What too many churches are like...

Are believers guilty of being like the fleas in this video?

More Trivia from the Old Files

Found another tidbit of info that was interesting to me. Not sure why I did this (I was obviously bored several years ago) - but I found a list of churches that I have preached in since entering the ministry. I think it's missing a few churches but all totaled up it includes at least 47 churches in 7 states and 5 countries. Not bad for a small town boy, I guess.

I am amazed at the number of places God has given me opportunities to speak. I guess it just goes to show you what can happen when you let him have your life.

Things I've Learned (from digging through old files)

On most Saturday mornings, I get up and start working through my "honey-do" list but it was raining this morning so I did something I've been needing to do for a long, long time. I went through some of my old files in my desk. I threw away a bunch of stuff that I no longer needed and discovered some things from the past that I had forgotten about. One of those things was a letter from H. Jackson Brown that he wrote in response to some quotes I sent him for an upcoming book. Brown wrote "Life's Little Instruction Book," "P.S. I Love You," "Live and Learn and Pass It On," and other little gift books. If those titles don't ring a bell, trust me, you've seen them in the bookstores over the years.

Anyhoo....I don't know if he ever used my quotes. I signed an agreement with him giving him permission to use them back in 1992. They were supposed to start with "I've learned that..." (That's how his "Live and Learn and Pass It On" quote books started). I thought I'd share them here since they've just been sitting in my files for years. (Unless Brown published them.)

I've Learned that...

I could survive on peanut butter.
evenings are more pleasant when the TV is off.
nothing beats a good book and a soft chair.
nothing melts a daddy's heart like a smile from his little girl.
nothing is more relaxing than walking barefoot on the beach.
compared to most homes in the world, my home (modest by American standards) is a mansion.
selfishness is the foundation for most wrongdoing.
distance doesn't separate good friends.
you can never read enough. But there never seems to be enough time to read.
the "conveniences" of life have made people busier.
everyone has funny looking toes.
it's good to watch cartoons every once in a while.
a good used bookstore is full of gems.
air conditioning has turned neighbors into strangers.

Hank Aaron and the Mission of the Church

Yogi Berra, legendary catcher for the New York Yankees, tells the story of the first time Hank Aaron stepped up to the plate in the 1957 World Series. Yogi noticed that Hank was holding the bat wrong. He said, “Hank, you’ve got the trademark on your bat wrong. Turn it towards you so you can read it.” Hank replied, “Yogi, I didn’t come up here to read. I came to hit.”

Hank Aaron wasn’t concerned with the conventional way to hold a bat. He made a name for himself in the Negro Leagues in the early 1950’s batting cross-handed. He was only concerned with hitting the ball. Considering the he broke Babe Ruth’s all-time homerun record in 1974, I’d say he got the job done. Hank knew his purpose and mission.

I’m afraid that in our churches we sometimes are more concerned with the conventional, traditional ways of doing things that we forget our mission. What is the mission of the Church? Jesus made it pretty clear. At the end of the gospel of Matthew, he gave us what is known as the Great Commission. “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’”

I get frustrated when I see churches compromise the Great Commission for the sake of tradition. When churches refuse to change their music style to something more relevant to the culture for the sake of tradition, they’ve lost their focus. When is the last time you heard someone listening to choir music on the radio? When is the last time a robed four-part choir concert sold out an arena? What are these churches thinking? Here’s a thought: Sell the choir robes and the organ on eBay and buy some guitars and a set of drums.

While on a trip to the Holy Land in 1997, I met a pastor who told me about his conversion experience as a young adult. He was sitting on his couch one Saturday morning watching TV when the doorbell rang. It was two neatly dressed men from one of the local Baptist churches. He allowed them to come in and the two men did their part in fulfilling the Great Commission by sharing the good news of Jesus with him. My pastor friend knew this was a divine appointment because he had been struggling spiritually of late and he knew that he needed to get right with God. So he did. The two men prayed with him and he asked Jesus to be Lord of his life. Mission accomplished.

But then one of the two visitors strayed from the mission. Immediately after they said, “Amen,” the leader of the dynamic witnessing duo reached over and began buttoning the top two buttons of the new convert’s shirt. He told his new brother in Christ, “Now, if you’re going to be a Christian, you have to make yourself look presentable at all times.”

What the …..? How the …? Where did that come from?!

The first rule of being a Christian is to button up your shirt?? Holy cow! I guess they sent him to get a haircut that day too. Will someone please tell me about the Church and dress codes? Will someone please let me know why so many churches create a barricade at their front door by making a coat, tie, and polished shoes required for entry? Hank Aaron’s take on this might be, “I didn’t come here for a fashion show. I came here to worship.”

The Church’s refusal to be relevant to its surrounding culture is one key reason why 80% of American churches are dying or stagnant. No wonder 70% of the population is sitting at home on Sunday mornings instead of in our worship services. Over the last 20 years, we’ve made some headway down this path. Thanks to the Baby Boomers, the culturally relevant church has made an obvious impression on the American church. But the Baby Boomers parents are still holding on to convention and they’ve convinced many of their children that their peers have gone overboard. “It’s those hippies from the 60’s,” they say. “They just cut their hair and took a shower but they snuck guitars and drums into the church, took out the King James Bible, and made it into a combination theme park and rock concert. Did you ever see a picture of that California hippie pastor, Rick Warren, when he was young? His hair came down to his collar. And that Bill Hybels in Chicago took a bunch of hippies to start that megachurch of his. They’re all just a bunch of Woodstock alumni claiming to do church the right way.”

The Baby Boomers began to turn the ship away from convention and now the generation that followed them (Gen X) is knocking the ball out of the park like Barry Bonds on steroids. (Of course, um, if Barry Bonds was on steroids. But I digress…). It seems like I hear about a new church every week with a bright, young, creative pastor at the plate hitting homeruns. Thank God. Who cares how you hold the bat when you are tagging all four bases with one swing?

I say we need more Hank Aaron’s at the plate. Let’s get the job done with a “whatever it takes” attitude. Let the Bible be our guide, not convention or tradition, and let’s keep swinging for the fence.

Into the Wild Blue Yonder

Yesterday afternoon I cashed in my Father's Day present. Beth bought an introductory flight lesson for me. Pretty cool gift, huh? I have a great wife!

I went to Daniel Field yesterday kind of excited and kind of wondering if this was really something that I'd want to do. I've toyed with this idea over the years but have never been serious enough to really make the call. So Beth made it for me. I love to fly and I've flown on private and commercial planes many, many times. But I think I'm one of those that just enjoys being up in the air and seeing the sites more than I am interested in the actual mechanics of flying. But, I have to say, it is tempting.

When I turned 40 I decided it was time to answer the call of my mid-life crisis and buy a motorcycle. I've told Beth that when I turn 50 my next mid-life crisis would probably be flying. So she's given me a 5 year head start. It requires a lot of time and money. If I got a pilot's license, I don't know where I'd go. I couldn't go too far. I couldn't afford it...and there are only so many times you can fly around Clarks Hill.

The instructor put me in the pilot's seat of a Cessna 172 and explained all of the gauges and instruments to me. We did a thorough overview of the entire plane. That probably took an hour. Then we took the plane up. He let me taxi the plane out to the runway. Once we got up, he let me fly it. We circled around the lake, flew over Edgefield and Aiken counties and then took it back to the airport. It was fun and I can see how it can become addicting. I'm not sure if I'll go back for my second lesson or not. I may put it off for awhile. But don't be surprised if one day you read a blog post about me getting my pilot's license. It may happen - when I get in my 50's.

Baby Panda Sneeze

Witness a Drive-by...

Book Review: A Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God

I recently completed Larry Osborne's book, A Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God. I first heard about Osborne about a year ago. He pastors North Coast Church in Southern California. I like the way he thinks and I would highly recommend this new book.

For years, I've often wondered how Christians grew spiritually without access to a Bible, study course, Sunday School class, or small group. We place so much emphasis on reading. In fact, to the Christian in the Western hemisphere, spiritual growth is not possible without books. But the Gutenberg press wasn't invented until the 1500's. Only in the past couple of centuries have Bibles and Christian books been available. How did Christ-followers grow in their faith without their own personal copy of the Bible? How did they survive without Christian publishers?

Osborne talks about this briefly to make the case that the Church has designed conventional paths to spiritual growth for certain types of people, i.e., people who like to read and study. Now, you have to understand that this is descriptive of me. I love books. I have three stacks of books that I'm wading through now! So this is not an indictment on readers. Instead, it is a concern that we have made the path to spiritual growth too narrow.

Like new cars on the showroom floor, we've developed two types of Christians: the basic model including only the necessities and the super-deluxe package with all the extras. The basic model Christian attends Sunday services and might sit in on a Bible study once a week but he doesn't read all of the latest books on the Christian best seller list or study the Bible with a highlighter in his hand. In addition, the basic model Christian doesn't show up for Sunday or weeknight classes or services, serve on any important committees, or otherwise take full advantage of all of the "features" that the Church offers. The super-deluxe Christian, of course, does all of these things.

Is this right? Does the basic model Christian suffer from a lack of commitment or have we created a faulty paradigm of what makes for a "committed" Christian? We too often debate over sound doctrine and nitpick over what a Christian should or should not do (legalism). But Jesus spoke of the kingdom of heaven belonging to those who are like little children (Matthew 18). Jesus is pleased by a simple childlike faith. Why isn't that good enough for the rest of us?

A contrarian is a person who asks, "Is this really true?" Larry Osborne is brave enough to ask questions about many things that we assume are true, Biblical, and right. But you'll find that we (the Church) have made up some things that aren't necessarily accurate according to the Bible. It's an interesting and eye-opening book. In case you're skeptical of this contrarian, Osborne is a solid Bible teacher who uses the Bible as the foundation to question some of our methods and models that the Church has created.

Some quotes from the book:

"God doesn't just put up with our differences, he savors them - and adapts to them."

"No two relationships with God will ever be exactly alike."

"Lets be real. We may know in our head that each Christian has a unique assignment from God. But when the assignments produce radically different lifestyles and approaches to spirituality, we have a difficult time validating both."

"The most important thing in pleasing God is not a particular approach to spirituality or style of ministry; it's the fruit that matters, the end results produced by our life and ministry."

"God often liked to hang with and bless the very people I'd been told he'd want nothing to do with."

"Gold package Christianity doesn't draw people to God; it scares them away."

"The only sure and reliable sign that I'm on good terms with God is my obedience to his commands and laws. This alone proves that I know him and love him."

The wrong question to ask yourself, "How are things going?" The right question, "Am I doing the right things?"

"The formula for maximized potential is strangely similar to the recipe for a nervous breakdown or a broken home."

"Jesus didn't say, 'If you love me, you'll fulfill your potential.' He said, 'If you love me, you will obey what I command.'"

"While potential seeks greatness in being all I can be, serving others seeks greatness in helping others be all they can be."