things that make you go hmm...

Imagine this - the church leadership of America is all killed or imprisoned. Church buildings are closed and confiscated. All bibles are gone. Based on your experience of Christianity, what do you think would happen?

What would change? How? What would stay the same?

What would your expression of faith look like? How would your life change? How would it stay the same?

a difference

I have been sitting here for a while compiling notes from an exciting meeting about impacting our community. My realization is, change is difficult. Change must be a long-term commitment. Impact does not come easily - or else everybody really would be doing it.

How do you change the prevailing culture? How do you battle poverty? How do you instill hope and purpose and vision into apathetic and hopeless wanderers? These are tough questions. They are very important questions.

How do you make a difference?

Pray - truly prayer brings about those things that only God could do. Then what happens when the result of prayer is an opportunity to engage?

Lots of questions. Lots of need. God help us. We need you. They need you. We all need you. Be the difference.

Seeker Friendly I - Pros & Cons

Seeker friendly. Some Christians see it as redeeming a culturally disconnected religion. Some Christians see it as an indicator of the apostate church (the anti-church). Perhaps there is another alternative perspective.

Why I'm OK with a "seeker friendly" service:
The American church generally stinks at reaching new people. We can't even get the Great Commission accomplished in our own neighborhoods!

Why I'm not OK with a "seeker friendly" service:
Offering the world a non-confrontational gospel defies the nature of the gospel. True "seekers" are seeking the true and the authentic. People for whom a partial Christianity will suffice are seeking a conscious-salve that is not available in Jesus Christ. (See the story of the Rich Young Ruler.)

"But God..."

Ephesians 2:1-10 tells a great story. My story. Your story. It recounts my years of hopeless service to my own desires and passions. Then comes the important part, "But God." (2:4)

In the midst of my slavery to myself, God stepped in. The life and fulfillment I had sought through my own slavish efforts, He gave me. My soul was lost in darkness, but God...

It gets even better.

This "But God" was not just about pity. God stepped in because He loves me. God stepped in because I have a destiny in Him.

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (2:10)

If you can look back across your journey and see your own "But God," have you considered recently His love for you? Have you been in pursuit of the good works that you were created to do?

Hope in the Mundane

This January, many of us have been examining "Haggai" and God's call to rebuild Yahweh's temple in the Old Testament. This was quite an imposing task for a bunch of returned exiles - the original temple took millions of dollars: laborers, the best building materials that the world had to offer, a ridiculous amount of gold, etc. So, like all severely overwhelmed people, they didn't do anything.

Then comes a great surprise. God sends word, "Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified." (Haggai 1:8)

Right now, you may be thinking, "So what."

Here's the point. God wanted His house built. The people had nothing "valuable" with which to build it. And God didn't care.

I can relate to this. I want to answer God's call. I have nothing extraordinary to build with. All I've got is the plain and the ordinary. Perhaps that's all that you've got, too. Perhaps you've been reluctant to begin working with your meager opportunities, talents, and resources. Perhaps you're afraid God might show up and take note of the quality of your work, "How is my house coming along? Is it not as nothing in your eyes?" (2:3) After all, He showed up to ask the Israelites.

This is our great hope. Our best really may not amount to much. It doesn't matter. God has redeemed the ordinary. God has redeemed the simple. God has redeemed the modest. God has redeemed the mundane. And He is calling.

The Beast in the Mirror

Pardon me for a few minutes while I rant.

"Intellectual", "worldly", "secular", "seeker-friendly"... These are some of the charismatic world's favorite labels for the Christians it doesn't understand. You know - "ignorant" and "unstable" people. (Not my words. Please refer to 2 Peter.) If many of these label-happy Christians would read their Bibles very carefully, they would find that Jesus is the biggest offender of all. For such (false) religious zealots, might I suggest stepping out from behind your (false) religious goggles and reading the gospels. There IS a reason the gospel has been called scandalous. There was a reason that religious people hated and killed Jesus.

To those of you who know more churches doing it wrong than right:
1. Consider the sermon on the mount: judge things by their fruit. For example, could you convince ANY non-Christian (or me) that there is value in what YOU do every Sunday morning. Seriously, does it make a difference in anyone's life? Tell me why my life is lacking because I wasn't at your church last Sunday. (Feel free to comment.) P.S. Don't judge other people by a standard you don't have a chance of standing up to yourself.

2. Consider the beatitude, "blessed is the superior Christian, more religious than any other." Wait. That's not how it goes... How about this: "You are the body of Christ. Now, take a shot-gun and blow off all the parts you deem inferior to yourself." Phew. We got that one nailed down.

3. Jesus never called us to have church services. If Sunday morning is all you got and the apple of your ministerial/religious eye, Emperor Constantine would be proud, but Jesus might not be.

Let me conclude by saying this:
1. I do not apologize for my harshness.
2. I am particularly sensitive to this special type of "ignorance" because, for a long time, I was the one facing this beast in the mirror.
3. I am a pastor desperately trying to figure things out. What I have said, I say with humility, not arrogance. What the church needs (in my humble opinion) is for more Christians to step out of their fear so that we call all figure some things out and REALLY make a difference in this world.

Giving and sacrifice

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity, along with several friends, to deliver sleeping bags, hot chocolate and sandwiches to the homeless of St. Louis. It was a wonderful experience. Many of the people in our group were teens and it was a pleasure watching them light up at the opportunity of helping someone in need.

In sitting here pondering my blogging angle on this event, this occurred to me: What a stark contrast there is between the deep satisfaction of feeding the homeless and the shallow, passing enjoyment of getting new stuff (that the commercials promise will bring us life and excitement).

Perhaps it is truly better to give than to receive - even when there is not an angle on giving. (IE: kick-backs from a loved one.) I am saddened to think that I give so little that this truth is mostly forgotten and must be rediscovered from time to time.

Jesus once said that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter in to heaven. I believe this. I can feel in my soul that the more things I acquire, the more likely I am to come across something that I will not want to give up - for God or for a fellow man. The idols of "security" and "satisfaction" are monstrous foes to be faced by the rich.

Giving and sacrifice. Happiness is found in them. Perhaps they draw heaven a little closer, too. In giving to others, our greed is crucified once again. Our idols of security and satisfaction are crucified again. Best of all, in giving and sacrifice we are able to bless those around us.

No resume. Just results.

Ever noticed how insatiable the drive is for people to justify themselves? Sometimes I even catch myself doing it on auto-pilot. I don't even realize what is happening - Someone questions me and I'm instinctively off to the races answering for myself.

The weird thing is that I know how ridiculous I sound , but I keep talking anyway. Furthermore, the harder we work at telling people our resume, the more we undermine the qualities about ourselves we are probably trying to defend. ...one of life's nasty little ironies.

The truth is, no one in the real world cares about your resume, only your results. If you want to convince the world of your worth (and hopefully your worth is not tied to their opinion), show them results. It takes restraint and patience, but in the end, the results of your actions will speak much louder than your words.

People and Legacy

I had lunch with an old friend yesterday. It was a great time reminiscing about the way things used to be and catching up with the way that they are. My how things change! Back in the day, we were carefree college guys who liked cutting class to play tennis. Today, we're both husbands, dads and career-oriented employees. Somewhere between the house salad (with ranch) and the Southwestern chicken wrap, we began looking ahead a little bit. The question: are we headed towards our destinies?

I have had a pretty good life filled with things that people generally consider "significant." However, looking over my shoulder at those things, they feel a little bit like little league baseball trophies. A few years later, and they don't matter too much. The times with lasting significance, the times when I think I have "hit my stride" in reaching for my destiny all have to do with people. The times I have impacted another, invested my time and energy in the welfare of another - those times matter.

People matter. My wife matters. My three boys matter. Family matters. Friends matter. The inconvenient person I usually try to avoid matters. Long after the clamor of my activity has faded, my legacy in people may or may not live on - I prefer that it does.

So what about it. Maybe you and I can create, pursue, and seek opportunities, while we're about the typical activities of life, to positively impact the life of another. Create your legacy.

The What? The Church.

Imagine this.

God props His feet up. "Hmm. ...and then Jesus will ascend back into heaven, the Holy Spirit will descend upon the people, and I'll need an entity to tell the whole world the good news and to bring about My kingdom on the earth. I'll call that entity the church."

Really God? The church?

I don't know about you, but as I look around at "the church", I'm thinking that this can't be what God intended: a bunch of people sitting around on Sunday morning before grabbing lunch and watching football. Does "church" matter? What if we ask people outside the club: "Does church matter?" I bet I know what they'll say.

Just a thought, what if as the "church" we started doings things that mattered, instead of just doing 'what we do'. A revolutionary thought, don't you think.

If you could never attend another worship service, how would you go about being the church? This week, how could you go about showing someone outside the church that the church matters?