The Desire for Simplicity - How can the church respond?

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?

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?

1. 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.


2. 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.


3. 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.


4. 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.


5. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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?

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!

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)

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

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

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!

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!

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

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?