What Does God Expect of You?

If you're like me, you have a lot of people in your life who expect a lot of things from you. My family expects me to care for them. My pastor/boss and my church expect me to do my job and fulfill my calling. My bank expects me to pay my loans. My dog expects me to walk him and feed him. My friends expect me to lend a hand and a listening ear. My blog readers expect me to blog. Well, maybe...

Above all, though, we should ask, "What does God expect of me?"

At the risk of trying to summarize the Christian life in a brief, even cheesy, outline, I want to give you a brief, cheesy outline that I discovered years ago. I thought it was worth posting. I don't think this is original with me. I can't remember where it came from.

1. God expects you to GROW.

We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. (2 Thessalonians 1:3)

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! (2 Peter 3:18)

2. God expects you to GO.

Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you. (Mark 5:19)

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. (Matthew 28:19-20)

3. God expects you to GLOW.

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. (Matthew 5:14-15)

4. God expects you to SOW.

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8)

5. God expects you to SHOW.

I will sing of the Lord's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself. (Psalm 89:1-2)

6. God expects you to KNOW.

Be still, and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:32)

Don't Have Cash? Pay With Your Phone

I rarely have cash. I never carry a checkbook. So, occasionally, I get stuck in a store or restaurant that doesn't take credit/debit cards and I've had to depend on a friend to pay for me and my friend is stuck with an IOU...

Not anymore. Check this link out.

Fear & Permission by Chris Guillebeau

Anxiety is repeatedly experiencing failure in advance. (Seth Godin)


I heard Chris Guillebeau say this in a TED talk.

Why Money Can't Buy Happiness (Or, Spend Money on Adventures, Not Stuff)

Do you know why money can't buy happiness? It's a phenomenon called the "Hedonic Treadmill." It's the tendency of a person to remain at a relatively stable level of happiness despite changes in fortune or the achievement of major goals. As a person makes more money, expectations and desires rise in tandem, which results in no permanent gain in happiness.

For example, when you buy a new car, it's great at first, but after awhile it's just your car. Or you buy a new living room suit and you dare anyone to eat or drink while sitting on your new sofa because it is new and beautiful and it has made you happy for three consecutive weeks. Then one night you decide to eat spaghetti on your sofa and you spill spaghetti sauce on it. You shrug your shoulders and think, "Oh, well" because it's just your sofa now, not your new sofa that made you happy when you first purchased it.

The hedonic treadmill is science's way of proving the old axiom, "Money can't buy happiness." Solomon wrote, "Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income" (Ecclesiastes 5:10).

Life is an adventure. During this adventure, millions of dollars will pass through your hands. (Don’t believe that? If you make $30,000 a year between the ages of 25 & 65 you'll make $1.2 million.) You can spend your money on adventures or you can spend it on stuff. New stuff will get old. New adventures will never get old.

So what to do with your money then? Dan Ariely, a behavioral finance expert and the author of The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home wisely says, "The best way to maximize happiness is to spend money on things you won't get used to. If you're deciding between a sofa and a vacation, go for the vacation. You'll quickly get used to the sofa, but the vacation will bring long-lasting memories" (Money, June 2010).

From my perspective and as much as possible, I want to spend my money on things that last. Whether it is my own personal adventures or supporting the adventures of others (e.g., mission trips) I want to choose experiences over material things.

Sometimes material things and experiences collide. For example, eight years ago I bought my first motorcycle. I wanted to enjoy the experience of riding down country roads on a beautiful day with the wind in my face and bugs in my teeth. I ended up buying three motorcycles over time. I sold the last one last fall with no regrets. For me, I enjoyed the experiences but over time riding got rather commonplace. I never did a cross-country ride. I still think I'd like to do that, but for now, I've "been there, done that" with motorcycles.

What adventures do you seek? More importantly, how do you find true happiness? Here's my suggestion.

Are you happy? Are you buying new stuff that soon gets old or are you investing in adventures and new experiences?

Baby Steps

If you've ever helped a baby learn to walk, you've received a glimpse of what it's like to be God.

Once a baby has learned to crawl up on things and stand using the support of that thing upon which he/she has crawled, then baby steps begin. Sofas were great for this stage of development at our house. Our children learned to walk the length of the couch before venturing over to outstretched arms in the recliner across the way. When they were brave enough to leave the safety of the couch, we would hold their hands as they stumbled and wobbled across the room.

At just the right time, when their balance was more consistent and their confidence sure, we would let go of their hand and the independence began. We clapped. We snapped pictures. We hit "Play" on the video camera. We called grandparents and friends. Our baby has learned how to walk!

Then they fell. Usually, and conveniently, on their padded and diapered bottom. Sometimes the fall would bring laughter and sometimes it would bring tears. Persistence was key. Over time, they would master this basic skill and an entirely new stage of life would begin for both the child and the parents.

Sometimes God lets go of our hand in order to help us grow in spiritual maturity. Have you ever been through a stage in life wondering "Where is God?" It's no surprise that we develop our spiritual lives in the valleys more so than on the mountaintops. At times when we are in the valleys of life looking up, we can't find God. Why is that?

C.S. Lewis wrote, "He wants them (believers) to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles."

Lewis also wrote, "Sooner or later He withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all those supports and incentives. He leaves the creature (i.e., believer) to stand up on its own legs - to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature (i.e., person) He wants it to be."

These periods of God letting go are opportunities for our faith to shine. Lewis also wrote that the prayers offered during these dry times are those which please God the most. It is in the valleys when we look to God for hope. It is in the valleys when we reach down deep in our souls for faith. It is in the valleys when we determine that we will love God and be obedient no matter the cost.

These are the times that stretch us and challenge us to believe and trust the core values of our faith.

As we stumble along, fall, get up, take a few more steps, fall again, more steps, fall, cry, and get up for more baby steps - determined to master this walk of faith - our Father walks patiently behind us with a proud smile saying to the angels in heaven, "Look! My child is learning how to walk the walk of faith!"

And the angels rejoice.


* C.S. Lewis quotes are from the The Screwtape Letters

How Big is the Gulf Oil Spill?

Here's a map of the Gulf Oil Spill over the Augusta, GA area. Is it bigger than you thought?

Courtesy http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com

How to be Unremarkably Average

I think there are a lot of truths in this brief blog post by Chris Guillebeau. Enjoy.

Ducks on the Pond

Last night's extra inning victory by the South Carolina Gamecocks created a unique situation in this year's College World Series. An in-state rivalry will be in the national spotlight tonight when the Gamecocks play the Clemson Tigers in the next stage of the Series.

If you don't follow college baseball, Carolina and Clemson both have incredible baseball programs and this collegiate rivalry is almost as intense on the baseball diamond as it is on the football field. The Gamecocks usually have a better chance of winning in baseball over football.

So, watch the game tonight and enjoy watching two great teams duke it out for a chance at the national championship.

I was thinking about a baseball saying the other day and the reason for this post. Sometimes during a game you'll hear someone yell to a batter "Ducks on the pond!" If you're not a baseball fan, that probably seems like a really weird thing to say. "Ducks on the pond" means that there are baserunners on base that need to score. If the batter gets a hit, the runners have a chance to advance home.

One thing you don't want to do if you're the hitter is leave ducks on the pond.

In Churchworld, we want everyone to get home. "Home" meaning heaven, with the Lord, where His creation belongs. God designed us to be in fellowship with Him forever. Sin created a gap between man and God which causes man to go astray. Jesus bridged that gap on the cross and, for Christ-followers, one of our missions in life is to let other people know how to get home.

We've got ducks on the pond.

Who do you know that is out there waiting on you to help them get home? Who could be stranded if you don't show them the way? Who are the "ducks" in your life?

Many of my readers are members of my church, TrueNorth Church. At TNC, we call these people "fish" since Jesus told us to be "fishers of men." Today, I'm changing that to "ducks." Who are your ducks on the pond that need to come home?

One thing you don't want to do if you're a Christ-follower is leave ducks on the pond.

A Real Radical: Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I've had many conversations lately about living a radical life as a result of promoting David Platt's new book Radical.

Columnist Cal Thomas had a great piece in today's paper about a true RADICAL. Read about him here:

Cal Thomas: Bonhoeffer and a Christian's 'privilege to suffer' | Washington Examiner

Foldable TV

Your next TV may also serve as wallpaper.

It's All About the Fundamentals

I enjoyed watching the Los Angeles Lakers/Boston Celtics match up in the NBA Finals the past 10 days or so. In case you don't keep up with sports, the Lakers won an exciting game 7 last night 83-79. It was the first NBA best of seven championship series to actually go to the final game since 2005 and only the second in 16 years.

One of the features that ABC/ESPN showed during the games were video and audio of the coach's instructing their teams during timeouts. It was interesting that each coach preached the fundamentals almost every time.

"You can't get an open shot if you don't move!"
"Where's the hustle out there?"
"We've got to get back faster on defense!"

The instructions they gave their teams were no different than the instructions you'd hear a basketball coach give at a youth league, middle school, high school, or college game.

In basketball, it's about ball control, hustle, defense, smart passes, and high percentage shots. In baseball, it's about clean catches, accurate throws, heads up baserunning, and good connections at the plate. In football, it's blocking, tackling, and protecting the football. Fundamentals.

Living the life of a Christ-follower is no different. Do the fundamentals. Take time to pray. Read the Bible. Worship regularly. Spend time with other believers who will stretch you, support you, and encourage you. Give. Serve. Tell others about Jesus.

Championship athletes do the fundamentals well. Great Christ-followers do the basics well too.

How are you doing?

Notes from the Edge of the Continent: My Love/Hate Relationship with the Church

We're wrapping up our annual week at Hilton Head Island. We have to leave tomorrow morning and, as usual, WE DON'T WANT TO!! It's been another relaxing week here and it's hard to get motivated to get back to the real world. Our vacations have become rather routine, I guess. Mornings on the beach with a good book and plenty of suntan lotion. Inside for a late lunch, then the pool. Back to the beach later in the afternoon. Supper. Maybe an evening walk on the beach. (We woke up at 5:45 this morning and watched a beautiful red sunrise.)

We usually go out to eat a couple of times a week. This week we returned for the 3rd year in a row to The Wreck of the Salty Dog and Kenny B's French Quarter Cafe. We highly recommend both.

Something about relaxing on the Atlantic causes me to reflect and think a lot. Beth says this is my week for introspection. It's true. When I come here I think a lot about my beliefs, my calling, my life, my busyness, and my priorities. This year was no different with the exception that I didn't "introspect" as often or as deeply as I usually do.

I intentionally packed books unrelated to ministry this week. Many times I'll use this week to catch up on reading ministry-related books. Not this time. With the exception of my daily morning Bible reading, this week I read a novel and I caught up on the last three issues of Writer's Digest magazines. Oops, I lied. I did bring one ministry related magazine to finish some articles that I started a while ago and never got back to finish.

Even so, my mind has been on my passion quite a bit because Beth and Kyle, my daughter's boyfriend, have been reading Radical this week. They've been talking about it some. (See my review here.) My passion is the Church and Radical definitely makes you think about it. I have a love/hate relationship with the Church. (Note: Church with a capital "C" means the Church as a whole, the universal Church, the Body of Christ.) Church with a little "c" would be a local church, e.g., TrueNorth Church. Why do I say I have a love/hate relationship with the Church? Because I love it so much and I know that the Church is the hope of the world, yet I hate how we mistreat it, discount it, and just plain don't get it sometimes.

Too many Christians think "Church" consists of a 60-70 minute program that includes 30 minutes of music, 30 minutes of preaching, 5 minutes of announcements and 5 minutes for the offering. They think that attending this one hour service makes God happy and gives them brownie points with the Almighty, a.k.a., "the Good Lord." When I read Acts 2:41-47 (many scholars would agree that this passage describes the model church), I don't see much in there about a one hour service filled with music and preaching.

Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

What do you see in this passage? I see a lifestyle, not attendance of a weekly production. I see the word "devoted." I see authentic discipleship, fellowship, and prayer. I see miracles. MIRACLES! When is the last time you truly witnessed a miracle, if ever? I see selflessness - a community sharing things with those in need, not individuals acquiring things for their own pleasure. I see generosity. I see multiplication of disciples. I see genuine love and passion for the things of God.

Do you see these things in your life? in your church?

This love/hate relationship began for me in the mid-1980's after a nasty church business meeting. Up until that Wednesday night, I had seen nothing but the greatness of a tremendous church on fire and on mission for God. Then sin crept in - specifically, gossip, which lead to an all-out attack against God's anointed ones. To be honest, I don't think that church has been the same since that night.

I saw the Church at its worst that night. I couldn't sleep. Beth and I couldn't go to work the next day. Instead, we prayed all morning in the church sanctuary. We prayed at every pew, every seat in the choir loft, and the big thrones on the stage where the ministers sat. We prayed for healing, reconciliation, and forgiveness. We prayed intensely for hours.

It wasn't long after that night that my passion for the Church was born. I was determined to do my part in seeing the Church operate like it is described in the New Testament. It's been about 25 years and my passion for it is still great. Sometimes I'm so passionate about it, it becomes a burden. It is a passion/burden that I will die with, I guess. Beth says it will never leave me.

So what have I been doing at the beach this week? Besides getting sunburned, I've been meditating, contemplating, scheming, and praying about how to make TrueNorth Church and the Church as a whole more like the Acts 2 church. I would love it if you would join me in my passion. The Church is truly the HOPE OF THE WORLD. We must make it what God intended it to be. There is no Plan B.

Ruprecht in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

This has always been one of my favorite all-time movie scenes. Steve Martin was such a nut.

Recapturing Your Creative Spirit

Watch my friend and former Disney Imagineer McNair Wilson talk about "Recapturing Your Creative Spirit." It's an hour and fifteen minutes long but well worth it and entertaining. I encourage you to take the time getting to know McNair and his wisdom.

Tempting Thoughts

We tend to think that temptation is something that happens to us when God isn't looking - like Satan sneaks in when the backdoor of opportunity is cracked open.* But if you read Matthew 4:1, you'll see that "Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil."

Led up by the Spirit? The Holy Spirit? Why would He do such a thing? Why would the Holy Spirit lead us to temptation? Isn't that what we pray against? "Lead us not into temptation" the Lord taught in his model prayer (Matthew 6:13).

Sometimes God leads us down difficult roads - on purpose. What good can come from temptation? Why would God do such a thing? Note the following from William Barclay:

What we call temptation is not meant to make us sin; it is meant to enable us to conquer sin. It is not meant to make us bad, it is meant to make us good. It is not meant to weaken us, it is meant to make us emerge stronger and finer and purer for the ordeal. Temptation is not the penalty of being human, temptation is the glory of being human. It is the test which comes to a person whom God wishes to use. (Taken from Simple Spirituality by Chris Heuertz, p. 132)


Compare Matthew 4 with Genesis 3 and you will see that Satan tempted Jesus with the same three things as he did with Eve - the desire for physical pleasure, the desire of ego, and the desire for power. Adam and Eve failed their test. God sent Jesus into the wilderness to be tested to show that we can overcome the schemes of the devil. Satan intended to disqualify the Savior. God intended to prove Jesus to be worthy and sinless, thus a worthy Savior.

Notice how Jesus fought the battle: with confidence and boldness knowing he could overcome and with Scripture. (Note that Satan used Scripture as well but he twisted it to make it suit his purpose.)

Have you been tempted lately? How did you do? Did you fall for it or did you overcome? Could you back up your opposition to the temptation with Scripture or did you stutter and stammer not knowing how to respond until you were defeated?

Dealing with temptation is tough. After Jesus' encounter with Satan, angels came and ministered to him who was weary from the battle (Matthew 4:11). The apostle Paul wrote that temptation is an endurance test to show us that God is faithful (See 1 Corinthians 10:31). God will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able.

I know what some of you are thinking. "God must really think I'm strong based on the temptations he sends my way!"

Struggling with sin and its temptations is a part of our spiritual journey. Sometimes we win. Sometimes we lose. The next time you find yourself in a tempting predicament, consider the words above from William Barclay. It is meant to enable us to conquer, to make us good, and to make us stronger so that God can use us more in the future.


* To be specific, it's probably not Satan. It's one of his minions. Satan isn't omnipresent or omniscient. He can't be in all places at all times like God nor does he know it all so let's not give him powers he doesn't really have. Most of the attacks from the spiritual realm come from his apprentices. Satan may orchestrate evil but you and I rarely if ever will encounter the Evil One personally.

How to Write Yourself Sane

I received this article from ehow.com's daily email yesterday. Thought it was worth sharing. I've found journaling to be a rewarding experience.

How to Write Yourself Sane | eHow.com

Book Review: Simple Spirituality

If you ever have a chance to meet someone who used to take out the trash at Mother Teresa's House for the Dying in India, you should stop and learn from them. Christopher Heuertz, the author and International Director of Word Made Flesh ministries, showed up in India one day looking for a place to serve with the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner. His journey there, as well as his other adventures around the world, give him the life lessons that he shares in Simple Spirituality.

In a similar vein as the previously reviewed book, Radical, Heuertz approaches Biblical living from a more personal point of view. Unlike Radical, Simple Spirituality is directed specifically at the walk of individual Christ-followers and not the Church as a whole. He focuses on 5 core values to combat the giants that tend to block our view of God:

Humility to slay the giant of pride and arrogance.
Community to slay the giant of individualism and independence.
Simplicity to slay the giant of intemperance and excess.
Submission to slay the giant of power and control.
Brokenness to slay the giant of triumphalism, defiance, and resistance.

Heuertz believes that any true path to spiritual sight ought to be simple. While he's not a contemplative or a mystic, he has found, in the Bible and in his work with impoverished people, evidence of a simple spirituality. This way of humility, community, simplicity, submission, and brokenness will help you see - no matter how dark things get.

Here are some quotes from Simple Spirituality:

It's humility that opens our eyes to the discovery of God. The self-righteous seem to have the hardest time recognizing God. Story after story in the Gospels illustrates this.

If we are unable to give something away, then we do not possess it, rather it possesses us.

Non-poor Christians mistakenly come to view God's financial and material provision as individual blessing rather than kingdom resources.

For many of us, the things we fill our time with become not so much expressions of who we are but rather distractions from whom we need to become.

We want to make room for Christ to reign on the thrones of our hearts, but only a clean Christ who doesn't make a mess of our lives.

Mother Teresa said, "If the poor die of hunger, it is not because God does not care for them. Rather, it is because neither you nor I are generous enough."

Simplicity is best understood in evaluating how we hold things, not just what we do or don't hold.

We want to make the issue about what we give, but in truth the issue is about what we keep.

We are broken when we recognize our utmost need for God and leave everything behind to have our needs met in God.

Book Review: Radical

Here's the short book review. I liked this book so much that I ordered a case of them to give to our staff and other leaders at TrueNorth Church. I read non-fiction books with a pen to mark and underline significant thoughts or passages. Radical is one of the most marked up books that I own now.

The longer review: Why did I like this book so much? David Platt and I think alike. :)

You can tell he struggles as the leader of a megachurch trying to lead others to follow the leader of a minichurch movement, i.e., Jesus. The subtitle is "Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream." American Christians have confused Biblical Christianity with the American way. Our wealth and independence have made us a little too self-sufficient. Our churches have learned how to grow and operate just fine without the power of God. All churches need to exist today is a good performance on Sunday mornings by musicians and teachers. A nice building to put everyone in and programs for all ages to keep people coming back. It is sad but true.

Platt contends and shows by clearly using the Bible as a guide that our purpose in life is NOT to grow nice big churches for American families to thrive. Our purpose here is a global mission. We exist to enjoy God's glory and to extend God's glory. Jesus called his followers to a new lifestyle. Christ-followers are called to leave behind security, money, convenience, even family for him. We are to abandon everything for the sake of the gospel. We are to take up our crosses daily and follow him (Luke 9:23).

Unfortunately, our churches tend to disinfect us from the world. We have manipulated the gospel to fit our cultural preferences. We have embraced values and ideas that are not only unbiblical but actually contradict the gospel we claim to believe. In our world where church success is defined by bigger crowds, bigger budgets, and bigger buildings, Platt challenges his readers to realize that these values are not important to Jesus at all. What is important is that we believe and obey what Jesus teaches. All of his teaching.

You can't take the privileges of Christianity without also fulfilling the obligations of Christianity. We are guilty of picking and choosing what we want from Jesus. Everyone wants the abundant life Jesus promised in John 10:10 but then we say, "We are not called" when we read the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20.

One of the few original thoughts I've had in a long time is "Every Christian needs a passport (see link)." David Platt confirms it. But this book isn't just about global missions, it's about living simply, praying sincerely, giving sacrificially, and much more. The truth is what Platt calls "Radical" is really just living Biblical. Unfortunately, we are so far removed from Biblical living it seems to be radical.

If you want a FREE COPY let me know. Amazon shipped them yesterday. I'll give copies away on a first-come, first-serve basis. If you live out of town, I will mail it to you.

Some things I highlighted in my reading:

We've missed what is radical about our faith and replaced it with what is comfortable. We've settled for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves.

"God's Word is enough for millions of believers who gather in house churches...His Word is enough for millions of other believers who huddle in African jungles, South American rain forests, and Middle Eastern cities. But is his Word enough for us? This is the question that haunts me when I stand before a crowd of thousands of people in the church I pastor. What if we take away the cool music and the cushioned chairs? What if the screens are gone and the stage is no longer decorated? What if the air conditioning is off and the comforts are removed? Would his Word still be enough for his people to come together?"

"The goal of the American dream is to make much of ourselves. The goal of the gospel is to make much of God."

"God blesses his people with extravagant grace so they might extend his extravagant glory to all peoples on the earth."

"One of the unintended consequences of contemporary church strategies that revolve around performances, places, programs, and professionals is that somewhere along the way people get left out of the picture. But according to Jesus, people are God's method for winning the world to himself. People who have been radically transformed by Jesus. People who are not sidelined to sit in a chair on Sundays while they watch professionals take care of ministry for them. People who are equipped on Sundays to participate in ministry every day of the week. People who are fit and free to do precisely what Jesus did and what Jesus told us to do. Make disciples."

"We look back on slave-owning churchgoers of 150 years ago and ask, 'How could they have treated their fellow human beings that way?' I wonder if followers of Christ 150 years from now will look back at Christians in America today and ask, 'How could they live in such big houses? How could they drive such nice cars and wear such nice clothes? How could they live in such affluence while thousands of children were dying because they didn't have food and water? How could they go on with their lives as though billions of poor didn't even exist?'"

"There is never going to come a day when I stand before God and he looks at me and says, 'I wish you would have kept more for yourself.'"

"Why not begin operating under the idea that God has given us excess, not so we could have more, but so we could give more.?"

"What would happen if we stopped asking how much we could spare and started asking how much it was going to take?"

(After explaining that the origin of the ichthus/fish symbol is traced back to persecuted and martyred Christians.) "How far we have come when we paste this symbol identified with martyred brothers and sisters in the first century onto the backs of our SUVs and luxury sedans in the twenty-first century."

"Church-goers today want short-term commitments with long-term benefits."

Reflections from SE Asia

I returned late last Thursday night from an 11 day excursion to SE Asia. I think I have most of the jetlag and cobwebs shaken out by now and I wanted to record some of the things we experienced as well as things I learned while there. Since this is kind of a brain dump, I'll just put everything in bullet form. Here goes:

- It's a long way from home. If you look at a globe, we were exactly on the other side of the planet. We left home on Monday morning, May 10 and arrived in Singapore on Wednesday, May 12. A 3 hour drive from here to Charlotte. Three hour flight from Charlotte to Minneapolis. Twelve hours from Minneapolis to Tokyo. We literally ran through the Tokyo airport to catch our next flight to Singapore which was an 8 hour flight. If you're keeping score, that's 23 hours in the airplane. The next day was the final leg of our journey which was another one hour flight. So, 24 hours in the air - one way. (For security reasons, our final destination has to be confidential.)

- The good news about 24 hours in an airplane: I read 4 books. Also watched a few movies, journaled, and catnapped.

- Singapore is one of the most impressive cities/countries that I've ever experienced. Clean and green. Everything looked new from buses to cars to buildings, even the roads. They take a lot of pride in their country. It is one of the wealthiest cities in the world. Singapore is a melting pot of Asia. You'll find Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Filipinos, Indonesians, Koreans, Malaysians, Australians, and more represented on this small island.

- You'll have trouble enjoying meals in SE Asia if you don't like rice. Rice was included in every meal. (The photo above is my first of dozens of meals there.) Rice and spice - two essential elements to a SE Asian dish. In addition to rice, we had some fruits and vegetables that I have never heard of along with standard things like chicken, beef, and seafood (lots of seafood). We saw lots of prawn, shrimp, squid, and fishheads.

- We visited a young female believer with tuberculosis. Pray for her as medical help is not good nor is her outlook. She could probably be treated to recovery but she would have to leave the country to seek better care. This isn't likely, unfortunately. We were heartbroken at her story.

- Radical Islam is alive and well. As if you didn't already know this from reading the papers every day, we actually heard more stories of things that Islamic fundamentalists had recently done where we were. Anything from planning to bomb a Singapore train station (that we frequented a few times) to protesting and rioting because evil American sex symbol/singer Kelly Clarkson was coming for a concert. The concert was cancelled. Not sure if it was rescheduled or not. Only a few years ago in the city that we worked in, three girls who attended a Christian school were captured as they walked to school and decapitated. I tell you this not to hinder you from joining the work over there, but to say that it's serious business. There is a deep spiritual darkness on that side of the earth.


- With that being said, one of the most encouraging things for me was the incredible work that was being done there for Jesus' sake. We visited a megachurch that is reaching thousands of people for Christ. In Singapore, we visited a missionary training school that is training and sending workers out by the thousands each year to nations all over Asia, Africa, and Europe. If I had to put my finger on the highlight of the trip, it was probably sitting down with the Founder of this school and the current president for over 3 hours just to talk about what God is doing in Asia. Their faith and trust in God challenged me deeply.

- We attended a circumcision party. Ow!

- The "DONS," our code name for an unreached people group that TrueNorth Church has adopted, desperately need your prayers. Mostly relying on the fishing industry to get by, these folks as well as millions of others there survive on one dollar a day. That's one order of french fries for us. One billion people in the world earn $1 each day. Two billion people earn about $2. Drop to your knees right now and thank God for your house, your job, and all of your stuff. And while you're down there pray that the "DONS" will hear about the amazing grace we have in Jesus. Of an estimated 4 million, only a handful of DONS are believers. Pray for the workers there.

- The great need in that part of the world burdens me but even greater than that burden is the complacency of the American Church. We are so inward-focused, so selfish, and so caught up in our petty cares of this world that we virtually ignore the Great Commission that Jesus gave us. We will answer to this one day. Most of our money stays here as do most of our people. We are comfortable, fat, and lazy. While believers there literally risk their lives for the sake of Jesus each day, most believers here struggle to get out of bed on Sunday mornings to sit in padded pews, listen to good music, and take in another sermon without doing anything about it. It makes me mad and angry. I will struggle with this burden for a long time barring a great revival in our churches. I pray that God will wake us from our slumber. The American Church has the resources to reach billions of people for Christ if we put our minds and hearts to it. Instead, the Church here is a sleeping giant.

Is There Life After Birth?

In Our Greatest Gift, Henri Nouwen tells a parable of faith and hope. He imagines twins - brother and sister - talking to each other in their mother's womb:

The sister said to the brother, "I believe there is life after birth."

Her brother protested vehemently, "No, no, this is all there is. This is a dark and cozy place, and we have nothing else to do but to cling to the cord that feeds us."

The little girl insisted, "There must be something more than this dark place. There must be something else, a place with light where there is freedom to move." Still, she could not convince her twin brother.

After some silence, the sister said, "I have something else to say, and I'm afraid you won't believe that either - but I think there is a mother."

Her brother became furious. "A mother! What are you talking about? I have never seen a mother, and neither have you. Who put that idea in your head? As I told you, this place is all we have. Why do you always want more? This is not such a bad place. We have all we need, so let's be content."

The sister was quite overwhelmed by her brother's response and for a while didn't dare say anything more. But she couldn't let go of her thoughts, and since she had only her twin brother to speak to, she finally said, "Don't you feel these squeezes every once in a while? They're quite unpleasant and sometimes even painful."

"Yes," he said. "What's special about that?"

"Well, I think that these squeezes are there to get us ready for another place, much more beautiful than this, where we will see our mother face-to-face. Don't you think that's exciting?"

The brother didn't answer. He was fed up with the foolish talk of his sister and felt that the best thing would be simply to ignore her and hope that she would leave him alone.

It's About Time (Part 3)

"The gods confound the man who first found out how to distinguish hours! Confound him, too, who in this place set up a sundial, to cut and hack my days so wretchedly into small portions." Unknown Poet, 200 BC

In his book, Margin, Richard Swenson noted that nearly every study on the subject of family reveals that stress produced by time pressures are at, or near, the top of the list. The average time that a husband and wife spend in meaningful conversation each day is four minutes. Parent-to-child quality time is somewhere between 37 seconds and five minutes a day depending on the study.

Our mismanagement of time is killing our relationships. Busyness destroys relationships. We allow our busyness and lack of time to be a point of pride. It boosts our ego to appear busy. It's an expectation and status symbol. It makes us feel important to say we don't have time. When someone asks us how we are doing, we love to respond with, "I'm busy."

How do you know if you're too busy? Gordon MacDonald gives these symptoms of disorganization in his classic book, Ordering Your Private World. (See link below right.) You don't have to have all 9 of these symptoms. One is enough to let you know to slow down.

1. Clutter
2. Condition of your car
3. Self-esteem diminished
4. Series of forgotten appointments, messages, & deadlines
5. Invest energies in unproductive tasks
6. Feel poorly about work
7. Rarely enjoy intimacy with God
8. Quality of personal relationships reveals it
9. Don't like ourselves, our jobs, or much else about our worlds

God never intended for us to be oppressed, depressed, and stressed about our busy lives. He never intended for time to dictate our every move and mood. Jesus moved through life deliberately but was never in a hurry. Crowds thronged around him. The sick wanted to be healed. His followers wanted to be taught. When people came to him for help he gave them the impression that no one else was more important than them.

The secret to Jesus' effectiveness was that he knew that God ordered his footsteps and he saw every appointment or interruption as a divine appointment. The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives (Psalm 37:23, NLT).

Are you on the road to a purposeful life or a purposeless life? Here's the progression to a purposeless life:

A Crowded life = "I'm busy."
Busyness = "I'm tired."
Fatigue = "I'm grumpy."
Apathy = "I don't care."
Purposelessness = "I hate my life."

Give thought to your life. Be careful how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of your time (Ephesians 5:15,16). Determine to take a step each day toward purposeful living. Most worthwhile achievements are the result of many little things done in a single direction. It's also been said this way: "Inch by inch, anything's a cinch!"

Get Radical

This morning I was introduced to a new book by David Platt. You can read the first chapter here. Radical is bothersome but it is truth. Platt, who describes himself as a megachurch pastor leading people to a minichurch leader, addresses the paradox between the radical words of Jesus and the state of American Christianity. It will make you wince.

I've requested this book for a future blog review. I look forward to sharing more about it with you in the future.

Please take 10 minutes to read Chapter 1.

It's About Time (Part 2)

A few months ago I was talking to a friend on the phone who was anxiously awaiting a 9:30 AM meeting. It was a rather serious and important meeting. When my friend called me at 9:40 I asked, "I thought your meeting was at 9:30?"

"It was," my friend replied. "But he's not out of his nine o'clock meeting yet." The nervous anticipation of my friend was obvious over the phone and I felt sorry for him. It reminded me of another time management principle that I practice.

Never schedule two meetings in the same hour.

Even if you think a meeting will only last ten minutes. Ten minute meetings often take thirty minutes. Once you're behind schedule because a short meeting lasted longer than planned, you are behind schedule the rest of the day.

I understand that different occupations require different methods of time management. For example, the time management skills that I use wouldn't work for my school teacher wife. Every minute of her day is scheduled. The time management skills that I practice relate better to
those who have more control over their own schedule. Ministers, sales representatives, managers, and business owners tend to have more say in their day to day calendar. When I was in a customer service related business, my day was controlled by the next phone call or the next
customer that walked in the door.

But for those who have more control over their calendar, I've found these principles to be valuable.

For church staff like myself and others who occasionally work at night, divide your day into thirds - morning, afternoon, and evening. Work 2 thirds. Plan to be off for the other third. If you work all three shifts in one day, plan to make up for it soon after.

I rarely plan more than 4 hours of meetings or appointments per day. The other 4 hours will take care of themselves. There are plenty of things on my to-do list to tackle. Most meetings I attend add tasks to my to-do list so I need time to address those things. Unexpected phone calls, visitors, hospital visits, and problems/challenges will fill the other four hours. Part of my responsibilities over the years involve day-to-day operations which means that I am often a "fireman," i.e., putting out fires. I must allow time for that.

Don't forget travel time. Some folks schedule back-to-back meetings without allowing time to travel between meetings. If you have a meeting that will take the better part of an hour, don't plan another meeting for the next hour at a location 15 minutes away and expect to be on time. Unless you have a transporter like Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, you'll need time to get from one meeting to another.

Understand the value of punctuality. Cheryl Clausen, author of The Race to Success - Make Time to Win wrote, "When you start the day late you tend to run late the entire day. Even though you may not place a high value on punctuality, recognize that others do. Lateness can lose you the sale, cost you the job, diminish the level of respect the other person has for you because they are thinking that if you can’t even be counted on to be on time how can they count on you for something important."

When you agree to hold an appointment at a specific time and then you’re late you have missed an opportunity to keep your word. Being on time says a lot about your character. When you're late for an appointment, you're communicating that what you were doing before was more important than them. And while that may be true, it doesn't send positive signals to the person who has been waiting on you.

One final thought for today. I don't advocate being extremely early for appointments. Just be on time. I know people who are always 15 minutes early for an appointment but they sit and do nothing during those 15 minutes, i.e., they waste time because of their dedication to promptness! Sure you might have a flat tire on the way or be delayed because of an accident on the highway, but those occassions are rare. Just strive to be at your appointment when you said you would be there, no earlier and no later.

What are some of your thoughts on time management?

It's About Time

A church member asked me yesterday about my reading and writing habits. Knowing the busyness that ministry at TrueNorth Church brings, he said, "I don't know how you do all of that. You must be a good manager of your time."

I shrugged my shoulders and replied that I've always been a student (and sometimes teacher) of time management skills and I certainly try to make the most of my time.

For me, it is a Biblical mandate. "Be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is" (Ephesians 5:15-17).

This passage was planted deep in my heart in 1986 when I felt the call to full-time ministry. It has been a foundational verse for me ever since. I believe it is unwise and foolish not to make good use of my time. God only gave us so much time to make an impact on this planet. We need to be good stewards of our time.

One of my pet peeves is to hear someone say they don't have time to do something and then five minutes later they recall every meaningless TV show that they watched the previous night from 7-11 PM. I watch my share of TV. I'm not trying to sound superior here. But, think about it, when you find yourself contemplating your life when you're 80 years old will you be proud of the fact that you spent an average of 4 hours a night watching sitcoms and reality shows?

Think about what you could do in four hours. Want to write a book? If it takes you an hour to write one page, you can write a 300 page novel in 75 days. That means if you start a book this weekend it will be complete by mid-July.

Do you want to start a home-based business? 4 hours is a lot of time to invest in an opportunity to make a second income.

Do you wish you had more time to read and study the Bible? Wouldn't that be a better investment of your time than watching American Idol?

Did you tell someone at your church that you don't have time to serve in a ministry? Do you need to think again?

Are you being unwise and foolish with your time?

More on this topic later...when I have time. :)

The Domino Effect (or How Youth Ministry Changed My Life)

My life has been in disarray since the end of last year.

It's Tommy Wafford's fault.

Tommy is the Student Minister at TrueNorth Church. Last year, our Youth Ministry (Element Student Ministries) began busting at the seams and our 2500 square foot building (The Depot) was quickly becoming too small. Tommy and I began scouting out other potential locations for Element. This went on for months until I contacted the owners of a nearly 13,000 square foot building three miles down the road from our office complex. Surprisingly, the lease was affordable. (A HUGE God thing, by the way.) Element needed more space but not 12,800 square feet. The logical thing for us to do was to move Element AND our offices to the new building. Fast forward to February.

By February we moved our offices into a newly renovated building. (Lots of God stories involved during those two months as well.) I have a lot of books at home and at my office. I decided not to move all of my office books to the new location so I brought them home. I'm not sure how many books exactly but there are currently 27 stacks of books in my son's former bedroom floor with an average of 15 books per stack. That's 405.

405 more books at our house. Where would they go? Bookshelves, of course. The dominoes start falling:

Element Student Ministry outgrows space.
New location found for students and church offices.
Because I have to relocate my office, I bring books from my old office home.
We need new bookshelves.
We go to IKEA in Charlotte TWICE to look at and purchase bookshelves.
We, more specifically, my wife, decides that we can't put new bookshelves in the living room the way it is.
We go to Lowe's to look for paint.
We go to Lowe's again, buy a sample color, paint a small swatch on the wall, and look at it for weeks.
Beth decides we need a new chandelier in the dining room. Add another Saturday afternoon to this project.
We buy another sample color. We stare at two swatches on the dining room wall for a couple of weeks.
We buy a third sample color. Third swatch on wall applied.
We decide to paint our living room and dining room "Butter."
We begin the project. (See bad picture below.)
As of last night, I have one more door to paint before the job is complete.

Oh yeah, I still have to assemble the IKEA bookshelves too.

And put 405+ books on the shelves.

There is a rug coming soon and probably a new chair. Pictures to hang. The project is not over yet.

Isn't it funny how one things leads to the other? God blesses a youth ministry. He blesses the church with a new facility. And I find myself in a home renovation project!

Thanks Tommy! And thank God!

Breakfast at Ginger's

I'm passing this on from Angie Hunt's site.

Forget Me Not by Vicki Hinze

Author of more than 20 novels of romance and suspense and three works of nonfiction, Vicki Hinze has written a masterful, complicated tale of suspense that gains momentum with each turn of a page. Her writing flows surely, moving from one character to the next, one setting to another, with readers keeping the swift pace.

Benjamin Brandt, owner of the Crossroads Crisis Center, hasn't set foot in the center since his wife and son were murdered a few years earlier. Then Susan comes to the center, beaten and battered, suffering a case of amnesia, and also bearing a close resemblance to Benjamin's deceased wife, also named Susan, and wearing the dead woman's cross necklace. The two clash at first, but even as murders occur around them, the tension between them relaxes. Still, there is a mystery to be solved involving Susan's identity and a past that must be reckoned with before either can move ahead. Hinze's plot may have readers puzzling over how this tangled tale will ever resolve itself, but that underestimates the author's talent for transforming the unlikely into something beautiful. (Publishers Weekly)

"Suspenseful yet uplifting, this story proves that what is buried in the past never stays buried forever." –James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author of The Doomsday Key

Getting the Word Out

In 1942, William Cameron Townsend was a missionary to the Cakchiquel Indians of Guatemala. The men of the tribe expressed concern that they did not have a Bible available to them in their native language. God spoke to Townsend who soon resolved that every man, woman, and child should be able to read God's Word in their own language. Thus, Wycliffe Bible Translators was born.

Today, Wycliffe has made great progress in Bible translation all around the world. To date, they have played a part in completing more than 700 Scripture translations. However, with all of the outstanding work that Wycliffe has done, there are still some 350 million people who do not have a Bible in their own language. Wycliffe missionaries have done amazing work and they have some incredible stories to tell.

Last year I attended a banquet hosted by Wycliffe Associates. I was so inspired and impressed with their work and the amazing story that missionary Grace Fabian shared. (Click Grace's name to read more about her work.)

On April 29, Wycliffe will host another inspiring and informational banquet in Augusta, GA. For those of you who live in this area, I would like to strongly encourage you to attend this event. Hiram Ring, a Wycliffe Bible Translator in Central Asia, will be the guest speaker. I know it will be an interesting evening.

The banquet is on Thursday, April 29 at 7 PM at the Ramada Hotel, 640 Broad Street in Augusta. There is no cost to attend but reservations are required. To reserve your seat, call Dan Garard at 1-866-461-0197 or email Dan at dan_garard@wycliffeassociates.org.

Hope to see you there!

The Church and the Golf Ball

Here's an old post from September 2005. I thought about it today while watching the Masters.

Question: What has so many imperfections that, as a result, it is perfect? Maybe the church can be compared to a golf ball. A ball with one dimple, i.e., imperfection, makes it worthless. A ball full of imperfections helps it fly straight and true. (Assuming that the person striking the ball is any good!) The church, when full of imperfections, is perfect. It is the way God designed it.

It is generally agreed upon that there is no such thing as a perfect church. When Christian leaders define the perfect church they go to Acts 2, especially vv. 42ff. In this passage, we read about the earliest Christians studying and learning together, worshiping corporately, sharing meals and common physical needs. There was harmony, unity, love, and apparent heaven on earth.

But not far into this model of perfection do we discover it’s fallacies. By the time we get to Acts 5, we read that Ananias and Sapphira deceived their perfect spiritual family. Acts 6 introduced the first formal complaints against church leaders. Partners in the faith were being overlooked. Why is it that when we read Acts 2 we forget that the people in the early church in Jerusalem were sinners just like us?

The perfect church, as we define it, was not full of perfect people. Yet, in God’s eyes, it was perfect. It was perfect because it was full of imperfect people. It was perfect because it included those who had fallen but on their way down they grasped God’s perfect solution, Jesus. It was perfect because when God created it he most likely responded like he did after his creation in Genesis. It was good. God created the Church. When God creates something, it is good. The Church is good. Yes, it is perfect.

How can the Church be perfect when it is filled with imperfect people? Who else is going to fill it? If the Church is created for mankind it must be occupied by people who are prone to sin. There are no other people available. We are sinners. We are born sinners. We will die sinners. This is a fact of the Christian life. However, God’s grace has been revealed to us in Christ so that he overlooks our sin and sees us as righteous (2 Cor. 5:21). When God looks at a follower of Christ, he sees a perfect, forgiven sinner. When God looks at a church full of his followers, he sees perfect, forgiven followers of Christ. God sees perfect people in his perfect church.

LWS Winner Announced at MattAmesBlogs.com

Check out this short video to see who won a copy of Laughing With Sarah over on Matt Ames' blog.

Don't miss the out takes video either...

What's So Good About It?

I originally posted this on Good Friday 2005. Thought it was worth repeating:

Doesn't it seem strange that we call the day that the world killed the Messiah Good Friday? Having viewed The Passion of the Christ movie, almost everyone is now familiar with just how brutal Jesus' death really was. How quickly the world turned on him! On Palm Sunday, he was celebrated as a King. By Thursday, he was arrested, tried, and sentenced to death on Friday morning.

So what is so good about it? It was good because Jesus paid a price that I cannot pay. It was good because the problem of sin was resolved on that day. It was good because Satan was defeated. It was good because God's deep love for us was revealed that day. It was good because it brought spiritual freedom to the masses. It was good because a bridge was built to God. It was good because heaven was made available to all. In the midst of his incredible pain and agony, I think Jesus knew it was a good thing too. Hebrews 12:2 says, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Ten Reasons Pastors are Important

I read this on Donald Miller's blog tonight. Thought it was worth repeating...

Yesterday afternoon, I talked with a friend on the phone who has been a pastor for more than twenty-five years. He’s an upbeat, optimistic guy who has brilliant ideas and loves shepherding the people who come to his church. I have always thought being a pastor is one of the hardest things a person could do, but my friend makes it look easy. It never occurred to me how hard his job was until I asked him how I could pray for him. He told me that the coming week was going to be difficult, that he had to officiate two funerals, one of them a suicide. He said he’d done many funerals, but these two were very close to his heart.

Can you imagine having to speak at a funeral? Moreover, can you imagine having to speak for God at a funeral? Can you imagine having to speak for God at a wedding, even? And not only that, can you imagine having to preach a sermon every week, lead a staff, counsel broken marriages, provide vision for a community, and all under the microscope of a small percentage of people that would judge you if you drove a nicer car than they?

In my speaking career, I’ve spoken in hundreds of churches, and you know, I’ve never met an arrogant pastor. Not once. I’m not saying they aren’t out there, because they are, but I think an arrogant pastor is an exception to the rule. Some pastors have failed their congregations, but there are many more who haven’t. Most pastors got into their jobs because they loved people and they loved God and they wanted the two to meet. I actually think pastors are some of the most important people in our communities.

Here are ten reasons pastors are important.

1. They lead social movements that change the world.

2. They speak truths that create guardrails to keep us out of danger and stop us from hurting each other.

3. They introduce us and remind us about God, who redeems us and guides us in love.

4. They model good marriages and families (Your mind may have gone to an exception, but quickly list five who do. It’s an easy list to create.)

5. They bring people together to live and work in community.

6. They counsel hurting and broken people.

7. They bring the presence of God into the most dark and painful circumstances.

8. Most of them could be making lots more money doing something else, but they sacrifice to build God’s kingdom.

9. They put up with our crap.

10. Because without them the world would be unimaginably dark.

I put together this list so that I could understand exactly why I was so grateful for pastors, because I wanted to know why I liked them when I shook their hands. I didn’t want vague notions, I wanted hard reasons. I suspect this list will grow. I spent a bit of the day praying for my friend, and I’m going to remember to pray for my pastor friends more often. I think they’re an under-appreciated bunch. I hesitate to imagine a world without them.

Tell us why your pastor is important to you, would you? Lots of pastors read this blog, and your comments will be encouraging!

My Dog is 94 Years Old

According to this chart that tells you how to calculate a dogs age in dog years.

Piranha Pedicure

Check out this video and blog post by travel writer Daisann McLane.

I'm going to Southeast Asia in May. I'll have to look for one of these "shops."

Why the Healthcare Bill Doesn't Bother Me (Too Much)

Over the last 48 hours, I've noticed a lot of Facebook posts and Tweets about the demise of the USA due to Congress' recent vote regarding Obama's healthcare reform bill. There was a day when I would be in line fussing and complaining about it. And though I did make a brief remark about it to a fellow Tweeter this morning, I have remained pretty silent about it.

Am I for it? Not really. It seemed to be a lot of information to be digested that was pushed through quickly. I would like to know more about this huge document that will eventually involve my money. But that's only speaking as a citizen of the United States.

I am not a citizen here. I don't belong here. The Bible clearly states that my citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). I am an alien here - a passerby, a tourist, a pilgrim on my way to an eternal place where, as CS Lewis wrote, "we will one day speak of the galaxies of old."

There was a time not too many years ago when I listened to conservative talk radio almost daily. I subscribed to US News & World Report, The Nation, and other news magazines. Like millions of others, I watched Fox News sometimes until my blood pressure reached dangerous limits. It was not healthy.

At some point, God reminded me that my job on earth as a Christ-follower is not to see that morality is legislated but to see that Jesus Christ is lifted up because by doing so men will be drawn to Him. I am a missionary here. The Christian population is dwindling in the United States. Church attendance is perhaps at an all-time low. According to some researchers, less than one-fourth of the population attend church with any regularity. In the 90's over 40% of Americans attended church at least once per month according to Gallup.

If you are a Christian in America, you are living on the mission field.

Now let me ask you a question: If you were a missionary in Rwanda, India, Japan, Germany, or Argentina, would you occupy your time trying to straighten out the government's problems in those countries? No. You would spend your time ministering to people one-on-one in your local community, training Christian leaders, and reaching out in practical ways to those who need to hear about the amazing grace of Jesus.

The revelation a few years ago freed me up. I changed the radio from Rush Limbaugh to ESPN radio. I stopped subscribing to the magazines. I rarely watch the news. I haven't put my head in the sand completely. I get the local newspaper everyday and look at every page. I see the news online. I vote. I am aware of what is happening but I've decided that God is WAY BIGGER than the President, Congress, and even the National Debt. I will continue to strive to be a good temporary citizen of the USA but my real citizenship is not here. It's in heaven. For now, I will attempt to be a heavenly influence in these weird times in which we live.

I trust you will too.

1 Question w/ Matt Ames

Matt Ames did a one question interview with me on his blog today. You can find it here.

Experiencing God Again

In the early 1990's, a Bible study called Experiencing God was introduced. I met the author, Henry Blackaby, at a pastor's meeting a few years prior. I knew of his previous writings and his incredible knowledge of the Bible - especially his knowledge of how God moved in unusual ways in both Biblical times and throughout Church history. He is a walking encyclopedia regarding revival and spiritual awakenings. I knew Experiencing God would be a good study and I was right.

I ran across my book from 1993 during my recent office transition and decided to read through it again. There are tens of thousands of Christian books and Bible studies out there but I truly believe that this particular study is a classic. Granted, it is not popular right now like it was in the 90's but that doesn't mean that it will not move you closer to God and knowing how He works in your life. Just like you can't judge a book by its cover, you also can't judge a book by its copyright date.

Just because a book is dated doesn't mean it can't speak to you. There is a reason some books are called classics. Classics speak to more than one generation. In the case of Experiencing God, I would say that every generation should take a look at this study.

I'm only through the first 2 of 12 units. Here are some meaningful quotes from Blackaby thus far:

Jesus did not say, "I will show you the way." He said, "I AM the way.

"What is God's will for my life?" - is not the right question. The right question is, "What is God's will?" Once I know God's will, then I can adjust my life to Him. The focus needs to be on God, not my life!

If you have been working off the world's definition of servant, you are using the wrong approach to serving God. You do not get orders and then go out and do them. You relate to God, respond to Him, and adjust your life to Him so that He can do whatever He wants to do through you.

We often act as though God tells us what He wants us to do and sends us off all by ourselves to try and do it. Then, any time we need Him we can call on Him, and He will help us. That is never the biblical picture.

When God is about to do something through you, He has to get you from where you are to where He is.

When you believe that nothing significant can happen through you, you have said more about your belief in God than you have said about yourself.

If you feel weak, limited, ordinary, you are the best material through which God can work.

I can't stay the way I am and go with God.

You never find God asking people to dream up what they want to do for Him.

Understanding what God is about to do where I am is more important than telling God what I want to do for Him.

In every situation God demands that you depend on Him, not a method. The key is not a method but a relationship with God.

He has a right to interrupt your life. He is Lord. When you accepted Him as Lord, you gave Him the right to help Himself to your life anytime He wants.

Many of us don't want to give attention to our character, we just want the big assignment from God.

Interview with Missionary Joy Sheraden

How long have you been a missionary and where have you served?

I have been on the mission field for almost 4 years in San Jose, Costa Rica.

How do you describe your current position?

My current position is the assessment and evaluation director for the global team of Boy with a Ball. Basically I track information so that we can see how our programs are running, what we need to change, if we need more personnel to make programs better, start new programs, or stop others.

On a scale of 1-10, how would you measure the American church’s global missions efforts? Why?

I haven’t had much contact with lots of other churches so I wouldn’t know how to answer that. I think there is some preparation for churches to send teams, but I’m not so sure that there is much preparation for long term missionaries within the churches. It’s great to go on short term trips, but what is the long term vision?

We agree that the gospel is the greatest spiritual need of the world. What is the greatest physical need?

I think that the greatest physical need is clean water, food, and education.

If you could stand in an arena full of church leaders, what would you say to them about fulfilling the Great Commission?

First of all, to the leaders, my question to them would be. Do you have a passport? Have you ever used it? Before you can ask other people to go you need to go yourself. I think that in some cases that teams get sent and they have not been properly prepared. There has to be lots of communication before, during and after any trip. Also having an ongoing relationship with the place that you want to serve is a huge thing. There has to be someone on the ground that has done the prep work and that will be there after to do the follow up. It’s great that you had 100 kids say "the prayer," but what happens to them after you get on the plane to go back to your life and they go back to theirs - Where they aren’t sure they are going to eat tonight, or even be safe? Who is going to teach them to walk it out?

Are you excited or concerned about global outreach in the next decade?

That is what excites and worries me. Who is going to be the one to do the follow up and who will support those that are the ones doing it?

New Wine or Kool-Aid?

At the risk of sounding like an old fart, I want to post something about Christian Leadership Conferences. I've been attending such for decades now. I am in my 23rd year of ministry and I have attended some stellar conferences through the years. I attended Rick Warren's Church Growth Conference in 1990 before anyone really knew who Rick Warren was and before Saddleback even had a building. The conference was held at a Presbyterian church in El Toro, CA.

I've heard many of the megachurch pastors and their leaders, Bill Hybels, Lee Strobel, Robert Schuller, Andy Stanley and his dad, Charles, Ed Young (Sr. & Jr.), Jim Mellado, Bob Russell, Greg Surratt, Perry Noble, Adrian Rogers, etc. etc. No doubt, I've been enlightened, encouraged, and educated by these men (and some women. And, by the way, did you notice that they taught me to alliterate?)

We moved our church offices recently which meant that I had to move a bunch of my books and stuff to a new location. I decided to go through a collection of conference notebooks and write down quotes and notes that I wanted to keep in my journal. Then I discarded the notebooks for the sake of space. I've enjoyed reviewing those dusty notes and, in fact, have been reinvigorated by some of them.

I say all of this to say that I am not anti-conference. But I don't attend them much any more.

I think we have too many now. There seems to be too many conferences and too many megachurch pastors with too many opinions. Each conference is trying to attract the same church leaders. Let's face it. Most of the church leaders who attend these conferences are white, middle to upper-middle class, suburban church pastors who are trying to reach white, middle to upper-middle class suburban families. And many leaders are saying, maybe even doing, outrageous things to get attention.

A few years ago one megachurch pastor told about how he spontaneously decided to do a staff turnover. He reassigned his middle-aged Administrative Pastor as the Youth pastor, the Graphic Designer became the Worship Leader, and other weird stuff like that. Everyone was reassigned to a position where they had no education, experience, or calling - except the Senior Pastor, of course. It was done permanently, not temporarily, for the sake of change.

In a breakout session later that same day, the newly assigned Youth Pastor confessed in his breakout session on "How to do Youth Ministry" that he had no idea what he was doing.

I wonder how many wanna-be megachurch pastors in the audience that day went back to their churches and did something similar just because the cool pastor from Texas said so?

Idiot.

Last night, I saw a Tweet from a friend who apparently attended a conference at a megachurch in Alabama. According to his Tweet, "Staff at (church name) will be fired if they are caught doing ministry..they are hired to train members to do ministry."

That's ridiculous.

I don't think my friend agreed either. (At least, I hope not!)

Everybody wants to do something different, out-of-the-box, creative, radical, cool, awesome, something nobody has ever done before, etc. etc. Jesus called it new wineskin. But you have to have new wine before you can use the new wineskin. New wineskin without new wine is not the answer.

Copying what another megachurch is doing is not new wine - that's called "drinking the Kool-Aid." Drinking the Kool-Aid is following a charismatic leader and doing whatever he says to do without question. That's foolish. (For details on where "drinking the Kool-Aid" began, see this Wikipedia link.)

Do I sound like an old traditional fart? I hope not. I've been in new, contemporary churches for all but 6 of my 23 years of ministry. I am currently in my 5th church plant. I love reaching people with the gospel of Jesus in a fresh, relevant way. But I don't love how church leaders dress, teach, talk, and lead like other megachurch pastors in an attempt to be like them. And I don't like how some megachurch pastors say or do ridiculous things to draw attention to themselves and their churches.

Just be who God made you to be. Please. If you want to put the gospel in a new wineskin, you've got to spend time with God and get the new wine. Don't just drink someone else's Kool-Aid. A pastor friend of mine told me years ago that we (pastors) need to get alone with God often. In his words, "We need to get a jug of water and a Bible and go out in the woods for a day and be with God."

Probably not bad advice. Don't drink the Kool-Aid. Get a jug of water and see if Jesus will turn it into new wine.

A Powerful Drama performed to the Lifehouse song "Everything"

This was new to me 3 years ago when I first posted it in 2007. You may have seen it many times. I was reminded of it and watched it again a few minutes ago. It always makes me emotional. I love it when the crowd roars near the end. Watch it again.