, and what has been counted in the past has often not been missional nor particularly spiritual. Instead, they have been institutional markers. Some obvious examples:

Numbers in worship - Unless these are differentiated by members and non-members, these are really just church growth stats (which do have their place)
Numbers in Bible class - This number by itself tells us nothing about whether people are growing spiritually. We assume that knowledge = transformation, and this is a false assumption. Again, this is an institutional measurement.

These numbers could double, triple in 5 years, and yet the numbers might only be people moving into an area. This perhaps might indicate church health, but these numbers alone say very little about whether or not a church is fulfilling its mission.

I have always sought to put in good counting systems in the churches at which I have served. I like to know these numbers so that I can gauge progress. There is nothing wrong with these numbers; however, they need to be but one set among many.

If mission from outreach and service to the community is fundamental to what the church is, then these numbers must be counted. Otherwise, the old scoring system might be merciless. For instance, if a church releases its members on Sunday or Wednesday night to serve people in the community and build up relationships, then Bible class numbers will take a hit. So those serving outside of the church building walls need to be counted in some way. And they need to be tracked, and celebrated when they rise. Concern should be raised when they drop--just like other numbers.

Other things we might record related to mission:

People prayed for in the community
Number of people fed, clothed, from the community
Number of community groups meeting in the church building
Number of baptisms from the community
Number of new outreaches begun & number of participants
Number of spiritual conversations at work
Number of people going on short term mission trips
Etc.
Number of people in evangelistic Bible studies

These kind of celebrations can help us keep other numbers in perspective. If Bible class attendance increases, does it really matter if people's lives do not change and we do not reach or serve people in the world?

Buy Reggie's book and give it to your church leaders!

What other kinds of of measurements could we make related to outreach and service?

Tiffany Schuchert baptized this morning!

2009-03-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

Tiffany was baptized into Christ this morning. Hallelujah! She is such an inspiring young woman who clearly wants to live for Jesus. Also, her parents and sister traveled here from Abilene, and she invited her friend, Will. I believe that she will touch many lives for Christ. Praise God!

Read some of Tiffany's story here.