God's Introvert on the Beat

One more transition

2008-05-27T10:29:00.000-07:00

Alrighty. I am in the process of building a new blog site based on Wordpress. My webhost (Dreamhost) provides full-fledged Wordpress installs and I thought I'd take advantage that. So, this blog (corbystephens.dreamhost.com) will be transitioning over to corbystephens.com

thebluethread.org will still be the media storehouse for all my stuff but it will no longer display blog stuff.

corbystephens.com is still being built but the basics are there. Head on over and check it out!

I call to the stand, you.

2008-05-15T08:39:00.001-07:00

I like fictional legal dramas. Perry Mason, Law & Order, 12 Angry Men, A Few Good Men. Real legal dramas in the media just aren’t as interesting. OJ, BTK, The Menendez Brothers. While I feel for the families, I don’t need another reminder of the messed-up nature of our society.

One of the things the lawyers try to do is discredit the witnesses. Even though the witness isn’t the one on trial, they can sometimes end up going through the ringer. As long as the witness isn’t lying and doesn’t have a hidden agenda, then they don’t really have anything to worry about. All that they have to do is testify as to what they saw or experienced. The jury decides what to do with the rest.

"You shall be witness of Me."
As a believer, as a disciple of Jesus, at some point in your life you have gone through a transformation. Even if you were raised in a church, you reached a point in your life where your relationship with Jesus became your own and wasn’t based in your family. If this has not yet happened for you, then you have some soul searching to do. For now we will assume that you love Jesus because you choose to do so. You have recognized that you have sinned and are a sinner. God is holy, you are not. God is perfect, you are not. Without the intervention of His Son Jesus, you would be separated from God for eternity. You have confessed your sin, you have called on Him to forgive you and to erase the debt you could never repay. You trust the Lord when He says in His word that He has done this. You know you are clean. You can feel it. You rejoice in it, in fact. You’re forgiven! You’re new!

While nothing else is required for your salvation, because it isn’t anything you can do but what God has done, there is more that God has for you. As if salvation wasn’t enough, God wants to have a personal relationship with you and to use you to share Him with others. That is the primary function of God’s Holy Spirit. His purpose is to be with you, in you, and upon you to accomplish both the relationship and the ability to share it with others. After all, if you don’t have your own relationship with Him, what do you have to share?

Christian, walk with the Lord. Share your testimony (what God has done in your life) with others. The world, including Satan, may try to discredit you. They may try to make you question your own testimony in order to cause doubt. Like Satan said to Eve, “Hath God said...?” Yes, God hath said. Have confidence in God’s word. Have confidence in what He has done in your life. Have confidence in your relationship with Him. Expect Him to do what He has promised to do.

It isn’t up to you to convince the jury, that’s the Holy Spirit’s job. All you have to do is tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And the truth will set you free.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Human Tetris

2008-05-12T11:07:00.001-07:00

I couldn't understand this until I saw it. I think it's way better than American Gladiators. Wouldn't this make a great youth camp activity? lol

Embedded Video

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Stick Man on Prayer

2008-05-09T08:01:00.000-07:00

One of my oldest friends, Timmy, has posted a great animation on YouTube about prayer. I know I have felt like Stick Man, both at the beginning and the end. I know lots of people have felt like Stick Man, both at the beginning and the end. How about you?

Day-o-prayer

2008-05-05T13:11:00.000-07:00

The first Sunday of the year we did something that I read Jim Cymbala does at Brooklyn Tabernacle. Instead of a study we had prayer. Instead of worship and study it was worship and prayer. People dug it so much that they said we should do that at least twice a year. I thought this year we'd give three a try. Today was round two. It was pretty cool.

Our fellowship does the set-up/tear-down thing every Sunday. We don't have out own space we can use whenever we want. If we want to pray as a group we have to do it when we are together. We've been going through Acts (for over a year now) and we've seen the church pray with power. We want that. I want that.

Because our folks are kind of inexperienced in the area of praying in front of or with people I do a kind of directed yet open prayer. Going into it I pray about what the Lord might have us focus on and scripture that teaches or illustrates that. Once I have a handle on that and it's time to pray this is kinda what we do. I walk through what the morning will kinda look like so people know what to expect. I have two people, a man and woman, designated as people to go to in case someone believes they have a word from the Lord or a passage to share. Kind of a spiritual check and balance thing. Now we are ready to roll.

I read through the first passage and do a micro teaching on it and what it is in it we are to pray about. Then it's open. Anyone can pray about that passage and what the Lord laid on their heart. For example, the fist passage was just Acts 4:24, "So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them," I felt that we needed to start today off lifting up the Lord. Then people pray to that effect. Two or three usually. It isn't limited, that's just usually how many people end up praying.

The morning was going along groovy. We prayed about John 17 where Jesus prayed for us and our one-ness in Him, with Him, and in the Father. We prayed Acts 2:37-39, repentance and the promise of the Spirit. We prayed about 2 Peter 1:2-10 and the need for our individual growth, prayed that we would not be barren and unfruitful in our knowledge of Him. We prayed Matthew 16 where Jesus said he will build His church.

The night before this I was reaching Pastor Chuck's new book on prayer (you gotta read it). The part I finished last night was Chuck talking about praying for our unbelieving friends and family. We can't just pray for the world to get saved. We need to be specific in our prayer. I knew I wanted to have this be a part of our time together today but I wasn't sure how to do it. The Lord led me to Romans 6 and the bit about being slaves of sin or slaves of righteousness. We are slaves to someone. But with so many people with so many unsaved loved ones I didn't know how to do this.

Then, like it's a big surprise, inspiration struck. I read the passage and shared the point of it, praying for the lost we love. I told everyone that I was going to pray and that when I was done, people could simply say the names of their loved ones, friends, families. Just names being called out. I'm telling you, when names started to trickle out, something entered the room that wasn't there before. Mom's saying kids names. Adults saying parents and siblings names. Kids saying the names of their friends at school. You could sense God's presence in the room as we lifted up the lost. It was powerful. We ended the time with communion before going for it with Family Dinner (aka potluck).

Next time we might try breaking up into groups. It kind of depends on if there are people comfortable enough to lead groups. But for now we are scheduled for the first Sunday in September. Anyway, I encourage you guys to do something like this. I know it isn't typical CC to substitute a prayer meeting for the word. But I figure the mini devo covers the teaching element. We even had three guests today (family from out of town, but that counts). Anyway, there it is.

R2-D2 is the Best Roomie Ever

2008-05-03T11:25:00.001-07:00

R2-D2 is the Best Roomie Ever

This is without a doubt the coolest Star Wars gadget ever! Anyone have an extra $3,000 they want to give me? ;-)

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Post 100!

2008-04-29T07:46:00.001-07:00

Dear faithful blog readers (all three of you!),

This week I hope to switch over the things previously mentioned in the Repurposed Blog postings. If you read this blog via exchangechurch.com or thebluethread.org, you will soon no longer be able to do so. This blog is driven by corbystephens.blogspot.com and is mirrored at the other two site. If you would like to continue following my verbal and mental adventures, please head over there and bookmark that, and the RSS/Atom feed from that to your reader, whatever you do to keep up. Also, I am considering transferring that blog to a Wordpress engine. If you have any feedback either way, please send me an email (you can contact me via exchangechurch.com) and let me know. If I don't hear from anyone I might just flip the switch (with some warning of course). Actually, if I don't hear from anyone I might bail on the bog all together, because what's the point right? :-)

In other news, I'm still working on the more interactive features of exchangechurch.com. My hope is to offer things that will get people talking and engage our own local community. If we can't get people to come to church (which wouldn't shouldn't be trying to do anyway), and if we have no natural connections with the community (yet), we can get into people's houses and dorm room with this Internet thing. We can get right in front of their (your) faces and engage with an opportunity to dialog. That's part of the goal. A piece of the puzzle. The 5th element. OK, I'm done.

And for your viewing pleasure, enjoy this little gem.

The most realistic portrayal of Jesus ever published

2008-04-23T10:52:00.001-07:00

Oh man. Nothing should ever surprise anyone anymore, ever.

A Dutch movie direction names Paul Verhoeven has apparently spent the past 20 years with another moan writing a book about the life of Jesus. In it he claims that Mary was actually raped by a Roman soldier, and that Mary and Joseph made up the whole Son of God thing. Amazing. You can read about it here.

What's more, this man claims to be a Catholic. His influence? The Jesus Seminar. Thank you very much. The reality is that no one is going to take the book seriously. Well, most people won't. I'm sure some people will. verhoeven says that the book will be the most realistic portrayal of Jesus ever published. It seems to me that that book has already been written and published for centuries.

It's called the Bible.

The reality is that the Bible, time and again, has been proven to be accurate in every way, shape, and form. It has never once been demonstrated to be inaccurate. Not once. We can trust it. We can trust the One who wrote it. We can trust Him for new life now and in eternity.

How about you? Have you written Jesus off or have you written Him into your life?

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Richard Abanes on Eckhart Tolle and Oprah

2008-04-22T11:55:00.001-07:00

Richard Abanes and Bethany House is going to release a book about Eckhart Tolle's book, "A New Earth" as well as address Oprah Winefrey's promotion of this decidedly anti-Biblical view of Jesus, God, and truth. Here is a video of Richard describing the need for the book. Hopefully this will produce opportunities to share the gospel as Tolle's book is a huge best seller and people all over the place are reading it. Prepare to engage the culture...

Embedded Video

Blogged with the Flock Browser

What is Calvary Chapel anyway?

2008-04-22T11:17:00.001-07:00

With all of the hub-bub being raised online at SimpleMindedPreacher and Phoenix Preacher regarding the various observed problems with the Calvary Chapel movement and individual fellowships, the arguments for and against the reality of these problems, and further discussion as to what can be done (if anything) about these problems, it seems to me that something that would be tremendously helpful in coming to a resolution for most of these things would be a definitive answer to this question; what is Calvary Chapel anyway?

DISCLAIMER - I love the historical CC movement. I love the philosophy of ministry and the heart behind The Distinctives. This writing isn't a criticism in any way. It's a request for help from a pastor on the front lines of a tiny fellowship that wants to see God move powerfully. My loyalty to CC is given by choice. In my heart and mind CC has earned it, despite some nastiness that I still wonder about. To that end, CC is going to go through some transition in the hear future. My desire isn't to try and prop up a monolithic organization but to sustain a living, growing, and active community. I believe the leadership of CC has my best interest at heart, and the interests of the body of Christ. It is in this light that I ask the question;

What is Calvary Chapel anyway?

It's no easy question. I've been seriously thinking about it for a few days now and I don't know that I have a solid answer. I thought I knew. There was a time when I could whip out the answer. Now, as I chew on it, it seems that the answer changes depending on the context in which one asks it.

What is CC conceptually/organizationally? A network of pastors of independent fellowships. But even that is too simplistic of an answer.
What style of ministry/church is it? Depends on which one you visit.
What is it when it comes to disciplining an errant pastor? Depends on his errant-ness, who the regional guy is, and some would argue the errant pastor's status and influence. (new word; errant-ness)
What is it when one of the pastors adopts a style that is closer to churches whose theology is messed up but connects with the community? Again, depends on his errant-ness, who the regional guy is, and some would argue this pastor's status and influence.
Who decides its doctrine and which theological perspectives it is for and against and why? Chuck Smith.
How important are The Distinctives when there really aren't any CCs that I know of (including Costa Mesa) that stick to 100% of them? Good question.
What does it benefit to affiliate? Depends. What are you looking for?

The list could go on and, indeed, it does in the blogosphere.

There are also many variables to this question. Who you ask, for example. Even that can have many variables in itself. When did they affiliate? Were they a plant, if so, from where? Where is the church geographically? How big is it? How old are they?

Another variables to the question could be when are you talking about. When I first had a grasp on what CC was back at CCBC in 1993, my understanding was that CC was this; to be a CC means that you are an outreach fellowship, an extension of the ministry at Costa Mesa. What you did reflected on CCCM and Chuck Smith. Your teaching, your theology, your processes, your style (to a certain degree) was modeled after CCCM. You were essentially a little Costa Mesa. You were accountable to CCOF (which I think was a pretty new thing at the time, maybe a few years old, not sure). If there was a problem, you would be confronted and appropriate steps would be taken. That's what I remember being taught anyway. Whether or not that actually reflected reality is another discussion.

Fast-forward 15 years (unholy cow time flies!). The first time I tried to affiliate my application was turned down because someone else in my town had beaten me to the punch by three weeks and we were to close together geographically. Since then I stepped into the gap at another CC that needed a new pastor. My understanding now is that I am totally separate from Costa Mesa. There is no legally binding connection of any kind in either direction. (It would seem that the only thing that binds us is the perception of those inside and outside, positive and negative.) If I agree with the theology I am supposed to agree with and agree with The Distinctives, I get to be listed as a CC fellowship, I get to use the dove and the name Calvary Chapel if I choose to do so. I get access to CC pastors conferences, regional get-togethers, and an account with Calvary Distribution. I get to fellowship with other pastors of like philosophy and theology. If something goes wrong, if I go wrong, from a CC perspective I get confronted on a personal level by the regional guy and CCOF can take my affiliation away from me. There was a time when the church was affiliated. Now it's the individual pastor. What the church does with me is another issue entirely, but it will no longer be listed as a CC fellowship until a new pastor affiliates.

There are many other what-ifs we could throw into the CC simulator and see what comes out. Perhaps that will happen in some discussion. But right now, if things seem ambiguous, they are. Accountability. Change. Influence. Direction. Our individual roles in the grand scheme of things. They all really kind of hinge on the answer to the following questions:

1) What is Calvary Chapel the organization?
2) What does it mean to be an affiliated CC pastor?
3) If one wants to bring about change (improvement or correction), how does one go about doing this?

Epilady (er, epilogue) - If CC is or remains or turns into (depending on one's perspective) a simple network of pastors whose cooperation with the leadership is entirely voluntary, then we really have no means of influence or accountability (beyond our relationship with the regional guy) for that matter. We either march to the drum of CCCM and CCOF (and I mean that in a positive way) or we don't. If we want to be a CC we either do what CC does, or we don't. (I'm speaking in a global sense, not in a minute detail sense.) Generally speaking I don't see anything wrong with that. I believe in the local church with accountability. The alternative is for CC to denominationalize (another new word). To establish a specific leadership structure and hierarchy, disciplinary guidelines, channels of communication that include from the bottom to the top, requirements to agree with theology/doctrine even if changes are made, etc. I don't see that happening. I wouldn't want that to happen.

But perhaps there is a middle ground. Perhaps CCOF can revamp its requirements for affiliation that include specific things be in place in by-laws so that problems are required to be taken care of internally with specific workflows and outcomes. Perhaps they could have such things pre-written and the applicant would have to adopt them into their by-laws before affiliation can be granted. Just thinking out loud here. Of course, the question of who is affiliated, pastor or church (for whom the by-laws apply) would have to be revisited. Personally it makes more sense for the church to affiliate, but I digress.

At any rate, I would love to see this talked about, not just by us down here in the trenches, but those up on Mt. Calvary. We can take proactive steps in our own fellowships. We should take those steps instead of waiting for instructions or requests to float down to us. But for the sake of the movement, of this living community, it would be great to see our leadership address some of these things out loud amongst the masses.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Re-purposed Blog, part 2

2008-04-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

So, yet more changes. In a way I'm relieved, in a way I'm kinda bummed. Chad has decided to hang on to SMP and make it a private discussion forum. That's cool. That's totally his prerogative. Obviously some people are going to hate it and think people are going into hiding and this isn't right and on and on. Oh well. People have the right to do their own thing. I think Chad's motives are good and right. So good on him.

Am I going to participate in SMP 1.5? I'm not sure yet. "How can you say that when you were willing to run the whole thing just yesterday?" Easy. Like this; I'm not sure yet. It's a totally different thing to be a part of a private, blocked, password protected, "underground" community. It's different on the inside and the outside. Not worse than, not better than, just different. I don't know if I want to do what we did on SMP 1.0 in a forum like that. I think a middle ground is doable. A more controlled public forum can work. At least, I think it can.

At any rate, do stay tuned to SMP and see what's going on. It doesn't change what I had planned for my own blog(s) so of course stay tuned here. I'm game to talking about things CC here as well.

Re-purposed Blog

2008-04-17T11:06:00.000-07:00

Man! Between the moment I clicked "New post" until now, the world has radically changed. Well, not the whole world, but my online world at least. I'll write what I intended to write, then what's going on now, and what my new plan is.

Looking at my own blog, looking at what I'd like to do and what can be done to reach out to our community and to Pacific University with the internet, it became clear to me that my blog isn't really for anyone but myself. Perhaps a few people in the church, a few people online throw a comment in here and there, but it isn't really functioning for anyone by myself. It's been my own venting, my own thinking, my own my own. My hope is that it would be a draw, something to get people in my area talking. I failed miserably in my execution.

To that end, my plan is to start a new, separate blog that is more geared to getting people thinking and talking about the word, what it means, Bible difficulties, what it means to live it out, specifically people around where I live (though it's open to anyone!). A more practical blog where an open community can develop. This blog you are reading now would go on in but it would not be the primary blog that is mirrored on the church website. The new one would be.

That was my plan.

After I clicked the button to start the entry and before I started typing, just for grins I checked out SMP. While I may have resigned my post there, I still care about what's going on there. To my utter surprise and astonishment Chad decided to pull the blog. ALL of the posts were deleted, it was totally shut down. He then posted a link to his personal blog explaining why he did it. In it he expressed that he is open to someone else taking up the mantle of the SMP.

I felt compelled in the Spirit, pushed even, to do just that. (Incidentally, quite the firestorm came down on The Phoenix Preacher over this. It's still a firestorm after five hours and will go into the night I'm sure.) I emailed Chad and said I would do it. He agreed. We are working out the technical details right now. I realized after I initially left that it was really my only source of pastoral community. Generally like minded, younger CC pastors. Sure we bumped up against each other, but that can be good for you. It can be bad, and it was there for a while, but it can be good.

So I have decided to try and reinvent, repurpose, re-imagine The Simple Minded Preacher. My hope is to go back to its roots, its original mission, and then carefully and deliberately try and move it forward. I want it to be more focused. Some would read that as censorship. That isn't the point. My hope is to keep it on track as much as possible. While will be open, it will be limited to a degree as well. Sounds good on paper anyway. ;-)

So, if you are a fan of this space, keep checking back. Depending on how you access this blog (via thebluethread.org, exchangechurch.com, or corbystephens.blogspot.com) you will see something different soon. For those who access this via blogspot, it will look the same. On the other two sites you will see something different. You will probably see links to the various options for a time, and then the new blog I hope to start as a semi-outreach. So if you want to keep up with this one specifically, go to corbystephens.blogspot.com and bookmark it, subscribe to the feed, whatever. Other wise, stay tuned.

For fans of SMP, stay tuned there as well. Things should be up soon.

It just doesn't matter

2008-04-16T00:30:00.000-07:00

I was a Bill Murray fan before I was old enough to be a Bill Murray fan. I thought he was funny. He was always the irreverent clown of the group. But being the play-by-the-rules type I could never try the stuff he did. So I just opted to try to be funny. (I'm still trying.) In a scene in the movie Meatballs (no, this isn't an endorsement of the movie) Bill tried to give a pep talk to a depressed summer camp kid. At the climax of his pep talk he lead the room in repeating/chanting/yelling, "It just doesn't matter!" Ever felt like that?

David (as in King David) did. Solomon did. Job did. Moses did. If you have ever felt that way, if you feel that way right now, it's OK. You're in good company. There are lots of reasons to say that, and there are lots of reasons to mean it. This is never going to work or be successful, it just doesn't matter, so I quit. No one is going to find a solution for this problem, it just doesn't matter, I give up. I'm going to do what I need to do regardless of what people think, it just doesn't matter what anyone else says. So what if a shark bit my arm off and I love to surf, it just doesn't matter because I'm surfing.

The phrase can swing both ways. It applies when you feel hopeless, and it applies to overcoming obstacles that are in your path.

Have you ever met someone and you really like what you see in them, then learn later, perhaps much later, that they have some aspects to their personality that aren't really faults, they just make you uncomfy? The same can apply to a group of people, a team, a club, or a job. You really like the company, what they stand for, what their goals are, and they way they get things done, so you take the job. You get to know the inner workings of the company and after a few years you see some things you don't like. Do those things negate the things you liked originally? Not at all. They are still real and in operation. And you haven't been ignorant about those things you don't like, you've just never known them or noticed them before. Now it seems like it's all you can see. They too are real and you have to deal with them. In the end though, it just doesn't matter. Those things were there the whole time you didn't notice them. They will always be there. Maybe not in the same form, but they will be there. You could get a new job at a new company, but you are still going to find them. So instead of hopping around, dig into the good and do it. Do what you like about it and do what you have to do to deal with what you don't like. Change what you can, and that always begins with you. Christians are like this. Churches are like this. Movements are like this. Do what you are called and gifted to do because the rest of it just doesn't matter.

I made the mistake of cruising around the blogosphere before going to bed. I don't know why I torture myself like this and then share it with you. What are you doing reading this anyway? Don't you have anything better to be doing? There is so much going on out there it's ridiculous. The editorials. The comments. There is so much that is broken in churches and in people. It makes you want to do something about, but you can't. It just doesn't matter because you can never fix all of it. What can we do? We can start by not getting hung up on what we have no influence over, and instead draw near to God and He will draw near to us. We can pour what we have of Jesus in us into the lives of others and continually seek the Holy Spirit to pour Himself into us. Be a funnel. Don't get all clogged up with a bunch of other stuff because then you have to call Roto-Rooter, it's a messy job, and you just waste time an energy. Deal with what you can, what you are called to deal with, do so in the power of the Spirit. Whatever may try to stop you or stand in your way just doesn't matter.

Focus on what does matter and deal with that. By doing so, what just doesn't matter will be dealt with or will take care of itself. Thanks for the advice, Bill.

Fear, or love?

2008-04-15T16:26:00.000-07:00

One of my Calvary Chapel brethren recently wrote out some thoughts that have caused quite a stir in the blogosphere. As with just about anything, some people loved it, some people hated it. I was in the middle. This pastor and I were at CCBC at the same time though we didn't really hang out with each other due to the size of the school and the fact that we weren't in the same dorm. We are about the same age. We're both married. I would like to frame these comments from the perspective that we are basically peers. I came to some very different conclusions concerning the things he has observed. Perhaps they are worth discussing, perhaps not. All the same, here are my thoughts on what he observed as well as his observations. His posting is short. While I will be quoting its entirety here, you should head over to SimpleMindedPreacher and read it all at once to see the complete flow of thought.

I'm not sure when it happened but somewhere along the way the movement that I love began to be afraid. The movement that spawned one of the greatest revivals in modern church history is now guilty of some of the very same practices that led our leader to break away from his roots to pursue something fresh and alive. After years of being told how to think and act our leader did something courageous, something out of the box and God blessed it big time.

As far as I can tell, my head isn't buried in the sand. Having said that, I don't see where there is any fear motivating anything. There may be some individuals who are fearful, but I certainly don't see that in the leadership. And I also don't see how the movement is guilty of doing the things that motivated Pastor Chuck to leave his denomination. While he was being told how to think and act, I don't see any of that going on now in CC. We are free to think and act as we please.

At the same time, if our thinking and acting is no longer in harmony with CC, then we may need to reevaluate why we are a part of CC. What Pastor Chuck was being told to think and do were not in harmony with God's word. That's something to leave over. I don't CC communicating anything that is contrary to the word. Rather, CC is endeavoring to be even more word-centered.

Fast forward 40 years… Now the very people who felt boxed in and stifled are the one's creating their own boxes and stifling anything that doesn't match the way "we've always done things."

This I do see, but not as much in the context being discussed here. I've been vocal in the past about people saying "this is what a real CC looks like." I don't wear Hawaiian shirts and flip-flops, I don't even play guitar and say "bro." It seems to me that this posting is talking about something different.

The movement that was once defined by grace and freedom in Christ is now known for it's distinctives and principles of ministry. The movement that was once known for what it stood for is now defined by what it's against.

I've already addressed this idea in a previous blog entry so I won't go into too much depth. It seems to me that CC is still known for and defined by grace and freedom in Christ, at least in terms of salvation and walking with the Lord. To a degree it is also still known for that when it comes to ministry. Those distinctives and principles of ministry are the framework for grace and freedom in Christ. Those two aren't mutually exclusive.

I don't know how anyone or anything can only be known for what it is for. What individual human, or group of people, or company, or political entity, or country, or Jesus for that matter, is only know for what it stands for? There is no such thing. To stand for something is to directly or indirectly imply that you are against things that are outside of what you are for. Try this example on. Someone asks you, "What are you for?" You say, "I am for this." They ask, "What are you against?" You respond, "Oh, I'm not against anything, I'm just for this." That's just not how reality works. Anyone who says they aren't against something is usually running for political office.

When I think of CC, the first thing that comes to my mind isn't what it is against. The first thing that comes to my mind is teaching people about Jesus, His love, His grace, His salvation, and how to walk after Him. There are times when that means doing what Jesus, Paul, Peter, and Jude did; saying the word, "Beware."

We are against Calvinists, Emergents, Seeker Sensitive, Purpose Driven, Topical Teachers, Charasmatics, Churches that Fund Raise (Except CCFTL), Health and Wealth, Traditional, Liturgical, Psychology, Candles, Kids in the Service, Standing During Worship, Secular Music, Rated R Movies (except the Passion), NIV Bibles, and whatever else comes along that we think is wrong. What exactly are we afraid of?

The reality is that this list of things isn't consistent. What I mean is that there is a big difference between theological perspectives (such as Calvinism and Emergents) and whether or not you have kids in the service. In 1 Timothy 1 Paul tells Timmy to "charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith." Elements of some of the things in the above list that are lumped in with fundraising and secular music have specifically to do with "other doctrines." There is a differentiation. The way I see it, Pastor Chuck is doing exactly what Paul told Timmy to do. He is charging some to teach no other doctrine. To teach no other doctrine is, by definition, to point out what is correct and incorrect, what you are for and what you are against.

It has been suggested that this is being done out of fear. I don't think so. Paul continues to tell Timmy, "Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm." Pastor Chuck's motivation most certainly isn't out of fear but out of love, a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. The reality is that some have strayed, have turned to idle talk, they desire to be teachers but they have no idea what they are talking about. As a result they lead people into error. Something has to be done about that. That's all that is happening now.

Let's use Paul's illustration of the body. There are parts of the human body that are attractive. There are parts that are just gross. Take the liver (please). It's a filter. It filters crud out of our blood that would otherwise cause damage to the rest of the body. It isn't a pretty thing but it is a necessary thing. It is one organ among many organs that do a variety of jobs. A church or a movement are the same. It's nice to be known for our attractive parts or elements, but sometimes those less attractive ones need to surface and do their jobs as yucky as it may be. That's what is happening now in CC.

Since when did our affiliation mean indoctrination? Did I miss the memo that said that to be a pastor in our movement meant that you had to be a clone of someone else. When did we settle for becoming parrots instead of critical thinkers who hear from God and not the latest newsletter.

Affiliation has never meant indoctrination. Affiliation, in the CC context, means that you already agree with CC going in to the relationship, and that's why you want to be in relationship in the first place. Affiliation has everything to do with being like minded. CC believes X, I believe X, let's affiliate. It has nothing to do with being a clone of someone else.

As I said earlier, I recognize that there are some who think in those terms with regard to what it means to be a "real" CC. But that isn't the context of this discussion. It seems to me that if to be affiliated with CC means to be like minded, and either they change their minds or we change our minds about something and we are no longer like minded, then we ought to no longer be affiliated. No, I'm not telling anyone to turn in their dove. I'm just saying that if the basis or definition of our like-mindedness changes enough, and we aren't in a position to change the other, the logical thing to do is to no longer be affiliated, and to perhaps affiliate with others who are more like-minded. No one is telling us to be parrots and turn in our brains when we mail in the affiliation packet. However, part of that affiliation packet did say that if we stop agreeing with CC we should peaceably part company.

I'm not sure what we're afraid of but here's what I'm afraid of… That we as a movement and fellowship of churches become a parody of what initiated this amazing work to begin with.

Again, I don't think it has anything to do with fear. From my perspective it has everything to do with integrity, discernment, and as Paul said, teaching no other doctrine. As I said, the pastor who wrote this and I were at CCBC together. We read the same books, heard the same Chuck tapes, watched "A Venture in Faith" with the other 500 students there. We have the same sources. Yet I see something different.

What the pastor is describing in terms of what he sees CC becoming, and the things Pastor Chuck objected to in his denomination and were the basis for his decision to leave, I think they are very different things. (Incidentally, it seems to me that Pastor Chuck agreed with his denomination on the essentials. Who Jesus was, salvation by grace through faith, the inerrancy/infallibility of scripture, man's sin nature, etc. Does this mean he left for the wrong reasons?) Chuck's objections were (basically) around the emphasis on programs for church growth, the politics of church government, the focus on numbers, preaching salvation to the saved and seeing no fruit (duh), some issues around the Holy Spirit. There was no freedom in terms of how one could minister, it was all mechanical. Chuck's issues were apparently not so much or even primarily theological, rather they were practical. Contrast that with CC. CC doesn't ask me for quarterly reports on noses and nickels, it doesn't tell me what my next teaching series will be, it doesn't tell me how to dress (I own zero Hawaiian shirts), it doesn't do any of the things Chuck left his denomination over.

CC is, however, seeing the need to further define what "no other doctrine" is. Why? Because there really is a need for that these days. Anyone can be deceived, including pastors. "But God would show me if I were wrong." Maybe He has shown you but the source of that correction has been dismissed as being divisive and legalistic. (That's not directed at the pastor who wrote this, that's just in general.) As I see it, the issues Chuck is focusing on are all about Biblical doctrine, not how our churches function, nor the style of our ministry and expression. It isn't about candles, Bible versions, or any of that stuff that some do indeed bite and devour each other over within CC. To me it's about Biblical integrity. Nothing more.

The freedom and grace and love are all still there. The issue isn't the expression of our message, rather the purity of our message. We have the freedom in Christ to do and be anything we want. We don't have the freedom in Christ to believe anything we want. Those two things are getting all muddled together under the banner of freedom and grace. What it means to be a CC in terms of theology and teaching is what is being addressed. It seems to me that people who are pro-this and anti-that are getting that confused with issues surrounding the manner of expression and practice, broad brushing these things all together. If we do that, nothing will be accomplished and there will only be more fighting. We must separate the content from the style and discuss what is more important, which is the content.

As an aside, but a related aside, I wonder if people were making the same statements about Chuck and CC back in the Vineyard split days? I wonder if people were saying about Chuck then what they are saying about him now? That he is turning into a denominational dictator, that he is turning into the very thing he ever left in the first place, that he is being too narrow, negative, divisive, and reacting out of fear. Those things could have easily been said about him then. If they were bring said, were they right? I don't think they would have been then and I don't think they are now. Could it be that the Lord took Chuck through that experience then in order to prepare Him and CC for what is happening now? I think so. I hope so. It's been said that the one thing we learn from history is that we don't learn anything from history. We'll see.

Like many other young pastors, I am a bit of a non-conformist. (Is it a contradiction in terms to say that you are non-conformist just like everyone else is? Hm.) My purpose in writing this wasn't to bash the pastor who wrote the original post or anything like that. I guess my purpose was to simply demonstrate that it is possible to agree with the party line (at least in this regard) and not be a clone or a parrot. There are those who are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with aspects of CC. One would think that there would be a commonality such as age/generation, geography, walk of life, something. That doesn't appear to be the case because there are people one both sides of these issues from all ages and from all over.

There are those inside and outside who are speculating about another split like the Vineyard one, this time around Pastor Chuck's decision to draw lines in the sand (or concrete as it were) where he had previously chosen to not draw lines, at least not publicly or officially. Last year, when all of the action around Skip and CSN was brewing, there was speculation of another split. The issues then were less about Biblical integrity and more about personal integrity, though Biblical integrity is the basis for personal integrity. While there wasn't an organized split, there were those individuals who did turn in their doves. I suspect the same may occur in this situation. An organized split would require guys who feel the same way getting together and networking, organizing, putting the thing together. I think that if guys are geographically close together that is possible because it's easier to have relationships that way. If they are across the country from one another there would seem to be less chance of something structured forming.

In any case, the freedom and variety that makes CC so great has always been, in my mind, all about the gifting, talent, and uniqueness amongst the churches and pastors. The magic is in the way the same message of new life in Jesus Christ (and everything that goes with it) is expressed in so many cultures just in our own country, let alone abroad. But the doctrine, the interpretational framework needs to be united. There are things we as CC pastors teach and believe and there are things we do not. There is correct and there is incorrect. If there weren't then none of this would matter. When what is correct or incorrect has needed clarification in terms of what it means to be a CC, it has been clarified. This is one of those times. I, for one, am thankful for it.

What's all the hubbub, bub?

2008-04-14T21:53:00.000-07:00

Anyone who know me knows that I'm not one to simply tow the party line. In fact, I hear next to nothing from the party line. I don't even think I'm on their speed dial. I say this going in because this could easily be taken as simply mindlessly backing the position of a CC figurehead. I assure you that this isn't the case.

I had heard that Brian Brodersen recently spoke on the Emergent Church. I didn't know anything about the context or content of the study. It turns out he was teaching at the recent CC youth workers conference. His study is online at his website and you can access it directly by clicking here. (If it is no longer on the main page of his site, look for it by name. "Rob Bell & Brian McLaren: Emerging or Submerging? Colossians 2:8")

I have to say that it was one of the most balanced reviews of the movement, the players, the topics, the theologies, and the worldviews given to date, specifically from someone within the CC movement. What Mark Driscoll's teaching on it was from a semi-but-no-longer-insider's perspective, Brian's was from the outside.

What I especially liked about Brian's teaching was that he specifically said that the issue wasn't style or methods of communication. It had nothing to do with whether or not you use candles or any of that. It was about the theology, the philosophy, and the direction of those who are most influential in the Emergent Church/Movement/Conversation/Whatever. Those are what should be at issue, not the secondary issues of style of communication or expression.

At any rate, I don't know if my opinion on it means anything to anyone, I just felt the need to say something about it because of some of the uproar it is causing with some within CC. Some people just flat hate it. I see no reason for any of the objections to the study. I thought it was great. Balanced, to the point, fair. I recommend it to everyone. If you've never hear or read anything about any of this Emergent stuff, if makes a good primer. If you are familiar with it, even knee deep into it, give it a listen.

Brain Brodersen, thank you for this study.

Beware or fall - no double standards

2008-04-11T11:46:00.000-07:00

At the end of Peter's second letter he says these words.

You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

There seems to be a double standard that is becoming more prevalent these days (that's what the picture of the sweet & sour pork is for, get it?). I was going to say "popular" but that's not quite right. It just is and it's disturbing. The double standard is this; stand up for truth but don't be divisive. Declare what is right, what you are for, but don't talk about what you are against and be divisive. It is as though the expectation is that by only talking about love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness we will build unity and grow, but if we walk about the dangers of false doctrines and unbiblical practices we no longer care about love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness, and we are divisive, closed minded anti-tradition traditionalists.

There seems to me to be an either/or mentality. You are either for things and are on the right track, or you are against things and on the wrong track. I believe the Bible teaches that we are to teach both. Both are required. One comment I read on a blog asked if we are on a journey, learning, growing, and loving, or if we are a guard on the wall of a fortress keeping the enemy out. The Biblical reality is that we are both. We are sojourners, we are pilgrims, we are nomads in this world. Not only that but we are in enemy territory. Our citizenship is not of this world. So while we are nomads on a journey we also post guards to keep from being robbed or killed. As shepherds we lead the sheep to green pastures while watching out for wolves. But what is happening now is some say we are either one other the other, and keeping guard and keeping the enemy out is bad and divisive.

This is what is playing out in the Calvary Chapel fellowship of churches as we speak. It concerns me. Why? Well, while it won't effect me personally or the church I pastor, it will effect a lot of things, many we can't see at this point. In some ways we are at a "proof is in the pudding" point. We are at that third generation point in CC. We have been riding on coat tails and it is soon going to be apparent if our momentum is in the Spirit or if it is in man, or in one man in particular. That man being Pastor Chuck Smith.

My point in discussing what I'm about to discuss isn't about Pastor Chuck per se, rather it is about the reactions to various decisions he has made and opinions he has expressed. See, back in the day of the Jesus scene, Chuck was all about the love. Jesus wasn't harsh and judgmental of sinners, He came to save them. He didn't come for those who were well but those who were sick. This, the power of the Spirit in the life of the believer, and the end times were the main thrusts of Chuck's preaching and teaching. They still are. As they should be. No question.

However, when some within CC rose up and were putting an emphasis on some practices, Chuck said, "That isn't us. This is who we are. If you want to do that, you are free to go do that." He didn't condemn those who left, but he did teach what was right concerning those practices. Over the years Chuck also taught on doctrines and practices that weren't Biblically sound. Word of faith, cults, the occult, etc. In all of this Chuck taught people the love, grace, mercy and forgiveness of God, how to love and serve one another, and he taught people what to watch out for.

Recently Pastor Chuck has taken some very public positions on some things that have been happening in the Christian community. Specifically, Rick Warren and the Purpose Driven books, the Emergent Church (with regard to the errant theology), he has been re-emphasizing the pre-trib rapture and literal millennium end times view, and has also been coming against strict Calvinism (the kind that goes beyond sovereign election and ignores man's responsibility to choose).

Reactions in the CC community have run from blindly following to outright opposition. Those who blindly follow to do what Chuck does and say what Chuck says without considering the issue for themselves. I don't think that's a good thing. We shouldn't just swallow anything from anyone no matter who it is or how much we respect them. Those who are outright oppositional seem to be saying that the only thing Chuck is about now is what he is against, that his legacy will be division and opposition. I think that's ridiculous.

Peter's warning to the beloved was, "Beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked." Beware. Watch out. Keep your guard up why? Because we are supposed to be steadfast and we might fall away from that. Not from salvation

NOTE - Somehow the ending of this post got erased. I remember writing it and posting it, and I think seeing it after it posted. But it isn't there now. I don't remember how it ended unfortunately. Al I can remember was that Peter tells us to both beware and to grow in the knowledge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Doing one isn't to the exclusion of the other. At times one may need to be emphasized, but that doesn't mean the other has been abandoned. Sorry about the technical glitch.

Bringing order to chaos

2008-04-11T11:42:00.000-07:00

I would have written this yesterday but it was too weird. It was one of those days when you start the day with a plan, you deal with one or two minor tweaks which are usually to be expected, but you hope to end up accomplishing what it is you started out to accomplish. My goal was to finish my study for this Sunday. I didn't even get a chance to start. Yesterday is already fuzzy so I will do my best.

I actually went to be early (or on time, depends on your perspective) on Wednesday night. I got up, get ready for my walk and Jess decided to join me which is always great. I get back, get ready for the day. Emails come in, I go through those. Some more come in, more going through.

I've been debating whether or not to have a band come in in a couple of weeks so there were some emails seeking advice on that. I made the mistake of checking upon some blogs I decided to distance myself from. I read, and read, and read. Yes this was in my control, but I couldn't help it! It was all I could do to not post responses. I wrote them in my head but never typed them out. But even that takes time to do.

I then went to the post office to check the mail. A form from the state dept of revenue came. We recently switched over our payroll to a new company so some bugs are being worked out. In the course of some phone calls, issues that weren't even related to the letter came up. It turns out I paid taxes on stuff I should not have paid taxes on to the tune of some $400. Now I gotta figure out why some people who know what they are doing told me I did have to pay them, and why others who also know what they are doing told me I didn't. In any case, it's more work and stress that I though was behind me! The only thing I truly dislike about being in ministry is all the tax loopholes and minefields to work through. I just want to pay who I'm supposed to pay the amount I'm supposed to pay and forget about it. Sheesh. This took most of my afternoon.

In the evening I got a couple of very random calls that I was glad to take, but I just had to shake my head and giggle. Just a weird day. Today is turning out to be equally odd...

The truth, the whole truth

2008-04-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

I'm going to do my best to not make this a personal rant posting. It could easily turn into a Corby-gripe-fest. But I don't want to do that. And yet there are some things I have to say and there are those of my pastoral bretheren (even CC pastors) who won't find it pretty. But I gotta say em.

Standing up for truth, standing up for Biblical doctrine does not equal divisiveness. It may result in division and that is sad. But that doesn't mean that we stop standing up for truth and doctrine. The question then becomes, "Which doctrines are important?" Answer (ala Dwight): All of them. Why? Because what we believe is the basis for what we do and, more importantly, why we do it (or don't).

We are coming up to the end of Acts 18 and I'm going to include the first part of Acts 19 in the study this weekend. They are related events and I think very significant events in light of what I see happening in some of the younger generation of CC pastors. Actually, it applies on a couple of different levels, but I'll try to stick to the main thread of the thought.

The following is a statement that has been around CC probably from the beginning. Many CCs have this on their website and in their weekly bulletins.

Calvary Chapel is not a denomination. We are not opposed to denominations as such, only their over-emphasis of doctrinal differences that have led to division in the Body of Christ. We believe that the only true basis of Christian fellowship is His (agape) love, which is greater than any differences we possess.

I'll just say it; I don't think this works anymore. (gasp!) Now hang on, let me qualify it. We have to consider the times and the culture, both inside and outside the church, when this statement was made. The church, Christianity in America, was on life support. It was being kept alive by artificial means, namely programs and ear-tickling (not much has changed). For the most part, church was either fake, dead, condemnatory, or all of the above. Pastor Chuck was about the love. He is still about the love. That's as it should be for all of us. However, the differences that now threaten to divide us are beyond simple opinions about doctrine. They call into question everything. It is no longer enough to say that we love Jesus and can't we all just get along, because some who claim to love Jesus also ignore or denounce His own teachings. John would say of such a one, "He is a liar and the truth is not in him." How divisive!

"We believe that the only true basis of Christian fellowship is His (agape) love, which is greater than any differences we possess." It is this statement that causes me the most concern, particularly the "any differences we poses" part. Let's start with someone who calls themselves a Christian, one of Christ's, one who believes in Jesus for salvation. I will set aside for the moment that there are all kinds of ways people today use those terms and they don't mean what the Bible means by them, therefore they really aren't Christians. But, since we can't discern someone else's salvation or heart, let's give them the benefit of the doubt for the moment. Today, Christians are believing and being taught that the Bible isn't the infallible, inerrant word of God as the Bible claims and as God Himself says. Can we have true fellowship in that? I don't think so. Today, Pastors/Reverends/Ministers/Bishops/Whatevers are teaching and believing and practicing things (or at the very least are parts of denominations that teach/believe/practice things) that are totally and plainly contrary to the teaching of God's word. Some of these are huge things, some not so much, but then sin isn't graded on a scale. Can we have true fellowship in that? I don't think so. Today, Christians are believing and being taught that Jesus' substitutionary death on the cross is an offensive idea, that sin is an outdated concept, that all truth is God's truth wherever you find it (Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Oprah, doesn't matter). Can we have true Christian fellowship with people who claim to be in Jesus' agape love and have those kinds of differences? I don't think so.

Why not? Because they are self-contradicting. They refute and ignore the very things they claim to believe or promote. They are wrong and incorrect. This isn't nit-picking. This isn't biting and devouring like Paul talks about in Galatians. This has everything to do with the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And yet, when someone tries to bring correction, even if it's done in a loving, gentle, and patient way, they are labeled as narrow minded and having no room for fellowship with the diversity in the Body of Christ. How can one have fellowship with cancer?

What do Acts 18-19 have to do with any of this? Meet Apollos. He knew the baptism of John. He rightly taught the ways of Lord and called people to repentance. I'm sure we would call him a brother in the Lord and desire fellowship with him. And yet, Aquilla and Priscilla saw something wrong, something missing. They then taught him the way of the Lord more accurately. What? How divisive! How arrogant! He was missing some of the truth. Fortunately, Apollos was humble enough to take the correction. Today, whole denominations and theological constructs are based on being where Apollos was, and they do so on purpose in the name of being more Biblically accurate.

But wait, there's more! In Acts 19 Paul meets some disciples, some believers, some Christians, who also only knew John's baptism of repentance. (Note that this isn't an issue of salvation. This is in contrast to Jesus' baptism with the Holy Spirit. See Acts 1:4-8) What? You mean Paul made a big deal about being baptized/filled with the Spirit? Isn't that a side issue that we need not divide over? Isn't that a non-essential? Apparently it isn't. Apparently Paul thought it was a big enough of a deal to take them aside and teach them about it, to even lay hands on them and pray for them to receive the Spirit. How divisive! How arrogant! How right on. If a "side issue" such as this was so important, how important is the rest? It really calls into question what a "side issue" is anyway.

I think Paul would have been labeled as divisive by many today, along with Aquilla and Priscilla. I think they might have been labeled as witch hunting discernment ministries. Is unity important? Absolutely. I am in no way advocating breaking up the body of Christ for the sake of being "right." I am saying that we should stay true to the Truth. The problem is that the lines of truth are becoming eroded and those who try to redraw them are labeled as divisive. (Here's your sign.) And it's just going to get tougher. So call me divisive. It's ok. I'm in good company. Paul, John, Jesus, Larry Norman, it's all good. People need truth. People need certainty. People need absolutes. People need the truth, the whole, complete, nothing missing or optional, truth.

There. Rant over. Pardon my moment of intensity. We now return you to the normally scheduled intravertedness.

The Easter Blues

2008-03-28T10:59:00.000-07:00

Does anyone have a harmonica I can borrow?

First off, I want to say that this isn't directed at anyone but myself. I may mention other people but it has nothing to do with them, I'm not blaming anyone for anything, they just happen to be players in the story.

I'll be honest. Easter was flat. It just was. A number of people were gone for a variety of reasons. Who was gone or why isn't the issue. How the number of people who were there (or not) effected me is what I'm interested in talking about. We were down to about two thirds of our normal family gathering. And when you aren't that big to begin with it makes a big difference. "Here we go, another pastor talking about numbers wanting to build a mega church." No, not quite. This is actually about the conversations God and I had on this Resurrection Sunday.

I started the service late, hoping some more people would show up. No one did. I was bummed. "God, where are the people who want you, who need you?" I asked. God promptly said back, "Don't worry about who you don't have in front of you. Take care of the ones you do have in front of you." Crap. Fine. So we start the service. People have their coffee, I make some announcements, and Doug leads worship. During practice Doug and I realized that the chosen set as pretty mellow. There's nothing wrong with mellow, but there really wasn't anything celebratory, and it is Resurrections Sunday after all. Worship was good, but it just kind of carried over the funk that was already in my heart. Mellow. Flat.

I recently changed the way I use notes for my studies. I wanted something that made me more flexible in my speaking. I felt too tied down to my notes, afraid I would leave something out, so I was basically looking down the majority of the time. But now that I have this freedom to "riff" it lends to going longer. I went for 59 minutes. Sheesh! Shut up, Corby! And in my study prep I had hoped for and kind of planned on some visitors or non-believers. There weren't any non-believers in the house. The phrase "preaching to the choir" comes to mind. But in this case, the choir is the only thing that showed up. It feels like the choir is all that ever shows up. I love the choir. I'm thankful for the choir, please don't hear what I'm not saying. I am saying it would be nice to share the good new of new life in Jesus Christ with someone who needed to hear it right then and there. So far that hasn't happened yet. Ever.

We got done, packed up, and went home. Some had family plans. We didn't, and that's no big deal for us. But the day ended just as flat as it began. I felt like there was no impact on the community. No change. (Again, these are just my feelings and may or may not reflect reality.) My heart is to reach out to this hurting and broken community. "But Corby, you are sewing. It takes time for the harvest." I know this all too well. See, here's the thing. For me, it feels like I have been sewing my entire Christian "career." It feels like all I have ever done is sew. I have never seen direct fruit in my life. I have never led anyone to the Lord. I haven't even ever prayed with someone to that end. I have seen much fruit from what I have sewn in others. A missionary to China. A youth pastor who leads a group of middle schoolers that is at least double the size of my church. Another youth pastor who is impacting kids. "One sews, another waters, another reaps." I know that. I get that. But I want to reap! Is that wrong? Is that selfish?

The natural course of the thought process is to then ask, "What do I need to do to make this thing grow? What more do we need to be doing?" More advertising. Banners and posters. Cool artwork. Bring in bands that will draw. Buy a better projector so we can do cooler stuff on the screen. Try to be funnier (or funny, as the case may be). Something. As I was going through that list in my head, again, God showed up and gently said, "The only thing you and My church need to do more of is to give Me more of yourselves." Again, crap.

So it was a humbling Easter. I'm kind of glad I didn't have to go visit family and act happy because I wasn't. I was broken. I was humbled. Resurrection Sunday is about the resurrection. Duh. But it is also about how we are raised to life with Him. In order to experience more of that life we need to die to self. Daily. So it isn't about who is there on any given Sunday and who isn't. It's about me. It's about you. It's about us right now.

I knew you when...

2008-03-15T14:11:00.001-07:00

I recently gave in and set myself up with a Facebook account. I must admit that I like it better than MySpace, but that isn't the point of this entry. One thing Facebook does is automatically connect you with people you might know who are also in their system They do this via places you have worked, schools you went to, etc.

Not long after I clicked a few clicks did I see names and faces I recognized, one that goes back to preschool. As I clicked through their profiles I realized that I was getting a glimpse at a sampling of people, including myself, who all started out in essentially the same environment and have gone a variety of directions. Actually, you could divide it up into two directions; liberal and conservative, Christian and not.

Then I started to daydream (which I'm prone to do). What if I had the chance to sit down and chat with some of these people? Or, what if some of them showed up at my church? What would I say? How would I teach? Would it be different that how I do now? The reality is that these people are my peers, literally.

In high school I was friends with everyone and no one. I respected all and was respected by all. Jocks, stoners, smokers, nerds, artsy, pretty much everyone. At the same time I wasn't really a part of any of them. I was (and am) in extroverted introvert. I was a compromised Christian. I was active in my youth group but went too far with the Christian girls I dated. I wasn't an influence for Christ. I figured people would just notice. They didn't. I was a nice kid, a good kid.

As I look through the profiles of my classmates the inevitable happens. I compare what they have done with their lives with what I have done with mine. Like beauty, influence and significance are in the eye of the beholder. Some people have been very public and aggressive (for lack of a better term) with their lives and passions. And successful.

On the one hand I don't feel very influential, significant, or successful. On the other hand that can't be true. As a youth pastor an intern I know I had something to do with those kids who are now all grown up and have served God all over the world. As a yoyo man I did some 1,500 shows for some 300,000 kids in 31 states and three foreign countries. I had to have had some kind of impact on some of them beyond entertaining them for 45 minutes. With almost two years of senior pastoring under my belt and video and audio files going out over the internet all over the world, I would hope and pray that someone is being built.

Does it sound like I'm having a pity party? I'm not really. I guess I'm just taking stock of things. I saw part of a biography about Chris Farley this morning. I'd seen it before. Like him I had a dream of being on Saturday Night Live. Had I given everything in my life over to doing that I might have made it. If nothing else, Chris made people laugh. He did much more than that of course. He was influential. It both came naturally and was a lot of work. He paid his dues.

If God is going to use me to be influential I have to do likewise. I have to give everything in my life over to doing that. I have to break out of my habit of if it isn't easy I don't do it. In school being noticed came easy to me. Music, drama, school-spirit awards. I didn't have to work at it. Getting out of my high school bubble I quickly realized that I was once a big fish in a little pond. Now I'm a little fish in the ocean.

My flesh wants to live in a cave. My spirit wants to touch peoples hearts, lives, and minds. This is where that whole die to self and take up my cross thing comes into play. What am I going to do with all of this? Something. When I study and prepare to teach, I'm going to try and factor in, "What if Dustin, Kate, or Haly were to walk in today? What would I want them to hear? How would I want to come across? If this was their only chance to ever hear God's word, what would they need to hear?"

Teach who you have, preach to who you don't.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

I have an idea...

2008-03-11T09:40:00.000-07:00

First off, it's been a while since I've posted, and I do have a couple of things rolling around in my brain. But this one will be kind of a drive-by posting. Sorry for the abruptness.

The CDC is reporting that...

At least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted disease, or more than 3 million teens, according to the first study of its kind in this age group.

Here's an idea... STOP SCREWING AROUND!

Now, I do understand that there are boys involved in this so it obviously isn't just the fault of the girls here. I'm not blaming just the girls. I also understand that there are times when this is the result of rape, incest, etc. I'm not that ignorant nor insensitive. But it seems rather obvious to me, having spent six years as a teen myself, that the vast majority of these cases is just kids having sex, "protected" or otherwise.

Why is it that we are afraid to or grossed out by drinking out of the same can or bottle of pop/beer/booze as someone else (at least when we are sober), but kids will give each other oral sex in the stair well at school or hook up at a party without thinking twice? "Make sure to wash your hands after going to the bathroom kids, and then get your penicillin shot."

And people say that those who promote abstinence are stupid. Maybe God's way is the best way. Heterosexual married sex. If everyone stuck to that, our sons and daughters wouldn't have to worry about this. Ever.

The Discernment Challenge - Can You Taste the Difference?

2008-02-12T21:30:00.000-08:00

Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." Peter, Paul, Jude, they all say the same kind of thing. Beware of the false and trust in the truth.

Clearly, God wants us discern between what is true and what is false, what is from Him and what is not. Some people who do this are called watchmen. They keep an eye on the horizon for those who would either sneak in or bring on a full blown attack. We need watchmen. But what happens when those who are watchmen begin to lose focus, or sound the alarm when something just peeking over the hill kind of resembles an enemy, but really they are just a neighbor?

Babies and Bath Water
As I said, God wants us to be discerning and has called some to serve the body in that capacity. However, there is something that tends to happen to those who serve in that capacity. Over time they become paranoid, in a way. They begin with God's word as their criteria for discernment. That's good. They observe a person or ministry that begins to deviate from God's truth in an obvious way and they let the rest of us know about it. Great.

Then they start to see the potential error in other individuals or ministries. "They said this which could be taken this way, and if that's true then they are bad news." At this point this servant should make contact with the entity who said what they said and verify what was said. If the truth was being proclaimed, then no need to sound the alarm. If there was error, then they should sound it. After a time, the watchmen stop confirming potential error and just assume the error. No investigation is done, no follow-up.

Finally, certain words or phrases become triggers. If a trigger is pulled, the gun goes off. If someone uses the word "emergent" for example, that person must represent the freaky extreme of the Emergent Church and they are a false teacher. Is that always ,or even usually, the case? I don’t think so. Judgments are made. Intentions are implied. Other trigger words are, “psychology,” “contemplative,” and “purpose.” If a pastor or writer uses one of these words, that person is added to the list of baddies. The discernment ministry throws the baby out with the bath water. They have actually lost the ability to discern and instead they react.

The Sky Is Falling
Something also can happen to those who subscribe to these discernment ministries. In the beginning, these ministries are trustworthy. And because they are trustworthy people accept what they say. Over time, people begin to put absolute trust in these ministries and accept everything they say. What happens when the ministries become paranoid and neglect the process of discernment? Those who follow them unwittingly share the same misinformation that was spread to them.

Something else that can happen is that the people who follow the ministries can also neglect their own responsibility to use discernment. They have entrusted this to others for so long that they don't remember how to do it themselves. The ministry has become a crutch. In reality, the ministry has replaced the Holy Spirit in this roll in the life of the believer.

Bridge for Sale - $1
Acts 17:11 says, “[The Bereans] were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” Don’t believe everything you read, unless it’s the Bible. Don’t believe everything you hear, unless it’s the Spirit. Learn to discern.

Evolutionists getting close to the truth

2008-01-31T10:40:00.001-08:00

The FoxNews.com headline reads, "Blue-eyed people are inbred mutants." Obviously this article had something to do with darwinian evolution, so I thought I'd see what they are on about now. Here is the link to the full article. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,327070,00.html

What caught my attention was this.

Danish researchers have concluded that all blue-eyed people share a common ancestor, presumably the first man or woman to sport what must have seemed oddly colored peepers 6,000 to 10,000 years ago.

Wait, how long ago? 6,000 years ago? Hm. That would be about the time Adam and Eve started popping out kids. Fascinating.

"Originally, we all had brown eyes," Professor Hans Eiberg of the University of Copenhagen said in a press release. "But a genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes resulted in the creation of a 'switch,' which literally 'turned off' the ability to produce brown eyes."

This makes sense and is totally in line with what we see in scripture. Adam and Eve were essentially clones. The same, complete genetic pool, no mutations. As they had kids, and their kids had kids, and because of the curse on creation, mutations were inevitable. Either that, or it's part of the genetic variability God built in to out DNA. From people who were middle brown with brown eyes, you can get the blackest blacks and the whitest whites. No, this isn't a commercial for laundry detergent.

He also stresses that the switch, as the press release puts it, is "neither a positive nor a negative mutation."

That's a bit disingenuous, as the mutation also produces greater instance of blond hair (sexually selected for even today) and fair skin, which confers a survival advantage by stimulating greater production of vitamin D in sun-starved northern European countries — exactly where blue eyes are still most prevalent.

God built all of this into our DNA. DNA is information. Information, and the means to interpret and use information, cannot come about by chance random processes. The evidence points to, nay, it screams that there is, a Creator. And I'm glad I know Him.

Gun control and the church

2008-01-30T08:40:00.000-08:00

You've seen the bumper stickers or tee-shirts before I'm sure. "Gun control means using both hands." And then there is the other extreme that basically says guns should be illegal except for maybe law enforcement and the military. I might call it the doctrine of gun control. In that light, it isn't too different from what is happening in Christianity as it relates to the Bible and how Christians, or Christ-followers, or whatever, live their lives.

There are those in the emergent church movement who say that the doctrine of inerrancy isn't a Biblical doctrine and should not be so forcibly held onto. The doctrine of inerrancy basically says that there are no errors of fact nor are there any contradictions in the Bible. The Bible is 100% accurate when it speaks on matters of history, science, culture, etc. While the Bible may not contain a label that says, "This book is inerrant," the concept can be found throughout the Bible. If it is the word of God, then it must be inerrant. When you look at the writing it's pretty apparent which books are historical and which ones are poetic. There are ways to tell when the writing is being figurative and when it is being literal. If there is any confusion about anything it usually has to do with the fact that we are 21st century Americans reading about 2,000+ year middle eastern cultures. Once you get around that, things are clearer.

Why do some object to this doctrine? Because, they say, it is one of the things that has led to Christians becoming isolationists from the rest of the world. It is part of what has led to mainstream Christianity become so ineffective and irrelevant in our society. Those who hold to an inerrant view of scripture aren't tolerant of other cultures and make Christianity look stupid.

Their answer? Get rid of the doctrine. And don't stop there, look at all the other whacky stuff these inbred Christians are into and get rid of that too. Bible prophecy is irrelevant. The origins of mankind and the universe, as told in the Bible, are a myth, a morality tale, not a historical narrative. Basically, instead of using the Bible as God intended, redefine it. Take away these things and redefine or recreate Christianity and God in our own image. Don't teach people how to use the gun, take it away from them. After all, it isn't the only source of truth in this world. All truth is God's truth, according to Rob Bell. The Bible isn't the only source of truth, Christianity doesn't hold the corner on truth, God is bigger than that.

Why am I on about this? Because I love God's word. I get fired up when people attack it or abuse it ignorantly. When you have a false presupposition and come to a conclusion that happens to fit the evidence, your conclusion is still false. It so happens that I agree with many of the objections the emergent folks, and the world for that matter, have concerning the church and Christians in our culture. But their solutions are completely wrong, and in opposition to God's word. Their presupposition is wrong, their observations are right, but their conclusions are wrong.

The answer isn't redefining God's word. The answer isn't taking it less seriously. The answer is taking His word more seriously. The answer is studying it and applying it more. The agent of change in this world is the Holy Spirit. But when you don't believe that the Spirit is active today, you are going to ignore Him and try to find your own way to be an agent of change. When you don't believe Jesus is really going to come back, God is going to judge the world, and Jesus is our only hope for the future, you make up a new future, you spiritualize our hope. When you don't believe those early chapters of Genesis, the Bible becomes a collection of stories, it becomes a pile of pillows upon which people are supposed to build their lives, instead of the firm foundation that it really is.

"Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." If I can't trust the Bible then I can't trust that Jesus love me. If I can't trust that Jesus loves me, then what's the point? I might as well believe in the Smurfs, and you darned well better respect my beliefs. Why? Because the Smurfs believe in truth, honesty, and sharing. So does God. Therefore, God must be in the Smurfs. Do you see where this leads? Now where did I put my white hat...

The Bible is the word of God. It tells us where we come from. It tells us that God made us for a purpose. It tells us that that purpose is to have a relationship with Him. It tells us that Adam an Eve disobeyed God which is sin, which resulted in all of their descendants (that's us) being separated from God because we sin too. It tells us that there is no way we can fix that on our own. It tells us that God Himself had a plan to fix it because He doesn't want us to be separated from Him. It tells us that Jesus' death and resurrection was God's plan to fix it, and that that is the only way it can be fixed. It tells us that He will give us His own Holy Spirit to change us, and He will use us to change the world around us. It tells us that God will tolerate the sin of the world for only so long and that He is going to judge it someday. It tells us that Jesus is the only way out of this judgment.

The Bible gives us a sense of purpose for our past and present, and it gives us hope for our future. We can have confidence in that. It is certain. It is absolute. Jesus love you, this you can know, for the Bible tells you so.

A watched church never boils

2008-01-29T15:00:00.000-08:00

Next weekend (Feb 3rd) will be my one year anniversary as the pastor of the church. A year. We have come a ways. I won't repeat how we have grown because I already talked about that. What's bugging me now is the desire to see growth. As I have already written about, we are seeing some great internal growth. People are healthier in their relationship with the Lord than perhaps they have ever been. And that's awesome. I praise God for that. So I'm not talking about that kind of growth. I'm also not talking about numbers for the sake of numbers. I'm talking about seeing more people in this community being plugged in and switched on in the Lord.

"Corby, are you saying that all of the people who attend all of the other churches in town aren't plugged in and switched on in the Lord?" I can't say that because I have not been to every church in town and observed every member of every church. I can say this. If they were, this community would look very, very different. The kind of growth I want to see is an increase in people who are hungry for God. I want people who are ready to, or at least willing to try to get past their preconceptions of what church and Christianity is supposed to be. Church isn't the building. It isn't where we go for Bingo night. It isn't three points and a poem. It isn't this style of music, dress, and decor. Christianity isn't a moral code by which one does their best to live their life. God isn't an old man in a robe with a white beard. Jesus isn't white guy with blue eyes and long, straight, brown hair, walking around in sandals, a white robe and a purple sash.

I don't want to pastor the church that tries to draw people in and keep them in by my own means. I don't want to pastor the church that is known among Christians for it's excellent youth program, so that's where all the Christian families go. I don't want to pastor the church with the new building that everyone wants to go check out.

I want to be a part of the church, a part of the body, where people who have a hunger for God go, connect, build each other up, go back out into the world and are used by the Holy Spirit to bring others to Jesus.

It may sound corny, especially if you know the song from LoveSong, but I want to be that little country church on the edge of town, where people come from miles around. I want people to show up and say, "This isn't the way church used to be." I don't want to talk about religion, I want to praise the Lord with the rest of my family. I want our church to talk about revival and the need for love, I want it to come alive. I want to see the Spirit working among us so that we are working together in our community for the common good, putting anything that may hinder us from our past aside. Long hair, short hair, coats and ties, doesn't matter. Looking past the hair, or tats, or clothes, or whatever, straight into people's eyes, and knowing that we are one in Jesus.

That's the kind of growth I want to see. I'm eager for it. Yeah, I know it takes time for the farmer to see the results of his labors. Yeah I know it takes 9 months for that baby to grow and a lot of labor pains before the new life appears. I know a watched church never boils. But sometimes I just want to yell, "God, you said you would build your church. So build it already!" I want to be used, I want the people in the fellowship to be used by God to welcome the lost into His family. I want to be used to be that place where all ye who labor and are heavy laiden can come and take up the Lord's yoke, His easy and light burden. I want our fellowship to be that part of the branch on the vine (John 15) that is abiding in Him and being fruitful. I want to see that seed scattered, fall on good soil, and multiply 30, 60, and 100 fold.

When it happens I look forward to simply saying, "Thank you, Lord." I look forward to telling others about what the Lord has done and is doing. I don't want to be the one being told, "Don't worry, trust in the Lord." anymore. I want to be the one saying it to someone else.
When Jess was pregnant, both times, at the end I remember her saying, "Is this baby ever going to come out?" I kind of know how she feels. And I know I'm not alone in this.

If the fields are white unto harvest and the workers are few, God, show us where these fields are so that we might harvest.

Germany part last

2008-01-23T04:07:00.001-08:00

Well, that about wraps up the trip. Last night the conference began so that's about all that's going on. There are about 50 or so pastors from all over Europe. Ironically, almost all of them are Americans, missionaries who came over to plant churches. In fact, I talked to one guy from New York who has been here for 10 years. He actually had an accent. I thought he was a native. Oops!

Honestly, I'm not much of on for conferences anymore. You meet people you don't know. I don't have a problem with that. I do have a problem with telling the same story every time I meet someone new. Questions like, "What's your name? Where are you from? Where is that? How long have you been at your church? Did you start it? How long has it been there? How did you get there?" Rinse, lather, repeat. It gets kind of old an annoying very fast. So basically, I'm ready to hope a plane and go home now.

I'm am looking forward to sharing with people at church what happened. Mostly, because I can do it with everyone all at once and not 20 times over and over! This will probably be my last post from Germany. Hopefully not the last one ever in my life, unless we get "poofed" (Jonah refers to the rapture) sometime soon. So, with that, danke schoen. (fade in the Wayne Newton song...)

Germany part 6 - Back to Siegen

2008-01-22T03:26:00.000-08:00

I went to bed last night looking forward to (not) a long day of traveling and shmoozing with a bunch of pastors. I was a little disappointed that I didn't really get to see more than I did while in Berlin. We got up at 6:30 to go catch a 7:45 train from Berlin to Leipzig, and from their, Kurt (pastor of CC Leipzig) was going to drive six people to Siegen. Just as we got out of town he said, "Hey, you guys wanna see a concentration camp?" At first blush it seems like kind of a gory thing to want to go see a place where thousands of people were systematically slaughtered. But being a novice history buff, I definitely wanted to go see one, as did everyone else.

Buchenwald
Were it not for a massive tower-like monument on the scenic hillside, you would never know that, nestled in the little forest on the top of an ordinary hill surrounded by quaint villages and farms, there was a facility whose entire purpose was to process, store, and dispose of human beings of a certain ethnicity. Along the side of the road up the hill there are signs that basically say, "If you go past these signs you are taking your life in your own hands because there are still land mines in here." Close to the top there is what is called, "The Blood Road." A cobblestone road made by the prisoners. Not far past that is the train depot where the prisoners were brought in. Past that are the barracks for the guards, which today are apartments. (That just sounds kind of creepy to me.)

Past this is a road that leads to the gates that leads to the facilities where the Jews lived. The gates themselves are in the middle of a building that I will come back to later. Coming out of both sides of this building are barbed wire fences with guard towers.

Then the American soldiers made it into the camp they saw this view. In the second picture below on the left you can see one remaining barracks. The rest were burned down because they were so filled with cooties.

My understanding is that, for the most part, the prisoners didn't know what awaited them. In that building with the gate, their countrymen were being tortured to death. Room #1 (first picture below) was where most of them who came into this building died. Across the hall were basic toilet facilities. Some sinks and a couple of toilets.

Just past Room #1 was a gate and a long hallway where there were many cells. Many people leave little flowers to pay their respects for those who suffered and died in this place. but in another part of the camp, an equally brutal fate was reserved for the rest.

I have to pause and tell you this. In this next building, as soon as I passed through the door, it physically felt as though there was this weight pressing down on my head and shoulders. It's like someone put a pile of bricks into my backpack. It was difficult to breath. There was a definite funk in the air. It was powerful and tangible. There was a presence there. And I didn't even know what I was walking into.

As I said, the prisoners didn't even know what was going on. The main reason for this is because the Germans didn't broadcast what they were doing. Instead, the brought the prisoners to their deaths in a rather orderly fashion under the guise of the chance to shower and/or a medical exam. Those who were offered a shower we brought into a room that looked like a shower room. Drains in the floor, shower heads in the walls. In reality, poisonous gas came out of those shower heads. (We either didn't see this place or it didn't exist anymore, so I don't have any pictures of it.) The facility where people were brought in for medical exams was still there. They were brought into a room that looked like a doctors office. Cabinets with medicines, an eye chart on the wall, a heater, a table.

They were then brought into a room to have their height measured. The floor of the room is painted red and has what is essentially a wooden grate in the floor. The prisoner would be brought in and stood against the wall with the hight scale on it. Build into the wall, but invisible from within this room, is a slot wide enough for the barrel of a gun to fit in. As the prisoner is simply standing there, they were shot through the back of the head. The first picture below shows this room. That's Kurt who happened to poke his head in the door way. At least it give you some sense of scale. His head is nearly in the spot where the prisoners would have stood. The next picture is the hidden room behind the wall where where the soldier with the the gun stood. The prisoner would have walked right by this room, perhaps assuming it was a closet. It didn't occur to me why the floor was painted red with a grated. It was so that they could quickly hose it down for the next prisoner.

As soon as I left this building the weight lifted. It was like a switch. But I didn't have to wait long for it to come back. In the basement of the building next door there is a chute from the outside. The bodies of the dead were slid down this chute and stored or staged to go on the elevator that led to the upstairs of this building. The reason they were staged there is because the Germans didn't want them left out in the open for the other prisoners to see. And again, once I came out of that basement, the pressure left. Something lives there after all these years and through all that death. Once they were brought up to the lift the bodies were dissected to see if they had any gold fillings or if they had swallowed any gold jewelry. After this the bodies were brought to the crematorium. The bodies would go in one side (first and second photos), and their ashes would be collected collected from the other side (third photo), then placed in urns (fourth photo). Outside of the crematorium there is a plaque talking about the company commissioned to build these ovens. I wonder if the people who made them knew what they were making as they built them. (Last photo is crematorium building. The roof to the left is where the doctors "exams" took place.)

It just seems so unimaginable. The things we humans are capable of. In Genesis 6 God says that whatever we put our mind to we can do. The people who did these things, from their perspective, were committed to their ideals. They had a vision. They were devoted. And look at the lengths to which they went. The same could be said about many Muslims today who blow themselves up, pray five times a day, etc. It makes me feel like a very whimpy Christian. Those people are/were willing to go so far with their lives to believe in something that is false, farther than it seems I go with God's truth.

I also tried to put myself in the boots of the American soldiers who would have had to fight their way up this hill, through mine fields, seeing their buddies getting blown up, crawling through the forest. They had fought through the winter. The had suffered. They had endured serious hardship, some of them for years. Then, to finally reach the top and enter those gates, the Germans left piles of bodies. They left the dead in the crematorium and showers and doctors office. The living weren't much better off. Many were living skeletons literally piled up in their sleeping shacks, not to mention those locked in the cells being tortured. Many of the soldiers just started throwing up because of that they saw and smelled and heard. I imagine they didn't think they had it so bad after all.

In the end, God used this tragedy (the word doesn't do it justice) to compel the UN to create a nation for these people. If I remember correctly, Uganda was a proposed place for the Jews to have a homeland. Ultimately, they were given back their homeland of Israel, just as God had promised. God used these events to fulfill His word. God demonstrates His faithfulness through tragedy. It can be hard to recognize while one is in the midst of it, but He is and He does. That's one thing I can take with me from Buchenwald.

I feel like I've come full circle in my own interest in WW2. In 8th grade my grandmother took me to the Island of Oahu. I got to visit Pearl Harbor and the Arizona memorial. I got to look down on the ship where dozens of sailors are still entombed. I got to see the skyline where the planes would have been buzzing. I got just a taste of the Pacific Theater. I had always wanted to come and see the European Theater. I got a very up-close and person look at that stage.

It seems clear to me, now more than ever, that there are things worth fighting for. War isn't a bad thing, so long as the thing you are waring over is right and true and just. The sacrifices are worth it, whatever form they may take. Sometimes, war is the answer. Things worth fighting for cause division. We are going to be in Acts 15 this Sunday. There is a fight in the church in Acts. "No small fight." It's over whether or one has to abide by the Jewish law in addition to believing in Jesus in order to be saved. Paul felt this was something to fight for, to cause division over. There are some things we shouldn't fight about, some thing we need to have more unity. There are some things we need to and should fight over and divide over. God's word is absolute. It is absolute truth, justice, love, and grace. It's worth dying over. Many have done that through the years as well.

I think I need to start thinking bigger. I think more Christians need to start thinking bigger. What we suffer today, the cost of our faith today in America is next to nothing. Thank you Jesus for paying the ultimate cost and buying us with your blood. I want my life to be worth that.

Germany part 5 - A rainy day in Berlin

2008-01-21T07:14:00.000-08:00

As I said yesterday, today is kind of my only "down" day. I don't have to be anywhere or do anything. I'm in Berlin, Germany, a place of significant history. And what happens? First of all, it's Monday. All of the museums are closed on Mondays. It's the only day of the week they are closed. Second, it's raining. Not rainy, but raining. We wanted to get out of the house a bit and see something, so we took an abbreviated tour of a couple of spots.

But before that, we had breakfast. I had a bowl of Cheerios. I just couldn't do cold cuts for breakfast. After breakfast, Paul, Luke, another guy named Ari and I had devos. They have been going through Nehemiah. We each red a few verses and shared some thoughts, and then prayed. It was could. I might teach Nehemiah after Acts. Maybe.

The we headed out. I bought a day pass for the public transit system. Basically $9. We took the underground to a bus to where the parliament building is. You can see all kinds of government buildings, historic and modern. From there we walked to the Brandenburg Gate. Its a very significant site for Germany going way back. Napoleon marched through it. On the way to the gate we came across the special bricks in the pavement that follow the path of the Berlin Wall. I took a pic (below) of my feet on either side of it, with a plaque. My left foot is in East Berlin, my right foot in West Berlin. There is a Starbucks by the gate so I got my fix, as well as a mug to add to my collection of city mugs. Yeah! After our mocha fix we followed the wall path some more to where they had some old pieces of it up with historic info.

We were close to where Hitler's Bunker was located. I kind of wanted to see it, but it isn't there anymore. There is only a sign marking where it was and buildings over its site. To me it seems unfortunate that the Germans have destroyed basically every structure from that era. While I can understand that they are ashamed of that part of their past, it seems to me that for the sake of history and posterity, some of it would be preserved. I mean, look at the atrocities that happened in the Colosseum in Rome, and its preserved as a historic site. But I digress.

After this we had lunch in a mall, pizza and a Coke. It was just too rainy to go anywhere else and we were all soaked. So, we bailed and headed home. It's kind of a good thing. This is really the only chance I will get to work on my study for this Sunday. Tuesday and Wednesday are the conference, where I have to shmooz of course. Thursday is travel day. I may end up spending the night in Olympia or Toutle again, depending on how tired I am and if caffeine will get me home by 11pm. Friday and Saturday I'm sure I will be dead. So I think I will spend the rest of the day getting ready for Sunday. Enjoy the picts below!

Me at the wall path

The Brandenburg Gate

Starbucks at the Gate. Yeah!

Luke and I posing over coffee.

A blurry picture at the wall.

Germany part 4 - Berlin day 1

2008-01-20T14:48:00.000-08:00

As yoyo man, I've been to Canada once, Australia twice, and England four times. While I always traveled there with other people, I was also always by myself throughout the day. Getting along in Canada (BC) is just like getting along in America. England and Australia are different enough from the US that it feels like you are in a foreign country. The sights and sounds are different. The people are different. The culture is different. But we all speak a version of the same language. The signs are in English. After a couple of days, it's pretty easy to get along.

This morning, at 9:15, I was dropped off at a train station in Leipzig with a ticket in my hand to Berlin. I'm in Germany. The signs are all in German. Everyone speaks German. I felt something I had never felt before; isolation. I didn't know where I was, really. I really didn't know where I was going. It was only a 90 minute train ride, but the whole experience was just creepy. The conductor on the train said something to me. I smiled, handed him my ticket, he stamped it and gave it back. I have no idea what he said and I know it doesn't take 30 seconds to say, "Ticket please" in any language. A woman on the train tried to ask me a question. I listened, smiled, and said in English, "I'm sorry, I don't speak German." She got this confused look on her face and sat down again. The train got to Berlin where there are three stations. I had I on ticket which one I was supposed to get off at (the last one), but I was still paranoid that I might miss the sign for it. So when the conductor came by I stopped him and pointed to the destination on my ticket, to which he responded IN FRENCH, "Next station." Thank God I took a year of French in collage because right then and there that's all the French I could remember. Well, almost all of it anyway.

I got off at the next station where my host, Paul Rostig (who is from CC South East Portland ironically enough) met me. I felt like I came upon dry land after being at sea. It's amazing how stupid you can feel when you don't know how to communicate with someone. I felt dumb and unintelligent. (We all know that my intelligence is always in question, so lets just assume I have some for the sake of this story, shall we?) I could talk to someone again which, for me, is a big deal. Paul is the pastor of CC Berlin. He has been here for almost three years now as a missionary. At the moment, a guy named Luke from the States is staying with him helping Paul. Luke is/was a Bible college student in Siegen and is trying to decide what the Lord wants him to do. So I had two red-blooded Amuricans to be around. We had lunch, a traditional German broccoli, potato, and sausage soup. It was leftovers from a lady in the church. Jess makes something similar so I liked it. The church here rents from a Bretheren Church so they meet in the evenings. We headed over at about three and Paul showed me the space next door that they recently rented for themselves and are renovating. The church is in a particularly rough part of town. Most of the people are poor Turkish immigrants. This space used to be a Turkish men's club. That doesn't mean the same thing as it does in the US. Here, its basically the place where the Turkish men get out of the house, talk, and smoke. Much smoke. So the church is ripping everything out. Floor tiles, ceiling panels, wall paper, carpet, all the way down to bare concrete. (See pictures below). When it's done they will be able to meet whenever they want, of which I am jealous.

It's small church with a lot of potential. They get about 6-10 neighborhood kids every week. Not families, just the kids. Blacks and Turks. So there is some great outreach potential there, especially when the new space is ready. They had worship, some songs in German, some songs in English. They were all familiar songs, some just sing in German. With the overheads I could kind of sing along, but not really. Then I taught something I had taught before, but I thought would be good for these guys. I also wanted to do something familiar because Paul was going to be translating. Let me tell you, that is weird. Having to start and stop and maintain your train of thought. I can't do that very well normally, so this was definitely a new and weird experience. But it went ok. About half the people there had some English skills so it wasn't too bad. There was one girl there from Ukraine who is a professional translator and she said she appreciated how I tried to speak in short and clear sentences, and that that makes it easier on the translator. That felt good.

They had some cake, some sandwiches and drinks afterward. Paul invited people to come and meet me and offered to translate if needed. Right away a girl came up who had some English, enough where we could get by. She was a new Christian (a year old I think) and was faced with a difficult decision. I had talked about how God tests those He loves to make them stronger, how He wants us to pass those tests, and gives us His Holy Spirit to give us the ability to pass. The choice she was facing was one where her old self, the flesh, would have chosen one thing, and the Spirit would have chosen the opposite for her. She was wondering why we had to do things God's way when our ways can seem so much simpler and convenient. On the one hand it seems like a no-brainer thing. We do things God's way because we are God's people and we love Him. On the other hand, the choice isn't always that easy to up and make, especially when it costs us what we can't foresee. I tried to encourage her with Jesus' example. He didn't want to go to the cross, but he surrendered His will to His Father's will, and look at the results. I also tried to encourage her with Joseph's story, how he could have thrown in the towel several times and bailed on God all together, yet he chose God's way above his own, and many people were saved alive. When we choose to do things God's way, it may be miserable for a time, but God always has a good end in mind. We can't see that end so it makes it all that much more difficult. That's where faith comes into play. That's what I tried to help her understand. Because of some stuff in my past, I was able to identify with her (to a point) and relay this message.

I think that conversation was the reason God had me come to Germany. Until that moment, I had no idea why I was here. I wasn't learning or seeing anything in particular. I was meeting new people, getting some different perspectives on things, but that was about it. During and after my talk with this girl, I believe I really felt the Lord saying, "This is why I have you here." That felt good. That made the jet lag, the unusual sleeping conditions, altered diet, and no mochas all worth it. I really pray she chooses God's way in her situation, and that she will remember this day when the pay off comes, which could be years or decades from now.

Something else I have learned, especially tonight as I interacted with people from a church in a foreign country, is that people face the same struggles. What I mean is, they face the same choices, though the circumstances that bring them to these choices may be radically different. The kinds of choices and struggles we all face are things like, do I trust God in this situation, whose wisdom am I going to listen to, is God really my God, do I really believe He loves me has has what's best for me? Our source of joy, hope, peace, justice, all of it comes from the same place; Jesus. We tend to think that our struggle, our situation is unique and special. It isn't. Countless people have been there, done that, and come to the same conclusion (hopefully), which is that Jesus is the only answer. German, British, Ukrainian, Albanian, American, it doesn't matter. Those who are in Him are all a part of the same family. We are all brothers and sister with the same Heavenly Father who loves all of us, even if it doesn't feel like it at the moment.

Tomorrow is my first and only day where I don't have to travel anywhere. Since last Wednesday its been drive, sleep, fly, sleep, drive, sleep, train, and sleep tonight. I don't have to be "on" tomorrow. So here I am, in Berlin, with all of its WWII history, and its supposed to rain all day tomorrow, and all of the museums are closed on Mondays. That sucketh. We shall see. Below are my picts from today. The first is a pic of the outside of the place I stayed in Leipzig. The next two are the train station in Leipzig. The picts don't do it justice. There is a full mall on the lower level, so it's obviously a major hub. Then there are a coupe of picts of me teaching at the church, some of the people and neighborhood kids, then some picts from the church here doing some remodeling. Enjoy!

Germany part 3 - The Road to Leipzig

2008-01-19T12:27:00.000-08:00

The first night sleeping after arriving in Europe can be a tough one. Reason being, your body is still it the other time zone 9 hours away. Three of the five os us staying in the dorms at the Bible college were up, active, and ready for the day by 4am. Two of us managed to stay in bead and make ourselves sleep. I was one of those. I woke up at three, then 4, then 5:30, but made myself go back to sleep each time. I was actually a few minutes late for breakfast after I got all showered and dressed. What's for breakfast at CCBC Siegen? Scrambled eggs, toast, cereal, and some traditional German meat, cheese, and bread if you like. I had the eggs and toast. :-)

Sean and I had the privilege of a 3.5 hour drive to Leipzig. On the Autobahn no less. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about any of this. It's just kinda funny and I'm trying to give a flavor of what it was like. We rented a VW Polo. A five-speed, 1.3 liter gutless wonder to drive on the freeway with no speed limits (for the most part). If we went much faster than 140kph (something like 80 or 90 mph) the car got a little shaky and the engine would be screaming. The landscape was amazingly similar to the north-eastern US. Lots of hardwood forests, hills, and valleys. Oh, and lots of those electricity generating wind turbines. Lots of them. You could see some castle remnants on the hill above some of the villages. Those were neat too.

Thankfully, David Guzig (the director of CCBC) lent us his GPS to get to where we were meeting out contact. Otherwise, we would still be lost. We had some trouble returning the car because the Avis placed had moved, and no one knew where it was. But with some help of our contact we figured it out, got the car returned, and to their place. We are actually staying in the flat of some of the guys from CC Leipzig. It's a bachelor pad. Actually, it's kind of cool. They call it a house, but it's basically an apartment. It's in one of those long buildings you see in the movies of flats in Germany, built pre WWI I think. When you walk into the flat you are in a central area, kind of like a hallway. All of the other rooms are behind doors off of this hallway. All of them. The kitchen, the bathroom, the bedrooms and living room.

We hung out for a while and decided to go out so Sean and I could stay awake until local bedtime. Unfortunately it was raining pretty good tonight so we couldn't see too much. We did go to a thing called "The Monument to the Battle of the Nations."Notice the people standing at the bottom and use your imagination as to how big this thing is.

After that we headed for a place called the "Coffe Baum." Its the second oldest coffee house in Europe. (That's Sean, myself, and Cary who is a missionary to the church hear from Calvary Fellowship.) I have no idea what the name of the dinner was, but it was good. It had the sort of home-fries like Jess makes and beer-battered fried pork bits. It was very yummy. And no, I didn't have any coffe, I wanted to sleep tonight. Besides, coffee was like four Euros or something.

We ended the night with quick walk by Thomas Church. It was a quick walk because it started raining again. This is the church were Bach served as a Cantor and wrote much of his music. A house he lived in was next door to the church.

It was time to head back to the flat, meet with the pastor of CC Leipzig and talk about the plan for tomorrow morning. He is going to drop me off at the train station for my ~~trip~~ adventure to Berlin. I am looking forward to it because of all of the history that is there. Hopefully many more pics (and in the daytime too) from my two days there. Nighty!

Germany part 2 - Arriving there

2008-01-18T06:49:00.000-08:00

God bless Kelley Taylor. We took one wrong turn and got quite the tour of Siegen and its neighbors.

We did manage to find our way to where we wanted to be. We took a quick tour of the CC here in Siegen (first pic below, only one of the many buildings) and then arrived at the Bible college justa short ways down the road (second pic). Ah, dorm life! It's a good thing.

K, I'm tired. Can't think to write. Maybe more later.

Germany part 1 - Getting there

2008-01-18T06:41:00.000-08:00

My trip, and yes I am tripping, began on Wedsnesday the 16th at about three in the afternoon. I left Forest Grove (FG) on a clear, crisp, Northwest winters day. My destination was grandma's house in Tumwater, WA. I had to drop something off in Beaverton on the way. After my errand, I checked the traffic my trusty and newly updated iPhone. I-5 north was a mess and backed up over the Fremont so I decided to take US 30 up the Oregon side of the river. Again, beautiful. I saw Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, and Mt. St. Helena which was quietly rumbling and steaming in the distance. Granny's house was reached without incident at about 6.

We swapped health care stories for a while, then she headed off to bed. I forgot that she liked to go to the sleep with the TV on. And on. And on. My cousin, who lived there with g'ma, starts early in the morning which means not too much sleep was had my yours truly.

My ride to the airport, the pastor from Aberdeen, showed up promptly at 7:30. His father-in-law is an excellent driver. I'll leave it at that. We pulled into SeaTac at 8:45 for our 10:30 flight which was actually delayed until 11:45. Fortunately our connecting flight was an hour delayed as well, so it was all good. I'd never flown through San Francisco before so that was kind of cool. I had a row all to myself.

I am now five hours into a ten hour flight. Window seat, score! They showed Ratatou-whatever you spell it, which I've seen before but was still fun. Then they showed, "The Ultimate Gift" which I had never even heard of. I think my kids should watch it. Jess will like it because it ends with a Sarah Groves song. Now they are showing "Jane Austin Book Club." I don't mind the movies of Jane Austin books I've seen. I like the whole English thing. But this movie is just too weird.

Between cloud breaks I can see snowy scenes lit by moonlight. The Canadian great plains are all snowy. We are over some water now. Ice actually. Big old sheets of ice. Kinda cool. Frozen cool even.

We are set to land at 10:40 Friday morning. Everyone has been asking me, "What are you going to do in Germany?" I'll let you know when I find out.

Book Report: They Found the Secret

2008-01-09T08:34:00.001-08:00

Like me, you probably hated to do book reports in school too. When you are forced to read a book and then write about it, your attitude kinda gets in the way of enjoying the book. You might never want to read the book again because of that experience. Such was the case for me and the book, They Found the Secret by Raymond Edman.

This was a Bible college required reading book. I was in a whole different place then attitude wise, but that's another blog. Now that I have read and reread this book a time or two since, I'm convinced that it should be a required reading book for everyone. The only hang-up is the older style of writing of the author and the obviously older writing style of those he quotes.

The book is 20 mini-biographies of men and women of the past few hundred years and their experience with what is referred to as the baptism with/coming upon/filling of the Holy Spirit. Most of the names I had never heard of. Some of them were familiar. Andrew Murray, D.L. Moody, John Bunyan, and Oswald Chambers to name a few, uh, names. These aren't salvation testimonies, these take place well after that. If you want to call it the second blessing, that works too, though some disagree with that theologically. For me, these stories clearly demonstrate that the filling of the Spirit in a way that is unique is and can be a separate experience from salvation.

There isn't a formula. Well, I take that back. There kind of is. In the chapter on Oswald Chambers, Edman writes,

This pattern in the crisis of the deeper life, followed by its wide outreach, is almost identical with the experience of countless others of God's children. First, there is the hunger of heart, often followed by a sense of desperation that leads to utter surrender of self. Thereafter there is the meeting of the soul with God in whatever manner the Almighty is pleased to reveal Himself to the desperate seeker who, like Jacob at Jabbok, will not let Him go until there is blessing.

Some people, like me, were saved in environments where the Holy Spirit wasn't part of the equation. "Live a good life, God is God, Jesus is His Son, believe and be saved. Now get out there and bring others to church!" For me there was no dependance on the Spirit, no dependance on prayer, no concept of a "deeper life." On the one hand, it seems like it shouldn't take desperation on the part of a believer to really go deeper. On the other hand, desperation isn't always a bad thing. We can be desperately in love. We can be so in love and enamored with someone that we just want more of them.

Because a relationship with Jesus is supposed to be just that, a relationship, love is a factor. Desperate love will result in simply wanting more of someone. Jesus gives us more by means of the Holy Spirit. That's what this book is about. That, and how we can have the same things. How we are supposed to have the same thing. It's our birthright.

2007 year in (p)review

2008-01-08T16:25:00.000-08:00

It's a week late, I know, but I thought I would post in written form my thoughts from our Dec. 30th meeting. I really felt let of the Lord to do a short year in review talk, then worship, then a good old fashioned prayer meeting to get us ready for the new year. "What? A Calvary Chapel that didn't have a Bible study on Sunday?" Yes, I know. Earth shattering. But in a way, we did have a study. Seven little studies that we prayed through. You'll see what I mean. So, here is what I yacked about.

My expectations coming in to this church
It's been a whole year since things transitioned around here. Because of the nature of what went down I expected to find a group of hurt, angry, grieving and confused people. There was some of that, but not nearly to the degree I expected. I expected the place to be like a trauma room for a while. It wasn't. What I found instead was an eagerness to move on and to grow. There was a kind of excitement actually. People were wanting to heal and move on, so that's what I focused on.

The plan to start with
Instead of focusing on the hurt and suffering, we focused on the Healer, the Counselor, the Comforter; the Holy Spirit. I did an 8-week topical study on the person, purpose, and power of the Holy Spirit. It was loosely based on Chuck Smith's book, "Living Water" which is a very good and practical treatment on the person and gifts of the Spirit. After that we launched into a verse-by-verse study of the book of Acts. We called it, "The Acts of the Holy Spirit." I wanted to see the Spirit in action in the lives of ordinary people like us, people who are wholly given over to Him. Using Acts 2:41-47 as a model, I talked about the three key ingredients to a healthy, well balanced church. Those are; the word, community, and prayer/power. Everything a church needs and does is built on those three things.

The progress we've made
As my family got connected some to the community of Forest Grove we quickly learned that there are three basic perceptions of our church in the general public. When we would meet people and tell them what church we are with, one of three things would happen. #1. Because of the very public nature of what happened to bring me here, those who saw it on the news or read about it in the papers would say, "Oh, that church." #2. If people didn't know about us through the media and have never heard of Calvary Chapel, they would say, "What kind of church is that? Where does it meet? How long has it been around? I've never heard of you." The church has been in the community for 10 years and most people have never heard of it. #3. People who have lived here a while and have heard of Calvary Chapel would say, "There's a CC in Forest Grove? I never knew that." The need became apparent to re-plant or reinvent ourselves in this community. It also became apparent that most people who are looking for and going to a church that already is what we want to be are going way out of town to get it. Now, I'm not about trying to steal people from other churches or anything like that. But when you are driving 10 to 20 to 30 miles out of your home town to go to church, there is a disconnect happening.

Attendance and growth stuff
When I got here I decided that the church needed a new feel. I won't get into the "why's" because that can get kind of sensitive for some people. But the reality is that the vibe wasn't connecting with the community, so things needed to change. Decorations, style, the worship, the name of the church, the leadership, the web site, the list goes on. As is to be expected (a) we lost some people or (b) some people left us, however you want to look at it. Over the course of the first six months we would have visitors in spurts. Like, three or four families would show up all at once which would almost double our numbers. Then, they wouldn't come back. I would get the occasional email or phone call inquiring about what we had in the way of child care and youth programs. I kind of felt like a store with people calling and asking what products we had. Kind of sad. After all of that, we are down to a solid core group of people who are individually growing closer to their Lord, which is exactly what we wanted.

Healthy, and well balanced?
After a year, how are we doing in our three ingredients? The word - we are doing better. Hopefully people are reading the word everyday. We are getting more intentional about discipleship. People are growing from the Sunday studies in Acts. Community - this is probably the area we have grown in the most. Before, no one really knew anyone else. In a church of 50 that's hard to achieve. Now people know each other's names, their kid's names, and we can hardly get them out of the doors on Sundays. Exchange Groups (home fellowships) are helping in this area as well. Now that the cells in the body are becoming more connected, they will begin to function together and interdependently, instead of independently. Prayer/Power - this is our weakest area. You can't have the power of the Spirit without prayer. If people are really praying, the power of the Spirit will be evident in our lives. It just ain't happening quite yet. We are looking for that spring of living water, that river of life. We're getting there.

The future
God is in the business of changing people’s lives. That won’t happen without the power of the Spirit. Instead of the church coming up with programs for people to get behind, the Spirit can/will/does inspire people with a desire to reach out to others with the gifts He gives. The church can get behind that. God has a heart for the single parents, the skaters, the rich, blacks, whites, latinos, democrats, republicans, gay, straight... Pacific University is the heart of our town. It's a small private school and students come from all over the world. It isn't just an opportunity for outreach, it's an opportunity to have our own missions school. We can reach in there, get kids from all over saved, and send them back as missionaries to their home countries. How cool would that be? We are praying for a worship leader. We have a new board and are in the process of training up leadership from within. The finances are tricky. The giving is amazing with the number of people we have. If we want to have any kind of presence in the community (like an office or small meeting space of our own) then I need to get a full-time job to free up those funds from the church. I'm open for that and am looking, and seeking God's will in that of course. I'm really just looking forward to the body being the body, and seeing what the Spirit will do as we continue to yield ourselves to His will and ways.

The prayer meeting
Basically, the idea of a corporate time of prayer was foreign to folks in the church. So I couldn't just open it up for a free-for-all time. As I had been preparing people for this time, some expressed their fear of praying out loud in front of others. I did my best to take as much pressure off as possible. It seems that some kind of structure was needed, so I sought the Lord and was directed to seven passages of scripture to pray around. I asked different people in leadership to take the lead on these verses as we prayed, and gave room for others to pray as well. So here is how it went. I read the verses, shared briefly why they were relevant, the specific person chosen in advance prayed about that topic, and others had the opportunity to pray if they wanted. At the end of the meeting people were very jazzed by the whole experience, even if they didn't pray out loud. Probably the best feedback I got was, "I wanted more. We need to do that more than once a year." For me, that was mission accomplished. here are the verses we went through and why they were relevant.

1 John 1:9 - It's important to have an understanding that we have need forgiven of our sins and cleansed from all unrighteousness. That's how God sees us now. That gives us boldness. That gives us assurance of our ability to boldly go before the throne of grace. Our righteousness is at the right hand of the Father.
Luke 11:13 and Zecharia 4:6 - God wants to give us His Spirit. His Spirit is the only way anything can be accomplished. We need to ask, seek, and knock for it, expecting to get it from our good Heavenly Father.
Acts 2:41-47 - A glimpse into the daily lives of those first Christians, their habits, their growth, their impact on the community around them, and how the Lord added daily to them.
Ephesians 4:11-12 - God has gifts and roles for us. We need to get a grip on those and then let Him work through us in them. We need them as a body.
Ephesians 6:10-18 - As we get closer to the Lord, and as we try to advance into enemy territory, the enemy will fight us. We need to have our armor on and know how to use it. Our families, the unity in our families, weird things will will come up to disrupt our growth. We need to be on guard.
Philippians 4:19 - We need to always be looking toward the Lord to supply what we need. We need to expect it from Him.
Ephesians 3:20-21 - We need to reset our expectations. If we expect God to do little, then He will do little. If we expect Him to do big things, He will de exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or think. How big is your God?

There was a great sense of unity at this meeting. It was very refreshing. People are growing. Our fellowship, our body is growing together We are becoming that healthy and well balanced church. What's next? Growth. New believer growth. Back-sliden Chistian growth. We are seeking God to bring people to Himself. If believers are looking for what we have, then they are welcome. But we don't want to be another stop on someone's church-hopping. We want to see transformed lives because there are plenty in our little suburbian fringe town/farm town that need transformation.

Bring it on, Lord!

Stumbling over the manger

2007-12-21T12:56:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, and I don't mean to be a big holiday downer, but this year Christmas has lost any magic or charm it may have held for me in the past. And you know what? I'm not sad about that. Because none of the magic or charm was every about Jesus. It was about pretty trees, peppermint mochas, decorations, stockings, presents, and food of course.

I used to believe that Jesus was the reason for the season. Now I'm not so sure. Yes, I get that it's the time of year we celebrate Jesus' birth, and if He had never been born He never could have died on the cross and rose from the dead thus providing a way of salvation for us from our sin. I also get that there's no way He was born in December, that the early church never observed the day of His birth, and that the reality of who Jesus is is being watered down to the point that He is becoming more acceptable to mainstream culture. It's been a long time since I have seen the phrase, "Merry Christmas" on so many big signs in so many big stores.

Jesus was born to die and to live again. More than that, Jesus was born to die, to live again, and to live in us and through us. God has provided a way for us to die to ourselves and be clean vessels for Him. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleans us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9.) Having been cleansed, we get to be continually filled with the Spirit of God. We get to be temples of the Holy Spirit walking around in this world. We get to be Jesus' hands, feet, mouth, and face to the world around us, not expressing condemnation, but the representation of God's love and offer of cleansing for others.

Christmas isn't just about the baby in the manger. It's also about the Man on the cross, the Risen Savior, the sending of the Spirit into your heart and mine, so that we can be set apart as "His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." That can be simply sharing a word of comfort to someone who is hurting, to laying down your life for the Gospel.

Through all the noise and static that surrounds what happened in a barn/cave 2000 years ago, I hope that Christmas doesn't get reduced to a nativity scene for you. My hope is that we can all put Jesus on the throne of our lives and let Him live His life through us.

Merry Christmas (and every other day of the year)!

Evolutionary Engineering? Are you kidding me?

2007-12-12T22:07:00.000-08:00

This article was posted on FoxNews.com. The first three paragraphs are what caught my attention.

WASHINGTON — With all that growing weight up front, how is it that pregnant women don't lose their balance and topple over?

Scientists think they've found the answer: There are slight differences between women and men in one lower-back vertebra and a joint in the hip, which allow women to adjust their center of gravity.

This elegant evolutionary engineering is seen only in female humans and our immediate ancestors who walked on two feet, but not in chimps and apes, according to a study published in Thursday's journal Nature.

The first two paragraphs are fine. Scientific question followed by scientific observation. That's as it should be. It's that third paragraph where we leap from science to science fiction. "Evolutionary engineering." Seriously? Did they really just say that? How does a process that relies on mutations (which are losses of information) produce something that is engineered? Something that's engineered is something that has intelligence, thought, and information put into it. A bridge is engineered. A computer is engineered. They are engineered by people with degrees. How does a series of mindless, unintentional, accidents produce something engineered? And then, how does one prove these changes over time? How does one prove that a specific line of offspring carried these changes and passed them on? It cannot scientifically be done.

Don't get me wrong. I have no doubt that what these people are talking about was engineered. No question about it. It was engineered by God. The fact that these scientists suggest that this spine and hip system was engineered indicates that it is so well done that something was behind it making it happen. There is an intelligent being that has made His existence known to us. He told us that He made us. It just seems so obvious. Can it be scientifically proven? Nope. But this view makes much more sense of the information. It's much more consistent with real observational science.

When you come across a book, you don't automatically conclude that a warehouse with paper, ink, glue, cardboard, and stitching exploded and produced that book. When you come across a car, you don't automatically conclude that a bunch of different kinds of metal, plastic, oil products, rubber, wood, and paint randomly came together and made a car. Why is it that we try to suggest that biological systems millions of times more intricate and complicated (and self-replicating) came into being by accident? It makes zero sense.

In the beginning, God created. All of it. Why? For His pleasure. It just makes sense.

Cheap grace? Whatever.

2007-12-11T22:18:00.000-08:00

Cheap grace. Greasy grace. That's what some Christians label the kind of salvation offered by those of us who say that one must simply believe to be saved. But like many things, it really depends on the perspective from which one views these things.

From the human perspective.
From our side of things, grace, forgiveness, salvation, whichever you prefer to call it, isn't cheap. It's free. And as local home electronics and home furnishings mogul Tom Peterson likes to say, "Free is a very good price." We can't earn it. We can't buy it. It's impossible. We can't even do anything to keep it or lose it. God's laws were never intended to save mankind or provide a way to heaven. They cannot purify mankind of his sin. The issue isn't what we have done but what we are. It's one of nature. We don't sin and become a sinner, we sin because we are sinner. So God's grace isn't cheap, it's free.

From God's perspective.
From God's side of things, grace, forgiveness, salvation, whichever you prefer to call it, isn't cheap. Its cost is beyond our capability to comprehend. It cost God His Son. From the moment Jesus was crucified and resurrected, He was fundamentally different from what He was before.
Jesus went through life on this Earth, was falsely accused, was murdered, physically died, took on the sin of all mankind (2 Cor. 5:21) and became sin for us, then was resurrected. Jesus still has a resurrected, glorified body that, while it is far superior to the bodies we have now, is different from what He was before.

For us, God's grace isn't cheap. It's free. For God, His grace isn't cheap. It cost everything.

Cheap grace? Whatever.

The Day of Small Things

2007-12-08T22:44:00.000-08:00

Ryan Couch (and anyone who went to CCBC during the Twin Peaks years) can attest that the phrase/verse "Don't despise the day of small things" was ground into our heads for a reason. Back in the day I felt like the ministry/servanthood required course was forced slave labor. Some people cleaned the conference rooms. Some people set-up and cleaned-up for the conference center meals. Some people did security. And whenever someone started to gripe, someone else would whip out, "Don't despise the day of small things."

"I didn't come here to place silverware and napkins. I came hear to study God's word so I could go out one day and teach it to God's people. What does doing any of this for five to eight days a week have to do with that?" Short answer; everything. For example. We recently changed the name of our church. This means that some signage needed to be changed. We are a small church which means to do stuff on the cheap while trying not to look cheap. We have six signs that we put out every week to direct people to the place we rent on Sundays. Six signs, two sides, basically 12 signs. Tonight, my wife and I spent about two hours with a blow dryer and our finder nails removing the vinyl lettering of our old name and web address and putting the new stuff on. Putting on is easy. Removing is a "small thing."

As we were doing this that verse came to mind. I had to stop and remind her of that lesson learned. Not that she was complaining or needed reminding. It was more like, "I guess they knew what they were talking about." Ministry can really be about the small things. Folding bulletins. Making a diaper run for the nursery because you have the church plastic. Setting up and taking down chairs when no one else can make it. Redoing your own signage. It would be really easy to say, "This is stupid. Why am I doing this? I'm the (fill in the blank)." But that isn't what Jesus did. He, too, did not despise the day of small things.

Walk as He walked.

Where symbolism, intent, and entertainment meet

2007-11-27T10:19:00.000-08:00

Even if you just casually watch the news, especially the entertainment news, you have probably heard about the movie "The Golden Compass." It made the news recently, not because it's a sci-fi adventure with lots of great computer effects, but because it is supposed to be written by an atheist who want to lead kids away from God. In his series of books, the author has God killed in order for people to have their freedom.

I have not read the books nor seen the movie. My interest in bringing it up has to do with the general public's perceptions of entertainment, the symbolism that is used in movies, and the intent of the original source for the movie, whether it be a book, a play, or just an original idea from a screenwriter.

What spawned this was a headline from FoxNews.com that reads "'The Golden Compass' is a whopping success — and not anti-Christian." I thought, "Well, I hope this person knows what they are talking about. If it really isn't anti-Christian, I'd like to go see it." Then I read the article. The writer opens with,

"The Golden Compass" is here. After being treated to tantalizing bits and pieces, I’ve seen the whole movie, a sumptuous two-hour adventure that has as much to do with being anti-Christian or Catholic as "Flipper." So much for that."

OK. So far just statements, no evidence. I wonder what they are going to say? I wonder what kind of discernment this person has? I knew as soon as I read this.

"Kidman, in particular, is back to business, slithering around, having a grand time as Mrs. Coulter, the nominal villain in little Lyra’s bizarre world where everyone has a "daemon" or talking animal by their side that represents their personality.

Lyra’s daemon is a wildcat that can become a lion, while Kidman’s is a sleek, dangerous monkey, and Craig’s is a snow leopard. Yes, the animals all talk and are wise and wily and a lot of fun as they morph from one to another."

A daemon. A wise talking animal that represents a personality. Can you say, "Demon?!" Can you say, "Spirit guide?" Wow! You can't get much more anti-Christian than that. Well you can, if you really try. And if the stories do include killing God, then you've pretty much gotten there.

""The Golden Compass" is a fable, and it can only be viewed as such. Like "The Lord of the Rings," it’s about an object everyone wants — in this case, the compass — which has mystical powers and promise of salvation."

While it may be a fable or work of fiction, if the article had done any research on the author of the books he would know that there is an intent behind it. It is a stark contrast between "The Lord of the Rings" where Tolkien specifically wrote that it is purely fantasy, there is no allegory or point or parallel intended.

"Like "The Chronicles of Narnia," "Compass" is meant to entertain and disturb children of all ages"

This guy really has not done his homework. If he knew anything about Lewis he would know that Lewis also had an intent behind "Narnia" and it was the opposite of "Compass." Lewis was trying to draw people toward God. While that may not have been the intent of the producers of the movie or various TV adaptations, it was the intent of the source. The same thing must be taken into consideration concerning "Compass." There is an intentional message behind it the writing, even if that intentions isn't shared by the movie makers. Ironically, the article ends with this.

"More importantly, "The Golden Compass" is a large-scale thoughtful fantasy, something to get lost in during a holiday film season when there’s a lot more realistic doom and gloom to contemplate."

The idea of people getting lost is exactly the intent of the author of the books. And using the Christmas season of all things to communicate an anti-God message is tragic. It only leads to more doom and gloom.

When considering entertainment for yourself and your family, consider the intent of the source of the work. Consider the message that is being communicated. Consider the characters/tools /methods used to communicate that message. When things are reviewed as "harmless fun" one's radar should go off. Take care put on your armor as you go about your Christmas business. It's a prime opportunity for wolves in sheep's clothing.

Having fasted and prayed, they sent.

2007-11-23T16:21:00.000-08:00

I suppose this could be as generic or specific as one could want it to be. I say that because I have a specific topic in mind because of a specific scriptural example, but the principle could be applied to other areas. I'm teaching Acts 13:4-12 this weekend. Having done some reading on the history of Cyprus some interesting things come to light as to Barnabas' and Saul's ministry there, specifically in Paphos. Basically they walked into porn central and apparently came out unscathed. Well, all but John Mark. It's an interesting example of being in the world but not of it.

It's important to keep in mind verses 1-3. The Spirit Himself specifically set these two guys apart. They fasted and prayed. They got their armor on. They got ready to go into hostile territory with the message of peace. Paphos was the home of the temple to Aphrodite, the goddess of love and sex. There were "priestesses" who "served" in the temple for those who wanted to worship. In fact, every maiden had to "serve" in the temple before she could marry. It was said that those who were ugly would wait as long as four years before they were chosen to serve and be free to marry. There was a giant statue at the temple, but not of a person, of a phallus.

This is where Barnabas and Saul were sent.

They didn't retreat. They didn't say, "We can't go there, don't you know what goes on there? We might be tempted or sin in our hearts by feeling lust." They prayed, fasted, and got ready before going in, and this after they were called. Where am I going with this? Lemme tell ya.

We tell people to put on the full armor of God, that our warfare is not against flesh and blood. We tell people to be in the world but not of it. We tell people to go ye into all the world. But what tends to happen is that we retreat into our comfort zones and rarely engage the world where it is. We do this in the name of holiness, not wanting to be defiled by the things of the world. That's a good desire, but it's lousy evangelism. Why do we do this? Do we really trust our armor? We say "go" but do we really mean it?

This is why admire people like those at xxxchurch.com. As I understand their story, they heard the call to reach out to those in the porn industry and to those who struggle with pornography. They go to national porn conventions, buy a booth, set up shop, give out thousands of Bibles and witness to these people who are deceived and trapped in that industry. And they see results. Is that kind of thing for everyone? Absolutely not. It is for those who are called and those who are equipped and prepared for that work.

When I was at the Univ. of Wash., the third quarter of my first year and the first quarter of my second year I worked at a sorority. You know who lives in a sorority right? College chicks. Usually pretty hot ones. But I didn't just work there, I lived there. I was a "house boy." In fact, four of us lived there full time. It was during this time in my life that I really had a vision and a passion for God. I was closer to Him than I ever had been before. Earlier in my life I really struggled with porn. Now I'm living in a house of college women. And you know what? While I was living there I experienced no lust. None. One time, in the laundry room, I walked in on a girl wearing not much more than a t-shirt, if she was wearing anything more than that at all (after all, she was doing laundry). Honest to goodness, I walked in, she tried to hide behind her laundry basket, and I said, "Oh, it's ok, I have a sister." Naive, I know, but I meant it! Not only was lust not an issue at that time, I had a heart for these girls. I saw them drunk and slutty all the time. I felt sad for them. I tried to witness to some of them. I didn't see any immediate result but I got them thinking. My armor was working. I was in a place with tremendous temptation, the last place most Christian college guys should be, yet the Lord was with me and protected me.

So, what do you think of ministries like xxchurch? What do you think of people who say they have a ministry to those caught up in (blank) lifestyle? Do we write them off and say, "God would never call someone to a place like that with all that sin." Do we judge them as carnal and "of the flesh" trying to get their jollies under a spiritual sounding umbrella? Or do we consider the possibility that, like Barney and Saul, they have been called and equipped to go there and preach the gospel?

I'll end with a nugget from Tom Stipe. He said, "What kind of people become believers? Non-believers. Non-believers are the only kind of people who become believers." Duh. Shockingly simple, but true. Why didn't I think of that? Are we so busy trying to keep the believers we have happy, or trying to attract other believers, that we forget about the people we are supposed to be reconciling to God? Have I been doing that? If so, I need to stop being a man pleaser and become a God pleaser. That's not to say we should tell people in our churches, "Forget you, I'm going after these guys." Rather, we ought to say, "God is calling us to make disciples. Care to join me?"

Who are we to judge?

2007-11-21T14:10:00.000-08:00

When I was at the University of Washington, one of the slogans they tried to grill into the students was, "Valuing diversity." The concept being that all people ought to value, respect, and honor the cultural diversity that exists in the world and on campus. This concept obviously isnt isolated to UW. Basically, whatever people express as a part of their culture is just fine, and their rights to express those things ought to be protected. It's a nice concept, but even those who hold to and enforce such a view don't abide by it.

Take for example the item in the news about the woman in Saudi Arabia who was raped by some 7 men, but was also convicted of a crime under Islamic law for being in the company of a man that was not her relative when this incident happened. From FoxNews.com,

"RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The Saudi judiciary on Tuesday defended a court verdict that sentenced a 19-year-old victim of a gang rape to six months in jail and 200 lashes because she was with an unrelated male when they were attacked."

This incident sparked some international outrage. Some of our Presidential candidates are now using it as a platform. Before I say what I'm going to say understand that I do think this was horrible. The 200 lashes, the rape, all of it. But, in a world that "values diversity" how can anyone be critical of this? Who are we to judge? On what basis can we claim that this was wrong of the SA government to do? If we are to honor and respect other cultures, if we are not to enforce our views and morality on others, why is it OK to come out and say that this was wrong? Talk about hypocritical.

If people who hold to this view were intellectually honest they would realize this. They say they are standing up for human rights, but what is the objective basis for what are considered rights? Who decides this? Is it the majority who decides what rights a person should have? My concern isn't with any particular human rights issue, my concern is the process by which one determines these rights. At one time in the not-so-distant past women didn't have the right to vote. How did this change? With a vote. Black people had far fewer rights that whites. How did that change? A vote. Homosexuality was viewed as an immoral lifestyle. Generally speaking society has accepted it as a moral lifestyle that deserves the same recognition and rights as straight people. How is this changing? With votes of popular opinion and ballots. So what is to stop adult sexual acts with children, or children's sexual acts with each other from being considered a human right? A vote? But what if in , say, 50 years popular opinion changes and these activities are seen as the rights of people to express? Does that make it right?

The reality is that, just because something is voted in or determined by the powers to be legal or illegal, that doesn't make the thing right or wrong. It just makes it legal or illegal. So really, it isn't wrong to steal, it's just illegal. It isn't wrong to murder, it's just illegal. It isn't wrong to rape, it's just illegal. Do you feel as uncomfortable reading that as I do writing it? Do you see the problem with it? Inside every human is a sort of innate sense of morality, an absolute sense of right and wrong. Our Creator put that there. It is one of the ways in which we are made in His image.

The logical consequence of relative truth and/or morality is "anything goes." What those guys in Saudi Arabia did to that girl and what their courts did to that girl isn't right or wrong, it just is. Terrorists aren't right or wrong. Some might say, "But there has to be some kind of standard." I agree. But how do we decide what that standard is? A vote? We are right back to where we started. We need an objective source of truth and morality. We need one enforced upon us. Without it we become like a child that grows up with no training or supervision.

The reality is that there is an outside, objective source of absolute truth and morality. His name is God. Not just any old God, but the one revealed to us in the Bible. The one who created Heaven and Earth by an act of His will out of nothing. There is equality in Him. There is freedom in Him. There is justice in Him. There is love in Him for He is love. There is peace in Him. Everything that the world is looking for is found in Him and can only be found in Him. It's that "only" part that trips most people up.

The world needs saving. Anyone who says otherwise is either living with their head in the sand of is blindly optimistic. God loves the world. He proved it by sending His Son Jesus to save the world, not condemn it. That was the first time. God is only going to let things go so far before it requires condemnation and judgment. When Jesus comes back the second time it is going to be to set things straight. We need it.

Who are we to judge? No one. Jesus is the righteous judge. I'll leave it up to Him and go by what He says.

The model is the Who and why, not the what

2007-11-19T18:46:00.000-08:00

I watched the video podcast from Pastor to Pastor with Oden Fong from a HisChannel broadcast. He and another pastor (whose name escapes me at the moment) were talking about the early days of CC and what they hope to see in the future. That video, along with the Define Church thread over on SMP, brought this to mind. (Is it me, or does the title of this posting sound like a Dr. Seuss poem book?)

Oden said something I had hoped desperately he would say. This won't be a direct quote but it should convey the thought he put forth. He said that guys who go out and try to do what Chuck did will fail. It isn't simply a matter of copying what was done back in the day because it wasn't so much about the "what" as it was about the "Who" and the "why." The "Who" was/is the Triune Godhead. It was the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. That is what drove Chuck, drove CC. That is what drove the "why" behind what was done and what was not done.

In many corners, including the one I stepped into, the model, the method of style of worship and some form of verse by verse teaching became a liturgy, a tradition. Again, I'm not talking about or criticizing the what. I'm concerned about what happened to the Who and why that was behind the what. The what is almost irrelevant. Almost.

I recently changed the name of our church from "Calvary Chapel Forest Grove" to "The Exchange Church." The reason I did this is because I believed that our fellowship needed a new identity in our community. I believed this for a variety of reasons. One was the obvious connection between the previous pastor and our church. We were experiencing "Oh that church" syndrome. Another was that most people don't know what CC is. That works for you and against you. It works for you in that if someone has never heard of CC but they are Christians, it sounds kinda harmless. It works against you in that if someone has never heard of it but they aren't a Christian, (a) it sounds pretty "churchy" and (2) it must be kinda weird if they have never heard of it. It also works against you if the person has heard of it and heard about all the baggage. Even if they have never experienced any of the baggage, the fact that the baggage exists is enough to warn them off. Yet another reason is that I believed we needed a clean start for ourselves and as much of a clean slate with the community as possible.

The great thing about CC back in the day was that the Who and the why were more important than the what. When the what becomes the focus, you lose the Who and the why. Kind of like when you take the blood away from Jesus, you have a bloodless Jesus. Does a name change such as this mean I am going emergent church? Of course not. This would be an example of the what becoming more important than the Who or the why. It's that kind of thinking that I'm trying to eliminate in myself as well as our fellowship.

As a pastor, regardless of denomination or affiliation or association, the Who and the why need to be paramount. The what needs to be a natural, organic outgrowth. When we get focused on the what, when we lose the Who and the why, traditionalism creeps in and begins to sterilize. Please, God, help us to not lose sight of the Who and the why.

No, Mr. Oakland, I'm not an Emergent Church

2007-11-05T11:09:00.000-08:00

Today's entry is a (belated) response to an open letter of sorts from Roger Oakland, the president of Understanding the Times. If you care to read what my particular thoughts are on the topic, it would help if you read his comments, as well as the interview he references with Rob Bell on BeliefeNet.com. Otherwise, a lot of this won't make too much sense. But then this is me were talking about, right? Here is the blow by blow.

DISCLAIMER: This is in no way intended to be an attack nor a defense of either Roger Oakland or Rob Bell. It is intended to be an attempt to rescue the baby that is being thrown out with the bath water from both houses.

Roger Oakland's Comments

"There are pastors (including Calvary Chapel pastors) who are promoting Rob Bell's view that Christianity must be "reinvented for the 21st century." Rob Bell is one of the prominent leaders of the Emerging Church movement."

Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so interpretation can be in the ear of the listener. If I didn't know who Rob Bell was and I read that, what would come to my mind that is rooted in solid Biblical doctrine, is the idea of methodology and not theology. I'm all about getting church out of a rut, freed from tradition and "this is the way we've always done it." So to me, reinventing Christianity for the 21st century means to examine our methodology and determine what still communicates, examining if people are living out their faith and not stuck in dead orthodoxy. If I didn't know who Rob Bell was I'd be like, "Gee, Roger, what's your deal?" But, as you keep reading, he goes on to explain what this language is intended to communicate.

Oakland describes one of Bell's major influences.

Ken Wilber was raised in a conservative Christian church, but at some point he left that faith and is now a major proponent of Buddhist mysticism. His book that Bell recommends, A Brief History of Everything, is published by Shambhala Publications, named after the term, which in Buddhism means the mystical abode of spirit beings. Wilber is one of the most respected and highly regarded theoreticians in the New Age movement today.

Yikes! This does not sound like a person who should be having any influence over someone with the title of Pastor. Then, Roger brings out the big guns.

Any pastor (including a Calvary Chapel pastor) who follows and promotes the teachings of Rob Bell (Velvet Elvis - Nooma films etc.), but claims not to be part of the Emerging Church, after reading the following article about Rob Bell, needs to publicly declare whether they are Emerging Church or not. A pastor who follows Rob Bell (who is following Ken WIlber), has the potential to be led away from a Bible based Christianity towards a New Age eastern mysticism that includes contemplative spirituality. This is a perfect example of how a shepherd who is supposed to protect his flock from wolves can become a wolf in sheep's clothing and become a danger to his own flock and other pastors who follow him or his methods.

Sounds like a challenge to me! However, as I have said in previous posts on this blog and over on SMP, there needs to be a distinction between style and content, between methodology and theology. I think there are probably some good style and execution lessons to be learned from Rob Bell and the EC. I know I would adopt some if I could in the space we rent, but we can't due to storage limitations and building codes. So let's look at the BeliefeNet.com article and see what's up.

The Rob Bell Interview
The title of the article is "'Velvet Elvis' Author Encourages Exploration of Doubts." Remember that interpretation can be in the ear of the listener. At first blush, I have no problem with this title. I love it when new/young believers ask questions and explore doubts that have come up in their walks with the Lord. It's a learning and teaching opportunity. But there is one essential element: there is nothing wrong with exploring doubts so long as, going into the discussion, one understands that there are answers to the doubts and those answers are found in God's inerrant and infallible word. The first response to any question or doubt about the faith should always be, "What does God have to say about it?" and you crack open the Bible.

Consider the following keeping in mind that there is a very important semantic issue; what does Bell mean when he uses these words?

Faith in Jesus, Bell says, must be repainted for each generation if it is to avoid the fate of his velvet Elvis. "What often happens in religion is people freeze the faith at a certain point," Bell says. "There's no more need to paint. We've got the ultimate painting."

On the contrary, he says -- religion, like art, must keep exploring and reforming, or "you end up with a velvet Elvis on your hands."

"Every generation has to ask difficult questions about what does it mean to follow Jesus. What does the kingdom of God look like as it explodes at this time, in this place?"

On the surface, I can agree with these sentiments. In fact, I think these sentiments could easily be applied to what Chuck Smith and Calvary Chapel went through in its early days. The denomination Chuck was a part of was frozen, so he left. When he signed on at Calvary Chapel, it was also frozen. They were Velvet Elvis paintings. So what did Chuck do? He basically asked what it meant for that generation of people to follow Jesus, what does the kingdom of God look like at that time in that place in that culture. His answer was to simply adopt Acts 2:42-47. He used it as a template with which to reinvent the way church was done. And it was a template. It wasn't a manual that defined every detail as to how to do, but it was a guide as to what to do. The freezing process begins, churches begin to think that they have the ultimate painting, when the how and the what, when the style and content, when the methodology and the theology begin to meld into one. This is what has been happening to the Calvary Chapel movement of churches in my opinion (speaking as a CC affiliated pastor).

Chuck's template has become the rule of law for many CCs. This has led to many CCs becoming institutions for Bible learning while very few in that fellowship are experiencing or living out a dynamic relationship with Jesus. This, in my humble opinion, is why many people are leaving CCs and other doctrinally solid Bible teaching churches for churches with forms and rituals like Emergent Churches, the Eastern Orthodox church, etc. They want an experience. While one's relationship with God should not be based on experience, experience is a fruit, a natural byproduct of a relationship. Just like kids who fall in love at summer camp have no real basis for a long-term relationship (generally speaking), people who have some kind of shallow-yet-flashy religious experience have no real basis for a long term relationship with Jesus. But, people who have a solid marriage continually experience a sense of love for one another and that is evident in their lives. Others can tell that they are experiencing something that it is real. But I digress.

At one point, Bell writes about a personal crisis three or four years ago when he felt burned out. He describes sitting in a storage closet while thousands gathered for the next worship service. "I was moments away from leaving the whole thing," Bell writes. "I wasn't even sure I was a Christian anymore."

I admit that I have been there. But I also know why I've been there. I was operating in the power of the flesh and not in the Spirit. My understanding is that Bell comes from a tradition that teaches that the gifts of the Spirit ceased with the Apostles (the view is called cessationism). As a result, being continually Spirit filled as Peter and others were in Acts, doesn't enter into ones personal relationship with Jesus. Instead, relying on other natural giftings and resources is the norm. At times (plural) I have been where Bell was because I know I wasn't walking in the Spirit ala Galatians 5:16+. This point isn't critical to this discussion, it's more of a side point, but it's an important one none the less.

Why? Because this is how most ECs function. The Spirit isn't a person with whom we can have a relationship, He is an "it," a theological concept that is in the word and is very real of course, but not central. When Jesus says that He is going to send us another Helper that will basically take His place while He isn't physically on earth, that sounds pretty central and significant to me. Just as Jesus walked and talked and taught the disciples, so the Spirit walks, talks, and teaches us today. He may not be a physical presence with us, but He is with us non the less. This is significant to the concept of this next quote.

"Anybody who's ever found a disconnect between church and real life will find this book difficult to put down," says Lyn Cryderman, vice president and publisher of books [for Zondervan].

It should be pointed out that many, if not most, of the objections to mainstream, conservative, fundamentalist churches have a basis in reality. The objections are to extreme examples that are out of balance with scripture. However, the reactions and solutions employed to combat those extreme examples are equally extreme and out of balance with scripture. As I said above, people are bailing on Bible teaching churches for experience. That's the disconnect between church life and real life Cryderman refers to. Interestingly enough, it seems to me that this disconnect is being encouraged in our schools and secular culture. People are encouraged to keep their spiritual life private and separate from their public lives. In the 2004 Presidential election Sen. John Kerry provided the perfect example of this. He said that, as a Catholic, he personally believed that abortion was wrong, but he wasn't going to let that interfere with what he viewed as his responsibility to the public in order to protect a woman's right to chose. Boy am I thankful that men like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln didn't segregate their private and public lives like that.

When you read Acts, especially the first 12 chapters, you can't help but see that there was no such disconnect. There was no distinction between one's private life and their public life. Their lives were centered around the apostles teaching and doctrine, prayer, living in community with one another, which was publicly evident to the point that it was the major expression of evangelism. They didn't have to think about living a missional life, it was second nature. What they experienced in their private lives was being lived out in their public lives through the power and comfort of the Holy Spirit. The compassion of Jesus was expressed in women like Tabitha who made clothes for the poor among them. It was expressed in men like Philip and Stephen who served as food distributors to the widows among them. It was expressed as as in churches helping one another out when aid was needed. They were passing Jesus' test of love as found in John 13:34-35, "All men will know you are my disciples by your love for one another." Neither the extreme conservative fundy nor the extreme liberal EC is making converts, let alone disciples. Hmmm.

Cryderman says he has "high expectations" for the book because, unlike most books about Christianity, it encourages readers to question their beliefs and church teachings.

"It's refreshing to have somebody say, `Go ahead, test it all you want,' instead of, `There must be something wrong with you because you've got some doubts."'

Again, on the surface I have no problem with this. Challenge the text, challenge the theology, knowing that God will answer. Be like the Bereans and search the scriptures to see if these things are so. Have confidence that there are answers, there are solutions, there is hope and certainty. But this next statement makes it easy to throw the baby out with the bath water.

Indeed, Bell urges readers to test his own text. The Bible itself, he writes, is a book that constantly must be wrestled with and re-interpreted. He dismisses claims that "Scripture alone" will answer all questions. Bible interpretation is colored by historical context, the reader's bias and current realities, he says. The more you study the Bible, the more questions it raises.

Yikes! Stop the train, I want to get off! This is just flat out wrong. The issue isn't reinterpretation, it's one of reapplication. The Bible means what it says and says what it means. That never changes. What changes is culture. What changes is the ways in which the Gospel can be expressed and applied. From a pastoral perspective, if one's Bible interpretation is colored by historical context, bias, and current realities, then one has never learned how to read or study the Bible. That's Bible interpretation rule numero uno; what did this mean to those people at that time? Once that is understood it can then be transplanted to today and lived out. The statement "The more you study the Bible, the more questions it raises." is true of any discipline. The more you learn about physics the more questions are raised. Equally true is that there are answers for all of those Bible and faith questions. That's what God says, "Come, let us reason together." God wants interaction, He wants dialogue with His people. Anyone in a relationship has to have that.

"It is not possible to simply do what the Bible says," Bell writes. "We must first make decisions about what it means at this time, in this place, for these people."

Again, yikes. If it were not possible to simply do what the Bible says, God would not have told us to do it. God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son. What if Abe had sat down and said to himself, "Precious, I have to make a decision about what God meant at this time in this place for me and my son. Surely God doesn't want me to kill this child that He Himself promised would be the one though whom He would fulfill the rest of His promises"? What if Moses had done the same thing when confronted by the burning bush? What if Jesus had bailed on going through the crucifixion because He made His own subjective decision as to what God really meant?

The point Bell is challenging people with is the same thing Satan challenged Eve with. "Did God really say...? Are you sure that's what He meant? After all, it isn't possible to simply do (or not do) what He said. You have to decide for yourself what He meant." The Biblical reality is that God gives us things to do. In addition, He gives us the resources to accomplish them. The more "impossible" the command sounds, the more one has to trust God, and the more God will be glorified in the end. Case in point is Abraham and Sarah. It was impossible for them to have children at the ages of 90 and 100, yet God gave them the ability to do so. That's what God's Holy Spirit does for us. God says, "Don't fulfill the lust of the flesh." How can I do that? "Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh."

Noting the Bible has been used to defend slavery and mistreat women, he writes, "sometimes when I hear people quote the Bible, I just want to throw up."

In similarly bold language, Bell tackles questions about Jesus, salvation, the institutional church and religious prejudice.

Bell has a point in that the Bible has been used to defend some of the worst atrocities in history. No question. But that doesn't mean that the problem was or is with God's word. The problem was and is people using the Bible to support their views and actions and not to dictate them. The one who is deceived is the one who gets the two things confused. "I want to do this, I have found this scripture and will use it to support what I want to do, therefore the Bible is dictating my actions." This has become the norm in Bible teaching for many churches. It's application isn't restricted to the crusades and slavery. I heard one pastor (whose name escapes me at the moment) teach that, since Jesus surprised people with his teachings, that were are to be spontaneous in how we do church, therefore that's what the Bible teaches. The reality is that Jesus didn't sit and think, "Now how can I surprise people today. I know, I will forgive a woman guilty of adultery." One of the side effects of what He did was surprising to be sure, but that wasn't the goal. Bell is guilty of the same methodology that he attacks.

"My intent has always been to discover the real Christ and the resurrected Christ, and what (he) is saying to me and to us," says Bell, 34, with the excited intensity of someone equally at home with a Bible or a skateboard.

My response to that is, how does he know what the real and the resurrected Christ is saying? What is his standard for determining this? If the Bible needs to be constantly reinterpreted, what do we base reality and truth upon? Bell's, and the answers of others in the EC, are as much like jello as this statement. For an interesting dialog on this issue, head on over the Mike Macon's blog and read through his exchange with some EC proponents. You might even see a post or two from me over there.

"I think a lot of people are deeply fascinated with Jesus and just can't do the Christian packages they've seen. Christianity is a little suspect, but Jesus, right on. So I'm trying to free Jesus from the religion that's built up around him."

Too many churches put Jesus and the Bible into a walled-in worldview where no questions are allowed, Bell says.

Again, there is a kernel of truth in this. The objection has a good basis. I share this objection in fact and have been trying to root out any element of it in the church I pastor and will be vigilant to do so in the future. However...

In this "brickianity," as he calls it, church doctrines are like bricks. Removing one can bring the whole wall tumbling down.

"What terrifies me are communities that don't have questions," Bell says. "If there's any place where you would express your deepest doubts, it would be church."

The doctrines of the Bible are not the issue, it's what people build with them. Again, the separation of style and content, methodology and theology. If one takes the doctrine of inerrancy (there are no errors of history, fact, or science in the Bible) and says "Just shut up and believe it." that's wrong. And that is what some do. I agree with Bell in that church should be a place to come and ask the tough questions. But it should also be a place where you can learn the sometimes tough answers that are available, not just revel in the pseudo-wisdom of being a deep thinker, a heavy who seeks the deeper things.

Bell goes on to say...

"They [people] are hungry for the infinite mystery of God and the "revolution" Jesus could make in their lives and the world. He calls for a faith that fights poverty, injustice and suffering -- to make "this world the kind of place God can come to."

This demonstrates a worldview imposed on scripture. Jesus didn't come to start a movement that would change the world into a place where God can come and establish His kingdom. Our function isn't to set the stage for Jesus' return. Should poverty, injustice, and suffering be dealt with? Certainly. But dealing with those things aren't the primary reason Jesus came nor are they the primary mission of a disciple. The primary mission of a disciple is to make more disciples. The primary mission of Jesus was to reconcile people to God by paying the price for our sin and sin nature so that we can both live for Him here on earth, and live with Him in eternity.

The Bible clearly teaches that the world is going to get worse and worse. That doesn't free Christians from compassion and concern for the world. It should give us a sense of urgency to reach as many people with the gospel as we can. But it does mean that God is going to come back and institute His own justice. We don't need to get the world ready for Him to come back to. That's not His command to us. Our job is to deliver the message, walk with those who receive it, and live it out.

"We want a faith that demands everything of us," he says. "We want it to shake us up and turn us upside down."

That's cool. I'm down with that. After all, Christians were accused of turning the whole world upside down with their doctrine. Yes, doctrine. You know, those bricks in the walls that Bell wants to tear down. But I digress.

Bell also shakes up traditional evangelical beliefs. While calling Christ's way "the best possible way to live," Bell writes Jesus did not claim one religion is better than another when he said he was "the way, the truth and the life." Rather, he writes, "his way is the way to the depth of reality."

As a follower of Jesus, Bell says, he is free to claim the truth wherever he finds it.

"One of the lies is that truth only resides in this particular community or that particular thought system," Bell says. "I affirm the truth anywhere in any religious system, in any worldview. If it's true, it belongs to God."

OK, I'm going to say it. That's a load of crap. It quite simply contradicts the Bible from cover to cover. It sounds wise. It sounds spiritual. So did Satan in the garden. At least Bell is consistent. He is reinterpreting. It's like Bell is saying, "The label on the can of paint says 'blue' but really it's red." It just isn't. Undoubtedly this is what Mr. Oakland objects to, and I do too.

I encourage people to ask questions because there are answers. I would burn candles if I were allowed to. I might even put the Bible study before worship during the service once in a while (gasp!). But I'm not an EC. I am interested in breaking Jesus, the Bible, and doctrines out of the mold of moldy tradition (methodology), even if that tradition comes from the hay days of CC, but I'm not an EC. To be sure the EC is messed up theologically, but they are connecting with the culture. I can learn from that without becoming that. They are doing what Paul was doing in Acts 17 much better than many solid Bible teaching churches, better than my church is doing. I can learn from that without becoming that.

Mr. Bell, I think you are horribly, horribly wrong and are leading people into deception. You are sincere and mean no harm, but you are sincerely wrong. But I do admire your ability to connect with people. Mr. Oakland, I think you are right to sound the alarm on these vital issues. You are also sincere and desire people to walk in truth. Hopefully the people you tick off will walk away and think about what you say and not just walk away. Lord knows plenty of people (who were very wrong) have said things that ticked me off, but they did get me thinking, and in the end I was more confident in what I believed. The why in what we believe is as important as the what.

So to answer the challenge; yes I am a CC pastor, no I'm not an EC. OK. I got that out of my system. Next!

Too hard for me, or too hard for God?

2007-10-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

So far as I can tell every command God has for us in His word is accompanied by His promise to enable us to fulfill the command. The promise might not always be spelled out right there next to a given command, but the implication is there. And yet, we all have moments in our lives where we know the Lord has something for us to do, but we think it's too hard. So we have to stop and ask ourselves if this is too hard for me or if it's too hard for God?

There are two ways in which something can be too hard for us. The thing is too hard for us to do on our own. Like Moses leading the people out of Egypt. He couldn't do that on his own, so the Lord was with Him (again, because the command to do it came from the Lord). The other way a thing can be too hard is that it's too hard for us to trust God to keep up His end of the deal. I wonder if Moses experienced that for a moment when they got the to Red Sea and God said, "Extend your rod and the sea will part." Did Moses think, "What? You mean You are going to split the sea wide open so we can walk right through it? And all I have to do is hold out this stick?"

If that had been the first thing God has ever asked Moses to do I'm not sure Moses would have been able to handle it. But the fact is, Moses had some experience and some faith under his belt. The first thing God asked Moses to do was throw that same rod to the ground and it would turn into a snake. Moses did, the rod did. But Pharaoh's magicians did the same thing. Would that not have freaked you out? "God, I thought you had the big guns?" But what happened? Moses' snake ate the other dude's snakes. That must have been pretty cool. After that Moses went through the 10 plagues. Those also built up Moses' faith and experience so that by the time they got to the sea, he would have been like, "OK God, here it goes!"

But Moses had to start somewhere. We do to. What is God asking of you? It might be a big deal to you, like throwing that rod and praying it turns into a snake, but it's only the beginning of what God can and will do through you if you learn, if you practice trusting Him. So are you ready? Throw down!

Holiness and liberty part 2: liberty

2007-10-08T11:31:00.000-07:00

Man. Do I know how to put a gap between blog entries or what? Sheesh! In the previous entery I vamped about holiness. No need to summarize it when you can just pop over and read it, right? So let's get into this liberty things.

As Americans, the word "liberty" is ingrained in our vocabulary from a very early age. We learn about the founding of our country. "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing." (Did you know that that song is a diss against one of England's national songs, "God save the Queen?" Tis true!) The Statue of Liberty. The Liberty Bell. Liberty means freedom. Just as in holiness we are set apart from certain things and set apart to the Lord, so it is in freedom. We are free from certain things and freed to other things.

There are a couple different Greek words translated as "liberty" in the New Testament. There is on in particular I'm thinking of in terms of this topic. It is used 11 times in the NT. An example of it is found in Galatians 5:1, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." It's an interesting word study that should help us put in context the liberty, the freedom we have in Jesus and as Christians in a messed up world.

At a very basic level it means to do what one pleases. You are able, with no restriction, to do what you want. But that can't be the extent of what it means. Why? Because at some point one person expressing their liberty will conflict with someone else's liberty. Someone who want to murder someone else conflicts with the one who has the liberty to be alive. So let's try this on. "True liberty is living as we should, not as we please." Now that's closer to what we are after. Living as we should, not as we please. The flip side would be living as we should, not as we are forced to. I think this is what Paul had in mind when he used this word.

Much of Paul's writing has to do with contrasting living under the Law of Moses and the freedom we have in Christ apart from the Law. The Law was a means by which we had to live rightly according to God's desires. God's ways are right and good and just, no question. But when one is forced to live rightly, there isn't any freedom in that. Since Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the Law for us, since no human could ever do it on their own, we are now free from having to try and earn our right standing, our liberty before God. We are now free! Free from the laws of sin and death and free to live God's way.

The Greek word from which this word for liberty comes is also pretty cool. It means one who is freeborn. One who is not born a slave, or one who has ceased being a slave. Whether one is aware of it or not, anyone who is outside of Jesus is a slave of sin. That's Paul's whole point in Romans 6. Everyone is born a slave to the power of sin and its consequences. Once we are in Christ we are no longer slaves of sin. We have been freed from its power. So why do we still sin? Because we choose to. Paul says that instead of being slaves of sin that we are now slaves of righteousness. We are free from sin and free to be righteous. Ever thought about it that way?

So what does this mean for our daily lives? What movies and I free to watch? What TV, radio, etc. am I free to be into? Can I drink? Can I go clubbing (the party kind, not the caveman kind, though some would ask, "Is there a difference?")? This is where it gets tricky. Because one person's liberty can be another person's hang up. That's Paul's point in Romans 14. So I'm not going to lay out a list of do's and don'ts here. That would be legalism, not liberty. But I will give you this little guideline. The difference between legalism and holiness/liberty is where your heart is. Where is your heart in the thing you are seeking to do in the name of Christian liberty? Does it move your heart toward or away from the Lord? How will it effect other younger Christians who observe your actions?

Consider Peter's words in 1 Peter 2:15-16. "For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men--as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God." Don't use your liberty as a license to sin and then tell those who criticize you, "You're judging me!" Use your liberty to demonstrate that you are God's servant. You are free to not do the drugs, to not sleep around, to not give into the peer pressure, to not be motivated by greed, the list goes on. Why to not do these things? Because of your love and resulting freedom that comes through a relationship with Jesus.

We are free, we are at liberty to not live according to the rules of this world. We are free to live by the power of the Holy Spirit as servants, as representatives of the God of the universe, in order to deliver God's message of reconciliation to the world. How cool is that?

Holiness and liberty part 1: holiness

2007-09-20T15:46:00.000-07:00

This topic is nothing new. It goes back at least to Paul's writings and I'm sure one of the psalmists hits on it as well. The ever present struggle between holiness and liberty. The struggle is both an internal and external struggle. Individuals often deal with this in their own hearts and minds, while at the same time others are trying to help them figure things out. Sometimes that help isn't solicited and can be, more often than not, detrimental.

What is holiness? First off, it's a word that most people don't use in their everyday speech. It's a lofty "churchy" word. Another word that communicates the same thing and sounds equally lofty is "sanctified." It sounds very sacred and uncomfortable. But the concept it conveys is very street level. The thing one must do when talking about holiness is to get through all the baggage.

To be holy or sanctified basically means to be set apart as something special. Doesn't sound to scary, does it? To be set apart. Everyone has holy things. (OK, let's just get the "holy underwear" jokes out right at the beginning, and I'm not talking about the kind that Mormons wear.) Grandma has holy dishes that only come out on special occasions. Mom has holy scissors that are only used for scrapbooking. (Any other scrapbook widowers out there? Kidding! I love you dear.) Dad has holy (underwear! I'm so immature) golf clubs that are not to be used for lightsabre battles. Girls have holy clothes that are only worn for special reasons (boys do to for that matter). Boys have holy toys (be they Legos or PS3s) that may only be used by those who are worthy.

See? Not so bad, is it? Holiness. In the life of a believer, to be holy means to be set apart to Jesus. But what does that mean? It starts off good and can turn ugly easily. To be set apart to Jesus means that you are separated from things that are not of or from Jesus. Your life is given over voluntarily to Him, not out of obligation but out of love for Him. It's like being married. Someone who is married is set apart from from all others. Their mind, body, and soul are reserved only for their spouse. That means they don't commit adultery, they don't flirt, they don't look at porn. They don't engage in anything, mentally or physically, that would endanger their relationship. Why do they do this? Because they have to or else they lose their spouse? While that is a factor that ought not be the motivating reason. The real motivation ought to be sincere, genuine, love. That's what it is supposed to be with Jesus. Because I love Him, I don't cheat on Him, flirt with things that aren't of Him, etc. But again, what does that mean?

It seems like we can get this when it comes to real human relationships, but it gets more difficult when it comes to Jesus. Why is this? Is it because we don't really think of Jesus as a real person? I think that's what it comes down to. And because we don't think of Him as a real person, but as a concept or part of a belief system, we need a list. We need a set of rules to define for us what it means to be holy. We need a set of don'ts to keep us in line, at least for conscience sake, if not for the sake of appearances. This is where holiness turns into its ugly step-sister legalism. This is where relationship turns into religion. Holiness becomes that which we are set apart from. That's only half of the deal. Holiness is as much what we are set apart from as what we are set apart to.

If Grandma had her special plates only for special occasions, but never brought them out, ever, there is a problem. If Mom never used her special scissors it means she isn't scrapbooking. If Dad never used his golf clubs, it means he isn't golfing. If believers don't engage the world with the love of Jesus as people who are set apart for Jesus, well, then they aren't being Christians. "You're judging me!" No, God's word is judging you. Consider Paul's words to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 5: 9-13.

"I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner--not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”"

What has happened is that we Christians have built up our own Christian subculture around us. We have Christian radio, Christian coffee shops, Christian clothes, Christian movies, Christian breath mints, the list goes on. Each of these usually begin with a good intent; connecting with the world. But what happens is that they become places for Christian to retreat to, so all of the "marketing" mutates into viewing the Christian as a consumer. Christian consumerism is a whole other blog topic.

My point is that in an effort to be both holy to Jesus and useful to Him in impacting the world with His message of love and grace and forgiveness and redemption, we have accomplished the exact opposite. We now try to draw other Christians and we have lost the love. We are holy unto ourselves. Who goes to Christian concerts? Christians. Who goes to hear the evangelist? Christians. Who goes to the Christian festivals? Christians. Do you see a problem with this?

To anyone who is reading this, be they Christian or not, please please please, take some time off from your life and get some perspective on yourself.

Unbeliever, whether you realize it or not, you are set apart, you are holy to this world. It will lead you in the wrong direction, it will lie to you, and it will kill you. You need Jesus. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me." John wrote that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleans us from all unrighteousness." You need to be cleansed. It isn't about breaking a rule, it's about being imperfect before a perfect God. Since you can't make yourself perfect God made a way for that. Jesus is that way. Paul said "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." That's it. That's all there is to it. That's where holiness begins.

Believer, whether you realize it or not, you are set apart to the Lord. Paul said in Romans 6:17-18 "But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." Did you see that? You were slaves of sin. That means you don't have to be anymore and if you are letting yourself do that, there is something wrong. Not to be too blunt, but it is your fault if that is happening. Why? Because you have a choice to whom or what you are holy. Different things hang different people up. That's why I never give a list of things you can't do. However, here is a list of stuff to do. And if you are too busy doing the do's (not Mt. Dew), then you won't have any time to do anything that might be a don't. 1) Read/Study your Bible. It is God's love letter to you. 2) Pray. Talk to God. Talk to Jesus. Talk to the Holy Spirit. God is a real being who listens and talks back. 3) Spend time with other good, solid believers and learn from them. Don't just learn from them, do what they do. As they follow Jesus, so must you. As they do what Jesus did, so must you. 4) Turn around and, in the words of Yoda, "pass on what you have learned."

I leave you with these words from 1 Peter 1:13-19. Next time I will ramble about the liberty we have in Christ.

13 ¶ Therefore gird up the loins of your mind (note: this means to make your mind ready for action), be sober (note: doesn't mean simple to not be drunk, it means to think clearly), and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;
15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

The Gospel Jewel

2007-08-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

This is supposed to be the world largest diamond. It would fit comfortable in the palm of an adult's hand. I don't recall how many facets it has, but it has a bunch of them. Yet they are all different side of the one diamond. They are all important. The gospel is very much the same way. It has many facets, all of which are important. The funny thing is that many preacher/teachers, ministries, parachurch organizations, tent to put a lot of effort into one facet in particular. On the one hand this is to be expected because the Lord has made us all different, so it kind of makes sense. On the other hand, it can be an unhealthy thing. Other facets can be neglected at the expense of the one.

If you have been reading this blog you know I have been reading Why Revival Tarries by Ravenhill. Someone pointed me to another website where you can download videos and audios of his stuff. I was surprised that there were videos because he died before video taping stuff became a consumer thing. At any rate, it struck me that in his speaking and writing he seems to really focus on motivating people to pray. What's wrong with that? Nothing in and of itself, but the way he does it really borders on condemnation if you don't do it the way he is describing. he doesn't cross that line, but if the only thing you read was his stuff, you might not be a very joyful person.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still really digging this book. It's a short book but it's so potent that I can really only take one or two chapters at a time. And they are short chapters. In fact I'm going to have to re-read it because it is so dense. If I can modify my behaviors I think I will get something out of this book. If I just read it and feel this man's passion and agree with him, but don't do anything about it, then it's kind of pointless.

I have not tried to listen to more of Ravenhill's stuff yet. I hope he was just as passionate about other facets of the gospel. Grace is important. Joy is important. Compassion is important. The Holy Spirit is important. And yet, I can see his point. If Christians, if preachers, if the church isn't a praying thing, then none of that other stuff will be effective. Perhaps that prayerful connection as evidenced by the power of the Spirit is the carbon that the diamond is made of and the facets are ways of reflecting all of that? Possible.

All I know is that I don't have it going on like he did or like he is preaching about. If that circuit can be closed and the juice allowed to flow, perhaps I will finally arrive.

God's Integrity and the Age of the Earth

2007-08-26T20:08:00.001-07:00

Today I'm at the Northwest Creation Science conference. Acutually I was here last night as well, just for the record. I'm sure that this isn't a new idea at all, but this stuck me in a way I had not considered before.

Dr. Johnathan Sarfati was giving a talk on Refuring Comprimise (based on his book of the same title). I've heard the idea that if billions of years is true then God's word isn't true, because the plain reading of scripture says that God created the earth and the universe 6,000 years ago in six days. Everyone agrees, Christian or not, that the plan meaning of the text of Genesis 1-2 is trying to communicate that God created everything in 6 days, not billions of years. Even if you think that these passages are poetic and not literal, the words are trying to communicate that idea. Those of us who take it as literal history (which is how it is suposed to be taken) understand that if billions of years of cosmic history is true, then God's word is untrue, and if any of it is untrue then none of it can be trusted.

There are those who are Christians that believe in both billions of years and God's word, that a "day" in Genesis 1 isn't an actual day it's a long period of time, so science that is biased against the Bible and the Bible are really compatible. They say that God's creation is another means by which God reveals His truth to us, and the study of God's creation via modern science tells us that the earth and universe is billions of years old, and that man has been around for millions of years.

Here is the idea that occured to me. Initially God's written word communicated to people that the world and universe were very young and created quickly. A few thousand years later, man's technology and understanding advances enough to determine that God's creation communicates that the world and the universe were very ancient and created slowly. So which is God trying to communicate? Which are we to understand? These concepts are contrary one to another. If God told some people one thing, and others something that was contrary to what He told the first people, then God is lying to one of them. These two opposing views call into question God's integrity. That is not a good thing.

This is why this issue really is an important one for Christians to get a grip on. It is separate from the question of salvation, but it has oh so much to do with many other things in God's word and how we live them out.

Blogged with Flock

Why Revival Tarries

2007-08-21T11:27:00.001-07:00

Wow. I've been reading a book that I have not read since Bible college days called Why Revival Tarries by Leonard Ravenhill. This guy was crazy insane right on. The book was first published in 1959, but you couldn't tell by what he writes and addresses. I, personally, am getting my booty kicked by this thing. As some of you may know I'm involved in a blog called Simple Minded Preacher. Well, this guy Ravenhill is the original SMP!

Every chapter, without fail, is right where I am. Or at least where I want to be. It's so direct and right on it's as though I've never known Jesus at all. It's as though I've never understood what faith is. But it isn't guilt ridden. It's more encouraging, if that makes sense. He says "This is how it's supposed to be and if you aren't there then you need to get there because this is what God has for you!" The primary audience is preachers but this is a must read for anyone who feels like there is a gaping hole in their spiritual life in the Lord. This is it. Before each chapter begins there are quotes from classic teachers and preachers of old. Those are worth the price of the book alone. And when the forward of the book is writen by A.W. Tozer you know it's good stuff.

I have found myself wanting to retype in this blog what he writes from, but then I'd be reproducing the whole book. Here. I will write the first few sentences from each chapter I have read so far.

The Cinderella of the church of today is the prayer meeting. This handmaid of the Lord is unloved and unwooed because she is not dripping with the pearls of intellectualism, nor glamorouse with the silks of philosophy; neither is she enchanting with the tiara of psychology. She wears the homespuns of sincerity and humility and so is not afraid to kneel! No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. The pulpit can be a shopwindow to display one's talents; the prayer closet allows no showing off. When a man who has crept along for years in conventional Christianity suddenly zooms into spiritual alertness, becomes aggressive int he battle of the Lord, and has a quenchless zeal for the lost, there is a reason for it. (But we are so subnormal these days that the normal New Testament experience seems abnormal.) The secret of his "jet-propelled fellow" we have just mentioned is that somewhere he has had Jacob-like wrestling with God and has come out stripped, but also "strengthened by the Holy Ghost!"

To the question, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" we answer, "Where He has always been - on the throne!" But where are the Elijah's of God? We know Elijah was "a man of like passions as we are," but alas! we are not men of like prayer as he was! One praying man stands as a majority with God! Today God is bypassing men - not because ther are too ignorant, but because they are too self-sufficient. Bretheren, our abilities are our handicaps, and our talents are stumbling blocks!

After describing the boneyard in Ezekiel 37, God's command to call it to life, and the faith that requires, he writes Now obviously no faith is required to to the possible; actually only a morsel of this atom-powered stuff (faith) is needed to do the impossible, for a piece as large as a mustard seed will do more than we have ever dreamed of. Again and again God asks men to do not what they can, but what they can't.

Harnack defines Christianity as "a very simple but very sublime thing: To live in time and for eternity under the eye of God and by His help." Oh that believers would become eternity conscious!

Centuries have passed since the Swiss Reformer Oecolampadius forged the phrase, "How much more would a few good and fervent men affect the ministry than a multitude of lukewarm ones!" The passing of time has not taken the sting from this statement.

One of these days some simple soul will pick up the Book of God, read it, and believe it. Then the rest of us will be embarrassed. We have adopted the convenient theory that the Bible is a Book to be explained, whereas first and foremost it is a book to be believed (and after that to be obeyed).

That's as far as I have gotten, 8 chapters. Amazing stuff! After going through this book again I can accurately say that my prayer life really, really sucks big-time. I've been far too passive which is easy for me because that's who I am naturally. A pastor friend of mine named Gary described it like being a otter, just floating around and eating. That's my dream life! However it is just incompatible with what we are called to be.

Let's see if I can even make it to the end of the book.

Blogged with Flock

Now I get it. Living sacrifices.

2007-08-14T23:45:00.001-07:00

Have you ever heard or read something so many times that you think you understand it just because of the number of times you have heard or read it, only to figure out that you never really have understood it until something clicked and then suddenly you did really understand it? Could I make that sentence a little longer? Like, fur sure.

I was reading Romans 12 as part of the through the Bible in a year thing. Romans 12:1 is a classic verse. "I beseech you therefore, bretheren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." It's a classic. Almost every time I've heard it taught on, something along the lines of continually offering yourself to God as a sacrifice is taught. And that is a correct Biblical teaching. At the same time, it is a contradiction.

A sacrifice is something that has been killed. To be a living sacrifice just doesn't make sense. But I've always just let it go as some deep, mystical, spiritual truth we won't fully get until we are with the Lord. But, as I was reading it this time, I remembered something I heard a Bible teacher say once. He said that if you ever come across a passage that puzzles you, stick Jesus right in the middle of it and it will make sense. It might take some time, thought, and prayer, but it will make sense. So I did it. And it worked!

Jesus is a living sacrifice. He was sacrificed as an offering for our sin. That's the whole point of Jesus comeng in the first place. But He didn't stay dead, obviously. He was resurrected. He was transformed. In Romans 6 Paul makes a big deal about how if anyone is in Christ, he too has died with Him, been buried with Him, and risen with Him. He uses baptism as the illustration for this. This is a major thrust of Paul's teaching. Galatians 2:20 echoes this, how we have been crucified with Christ and we no longer live but Christ lives in us.

So, just as we have died, been buried, and risen with Christ, we are also living sacrifices just as Jesus is. That is the only way we can be "holy, acceptable to God", through and in Jesus Christ. This might be a no brainer to some, but it's the first time I have ever heard it. It's the first time I think I really get this passage. And it makes perfect sense in the context. Paul going on to talk about be transformed, literally metamorphosis. Death and resurrection is a metamorphosis.

For me, being a living sacrifice no longer depends on my efforts to be holy and acceptable to God. I can't do that on my own. No one can. I can only do that in Jesus. I just have to rely on the Spirit to do that. I just have to die to myself. And therein lies the challenge.

Blogged with Flock

Knocked up by Jesus?

2007-08-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

Now that I have your attention...

No, this post isn't about some nut job that thinks Jesus impregnated them. Nor is it intended to be a disrespectful title for what is a very Biblically based blog posting. It's the phrase that came to mind as I read the first part of Romans 7 the other day. Romans 7 is usually famous for the "Romans 7 shuffle" which is the last half of the chapter. "The thing I don't want to do, that I do. The thing I want do to, I don't do. Do be do be do." (OK, that last part was Frank Sinatra). Take a look at the first half and you will see what I mean by "knocked up by Jesus."

In the first three verses, Paul begins by comparing our relationship with the Law to a woman whose husband has died. You have to think 1st century Jewish here. When we get married today, people say "as long as we both shall live" but over half of them don't mean it. In the ancient Jewish mind, a woman who was married, got divorced, and remarried was committing adultery because her fist husband was still alive. That is what is so significant in Paul's argument here. If a woman's husband died, she was free from all of the Laws that connected her to her husband. She was no longer bound to him or those Laws. Because he died, she was free to remarry.

In verse 4, Paul makes the connection to those who are in Christ. Whether we knew it or not, before we became Christians we were married to the Law and all it's consequences. Now that we are Christians, the Law is dead to us. This means that we are free to be married to another; to Jesus. This isn't the only place Paul uses this picture of followers being the bride of Christ (see Ephesians 5). It's a picture of our relationship, of our intimacy, of our commitment to Him. Jesus is alive, or else we'd be married to a dead guy. Ick. So the Law is dead to us, it no longer holds power over us to condemn us of sin, and we are now remarried to Jesus. He is our main Man. But look at what Paul says at the end of verse 4. "That we should bear fruit to God." What does that mean? I'm glad you asked. I'm glad I asked!

The context here for the usage of the word "fruit" is marriage. A student of the Bible should instantly flash back to the beginning, to Genesis. What was God's command to Adam and Eve, the first married couple? "Be fruitful and multiply." (Genesis 1:28.) What does this mean? Get pregnant and have kids. What does it mean to bear fruit to God? Get pregnant and have kids. Knocked up by Jesus. Obviously I'm speaking figuratively or spiritually, as is Paul. He is trying to communicate a point, a principle.
The picture is reproduction. Reproduction involves intimacy. Again, the context of the illustration is marriage. Closeness. Openness. Letting another see you and experience you as you also see and experience them. Is that language to personal? Making you uncomfortable? As close and personal as you may be with your husband or wife, it is only a shadow of what we can be, what we are supposed to have, with the Lord. If your marriage sucks then you probably don't have a positive mental image of what all this means. That is unfortunate. But let's keep moving, shall we?

In verse 5 Paul points out what we used to have when we were married to the Law in our flesh. Look at the overt sexual innuendo Paul uses. "For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death." Passion. Arousal. Members. In case you didn't know, Rome was a very sexually screwed up culture. Much worse than we are here in America. The picture here is a horny person who will have sex with anything that moves. I believe the term in we used in college was a "horn dog." That's what we were before we came to Christ. Ever thought about it like that? I hadn't until I just reread this passage. The result, the fruit, the kids, the offspring was death. Spiritual death, disease and decay for ourselves and those around us, that always had real, physical consequences. STDs. Drugs. Jail. Divorce. Abuse. That's what we were, that's what we had when we were married to our ex.

Verse 6 tells us that we have been delivered from that. The Law is dead to us. We have died to it. It has died to us. It no longer holds any condemning authority over us. We aren't married to it anymore. We are married to Jesus. The result of our intimate relationship with Him is offspring. In our previous marriage we produced death. In this one we produce life. That is supposed to be our fruit.

To continue in the theme we must examine ourselves. How is your marriage to Jesus doing? Are you warm, open, and receptive to Him, or are you frigid? Do you go on dates with Him or do you have to constantly reschedule? When you are out and about do you introduce Him to others? Imagine being out with your spouse and you run into some people from work or something. Your wife is right there with you. Would you introduce the group to your wife and your wife to the group? Of course you would. It's the same thing with Jesus. He is with you 24/7. He watches your movies and TV shows with you. He listens to your music with you. He hears the conversations you have and the thoughts you think.

Does that make you nervous? If it does, you can fix it. He will never leave you nor forsake you. (Matthew 28:19-20.) Fall in love with Jesus. Develop that intimate relationship with Him. It's what He made you for. Go on, I dare you...

If you are still married to the Law, if you are not a Christian and you want out of that marriage but you don't know what to do, head on over to this website and it will get you started.

Brownies rock my world

2007-08-02T22:39:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to whine about how tough it is being a pastor. I could, but I won't. Instead I will whine about how tough it is being a Christian.

Whether you are an introvert who takes action on the inside, or an extrovert who takes action on the outside, every action begins in the heart and the mind. This is exactly why the New Testament writers, including Jesus Himself, speak so much about having the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5), setting our minds on things above (Colossians 3:2), out of the heart the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45), etc. For me, that's where the battle begins and ends. At least, it ends when I let it end. I'm really good at letting it go on, and on, and on, to the detriment of myself and everyone around me.

I was having a crap week. (Can you say "crap" on a Christian blog?) Some things I have been working on came to a head and I dealt with it. I'm one of those people who prefers to let people learn lessons on their own instead of lecturing people. I could tell people, "This isn't working and here is why." But if part of the situation is that the people involved don't think that there is a problem, or see the contrast of the situation (whatever it may be), just coming out and saying it isn't going to help them see. They need to experience the difference themselves.

The time came where I had to lay it all out. Up until now people were frustrated, didn't understand why I wasn't communicating with them. It can be a rough process. But it worked, for the most part. After I laid it out, the people involved said, "OK. I get it now. Thanks for helping me see that." That was good. However, that wasn't the big deal. The big deal was someone who was auxiliary to the situation also got it, but bigger in a way.

One night this person showed up at my door with a plate of brownies with white chocolate chips in them. Dude. One of my favorite foods on the planet. Out of nowhere this person proceeded to share with me some really cool stuff. Really, it was out of nowhere. They said that they got it, that they understood it, and appreciated the way that i did it, even if it was difficult or awkward for the people involved.

The battle that had been raging in my heart and mind did a 180. It was the first real, meaningful encouragement I had had in months, possibly even years. It wasn't just encouragement, because I get encouraged to hang in there all the time. It was encouraging because it was a kind of fruit. I didn't have to work it out of them, I just had to provide the environment for the fruit to grow. My world was rocked by a plate of brownies. That's Jesus!

Ever missed a divine appointment?

2007-08-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

So, the other day I'm driving from Seattle back home and I stop at Granny's house near Olympia. As I'm pulling up to the house the cell phone rings. I want to get inside and see Granny because it's been a while, but I decide to answer the phone.

It's an older disabled woman asking for help. Man! She's looking for a place to live because her living situtaion isn't good. I let her talk because I know that sometimes people just need someone to listen, but the whole time I'm thinking, "I have nothing for you, please get off the phone." She mentions that no churches have been able to help her, she is really desperate, and that she is a Christian. And yet, she has no home church.

Well, I refer her to a resource and get off the phone, go see Granny, and I'm out. On the way home I was playing the conversation back in my head. That woman was so sad. She had no hope in her voice. She was crying much of the time. She gave out so much love and care to those who don't normally get it over the course of her life (if her story was true and I think it was). Then the episode from Acts 3 came to mind. The lame man at the door of the Temple, who also has no hope, asks for money, and then two strangers look at him and say, "We don't have any money, but what we do have we give to you. Here's Jesus."

I could have at least tried to give that woman Jesus. Even though she said she'd been baptized (twice), even though she probably would have waved it off and wanted something more practical, I didn't even try because I wanted to go inside and see Granny. Here I've been encouraging folks in church to look for opportunities, divine appointments to share Jesus with people, and I totally miss one handed to me. So to that woman, and to the Holy Spirit, I apologize.

The thing is, even though people have huge practical needs, if they don't have hope, what they have or don't have doesn't matter. Real hope only comes from Jesus. You can be homeless and have hope in Jesus, and be happier than someone who is rich and is hopeless. So, Mr. Stephens, your next appointment is ready...

Now this is ironical

2007-07-28T11:43:00.001-07:00

Here is the story. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,291250,00.html. The pastor of a free will baptist church used to be a cop. He carries a gun and cuffs in his fanny pack. Someone stole a car from his church's parking lot. He and the victim chased the guy down and the pastor put the guy in cuffs until police arrived.

I think its ironic because at that point that thief no longer had free will did he! :-)

Blogged with Flock

My first YouTube video!

2007-07-18T19:30:00.000-07:00

I've had this idea rolling around in my head for a while. I finally got to it and threw it on YouTube. Check it out! A higher quality version should appear in the video podcast sometime soon.

Pokemon vs. the Holy Spirit

2007-07-12T09:23:00.000-07:00

As I may have said in other posts, one of my earliest memories is seeing the original Star Wars in 1977 (before it was referred to as Episode 4). I was 4 years old. For most of the next six years of my life I wanted to be Luke Skywalker. I wanted to be a Jedi. I wanted to be able to move stuff with my brain, my will. I wanted that world to be real. I wasn't raised in a Christian home so it was no big deal.

Now I have two boys that are home schooled. My wife and I have always tried to protect (not shelter, there is a difference) our kids from most of the crap that passes as entertainment for kids. Some of is is mostly harmless. Some of it is outright demonic. We only recently let them investigate the world of one of these chains, mostly because one of their video games features some of these characters. We let them read the books and get the videos from the library, all for about one week. By the end of the week one of my sons came to me at the breakfast nook/home office with one of the books in hand and said, "I wish this world was real." Wow. And then the Spirit began to speak to my heart.

As a kid I was always drawn to the supernatural. Jedis, magic, wizards, aliens with powers. I loved Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Escape from WItch Mountain, The Sword and the Stone (interesting how those are all Disney movies). If Harry Potter had been out back then I would have been way lost. I really, seriously wanted to be a wizard. I wanted to get books on magic and spells. I wanted that kind of real power. It is real you know. The truth is that it's all demonic, but it is real none the less.

Now I find myself a Christian. I worship the God of the universe. This God wants to, can, and will use His power through those who humbly submit themselves to Him. Healing, miracles, transformed lives, prophecy, words of wisdom and knowledge, helps, ministries. You know the list. In my read-the-Bible-in-a-year schedule I am in Acts (which I am also teaching on Sundays). As I've been reading Acts I find myself, like my son, like myself as a kid saying, "I want this world to be real." Why am I saying that? Apparently because it isn't real in my world.

This is a very telling realization. This is what the Spirit has been showing me, especially in light of the fact that my son wants this fantasy world of good guys and bad guys, all with supernatural powers battling it out, to be real. If he wants that world to be real, it means that his exposure to God's world of dynamic Spiritual power and reality hasn't been sufficient. And where is one of the key places he is supposed to see that being lived out? In the life of his father and the fellowship in which he is involved. Ouch. Add to this the fact that I read Acts and think to myself, "I wish this world was real." I'm not seeing it either. I still watch Star Wars and think, "Man that would be cool." instead of thinking, "Eh, my God can do better than that."

I don't know that I've ever truly seen and actual demonstration of God's power right in front of me. I've heard about them. You can't be a CC pastor and not hear about the old days in the tent or some Afterglow where words were given and healing done. Some of you may be thinking of Jesus' words "Blessed are those who have not seen and still believe." I would point out that that has to do with believing in the risen Lord, not the power of God through the Spirit. It's kind of like that poster with the UFO on it that says "I want to believe." I know I'm not alone in this, now or even in the recent past.

I recently listened (again) to the audio book of "Fresh WInd, Fresh Fire" by Jim Cymbala. I have the paper version but I had some driving to do so that worked. I'm actually getting tired of listening to it. Not because it's boring, far from it. I'm getting tired of listening to it because I'm tired of being on the other side of it. I'm tired of being stuck at the beginning of the book, so to speak. Last year I read, "One Holy Fire" by Nikki Cruz. It seems like that guy can't go a day without some kind of amazing demonstration of God's power happening in his life. Again, I read it thinking, "I want that world to be real."

Understand that I'm not looking for a light show. I'm no looking to see power for the sake of power. Paul talks about the Jews seeking a sign and the Greeks seeking wisdom. I'm not on about this just because I want to see God do a trick. I just seems like for the most part, my faith consists of me thinking, "OK, Lord, I believe you are real because your word says you are real, not because I've experienced you on a regular basis in a tangible way." I know God has worked in real and tangible ways in my life and my family's life. I know it, I see it. I guess I'm thinking in terms of being able to point to something and say without a doubt, "Now that's the power of the Lord!"

I need that. My kids need that. Our fellowship needs that. Our community needs that. The pattern I've seen repeated in Acts is this; the apostles come to town, the Spirit does mighty signs and wonders through them, that gives the apostles a chance to preach the word, people get saved, the church grows and spreads, and the apostles are thrown in jail or run out of town. This could bring up several other conversations I'm sure. That's how these churches started, but does that mean that's how they continued, with the mighty signs and wonders and all? Is that supposed to be the norm?

I don't know about any of that, I just know that God's power was manifested in ways that always drew people to Himself. That's what I want. I know it still happens today. It's happening right this very moment somewhere in the world I'm sure. I would just pray for the Lord to open up another spout where the glory comes out wherever I am, wherever my kids are, where ever the people in our church are. Bring it on, Lord!

Media access updates - complete!

2007-07-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be revamping the behind-the-scenes stuff that makes all of the media libraries and podcasts work. That means some stuff won't be available. Sorry for the downtime but the results will be much cooler. Stay tuned...

UPDATE - Only the page to access the Acts studies works for now. Video has now been added to these studies, as well as a video podcast in the Podcast page. Be sure to check them out!

UPDATE #2 - The back end stuff is complete! All the media libraries should work fine now. If there are videos or PDFs available there will be links for them. Enjoy!

What is community?

2007-06-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

One of the most basic definitions of a community could be this; a group of people that share something in common. Not “have” something in common, but “share” something in common. What’s the difference? A very significant one, actually.

Let’s say that you have a group of people who are all interested in dogs. Chances are, when they get together they bring their dogs with them. What do you suppose they talk about? Their dogs. They talk about the kind of food they feed their precious Scruffy. They talk about that cute (or not so cute) thing Bluto did the other day. They probably even talk about stuff that happens to their friends and their dogs. They are into dogs. They may get together as a group regularly. They may get together in small groups or one on one. But you know that, whatever the circumstance, dogs are the main event. Their community is based around dogs. They don’t just have it in common, they share it.

Dogs are just one example. Cars, computers, boats, sports, flowers, you name it. The same kind of community is shared by those who love what they love.

There is one rather sad exception to this. It is the one area where one would think that people would naturally share with each other. What is it? The church, specifically in America.

More and more often this is what happens on Sunday mornings. Christians, people who say they love Jesus, gather together. They say their “hellos” and “good mornings”, they sing the songs, they hear the sermon, and then they leave one another until next week. This is not community. This isn’t sharing what they have in common. Is that the fault of the people? Not entirely. Not even mostly. The fault primarily rests with with those who try to grow the church numerically, without growing it spiritually. How does that happen?

One way is when churches try to get people together based on common interest, lifestyle, or situation. Men’s groups, women’s groups, youth groups, single parent groups, recovering fish-o-holic groups, etc. While there isn’t anything inherently wrong with these groups, the danger is that community becomes based on who they are and not who the Lord is in their lives. This is the exact opposite of how things were in the church in Acts.

The church in Acts was made up of rich and poor, free and slave, Jew and Gentile, male and female. What brought these various people together? Their common faith in Jesus. It didn’t just bring them together, it forced them together. These “Christians” were viewed by the world as a cult. They were seen as people who worshipped some dead Jew who claimed to be a King. They were ridiculed by society and, in many cases, abandoned by their families. The only people they could depend on, the only people they could connect with, the only people they could share their joy in and love for Jesus with, was each other.

It’s easy to imagine them, like our dog lovers mentioned earlier, getting together and sharing about a fresh insight the Spirit gave them from a part of the Word they read or heard. They might have shared about how the Lord provided for a need, how the Lord finally broke through a hard hearted family member, how the Lord gave them peace during a trying situation, how they were stuck in a fleshly attitude and the Spirit reminded them to give the Lord their burden and it was lightened. How the Lord, how the Spirit, how the Lord. Because of the interactive love relationship that they had with Jesus, their community was based on Him. It’s a sad, observable reality that this kind of relationship with Jesus is being taught less and less, which results in less and less authentic community. It ought not to be this way.

How do we fix this? Well, it starts with you and it starts with me. I first have to deliberately develop my own love relationship with Jesus. You have to deliberately develop your own love relationship with Jesus. As we do that, as we become more and more excited about Him, as we fall more and more in love with Him, the natural byproduct of that is going to be a desire to share it with one another.

The church isn’t supposed to be like a club or group where people who happen to believe the same thing come together because it’s what you are supposed to do. Many times people go to church because it’s what they think is expected of them. It’s just the way they were raised. It becomes an obligation, even an annoyance. Granted, there are times when when we just don’t feel like it. That’s why we are told in Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” Paul calls the church “body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12). We are all like cells in a body. Cells need each other. Cells die when they become disconnected from the body. It’s interesting to note that, while cells are individual things, they are also interdependent things.

Deepen your relationship with Jesus. Share that with others. Invite others to share with you. Allow others to depend on you, and allow yourself to be dependent upon others in the church. As you and I do this, we will have authentic community. We will be the living body of Christ. The alternative isn’t really an alternative.

Are we against others, or for the truth? Part 2

2007-06-20T09:10:00.000-07:00

As noted at the beginning of part one, this topic was spawned from a discussion at a meeting of pastors. Actually, I started to write an email to the pastor that brought it up and it turned into yesterdays blog. I have followed up with him. Most of this post is going to be his words with some of my comments thrown in at the end. Here is his response.

I’m thinking that the new breed of brothers, some so-called “church growth” experts (maybe even some of the blogger types I asked you about at the men’s conference) are redefining our most treasured beliefs having made a commitment to “engage the culture”. Heres an example from my recent blog-lurking…In the afternoon session of the Willow Creek Arts Conference, Dan Kimball talked about some disturbing trends in church. • The good news is that there is a growing interest in spiritual things in our culture. • There is a fascination in our culture with Jesus. It may seem superficial—but it is a good thing, because we can use it to start spiritual conversations. • Gandhi said: “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are not like your Christ.” • As we move into what is more of a post-Christian culture, more people are born in the new culture. And we get so busy with church activity and planning worship…we escaped the world and created our own Christian subculture and bubble. • John 17:15 – “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one.” • Are we so focused on planning church services—that we’ve forgotten to be the church? • Six things that nonbelievers say about us: 1) The church is organized religion and interested in right-wing politics; 2) The church is judgmental and negative; 3) The church is a male-dominated that oppresses females; 4) The church is homophobic; 5) The church arrogantly believes they are right and all other religions are wrong; 6) The church is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally. • Most Christians and churches are not like the ones being described. But that is the perception.Re. “Six things…” 1 The church is totally organized around the Scripture, go anywhere in the world, we’re all doing the same thing! “Right-winged”?… we are conservative morally, ethically, socially, spiritually, etc. 2 The church knows right from wrong, we read the Book! “Negative”?… we teach each other to stay away from the pitfalls of sin, and we call sin sin. 3 Genesis 3: God cursed men to hard labor and the responsibility to lead… God cursed women to hard labor and obligation to follow! “Oppressive”?… we are committed to be good leaders, protectors and nurturers of our girls (someone is just jealous). 4 We have a very clear phobia (the FEAR of the Lord) of any sexual indulgence outside of marriage! Not just homosexuality, but also adultery, fornication, pedophilia, bestialty, lust, etc. 5 Our Book tells us what is right, we believe it and sometimes we come across like bratty kids. “Jesus said; I am the way, the truth, the life, no man comes to the Father but by me”. 6 We are FUNdamentals, seeking to be culturally relevant accurately applying the meaning of the Bible. We believe the bible literally!These six things we are FOR, yet the unbeliever crowd seeks to tells us we are wrong to be FOR these things. I think thats pretty negative on their part, don’t you? The problem is some of our emergent brethren don’t have the conviction to take a stand FOR the Word of God. But then again, I’m being negative.

Personally, I find two statements particularly interesting. At the top he said that some “are redefining our most treasured beliefs having made a commitment to ‘engage the culture’.” At the end he said, “The problem is some of our emergent brethren don’t have the conviction to take a stand FOR the Word of God.” I think that sums up the erosion that has been happening.

And now an illustration for web geeks. The web has been making a move to standardize the way in which we view stuff. There are two elements; content and style. Content is the information the page is trying to communicate (text, pictures, etc.) and style is the way in which the content is displayed (bold, underlined, red, blue, big, little). When the web first started, content and style were all jumbled together. The raw code of a web page was a mess. Browsers began to have their own proprietary style codes for thing. That how the “Best viewed in Browser X” craze began.

Now we have CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Content and style are being separated. Content is in one file, and styles are defined in another file. You can change the the whole look of a web site simply by changing the style sheet, but all the content remains exactly the same.
The Bible is our content. It should never change. It never has changed. Through the centuries and cultures the content of God’s word, the message, the Gospel, whatever you want to call it, stays the same, but the style sheet changes. They style for communicating the word will be one way in the jungles of South America and anther way in China, but the information being communicated remains the same.

In our culture we have come up with all kinds of styles. That can be an issue but isn’t THE issue. When CC started Chuck caught all kinds of flack for the style in which the message was being communicated. But the content was pure. The erosion we are seeing today has to do with the fact that the content is being changed. New content is coming in, required content is being left out. In an effort tot make the style even more relevant and engaging, the content is being sacrificed.

As we, (I should speak for myself) as I do what I can to stand for the true content, I will always be seen by others as being against something else. If I’m for holiness then I’m against sin. If I’m am for taking God’s word at face value, then I’m against anything that come into opposition with it. All that I can do is make what I’m for as clear as possible. What am I for? Jesus. You know, the one in the Bible.

Are we against others, or for the truth?

2007-06-19T09:21:00.000-07:00

At the last Seattle area pastors powwow something occurred to me during a discussion about criticism coming from the outside. In the end it was agreed that we as CCs don't want to be known for what we are against, but for what we are pro - teaching the word and grace. That wasn't the first time I had heard that. In fact I think that sentiment is close to Chuck's heart. But I have a problem with it.

Understand that I'm not saying we should have a detailed published list of stuff we are against. "Calvary Chapel: we hate others." Not at all. But here's the thing. More, and more, and more of Christianity is moving away from the Bible. Grace is being twisted into tolerance. In fact, the words "Christianity" and "Christian" are being poo pooed by the modern hip church. The more that we as CC pastors stand up for the word, teach it seriously, and keep the fact that sin is the reason for grace in the first place, the more we are going to be seen as against others within Christianity. Just quoting Jesus and saying that He is the only way is seen as being against others, as being divisive, and could very well be considered hate speech if certain lawmakers get their way here in America. And that's what people in churches say.

A thought just occurred to me that could come across as "shocking". But seen in context I think it will make sense. I think we have had our heads buried in the Bible and in churchianity so much that we have missed the erosion that has been happening and we could easily feel the effects in our own churches unless we do something about it. Now lemme splain. In the 60s and 70s the Jesus movement took off. (Yes I understand that it began 2,000 years ago but I also understand that it ebbs and flows over the years.) Chuck taught the living word and focused on grace as opposed to the legalism of most denominations, including the one he came out of. CC grew. CC spread and multiplied.

Then the initial "bang" sort of wore off. The 80s saw the arrival of the church growth movement and seeker sensitive churches. Because the initial bang of the Spirit wore off (which is a whole other discussion, but it's true) guys needed something to keep their churches going, especially those who wanted to plant new ones. Many adopted the seeker model. Just ask Ken Ortiz. With the seeker model comes the need to keep those one attracts. The focus becomes inward, on being a draw. The word gets less and less emphasized.

Some in CC recognized that this was a bad path to follow and either never got on board or bailed on it once they were in. They followed Chuck's example of just teaching the word, teaching grace, and loving the sheep. Nothing wrong with that. That's great. That's what we should be doing. This is where it kind of comes full circle. Chuck did that then as a response to the negative elements of mainstream denominations. They were legalistic and dead. Chuck taught grace and life. He was seen as being against all kinds of stuff whether he wanted to be or not.

What are the negative elements of mainstream churches today? For the most part they can all be summed up in one statement: an abandonment of absolute truth. We have bible colleges and seminaries that teach emergent and contemplative spirituality. They crank out pastors who take this to their churches. Churches today aren't legalistic and dead. They are liberated and dead.

In the words of Bill Nye the Science Guy, consider the following.

"The June 17th headline in the Seattle Times newspaper reads, "I Am Both Muslim and Christian." Janet Tu, religion reporter for the Times has written the piece on an Episcopal priest named Ann Holmes Redding. Redding has been a priest for more than 20 years, and she became Muslim 15 months ago. The article is her coming-out-of-the-closet debut. Redding explains: "I am both Muslim and Christian, just like I'm both an American of African descent and a woman. I'm 100 percent both."" From http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/newsletter061907.htm

Don Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz says, "the beginning of sharing my faith with people began by throwing out Christianity" (p. 115) (While I can see how that can be taken as a good thing, Miller throws the baby out with the bath water.)

Baker Books' new release, "An Emergent Manifesto of Hope" has these quotes. "Christianity's idea that other religions cannot be God's carriers of grace and truth casts a large shadow over our Christian experience" (p. 191). "To believe that God is limited to it [Christianity] would be an attempt to manage God. If one holds that Christ is confined to Christianity, one has chosen a god that is not sovereign. Soren Kierkegaard argued that the moment one decides to become a Christian, one is liable to idolatry" (p. 193). "Is our religion the only one that understands the true meaning of life? Or does God place his truth in others too? ... The gospel is not our gospel, but the gospel of the kingdom of God, and what belongs to the kingdom of God cannot be hijacked by Christianity" (p. 194).

As solid believers from denominational backgrounds see this erosion happening they begin to shop for churches that are grounded in God's word. They show up and ask questions like, "Are you guys young or old earth creationists?" "Are you guys into the emergent thing?" "Do you take the Bible literally?" If we answer, "We just teach the word and love the sheep." that isn't going to be enough. We have to be ready, willing, and able to say what we are for and against because those are the things God's word are for and against. Am I saying that every sermon needs to be about the bad stuff going on out there? Of course not. I am saying that, when appropriate, we need to take the opportunities to address the contrast between truth and lie, between counterfeit and real, based on God's word and out of love for the sheep.

I don't know about you, but I hope to be known by those liberated dead as the guy in town who is the intolerant fundie that takes the Bible literally, and by those who are hurting and lost as the guy who extends grace and brings comfort from the truth of God's word.

Corby's post SPC debrief

2007-06-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

I know, like we need another one of these after the Senior Pastor Conference things. But I found that when I sit and think through something like this, it helps it to gel in my head and heart. Are you gellin? So, unless you are into more debriefing (which is never really brief, can't figure that one out), skip it. Otherwise, click away.

The conference ended a week ago today. It was my first time at one of these things as a pastor. When I was at CCBC I was one of the kids serving food and cleaning up the joint. That was a long time ago in another world called Twin Peaks (no, really). Now I was on the other side. It felt creepy. What I didn't know about was the rooms with vendors from banks, building companies, and other ministries. At first, my reaction was "Is this a pastor's conference or some kind of convention for, something that's funny, and people convene about and try to sell stuff?" On the one hand, I can see how it would be helpful if I was in a place where the church was looking to build and had no good leads on banks that's wouldn't hose you. But it was still weird.

Another room was mostly about books and DVDs from The Word for Today, CCOF, and Calvary Distribution. But there were also these big posters with the faces of Bill Ritchie, Bob Coy, Greg Laurie, and others (sorry I couldn't remember, others). What was that all about? (Text removed because of retraction.)

You could tell which speakers hadn't been there for the whole conference. For example, Greg Laurie re-explained for us something that John Miller (?) had taught on the night before. And then Greg was gone. That kinda bugged me.

One element that I did like, and I think others noticed because I asked Tom Stipe about this and he had had the same conversation with several others, was that the speakers were much less Chuck-centric than in the past. I've watch the videos and listened to the MP3s of pastors conferences. One thing you notice is how often each speaker would say "Chuck did this" "Chuck taught me that" "Chuck would never/always" kind of stuff. It got sickening after a while. Understand that I'm from a non-Southern California CC environment and had never heard of Chuck Smith until I got to CCBC.

To take it a step further, something that was said at the conference in Denver that was echoed at the SPC, was that we need to get back to being part of the Jesus movement, and not focus so much on being the CC movement. I thought that was huge. I think it was Ricky Ryan who made that comment during his session. We need to be about Jesus, about the Spirit, and not about CC or Chuck Smith. That's been a no brainer for me for a while now, but I do remember being caught up on the CC wave for a time. It's a bad place for one's ministry to live. I was stoked to hear that theme throughout the conference.

Since the conference I have watched my favorite four session out of 15. (I still can't believe I sat through 15 sessions!) Joe Focht, Bill Ritche, Tom Stipe, and Ricky Ryan. I think Joe nailed the emotional element, the dynamics and power of Jesus on the cross. That element ought to be the motive, the driving force behind all that we do as pastors and as churches. Bill and Ricky were very parallel concerning the Holy Spirit's role in our fellowships. Those ought to be required viewing/listening for every pastor in the world. The Spirit is the power that energizes us and our fellowships, and if it's not there then what are we doing? Tom Stipe really drove home, for me, what it means personally to run the race, to protect myself against being disqualified. And I'm not just talking about the "whack whack whack" thing. Even if that illustration had not been there, the point would have still come across. The need to daily protect ourselves, how seriously we need to take this business. Not only as pastors but as individual Christians. Everyone needs to do that.

After the conference I wrote about my own personal post conference stress disorder. Friday and Saturday were pretty sucky. But with the prayer of others and patience from my wife, Sunday was an amazing day. Next up on the docket was Acts 2:40-47. That's just where we happened to be that week. I told them up front that I would do my best not to regurgitate the whole conference, and I didn't. I stuck to what the Lord had already given me for that passage before the conference. The conference stuff only reinforced it all. It was one of those Sunday's where I ended up going for almost an hour, and I no one noticed. My wife said that I didn't have any of my usual speech impediments (I stutter and stumble frequently). I knew I went almost an hour because of the clock on my monitor. By the end of the day, I honestly could not remember what I even said. It all just kind of poured out of me. Would that I could have more Sunday's like that!

People were blessed. Not because of me, but because of where the church has been, what it has gone through, and where it was going. And if I can keep at the forefront of my mind Joe's passion for the cross, Bill and Ricky's passion for the Spirit, and Tom's passion for personal discipline, and I can communicate those things, I think our fellowship will grow deeper root and produce some good fruit.

Will I go back next year? If I do it won't be for the teaching. I can get as much from the DVDs as I can from being the room, and my couch is way more comfy than those chairs. Can I get an "amen!"? If I go back it will be because the relationships I have developed online with other pastors. I met most of them in person at the conference. (I swear, if someone had made me try to pick John Vlk out of a police line up, I could not have done it. His Wordpress avatar is totally different from how he looks now.) I don't expect to be able to hang with most of them because they live in other parts of the country. A few of them live around here and I hope to hook up with them as often as I can. But, if I go back, it will be for that hang-out time.

Why pastor's can't really blog

2007-06-14T09:19:00.000-07:00

Some people live in the blogosphere. They live to read, live to write, live to comment, or all three. If there were enough that was of interest to me (and I'm sure there is, more than enough), I could be a reader or even a commenter. But I couldn't really be a die hard writer. Why? Because, I'm a pastor.

I'm an introvert. Among other things, that means I do most of my thinking and processing on the inside. I am an extreme introvert which means that there is actually a whole lot going on in my head. It's like I have my own cable company with hundreds of channels that I'm always flipping through, looking for something interesting to land on (which isn't often!). There is always a show going. I could blog a whole stream of consciousness, but then I would get nothing done. If I blogged what I spent most of my time pondering, things I really thought about or troubled me or concerned me or made me happy, I'd have to resign. If I blogged like the average blogger blogged, I could get into real trouble. Thoughts about other people (good or bad), thoughts about situations or circumstances (good or bad), would be really inappropriate. I can't even really blog about myself for the same reasons. Pastors can't really be real to the whole world unless it's framed in just the right context so as not to be taken and mutated into some poisonous venom that brings about a slow and painful death. (Been there, done that.)

I'd like to blog everyday. I've found that it's actually a good way to bring order to the chaos that is the Borg collective consciousness of my mind. When I sit and think about one thing from many angles, I learn. But I can't really blog in the truest sense of the word. You know, like teenagers or college students, or disgruntled employees. So, here's to being careful behind the keyboard.

Perhaps I shouldn't have even written this. You didn't read this. You didn't read anything...

Post Conference Stress Disorder

2007-06-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

Did this kind of thing happen to anyone else? I got home a little after midnight Thursday and had a hard time getting to sleep. I woke up totally allergied out so I popped a couple of Benedryl. I’m usually ok with them. In fact they usually don’t help very much. Usually being the operative word. I got my butt kicked by those little suckers. I was flat on my back with my head in outer space, but I could breath and my eyes were their normal shape and color. But that’s only half of it.

My physical wiped-outedness didn’t help my unexplained poopy mood. I was emotionally drained, depressed, snappy, I was ready to quit. Everything. I just wanted to crawl into bed (still able to breath of course) and tell everything to go away. I have such a long way to go. The church has such a long way to go. The task of getting there, personally and corporately, is overwhelming. The giving is down and there is stuff to pay for. I learned this week that there are others watching me with high hopes. Now I have that over my head.
Meanwhile my wife is doing great. She has a part time job she loves, she is growing in the Lord leaps and bounds, excited by the effort she is putting into it. I’m happy for her but jealous at the same time. It seems like we have not been on the same page at the same time in a long time. One is up, the other is down, like a see-saw/teeter-totter (whatever you call it where you are from).
Now I’m supposed to be hot and excited tomorrow, fresh off the mountain top of the SPC, and here I’ve ridden a landslide into the valley of death all the way down below. It’s sucky. Very sucky. Is anyone else going through anything remotely like this? Any vision or excitement I might have gained at the conference has been removed with a shop vac and sent to the landfill.
That’s it. No more Benedryl.

CC Pastors Conference - Day 3

2007-06-06T22:11:00.000-07:00

Day 3
Man. When you listen to 5 guys in one day, it sure does run together at the end of the day. I didn't have a chance to pause and blog earlier, so here it goes.

Tom Stipe - I'm a recent fan of Tom Stipe. I'm sure I've heard his name over the years but I had never heard him before this year. He talked about some stuff that is really good, but I don't know that I can share in mixed company (guy stuff). It was very good. The next time I come across this chapter I'm going to be laughing.

Greg Laurie - Also good stuff. Lots of quotes from lots of sources. I'll have to watch it again.

Chuck Smith - Chuck Got very personally involved in this study on 1 Cor 11. Very open, very real.

Ricky Ryan - Another name I had heard but had never heard him teach. He is a fireball. But the content of his study was all over what we have been on about over at SMP. Actually, most everyone has been at least touching on bits and pieces here and there. Bill and Ricky have been nailing it and not even knowing it.

For dinner, Bill Ritchie met a bunch of us SMP guys for dinner and we had some great discussion. All I can say is that what happens at On The Border, stays at On The Border.

Damian Kyle - The perfect pick to teach on 1 Cor 13. Another great one.

There are two more sessions tomorrow. While there are 16 chapters in 1 Cor,, we are only getting through 15. That means 15 session in four days. I think it was either Charles Nestor or Sean Nelson that observed that these conferences seem a lot better, more fruitful, or more useful (one of those) when the speakers teach through a book, rather than have a theme or a topic. Having watched many videos from the past years and listening to MP3s, I would agree with that. There is good stuff in the others, no doubt. But going through a book and hering so many different styles of teaching and ways of looking at things, it's really cool. I'm hope they continue to do that.

Really pooped, going night night.

CC Pastors Conference - Day 2

2007-06-05T22:33:00.000-07:00

Day 2
Man. Five sessions today. This morning was Lloyd Pulley (CC Old Bridge, NJ) whom I had heard of but never heard before. Good stuff. After that was David Guzik who runs the Bible college in Germany. He also had some good stuff to say. Lunch was some good stuff. BBQ beef, mmmmm.

It's been really nice weather. Yesterday it was sunny and hot, today it's just sunny and nice. Cool breeze, sun isn't too harsh, so I stayed outside and ended up having a great conversation with Bill Ritchie about some of the stuff he taught on last night. It was good and I'll just leave it at that. I ended up not going to to hear Raul Ries, but I'm getting the videos so I'm good. After I was done with Bill another guy came up, saw my name tag and said, "Oh you have a blog, don't you?" I thought perhaps he meant the SimpleMinded site, which he did but he reads TheBlueThread as well. We had a good talk about the nature and content of this site and SMP. It was nice to find a kindred spirit. It turns out he helps with the Pastor's Perspective radio program and he invited me up to the studio to see how things work. This meant that I missed Don McClure as well, but then again, the videos. It was a blast watching how they did the show. I've listened, and I've even called in a few times, so it was cool to be on the other end of the phone as it were. I would totally love to be on that show. I've always loved doing Q&A stuff because it challenges me as much as it helps others (when I have answers that is!). I imagine it could be easy to get puffed up, being the guy who gets to answer other people's questions, being "the man" as it were. For me, it would just be fun and a blessing to help others, to be a part of their walk with the Lord.

After that experience I bumped into Charles Nestor who frequents SMP but also has a blog of his own. We also had a good talk about the nature and content of SMP. In the middle of that, Mike Macon walks by and joins in the convo. That was cool. It then occurred that real peple are really reading and really commenting on stuff I have to say. That creeped me out big time. My instant reaction was to watch what I say more, but then it occurred to me that if people didn't like what I write they wouldn't say that they did. If I changed it, it wouldn't be what it is. (Wow, that was deep.) So it's cool.

During dinner I met a guy who's full-tim job is singing with a group at Disneyworld. Sounds as weird as being a yoyo man! Tonight John Mill spoke on 1 Corinthians 8 with a theme of grace. It was pretty good. It was broad enough that, when certain situations come up in the future, I'll have some good stuff to refer to. Afterward I had a good chat with Kelly Taylor. I dig him. He's very real, very practical, and just gets down to it, but also enjoys exploring ideas and thoughts.

Reflecting on the last two days I think I figured out what I am going to enjoy most when it's done. I think I will have enjoyed meeting the other guys from the SimpleMinded blog. The teaching has been good, but I don't think I'm going to leave thinking, "Man the teaching was fabulous. That made the whole trip worth it." What has made it worth it is meeting like minded, like hearted guys that I have "known" for several months now.

And something just occurred to me about the teaching. I've seen the videos from several previous conferences, and I've listened to MP3s from those I don't have access to on video. What I have noticed is that the teaching always seemed very "Chuck" centric. There are many references to what Chuck did or exemplified or something like that. There isn't anything wrong with that, but when that is the predominant comment during every single teaching session, it is no wonder some accuse us of Chuck worship. So far, the studies I have heard are pretty much just straight exegeses of the word. It's been very cool.

And on that note, nighty night.

CC Pastors Conference - Day 1

2007-06-05T17:12:00.000-07:00

Greetings from my first CC Pastors Conference! I'm hoping to capture some thoughts in the sieve I call a brain in this blog. I'll open by sharing about getting down here. Let the games begin...

Getting here Sunday night
My dad and I travelled down from Portland together. Our flight was supposed to leave at 9:20pm and didn't leave until about 9:50pm. This put us in Ontario a little after midnight. We get to the car rental place and they didn't have any record of the reservation. Fortunately dad has his paperwork with him and we got it sorted out. We get to the hotel around 2:15 and the guy couldn't check us into our room for some reason. The guy wanted to get us in (the place was sold out) so we went to the room to find that it had ben turned over from the previous guest. That's why he couldn't check us in. The guy was cool and changed the bed (only one had been used) and got us some new towels. We got to bed around 2:45am. This was one of those days where, had we been in the flesh and not just rolling with the punches, not freaking out about stuff we had no control over, it could have been miserable. But, we kept our cool and just went with it. I think we were just happy to get to bed.

Day 1
There was a meeting for those who are on the senior pastor's email list at 10 this morning. I was good. There was a presentation about internet safety, and protecting yourself and family from porn and predators. Very scary stuff. It's way worse than is commonly known or talked about on the news.

The first official order of business of the day was lunch. That was weird. Only because when I was going to CCBC, I was the one serving people the food. Now I was on the other end being served. It was kinda creepy. I remember admiring the various groups that would come, especially the pastors, and wonder what it would be like. Now, I'm there and I wonder what these kids are thinking about when the see me! Scary.

After lunch Chuck spoke. It was good as always. After Chuck, Joe Focht spoke. Very real, very powerful stuff about the Father and Jesus all relating to Paul talking about knowing Christ and Him crucified. If you can get your hands on it, it's a good one.

After that We hung out in the coffee shop, got online and checked email. Then we went to the workshop on publishing. It was disgusting to learn how money driven the Christian publishing industry is. It really is all about money. It's a real Jesus and the money changers situation. But the good news is there are lots of avenues to get your stuff published, which is something I'd been thinking about for a while with that paper I have (if I ever finish it!). This was followed by dinner (again, creepy).

Bill Ritche had the podium this evening talking about 1 Corinthians 3. He was on fire tonight. His message about the absolute necessity of being continually empowered by, marinated in the Spirit, how it is and continually needs to be a defining characteristic of the CC movement, of the Jesus movement. It was exactly the kind of stuff we have been discussing over on SimpleMindedPreacher.com.

I'll end the day by commenting about seeing and hearing about people from Bible college days. Some were now pastors. Some were now mommies. Some left CC for an extreme theological view, one in particular that just shocked me. It was the guy who did our wedding. I knew he vanished for a while and I expected to hear any number of other things that might have happened to him, but not this. It will be interesting to be in Heaven and look back (I hope) at the intricately interwoven fabric of our lives. To see where some threads enter, and leave.

Add to that, it was interesting to meet some of the SMP guys face to face. Some of the faces aren't what I expected, only because it's hard to know a face from a 20x20 pixel avatar. Here is a little something Mike Macon took of me this morning.

OK, enough of that for tonight. I'm running out of energy from five ours of sleep last night. I will update more tomorrow as I have time. Nighty!

Are you charismatic? No, not like that.

2007-06-01T13:21:00.000-07:00

At the recent CC leadership meeting in Denver the topic of transition of leadership came up during the Q&A. In the course of the discussion the point of churches being built around a single charismatic leader came up. Not that the church wasn't built by the Lord, because looking at the history of one of these churches the Lord clearly did the work. But the Lord used someone who had a larger-than-average personality to lead, inspire, and exemplify life in the Lord. In my own personal journey (I prefer to call it a "trip" both because it feels like I'm trippin, and because I seem to fall over a lot) I've wrestled with myself concerning how charismatic I should be.

When I was in high school I was a leader of men and women. I, was a drum major. As a junior and a senior I led the band, I led the orchestra, the choir teacher even borrowed me to direct the choir on occasion (mostly because she was the drama teacher and could sing, but not direct). The coolest moment was in my junior year when the band teacher was retiring, The last song of his last concert, he stepped off the podium, called me up, he sat down with his clarinet and played, and had me direct the band. It was very cool and a great memory. But how did I get there?

I was a very quiet, shy kid. I had a couple of close friends, but at the same time I also had friends in every clique. I was liked by all but close to few. One night at youth group in my sophomore year, there was a skit. My team leader (we had a 250+ high school ministry so kids were divided into groups based on the school they went to) was portraying Phil Donahue and there was a panel of people. I don't remember the point of the skit but one line stuck out to me. He said something about "getting out of your comfort zone." That really resonated with me. I realized that God wanted to use me but I needed to get out of my comfort zone. So I told Steve that and he prayed with me. God answered that prayer.

I came out of my shell, and how. I didn't become an overbearing, obnoxious, pushy person. But I was no longer shy and withdrawn. I found out that I was actually funny. I could make people laugh. I learned how to teach people while making them laugh. Others began to look up to and respect me. I got the most school spirit award both junior and senior years. I led the drama stuff for youth group those years as well. This carried on into my college years and my internship at Crossroads. It actually led to some trouble with the person I was interning under because people started to look to me for leadership and I had to redirect them back to the leader. It was this relationship that, I think, led to me crawling back into my shell. I won't go into the details of that, but it was sad and ugly.

I found myself out of full-time ministry and coasting along. My spark was gone yet I was trying to maintain it in the flesh. And I did a pretty good job of it too. At least on the outside. After a few years an interesting job came up. Being a motivational speaker to elementary school using yoyos, comedy, and general wackiness. Teaching kids using humor. I thought that this job would re-ignite my spark. I was tired of living in a cubicle talking to people on the phone telling them how to fix their cup holder. So I took this job. There were a number of us scattered throughout the country. We were the Yoyo Men. They were all brothers in the Lord. They were charismatic people (some in both senses of the word). For my taste, some were too charismatic. They were what I call "one uppers". If one person shared a story, the one-uppers would one-up them with a funnier or weirder, or more touching story. It got aggravating. It got so aggravating that I didn't even want to talk about many of them. It isn't their fault, it's just who they were.

While the show had a positive and encouraging message, I found it to be empty for me. I was getting tired of being funny. I could hold a room of 1,000 elementary kids in the palm of my hand but I had no joy, I had no spark. I was a human cartoon for 45 minutes, two to three times a day, 400 times a year for almost 4 years, in 31 states, Canada, England, and Australia, and I was miserable. Ultimately it wasn't because of the job in and of itself. The problem was in my spirit. As I said, I got tired of being funny, I got tired of people (students and staff) looking at me, being amazed by me, telling me how good I was (I'm not bragging, this happened every day). In fact, one teacher tried to hook me up with her daughter. I got tired of being the focus. I just wanted to redirect people to the Lord. I wanted to be invisible.

I find now that I have made a circle. I'm shy, withdrawn. But now I'm a pastor. I'm up front every week. I hear Chuck in my head talking about how we are to redirect people to the Lord and not be the focus. My flesh gets in the way. I don't want to be the focus so much that I don't want anyone to even want to be around me. That's wrong and I have to fight it. I need to come out of my shell again. On the one hand I don't want to be the charismatic leader because I don't want to be the focus, and yet that seems to be how the Lord works.

Paul's words in Philippians 3:17 come to mind. "Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern." Also 1 Tim 4:12, "Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity." There are many such examples of being visible, being noticed. I need to get out of my comfort zone. Again. At the same time, I think there are those charismatic leaders (the good ones) who are simply being who God wired them to be. They aren't trying. They didn't go to charisma school. There are also successful ones who did learn, who did practice, and you can kinda tell (I won't name names for fear of stepping on sacred cow tails).

I know what I'm not. I'm not a supper passionate sports coach kind of person. Those kind of people who try to pump you up, "Get in the game! Fight fight fight!" I'm not competitive. Like, at all. I'm the opposite of competitive. So that macho, type-A, John Eldridge stuff doesn't work on me. In fact it repels me. (I'd love to write a book called "Mild at Heart: spiritual strength without being so testosterony" for us introverts.)

So I guess what I'm getting at is that I need to find my balance. I need to deny my flesh which wants to run and hide for fear of becoming an idol, while at the same time not letting myself try to turn into a celebrity pastor. I need to submit, to surrender to the Spirit and let Him let me be not be afraid to stand out, to be a visible example, a pattern for others to follow. I need to let that God given charisma out of the bag, again.

Does anyone else struggle with this balance? I look at guys like Bill Ritche and Tom Stipe (the men, not their churches) and it looks like they have found their Holy Spirit comfort zone, they have found the balance, at least on the outside. They are comfortable with who the Lord wants them to be. I'm not there yet and it's holding me back. I used to be there and I'd love to be there again. I guess there is some fear of what happened before happening again. I know I and my family couldn't take it because we are still dealing with the after effects of the first time around. I know, I know, the Lord hasn't given us a spirit of fear. That's easy enough to say, but harder to do.

Is anyone else afraid of being charismatic? Afraid of being successful (or "victorious" for our southern friends) because of where it could lead? Does the fear of pride outweigh the promise of spiritual maturity and growth in yourself and your church ever freak you out? Man. I gotta grow up! Please, no pep talks, no rah rah, no "Eye of the tiger" theme music. Anyone else where I am? Anyone been there and beat it?

Are you turned on and tuned in?

2007-05-22T17:31:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I was driving around Des Moines, IA. I was far enough out that the radio stations began to interfere with the FM transmitter I used to listen to my iPod in the rental car I was driving. I had to start scanning through the frequencies to find one that didn't have a big city station transmitting on it so that I could tune in my def jams (like Mozart). As I was doing so, this great picture popped into my head. It had to be from the Lord. It went something like this. "If you want to hear from me, you have to be turned on and tuned in."

I'm totally aware that God can speak to anyone at any time whether they want to hear from Him or not. At the same time, many Christians want to regularly hear from the Lord, to have that communion with Him, but they don't know how. This is supposed to be a relationship afterall. A big part of relationship is two-way communication. Are there things in our lives that keep us from hearing from God? If so, what can we do about them? In the words of Bill Nye the Science guy, consider the following.

In order for a radio to clearly receive a transmission from a radio station several things have to be going on. First off, the radio has to be turned on. I know, duh. But then, it isn't a "duh." Many Christians don't even realize that they can or are supposed to hear from the Lord. I should clarify that when I say "Hear from the Lord" I don't mean have some kind of vision or receive some kind of special revelation (although those things can happen). What I mean is, many Christians don't realize that that can, that they are supposed to, hear from the Lord. Words of encouragement, words of direction, feeling God's love for them, feeling or experiencing the sensation of being in the presence of God. While God is not limited to being in one place at one time, you and I can can feel, can sense whether or not we are in His presence. We are supposed to, and often I think. So first, we have to be turned on. We have to be aware that we can and we should hear from Him.

Second, we need to be tuned in to the right frequency or station. If you want to hear something on 91.1FM and you are listening to 88.3FM, you aren't going to hear what you want to hear. On the dial there is only one 91.1. Everything else isn't 91.1. Again, duh. but then, not so much of a "duh". We are hearing from a variety of people that you can hear from God via easter meditation, from yogis (no, not the bear), that God is in everything and is everything, on and on it goes. There are all kinds of other stations out there that claim you can hear from God through them. But there is only one 91.1. What is 91.1? Primarily it is God's word, the Bible. We can tune in to God via His word and hear directly from Him. We can also hear from Him directly. In Acts 13 we read about the church praying and ministering to the Lord, and the Spirit spoke to them. "But how do I know if the Spirit is speaking to me?" Test it against what we do know is from Him; the word. We can tune in to the Lord via others who are tuned in to Him. Solid Bible teachers, other believers who spend time in the word, etc. First we have to be turned on, next we have to be tuned in and wanting to hear from Him.

Next we need to be close enough to the transmitter. You can be tuned in to the right station on your radio, but if you are too far away you aren't going to hear it. If you want to hear something in Portland and you are in Boise, it won't work. You have to be close enough to Portland to pick up the signal. Can a transmitter move? No. In the West Hills of Portland there are several huge, tall towers with TV and radio transmitters on them. I grew up across the Columbia River in Vancouver, WA and I could see Portland and the West Hills from my house. That view included those towers. They were always there. They never moved. They are still there. It's the same way with the Lord. he doesn't move. He is like a rock that cannot be moved. Even if you are turned on and tuned in, of you are distant from the Lord you won't hear from Him. If you say you want the Lord in your life but you spend your time in the world, you won't hear from Him. 1 John 2:15-17 says it nicely. "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever." If you are busy loving the world you won't be loving the Lord. Stick close the God. James 4:8 tells us "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." So, we are turned on, tuned in, and in range of the transmitter. What else needs to happen to clearly hear the signal?

Lastly we need to eliminate interference. Have you ever been in your car listening to the radio (or your iPod through the radio) and then you cell phone rings? Did you hear a kind of buzzing or clicking when that happened? That's interference. When I was a kid watching TV, whenever someone would use the blow dryer the picture would get all fuzzy and the sound would buzz. That's interference. When other things produce signals that are strong enough to prevent you from hearing what it is you want to hear, that's interference. Situations at work that tick us off can cause interference. Boyfriends/Girlfriends can cause interference. Hobbies can cause interference. You can be turned on, tuned in, in range, and other things can come up in our lives that temporarily prevent us from clearly hearing from the Lord. It's up to us to shield ourselves from these things. If, one day, you were on fire the the Lord and the next got distracted by some new hottie at work, ditch the hottie and get back with the Lord. If you suddenly find yourself fired from your job (maybe the hottie was your boss?) and you are ticked at your boss, deal with the reality of being unemployed, but don't let it interfere with your relationship with the Lord. It might be the only thing that keeps you going through such a thing.

Are you turned on? Are you tuned in? Are you in range? Is there as little interference as possible in your life? Then turn up the volume and pump up the jams! Listen for the Lord to speak. Test it against scripture and with other Godly people. Act on what it is you hear. As you do you will grow in this area. You will be getting closer and closer, the signal will get stronger and stronger, and you will be better able to tune in and hear from the Lord.

Do Jesus and Hollywood mix? Sometimes.

2007-05-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

Over the last several years, with the ongoing improvements in computer animation, there have been a rash of superhero movies. As I have watched some of them it has been as though the Holy Spirit puts a special pair of goggles over my eyes and all that I see when I watch them are beautiful illustrations of Biblical truth, to the point of tears. Then someone tells me about this “Jesus Camp” movie and I’m in tears for a different reason.

Now, I don’t want to get into whether or not it’s ok for Christians to go see movies that are above G thing. Let’s just skip that for now, please?
When I went to see Spirderman 2, I saw a brilliantly clear illustration of a Christian flipflopping between living a carnal life and a Spirit-led life. I think I really got it for the first time. It was amazing (like Spiderman).

When I went to see Superman Returns, I saw and equally clear and brilliant illustration of a believer who tried to live life with one foot in the world and one foot in the Lord. Another angle of it is what happens when Superman is exposed to his old world (he gets weak) and when he is exposed to the sun (Son) of his new world (he is strong). And when that hunk of kryptonite gets stabbed into his side (the old world is in him) it almost kills him. All kinds of amazing Biblical truth for the believer.

Yesterday I went to see Spiderman 3. I was once again blessed with those goggles. Spiderman is finally accepted as a hero by the city. Things with his woman are going well. The only bummer is his friendship with Harry. Then things start to fall apart in everone elses life but Peter’s. He is so consumed with his own life that he doesn’t help his friends. Then this icky black stuff from space gets on him. It’s a symbiotic lifeform that feed off of and strengthens bitterness, selfishness, agression, etc. It changes one of his Spidey suits to balck, but he still has an extra clean one in his room. When he wears th black one he is extra powerful, but he is also hurtful, selfish, vengfull. It takes him over. he loses his girl, he loses his friend, but he gets his dream job at the expense of hurting others. He eventually hurts enough people that he realises it’s wrong and takes the suit off. Unfortunately it lands on someone he screwed over and that guy now wants to kill him. In the end, friendships are restored, and the good guys win. but more than that, everyone forgives eachother. Spidey even forgives one of the badguys.

The illustration I saw in this one was the black goo stuff from space. It’s a great illustration of temptation and that passage from James about temptation giving birth to sin which leads to death. Once that black stuff gets on you and you let it stick, you choose to give into it (as all believers have a choice now that we are free from the power of sin), that’s when sin abounds and lives are mesed up. But when you choose to keep temptation away from you, it’s all good. So all of that, in addition to all of the forgiveness (and grace extended) at the end of the movie which in itself is a shocker for this kind of action film), was very very cool.

Then you have a movie like Jesus Camp (DVD). It isn’t a Hollywood production but it’s just as scary and full of nonsense as any Hollywood film. I’ve seen bits and pieces and that’s enough for me. Watching 10 year olds being slain in the spirit, being taught to take America back via politics for Jesus so He can come back, it’s very, very sad. When Godless Hollywood can get it right without even trying, and a church can get it so wrong, there is something terribly, terribly wrong.

What is Calvary Chapel?

2007-04-16T10:18:00.000-07:00

Calvary Chapel (CC for short) is a network of independent non-denominational churches. While there is a wide variety within CCs, we hold to the same basic beliefs and style of ministry. Some people who are pentacostal or charismatic think that CC is too conservative or fundamental. Some people who are conservative or fundamental think that CC is too pentacostal or charismatic. We like to think that CC is charismental fundamatic.

CC takes the Bible seriously. Where the Bible is being literal we take it literally. Where is it being figurative we take it figuratively. While the Bible does address all of the topics that are relevant today, CCs prefer to teach the Bible verse by verse as opposed to topically. When the Bible is taught verse by verse one will hit every topic there is. Many CCs teach the Bible both ways; verse by verse at one study, topically at another.

Concerning the Bible we would be considered by some to be conservative or fundamental. Does that mean we make the women folk wear dresses and everyone votes Republican? Not at all. It simply means that we believe the Bible is the word of God, to be taken at face value, and lived out in our daily lives.
Because CC takes the Bible seriously, we also believe that the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is very much alive and active today in the church and in individual Christians. That would include what are called the "gifts" of the Spirit as long as they are used in a Biblical manner.

There are many abuses and counterfeits of these gifts which result in a lot of confusion and wrong teaching. When the gifts are used in a Biblically prescribed manner, the results are amazing and God honoring. Concerning these gifts and their uses we would be considered by some to be pentacostal or charismatic. Does that mean we get worked up into some kind of hyper-spiritual state every week? Not at all. It simply means that we believe that the Holy Spirit is alive and well, that He does empower people with supernatural abilities (as needed) for the purpose of bring people to Jesus.

The main CC website (calvarychapel.com) has a great collection of books online that clearly and simply spell out the CC philosophy. A great overview of all things CC is the book "Calvary Chapel Distinctives." In the end, the best way to find out what we are all about is to hang out with us!

What is Church?

2007-04-10T21:13:00.000-07:00

The most basic definition of the Greek word translated into English as “church” would be “a public assembly of people.” Whether it was an official town meeting or a crowd gathered at a market watching someone perform, that assembly was called a church. This is the word Jesus chose to identify the assembly of people who would be His followers (Matthew 16:18). Right from the beginning we see that the church is the people, not the place or the building where the people meet.

In the early days of Christianity, the church (the assembly of people) met at the temple in Jerusalem, in homes, in rented schools, just about anywhere they could. And while all Christians, no matter where they were, were considered to be part of The Church, their own local gatherings were also referred to as a church. The church in Rome, the church in Ephesus, the church in Galatia, and so on. These were not references to buildings but to groups of people.

Why we call the buildings where Christians meet “churches”? Probably out of convenience. If you say to someone, “Meet me at the church.” they know exactly where you mean. It probably just became a habit to call the building “the church”. But in reality, it is the people that make up the church, not the steel and concrete.

Something else that has come to be referred to as “church” is the Sunday service. On Sundays, we go to church. “When is church?” “It’s at 10:00.” “How was church today?” “Oh man, we had church today!” While it may be more convenient to refer to that time together as “church”, that also is a misconception that has crept into our everyday thinking.

So what is the point here? Church isn’t the building, and it isn’t the time spent together, it’s the people. Now what? There is a subtle yet important shift in thinking that needs to take place. Many churches today have become based around the building and the programs used to draw people in and gather them together. While there isn’t anything inherently wrong with buildings or programs, there is something wrong when the people, the church, exists to serve the building and the programs and not the other way around. One of our goals at Calvary Chapel Forest Grove (CCFG) is to try and set things right.
If the people are the church, then wherever the people are, that’s where the church is. There is no need to go to a special place that is decorated in a certain way so that it feels like “church” in order to have the experience you are looking for. Too many people have become reliant on the place and the time as the means by which they have their Christian experience. It’s not about experiencing a feeling, it’s about experiencing a real relationship with Jesus Christ every day.

Back in the day, the Christians got together to do what it says in Acts 2:42. “They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” They learned under the apostles’ teaching, studying God’s word in such a way as to live it out. They prayed together for each other. They lived their lives together. As they grew in their relationship with Jesus they also grew closer together. This is one reason Paul refers to a group of believers, to the church, as the “body of Christ.” A body is composed of cells that are interconnected and interdependent. When each cell is healthy, functioning as it should, and working with the cells around it, the body thrives and grows. When a cell is unhealthy and functions only for its own good, we call that cancer. Cancer is not good!

What we see happening in Acts 2:42 is what we are after. But we don’t live in the first century, we live in the 21st century. Our culture, our society is different from theirs. Therefore, what we do today will look and feel different from what they did then, but the essentials and the goals should be the same. Blessed are the flexible, for they shall never be broken.

As you study the early church you see that the people didn’t serve the organization, the organization served the people. For example, they didn’t start a singles’ ministry then try to get singles to plug into it. That would be the people serving the organization. Instead, we see in Acts 6 that there was a need to help distribute food to a specific ethnic group in the church. They started a program to meet the need that already existed. That’s the organization serving the people.

The early church was more of an organism. That which works and serves a purpose is supported so long as it works and serves that purpose. If it stops working or if the purpose is no longer relevant, it should be stopped. When a tadpole grows into a frog it absorbs its tail. It doesn’t need the tail anymore so the energy and resources that went into maintaining the tail go into the rest of the frog. Too many churches are hanging on to their tails. :-)

Our goal as CCFG is not to do church, but to be the church. Our goal isn’t to build buildings or to have loads of people. We want to be whatever it is Jesus wants us to be. We want to share the good news of new life in Jesus Christ. That’s what the church is for. What does that look like today? Let’s find out together.

Seeking to emerge from the journey through the church

2007-04-04T01:59:00.000-07:00

The emergent conversation. The journey. Seekers. Dislike and distain for the institutionalized church. It seems like most of what I hear about all of this is the opposite of a Radio Shack commercial. "You've got questions, not really looking for answers." I'm one of those people who can take a look at something and come up with whether or not I think it's good pretty quick. Most of the time when I decide I don't like it I just dismiss it and its done. Sometimes I decide I don't like it, dismiss it, but in reality it's on one of the back burners in my brain, stewing. Such is the case with the emergent/emerging, seekers, those who say they are on the journey, those who say they are trying to look beyond the institutional church. You know what? I have no idea what any of that means.
OK, I do, but not from personal experience. So I started to wonder why people were thinking these ways and talking about these things. Why are they experience this stuff? Why am I not? Have I not had to deal with all of this because I've spent most of my spiritual walk involved with Calvary Chapels? I've dabbled in a couple of Baptist churches. I've delved semi-deeply into a seeker/40 Days of Purpose church. But I've always come back to Calvary. I'm sure that what I'm about to say isn't unique to CCs (at least I hope it isn't) so don't go thinking I'm saying something I'm not. I think that the reason I have not been led to seek, to go on a journey, to emerge, or to go beyond or bail on the church is because in CC I have always been taught to be a disciple of Jesus out in the real world. Being a disciple, and a fellow disciple with other disciples, has always been at the core. It's never been about programs, bringing in the sheep, building up the numbers, committing to the organization, or keeping the thing inside the four walls. It's always been about living it out daily everywhere you are. So in those respects, I have no idea what all the fuss is about and why everyone is trying to figure all of this stuff out.

Having said that, all the questioning has caused me to question, and then to question the questions. And then something else occurred to me. Am I, are they (the seekers/emergents/journey people) really looking for answers? I mean really. Are questions being asked because answers are genuinely sought after? Or are they being asked because it seems right to ask them, to consider the possibilities? I don't see anything wrong with that, but it can lead to trouble. In reality it can become kind of a fad in a way. To be on a journey, seeking after truth, always asking, always challenging. Kind of an intellectual or philosophical buzz or high is achieved and maintained. "Are you looking? I'm looking too. Let's look together." Kind of like what the hippies were doing back in the day. The nobility of the quest for knowledge (the quest itself, not the achievement of knowledge) can be very seductive. Please understand that I'm not knocking anyone. My intent isn't to be critical of anyone involved in this process. I'm going somewhere with this, honest.

If questions are being asked but answers are not being sought, then it seems pointless to be asking them. If, in the end, all we can say is, "Those are good questions." then we haven't gotten anywhere. If questions are being asked and answers are really being sought, how will we know once we have found an/the answer? What are we evaluating the answer against? Where are we looking for the answers? When scientists do experiments and ask questions, they are asking specific questions and expecting specific results. Before they even answer some of the questions they determine if the questions are even going to be useful to the experiment. It doesn't seem like that is happening in all of this.

What I have been observing in the blog-o-sphere seems very similar to a group of students comparing their answers on a test to the other's answers. People have the same set of questions (generally), they get together to compare their own answers (if they have any), and then I'm not sure what happens because more questions seem to follow that are basically same as the ones asked before. There isn't much concern for coming up with an answer, let alone if the answer is right or wrong. The thing is there is an answer key for all of these questions in the teachers book. God's word, the Bible, gives us at the very least all the basic guidelines we need do to what it is we are supposed to do and how to do it. There are many rabbit trails one could go down at this point. Everything from the reliability and relevance of the Bible has come into question in many Christian circles (which is just sad). Absolute vs. relative truth. I'll try to stop there. What happens when you throw the answer key out the window? You have no wrong answers. You also have no right answers. I'm not saying that everyone but me or CC has bailed on the Bible. I am saying that it doesn't seem to be the first place people are looking for the answers. The first place seems to be how people feel about the answers. When did Jesus ever ask that? A guy wanted to follow Jesus but he wanted to bury his dad first. Jesus said "Let the dead go bury their own dead." He did ask how the guy felt about the answer. How the guy felt was not relevant. But I digress.

While I understand the concept behind calling a person's walk with the Lord a "journey" there seems to be something unsettling about it for me. There is a sense of uncertainty attached to it. One woman who commented on my wife's blog said

"My husband and I call it a journey because, as I have said on his blog, it's like we're starting out on a road, have no idea where it's going, can't see the path ahead, but we know we'll be safe and we're in for the time of our lives! So in that, it's a journey. I think most people are calling it that because that's what it is ... a journey from where we are or were, to where we're going. But none of us quite know what lies ahead."

I get it, but I don't get it. I've never been too concerned about the road ahead, where it leads, if I can see it or not. The way I read Jesus it's all about where you are at now. It's always about today. While Jesus did talk about the wide and the narrow roads, He also talked about not worrying about tomorrow, about taking up our crosses daily (today). We are told to make our calling and election sure. We are told to be ready to give an answer (not more questions), a reason for the hope (not doubt) that is within us. Seeking, journeying, and carrying on the emergent conversation, all seem irrelevant when what is being sought after and conversed about has already been laid out before us in those 66 books. It's all right there. I have no problem with questions. I don't look down on people who have doubts. I ask questions. I have doubts sometimes. But the reality is that there are answers to questions, there is comfort for doubts. No one has to live in that state of uncertainty. We can have confidence. We can stand on the absolute truth of Jesus Christ even if we don't get it all of the time.

Are there problems in the church today? No doubt. Are Christians consumed with irrelevant stuff? I sure am. Er, um, they sure are. Where are we going for answers and solutions? Our first stop ought not to be the web. Needless to say our first stop ought to be God's word. (Why do people say "needless to say" and the go ahead and say it anyway?) I'm frustrated because I don't see enough of that out there. I see/hear a lot of comparing answers to other answers and not the answer key. My challenge to myself is to make sure I'm evaluating everything against the word. While there may not always be a one-to-one correlation (though I think there is far more often than we think), it needs to be where I start and finish. If I'm asking a question, genuinely seeking an answer, and I get an answer, I need to be ready to act on it, to do something with it, to use it, to stand on it.

The Holy Spirit speaking through Peter puts it beautifully. 2 Peter 1:2-4

"Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

The knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. All things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him. Partakers of His divine nature. Escaped the corruption that is in the world. Does it get any better than that?

Walking the talk. All of it.

2007-03-15T14:27:00.000-07:00

“Walk the talk.” “Practice what you preach.” “Putting feet to your faith.” Have you heard any of those? Have you said any of those to others? When I hear those things what comes to my mind are things relating to faith and holiness. Faith means trust. If I really do have faith in Jesus, if my trust is in Him, then I will do what He says even when I don’t have all the answers or resources in front of me. If the Lord says, “Go to Africa and help my people there,” then that’s what I need to do. If I start to say, “But God, I don’t have the money,” or “What about my family?” or “I might get hurt,” then it becomes apparent that I don’t have very much faith. Holiness means living your life set apart from the world’s values and practices, and set apart to God’s values and His will as expressed in His word. So if God says not to love the world or the things of the world, then I don’t go into debt getting all the latest toys so as to fit in with, or one-up, other people. Walking the talk is something we all need to be reminded of from time to time, and something we are responsible to remind others of as well. There is one area of “the talk” that seems particularly difficult to “walk.” It’s easy to talk about and tell others to do. It’s something we hear about all the time in church. It’s the basis for our relationship with God through Jesus. It’s something that if we don’t do, we become bitter and hardened. It’s something that if we don’t do to others from the heart, God won’t do it for us. What is it? Forgiveness.
Whenever the topic of forgiveness comes up what usually happens is that an action or actions committed against us, or someone close to us, come to mind. That hurt, whether it be physical, emotional, or spiritual, pops into our heads and the fear and anger rises in our hearts. Sometimes people hurt us intentionally. Sometimes they hurt us unintentionally. Either way it hurts. The natural urge is to hurt them back. If we can’t make them pay in some way physically we do it emotionally by being angry at them, shutting them out of our lives, or any number of things. We want payment. We want justice. We want something that will make up for what we have lost. Is there anything wrong with that? Not at all. In fact, it’s one of the many ways in which we have been created in the image of God. When people sin against the Lord, and all people do, He wants payment, He wants justice, He wants something that will make up for what has been lost.
Take a moment now and put yourself in the position of the one who has caused the hurt. It shouldn’t be too hard because we have all done something at one time or another against others, and certainly against the Lord. Imagine you are the one who has betrayed the trust. You are the one who has violated the sanctity of marriage. You are the one who has committed the act that will cause others to bad-mouth God. This is exactly what happened to King David in 2 Samuel 11-12.
David should have been off leading his troops in battle. Instead he was at home lusting after the neighbor’s wife. This neighbor was one of his most trusted soldiers. David invited this woman over, had sex with her, got her pregnant, and had her husband killed in an attempt to cover up what really happened. How could he do that? How could he betray his wives (which is another problem)? How could he betray the trust his soldier had in him? How could he as the King of Israel, God’s chosen people, do this thing that would give the enemies of Israel cause to mock God? How could anyone forgive him? After the dust settled David thought he had gotten away with it. For as much as two years after the cover up, no one figured it out, no one confronted him on it (even those involved in the conspiracy), and God didn’t seem to care despite the fact that David violated at least four of the 10 commandments.
But God did care. He sent His prophet Nathan to do to David what I did to you earlier; put yourself in the other person’s place. Nathan told David of a man who had nothing but one little sheep that he loved as his own child. It was the poor man’s only possession of any worth. The man’s neighbor was rich. He had lots of sheep. This neighbor had a friend arrive from out of town and the neighbor wanted to feed him. Instead of killing one of his many sheep, he took the poor man’s sheep, the only thing he had, and killed it to feed the friend. As the king, David was also the judge. His judgment was that the rich man should die as well as pay back the poor man four times what he had lost. Legally, death was not required, but the fourfold payback was. While the money would have helped, what about the emotional damage? What about the future the poor man might have had because of that one sheep? All of that is gone. I’m sure David was thinking, “I would never do that! How could anyone do that?” While David thought this really happened, it turns out that it didn’t. It was an illustration God gave Nathan to help David understand what he had done. Nathan said to David, “You are the man!”
David was shattered. The reality of what he had done hit him. David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan said back, “The Lord also has put away your sin.” Nathan also told David that, because of what he had done, he would only know war the rest of his days, and the baby from this relationship would die. The consequences of his actions were not isolated to him, they reached far and wide, they were extremely destructive, yet he was forgiven by God. Doesn’t that blow your mind?
What does this have to do with us? Trying to live a life of faith and holiness seems pretty easy compared to the challenge of living a life of forgiveness, especially when we are the ones who have been hurt. However, that is exactly Jesus’ point in Matthew 18:21-35. It starts off with Peter asking Jesus, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said in response, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” Jesus went on to tell a story about a man who owed a debt he could never ever repay. Instead of being sent to debtors prison he was forgiven the debt completely, as though he had never owed anything. This man then turned around and demanded the $5 someone else owed him. The other man couldn’t pay up so the first man sent him to debtors prison. When the man who had forgiven the impossible debt heard about this, he sent the one he had forgiven to debtors prison as well. In the end Jesus says, “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” (emphasis added)
When we are the one who has blown it, when we have sinned against God and others, and when we have truly repented of it, God will, God does forgive us, as though it had never happened. We also want to be forgiven by those we have sinned against and others affected by our actions. At the same time there are consequences for our actions that last far beyond what we have done. These consequences can impact people we don’t even know. When we repent and are forgiven, things don’t just magically go back to the way they were before. You don’t get out of jail, you don’t get un-pregnant, your STD doesn’t just go away, the bank still expects their money back, and so on and so forth. But our relationship with God is right.
When we are the one who has been sinned against, God expects, God requires us to forgive others just as He has forgiven us. And not just a casual, “Yeah, I’ll let this one go and try to pretend it didn’t happen.” Jesus said, “from the heart.” As I said earlier, we want payment. We want justice. We want something that will make up for what we have lost. Is there anything wrong with that? Not at all. In fact, it is one of the many ways in which we have been created in the image of God. When people sin against the Lord, and all people do, He wants payment, He wants justice, He wants something that will make up for what has been lost. Jesus on the cross is the payment for our sin against God. It is also the payment for our sins against each other. This is what we mean when we say Jesus paid the price for us. The cost of God’s justice is Jesus Christ. This payment is so complete it is as though we never owed God anything. It’s as though we never sinned at all. There may be earthly consequences for what we have done, but as far as God is concerned, it’s all good.
That reality needs to extend into our walking the talk. If we are walking around telling others that God will forgive them, that they need to forgive others, then we need to forgive others as well. Yes, we have been hurt, yes trust has been broken, yes there are other lasting consequences, but forgiveness from the heart needs to take place. Sometimes it’s easy. Sometimes it seems impossible. The God of the universe, who has every right to blast us into oblivion, has forgiven us completely. He wanted to. He went out of His way to do so. Jesus made that possible. As humans, we are all on the same level. While one person may commit an act that is genuinely vile, something we think we would never do, each of us is completely capable of committing that same act. Remember David’s reaction? That being the case, we ought to be able to recognize and understand the need to forgive one another. Jesus makes that possible. If God can forgive us, we can forgive each other. It has all been paid in full.
How do we do this, especially when we have been really, genuinely hurt? How do we walk the talk of forgiveness? Just like walking in faith and holiness we do it by choice, obedience, and above all, out of love for the Lord. If there is one reality that is at the heart of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus it is this; we are dead to sin and alive in Christ. That’s what Jesus meant when He said in Luke 9:23 “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” That’s what Paul is talking about in Romans 5-8, Galatians 2:20 and 5:16-25. We have to, on a daily basis, make a choice regarding who we are going to live for, who we are going to love. There are only two choice; ourselves or the Lord. Another way to put it is the flesh or the Spirit. That’s how Paul talks about it. It really is one or the other. You are either walking in the flesh and not in the Spirit, or you are walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh.
How do we walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh? Think of it like this. You have two dogs. One is a dirty, stinky beast that only cares about getting fed. It is only nice to you when it’s hungry or needs something. The rest of the time all that it does is bark and bite at you and everyone else. The other dog is a loving, affectionate, clean companion that lives to protect you, take care of you, live life with you, and walk with you. There is one simple truth about these two dogs; the one you feed is the one that lives and thrives. It’s that simple. So it is with our flesh and the Holy Spirit in us. The more you feed the flesh the harder it will be to walk in faith, holiness, and forgiveness. The more you feed the Spirit in you the easier it will be to simply trust the Lord in all things, to live in the world but not of it, and to forgive others as we have been forgiven.
So starve your flesh and feed the Spirit. Fill your mind and heart with the reality of God’s word instead of the fantasies of the world. Either you will influence others or they will influence you. If you aren’t yet strong enough to influence those around you who don’t know Jesus, spend your time with people who will influence you toward the things of God. Surround yourself with sights and sounds that build you up in Christ. It isn’t enough to just rid yourself of stuff from the world. That just creates a vacuum. You life needs to be filled, soaked, saturated with Jesus. As you do, you too will be able to say about those who hurt you what Jesus said from the cross. “Father forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.” That is walking like Jesus walked. That is walking the talk.

You shal receive power and be witnesses unto Me

2007-03-02T08:18:00.000-08:00

I recently received a newsletter for a couple that has a college campus ministry. The theme of the newsletter was based around Matthew 9:37-39. "The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to sent out more workers for His fields." I'm not sure what translation that is from. And that isn't the point. Part of the newsletter grabbed my attention. "This time around the verse stood out to me as to who owns the project of reaching others. As I continue to work with this generation, there often are nights I lay my head on my pillow and never feel the work is done. The verse rings so true in my ministry where there just isn't enough Christians witnessing to their peers. Too many have rested on the coat tail of the 'professionals' in the church. I realize that I fall into that camp and often wonder if we, by the title of leader, perpetuate the problem, But then, I realize that there are ways in which I can change how others view themselves by how I lead them." While I think I agree with the general sentiment of this servant of the Lord, I also think there are some problems with this view of evangelism and the pressure it puts on believers.

Where does evangelism come from? Why do people witness? Or maybe it should be "where should evangelism come from" and "why should people witness"? One obvious thing about all of this is that Jesus commands us to go make disciples. But making disciples isn't the same as making converts. Making converts is the first step. The problem is that we don't make converts, the Holy Spirit does. And therein lay the catalyst for evangelism, witness, and the entire Christian existence.

In Acts 1:8 Jesus said that we shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us. Not just power for its own sake but for a specific purpose; to be witnesses to Him. Evangelism and witnessing are supposed to be a Holy Spirit driven/inspired/empowerd process. When I was in high school I was involved with a very seeker sensitive youth group. Once in my junior year they took us all witnessing at a mall. They showed us how to use the Four Spiritual Laws. Disclaimer: there isn't anything wrong with the 4 laws, they are a great tool and many people have put their faith in Jesus because of them. I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't want to talk to anyone, no one wanted to talk to me. I learned (correct or not) that evangelism and witnessing means going up to strangers and trying to talk them into believing in Jesus. In college I hooked up with Campus Crusade for Christ and had a similar experience on a Summer Project. I was in San Diego for 10 weeks witnessing to people on the beach. No one wants to hear abut Jesus when they are on vacation and trying to get a tan. It was very forced and I hated doing it. But I was a Christian and I was supposed to do this, right? Wrong.

To be a witness means to testify as to what you know about something or someone, or what you experienced. It would be pointless for someone to testify to something they had no knowledge of or didn't experience. Yet that is exactly what many Christians are told they ought to be doing. That was me in high school and my early college years. I was a Christian in title and practice (basically) but I had no relationship with Jesus. I had no personal knowledge Him or experience with Him. It was all head knowledge, all facts and figures. Many Christians operate this same way. Many churches produce Christians that are like this and that's all they ever know. They are supposed to share the gospel and lead people in a sinner's prayer, and that's about it because that is it, isn't it? That's being a Christian. That's witnessing. Right? Not really.

When you read the book of Acts you see what I like to call the Holy Spirit School of Evangelism. People had a relationship with the Holy Spirit right along with Jesus and the Father. They had the full meal deal. Evangelism was a fruit, a natural byproduct of walking, living a life, in the Lord. There was no compartmentalization of public life, private life, church life, etc. It was all one life in Jesus. When we live life like that, we will have a witness, we will have something to testify about. "The is what Jesus has done and is doing in my life." That's all that witnessing is. It's the Holy Spirit working in, on, and through you. It's also a matter of the Spirit working in, on, and through the person you are witnessing to. The Spirit is the one who convicts the heart, He is the one who saves souls. We just show up, deliver the message, and watch Him work. That's the way it is supposed to work. It has from time to time, so why isn't it now?

That's the way it was in the old days of Calvary Chapel. At least that's what I've been told. It was a move of the Spirit as the simplicity of God's word went out. The Lord truly built His church and the power of the Spirit was the drive. I don't mean lost of stuff like tongues, miracles, and emotionalism. I mean the power of the Spirit working in hearts and minds, doing things only He could do. What changed? In the 1980's the seeker sensitive movement came about and many CCs got on board. Some overtly, some didn't know they did. The seeker thing started for the right reasons. Well, kinda. In most places church was still boring and legalistic. No one wanted to go. No one wanted to hear about God from their neighbors either because those neighbors didn't have anything to share. They had the 4 laws but no testimony of their own. What was the solution? Change church so its a fun place to go, a place for your family to be. If you can get them in the doors you can give them the message. But no one wants to hear about sin and hell so we will tone those ideas way down. And in order for people to be more receptive to the message we need to set the right mood with lights, music, maybe dramas. And once we get them to convert we have to get them to commit so we will put these new people in charge of thing to make them stick around and have ownership. That's how we build a church. See God? Look what we did!

Wait, time out. Who builds the church? Whose church is it? What is the point of the gospel? It's so easy to think you are doing the work of the Lord and that that's a good thing, but the reality is that the Lord is supposed to do the work of the Lord. He is supposed to build His church. His Spirit is supposed to work in the world to convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment. When you read Acts you read about ordinary people who were continually soaked and saturated in the Holy Spirit. Those are the ones who God uses to reap the harvest. Those are the ones who have a witness, something with which to testify.

We don't need more Christians witnessing to their peers. We don't need to leave it up to the professionals. We need more Christians to actively and deliberately develop their relationship with the Spirit so that they will be equipped to be used by the Spirit. When we all do this, pastors or not, then we will see the harvest. We will see more fruits of the Spirit and less works of the flesh (see Galatians 5:16+). We will have, in our own lives, that sense of relationship, power, confidence, faith, and relationship with the Most High God, creator of Heaven and Earth. That, after all, is the point of all of this.

Discipleship Paradigm Shift?

2007-02-22T13:36:00.000-08:00

I think had one of those "Is that me or did the Spirit just throw this in my brain?" moments this morning. I'm sure it's nothing new. I'm sure there are already churches somewhere that operate like this intentionally or otherwise. And it isn't like I think God just showed me the right way to do this and everyone should do it this way too. Too many variables like size, locations, etc. But I think it could be very cool and I welcome some feedback on it.

We are a small-ish fellowship of about 50 adults. The church has been around for 9 years, I have been the pastor for almost a month now. We are a bedroom community of Hillsboro, OR which is a bedroom community to Portland, OR. There are about 20K people in our town. Lots of farm land around. Lots of high tech around. Needless to say there is some transition going on. I don't even live in the community the church is in yet, may family commutes on Sunday. It will have to be that way for the time being. The previous pastor did most of the work. He led the college group, the youth group, the mens group, his wife led the women's group. Needless to say there are lots of pairs of shoes to fill. That's the setting.

How things work now. It has to do with what we've been discussion concerning discipleship and how it is (or isn't) done in a fellowship. I asked a friend of mine in the midwest if there is any kind of discipleship going on in the CC she attends. She didn't know of any at all. That saddened me. So here's the deal. Typically, a church has a men's ministry, a women's ministry, a youth ministry, perhaps a college/singles ministry. These ministries typically meet on a night of the week as a group. They gather for worship (if you have the resources) and Bible study. It is kind of like having church for that specialized group. Isn't it? The churches I have participated in that are medium to large usually work this way. If they have the further resources each group might be organized into smaller groups that meet when they can. That's where the discipleship is supposed to happen. I had that in high school. We called it our small group. Later I led one when I was an intern. (I'm proud to say that most of those guys are in some kind of ministry today.) So the model is basically like this; a group ministry that regularly meets, with smaller groups if possible.

So what's this revelation I had? To flip the thing around. I can do this because I'm already in that small church setting. Instead of having these group meetings every week and making them the focus, having those be the thing you bring your friends to, make the smaller group, the discipleship group the focus. Let's say I only have 5-10 women in the church who want to be discipled. That's enough for my wife to handle as a small discipleship group. They will get together once a week and go through a study. She won't be the teacher that teaches a sermon for 40 minutes. Rather she will interact with them, help them study the word, talk about practical life issues on how to be a follower of Jesus that is married, an employee, a mom, a student, whatever. At the same time she is raising up one or two specific women to one day lead their own groups as growth occurs. Instead of inviting a friend to come see the show at the large group, she comes and participates in a small group where she can ask her own questions, see the reality of the struggles other women face, and how walking in the Spirit enables them to have real life despite circumstances. There is something to be said for gathering as a large group. Instead of making in the main event, we do it maybe once a month so that there is a sense of being a part of something bigger. It would still look like the old large group meeting with worship and a study, but it isn't the draw, the main event.

The same would be done with mens, college, and yes, even youth group. I have never really liked the youth group model, at least the ones I have been exposed to. It seems, for the most part, based on what I've seen and read about, the typical youth group is really focused on being a draw. It seems all about creating a fun environment with games, food, music, all that stuff that there is nothing wrong with in and of itself, but have nothing to do with teaching kids to follow Jesus. It's about getting them in the doors so you have a chance to give them the message and hope something happens. The rest of the time they are on MySpace posting and reading trash, or watching the latest kid fight videos on YouTube. If you are lucky, you have the volunteers who are mature enough to lead a small group, and kids whose lives aren't so consumed with sports, jobs, and relationships that they will make the time to participate in a small group. We normally have 20-30 kids on a Wednesday night which is pretty good for being out in the sticks like we are. (Sorry, I'm talking about the church I'm an associate at, not the one I'm transitioning into as pastor). Two weeks ago there was a home basketball game for districts. We had four kids show up. Two of the three guys in our worship team are in pep band so we had no worship team. Last week was Valentines Day. We had 15 kids. Last night was another district game but it was away. We had 8 kids, then four more showed up 30 minutes late, and no worship team again (the pep band went to the game).

So, as with the women's ministry example above, start as a discipleship group with the youth. That's what kids bring their friends to. As it grows and you have the people power, split the groups up based on gender and age. Have a large group meeting maybe once a month and have the games and food then, with a study of course. This way the emphasis is put on real growth, real training. They don't need more social time. They get that at school and on the weekends. They need strong Godly examples to follow and to hold them accountable.

That's what I have so far. What do you think? Do you know of others already operating this way? Are there any obvious glaring flaws in this that I'm missing or have not addressed? Again, I'm not saying this is the right way to do it or that anyone else should do it. Just something to help me put my discipleship money where my discipleship mouth is.