A Birthday Gift

This year our church participated in two dynamic, outwardly focused events in our community. One occurred the Saturday after Easter, sending an eclectic gathering of over 1,000 volunteers into the community to perform a variety of acts of kindness, support, caring, and grace. The afternoon and evening continued this ministry effort around a continuous celebration of praise music and faith testimony. The second event occurred on Christmas Eve, gathering over 800 people in a local convention center for a worship celebration and to distribute Christmas gifts and food to over 600 children in need and their families. Both events came about through God's vision impressed on our church's skilled and gifted Worship Coordinator, Brad Aycock, and hundreds of willing leaders and volunteers. And each event united people of several churches, various religious affiliations and no religious allegiance, all ages, and all racial background. (We live in a wonderful town, but it is a community, like many, that has had some painful moments of division between Caucasians citizens and African-American citizens.) It has been a joy and blessing to watch events like this unfold, to see God's mighty hand at work, and to join with others in humble obedience to the mainstream of God's heart.

For most of my adult life I have kept prayer journals. Most of my prayer life, both listening for God and speaking to God, is expressed in writing. Lately I've been glossing through some journals, just to be reminded of God's faithfulness and action in the past. Yesterday, my 59th birthday, I saw these words that I wrote about dreams I'd had on August 9, 2009 while on a sabbatical retreat. In light of the paragraph above, note this entry:

" I usually forget dreams in the morning, and these two (from last night) are fading. Still, I recall enough of the sense of them. The first was a grand, positive, outdoor worship experience in Sikeston. Several things I recall about it. First, it was multi-ethnic. Second, it had the energetic and happy involvement of children. Also, I felt excited about it; eager to do my part without the constant, simmering anxiety of failure, opposition or whatever..."

I know now that God gave me a glimpse of what was to come. This was a great birthday gift. Sometimes the road can seem long, and any of us can wonder if our passion for a God-sized vision is worth it. Simply put, what God seeks, God will bring about, some way, some time.

Everything You Need to Know about the End of Time

Today I told our congregation that I could tell them everything we need to know about the end of time in five words. (Kept them in suspense about the specific five words until the very end. Occupational hazard. Preachers and politicians have the same affliction - We take twenty minutes to say what could be said in five minutes.)

So here's what I told them. (SPOILER ALERT: If you don't want to know what you need to know about the end of it all, log off now.) Here's everything you need to know about the end times in five words: JESUS WINS IN THE END.

Now, I admit that I thought this was pretty spot-on, but some other folks came up with five word formulas that were right on the money! Here they are, with credit given - everything we need to hear about believe about the end of time:

DO NOT WORRY ABOUT IT! (Mark Deane)

IT'S NOT UP TO US! (Mike Marsh)

BEST DAY OF OUR LIVES! (Danny Kuykendall)

This is great. I'm sure there are others. What's your five word summation of the end from a faith perspective? I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Preferential Treatment

Though I had a happy childhood, I was a shy child. In addition, I did not come from a prominent family, nor did I live in an upscale neighborhood. I became very cognizant of those around me who received preferential treatment. I noticed the ones who went to the front of the line, who got the most attention from teachers and coaches, who were picked first for anything, or who received the the inside track on almost anything. At an early age I came to accept the truth that I would have to work doubly hard to warrant preferential treatment, as it would not come to me naturally. In many facets of my life, preferential treatments stayed and remains elusive. In some arenas of my existence, I have eked out preferential status, if only for a time. Oddly, though, I can't say that I've enjoyed it when I've achieved it. Attaining preferential treatment just seems to accentuate all the more those who are denied it. That's been frustrating, as life has tended to teach me that preferential treatment measures value and success.

Compounding the irony is that I have surrendered my existence to a very odd individual, who claims that the opposite of preferential treatment is not only what I should seek, but the very identity for which I was designed. This person is one who called his followers to actively seek the non-privileged positions in life, and demonstrated this by giving up his unity with God to become human, to take the form of a slave, and to be obedient even to submitting to a criminal's death.

The exact opposite of the path that has been dangled before me since childhood...I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

A History-Changing Also-Ran

She was a seamstress in a department store in a southern town. At 42, she was like thousands of women in the mid 1950's; working menial labor to get by. She wasn't likely to garner much attention either on the job, in the business streets of her city on in the neighborhood. Not renowned for anything of which I'm aware, she was, by all accounts, an "also-ran" in life.

Until December 1 of 1955...Reflective of her existence, and joining with others who examined what was and what could be, this lady decided that enough was enough. Expected to sit in the back of a Montgomery, Alabama city bus, as she had been thousands of times before, Rosa Parks refused to do so. And the rest is history.

Much of the history of God's love and justice is not written by those in power. It is forged in the courage of the "also-rans."

Just finished two great days of kayaking. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Joseph, the Also-Ran

His name was Joseph. He was a Jew from a priestly family, who lived outside of Palestine; from the island of Cyprus, specifically. Apparently others who followed Jesus in first century referred to him as "barnabus" meaning, "son of encouragement." Maybe he was an uplifting person to be around. We don't know. The sum total recorded of Joseph is that he owned a piece of property somewhere in the region, he sold it, and gave the money from the sale to the early work of meeting human need among in the ministry of introducing people to Jesus of Nazareth, the one they claimed was "lord" above all. (Acts 4:36-37) Preachers seldom preach about him. I can't remember ever hearing anything taught about him in a Bible study, nor teaching anything myself. Biblical commentaries tend to treat him as an example of sacrificial sharing in the early Church, or as a set up for the dismal story of Ananias and Sapphira that follows. Joseph, by the world's standards, was an "also ran."

However, we don't know the results of the sale of that field. Did a hungry person get fed because of Joseph's acts, and thus see the sacrificing love of Jesus in flesh-and-blood action? Did that person come to know Jesus and feel welcomed in the believing community? Did that story become the vehicle through which other people turned God-ward? Could my faith or yours be not that many degrees separated from what Joseph started?

Be careful assuming anyone is an "also ran" or making that assumption about yourself. We don't know the monumental things God has done through those who don't happen to have been or to be in the limelight.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Also Ran

I know next to nothing about horse racing. I read Seabiscuit, and saw the movie; enjoyed them both. That's about it. From hanging around the Illinois State Fair as a kid, though, I remember that the first three places in any race's finish were called win, place, and show. Any other horse in the field was listed as also ran... Any horse that ran in the race, and didn't get one of the first three spots was an "also ran."

Nobody remembers the "also rans." We remember the team that won the world series, but not the team that finished over .500, yet failed to make the playoffs. We recall the president of the company, but not the guy who retired as a department head, but never made it into the inner circle of company officers. I my professional world, we'll all remember the likes of Charles Swindoll, Bill Hybels, Rob Bell, and Francis Chan. And well we should - their impact on the mission of changing lives in the name of Jesus is immeasurable. No one will recall the pastor of the little church of thirty people, who lead them into genuine discipleship, growth, and impact in their small town, thus keeping the church from closing its doors. Our world assumes a hierarchy of influence, and "also rans" are low in that worldview.

Biblically, we remember Simon Peter, who lead the first gathering of Jesus-followers in Jerusalem. We remember Stephen, the first recorded martyr; surrendering his life for allegiance to Jesus. We recall Saul/Paul, the unlikely ambassador for Jesus throughout the Roman empire. Few people remember or know a follower of Jesus named Joseph, who was nicknamed Barnabus. I've never heard a sermon about him. He warranted only two verses in the Bible. I wonder why the Holy Spirit wanted us to know about this "also ran"?

More on Joseph, the "son of exhortation" in the next post. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Humility and Also-Rans

Sorry for the long hiatus. No real reason...probably too sidetracked by Facebook, Twitter, some great fishing, and other distractions.

There are two subjects I want to pursue for a while by way of these postings. First, there's a dimension of leadership that seems to be capturing some attention right now; at least it's grabbing mine. Many needed facets of leadership have been promoted for the last couple of decades: the need for vision, the need for courage, the need for flexibility, the need for assertiveness, the need for drive and momentum, the need for people skills, the need to get tough when required, etc. I now see a leadership trait rising to the top of discussion, which kind of torques all the other "out there" kind of characteristics. It's humility. How is humility defined in leadership? Among our most effective leaders, in and out of gatherings of Jesus-followers, we often see fairly strong egos in play, or at least high levels of personal confidence. How does that square with mandates on Jesus-followers such as those found in the Bible in Philippians, chapter 2? What's the difference between a leader such as Donald Trump, who functions with an unrestrained ego, and a leader such as former professional football coach Tony Dungy, who almost completely avoids the limelight?

The second matter has to do with those who are not found in the limelight, with or without the trait of humility. In old horse-racing language, these are the ones who do not get listed in "win", "place" or "show." They are the "also-rans." More on this with the next post.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river. (It's great to be able to say that now, finally as an owner of a kayak!)

The Well Is In!

Six weeks before Easter our congregation learned that a remote village in the poverty-stricken nation of Mozambique needed a well. People had to walk a twelve-mile round trip to the nearest source of any fresh water. Illness and death from use of tainted water sources happened all the time. The followers of Jesus in this town appealed for help to raise funds to secure the movement of heavy equipment into this area to sink a well. The total cost was right around $10,000. The cost seemed daunting, but folks in our church accepted the challenge. We felt that if enough of us sacrificed a meal a week and put aside the money we would have spent for a special love offering on Easter, we might make a dent in this need. On Easter Sunday, $11,335 came in to put toward the well in Mozambique. Giving glory and thank to God, I am happy to report that as of last week the well is completed. Fresh water is now available to the people of this village. Lives are being saved. Great things can happen when we set aside our agenda, sacrifice, and align with the heart of God for the people God loves.

This week many people in our congregation are involved in several challenges to bring the hope of Jesus to the world...a five day food challenge, drinking only water and eating only a cup of rice, beans, or vegetables at each meal...preparing a sacrificial "Project Hope" offering for meeting needs both locally and globally...accepting a challenge to collect 5000 cans of food for a local food bank and 5000 packets of vegetable seeds to address hunger globally. We invite your prayerful support. Humbled hearts, bathed in prayer, aligned with the heart and passion of Jesus, provide the stage for God to do great things.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

"If My People..."

The first Thursday of May each year has been designated as a "National Day of Prayer." Virtually every year Christian churches and leaders focus on this verse from the Bible on that day: "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land." (II Corinthians 7:14.) The context of this section is God's message to Solomon on the occasion of the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem. It is a hope or command for people to turn God-ward, in hopes of having all pain, division, and threat lifted.

Whose job is it to lead people in turning God-ward in this way? Is this something the President should do? Is this the responsibility of elected government officials? Should the courts be leading the way in this? Do we hold public schools accountable to make this happen? To hear some church folks and church leaders cry out against these entities, one might assume that the answer is "yes" to all of the above.

The real responsibility rests with we who have yielded to God, who is made known in the crucified and risen Jesus. We are to be the Body of Jesus the Christ, and the hope of the world. It is our responsibility to have impact - changing lives, changing communities, and changing the world. Our nation will not turn God-ward simply by allowing the ten commandments to be posted in courthouses, by having "In God We Trust" on our currency, having "under God" in our pledge of allegiance, or allowing prayer at public school functions. It will happen because followers of Jesus live their lives in ways that draw others to Jesus, that meet the needs of the least among us, and that change lives, communities, and nations for the good. Our land will heal as churches "leave the building," get out in the mission field, and be the hope of the world.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Impact

IMPACT...Easter wasn't just a nice idea to give us warm religious feelings. Raising Jesus from death had impact. Lives changed, futures changed, the world changed. Throughout the history of the last two millenia, where the Jesus-following movement surged forward in Spirit and power, it had transformed impact.

The sobering truth is that 8 out of 10 North American churches are stagnant or dying. Among other things, this means that these churches are no longer having impact. If they closed their doors, the communities (mission fields) in which they are located might not notice their absence. I am a blessed person. I am a part of a congregation that has chosen not to be one of the eight! I want to say a public and heartfelt thank-you for the courage, faithfulness, and persistence of the Jesus-followers where I worship. Choosing to be impact-church is not always easy, but it is always the fulfillment of Jesus' charge to us to make and grow followers of Jesus, to be the Body of the risen Jesus in the world, and to be the hope of the world.

This Saturday our congregation will take a lead role in an event called "The Hope Epidemic." Over 1,000 volunteers will be sent into the community and region to do various acts of love, service, and grace. Our aim is to pronounce a hands-on message of hope in Jesus in a world struggling to cling to hope. I invite your prayers that even just one person might see and know Jesus because of this event.

I also invite followers of Jesus to be on stand-by to assist the many whose property and lives have been damaged by rampaging storms across the Midwest and mid-south this past weekend. The need for impact never rests. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Spiritual Pride

Humility matters for followers of Jesus. It is a Jesus-attribute. (See Philippians 2.) In that regard, here's one of the best messages I've ever heard: "We have an inborn persisting tendency to attribute to ourselves the successes of our spiritual life, the resistance we offer to temptation, the devotion we achieve, the discipline we keep and the good works we do. Surely we thank God for all that, but in our heart of hearts we congratulate ourselves on our exploits, and secretly worship our sword and our bow. We take as done by us what is done by God in us; even obvious graces from heaven stick to the soul and seem after some time to be connatural to us and springing from us. That is spiritual pride of the worst kind, and it really takes hold of a soul. It is enough to stop any spiritual progress at all. The disease is as dangerous as it is common." (From FAITH FOR JUSTICE by Carlos G. Valles.) I'll see you around the next bend in the river. The shadow of the cross is looming nearer.

Give Me All

The journey to the cross evokes awareness of sacrifice; the complete, total sacrifice of Jesus. Followers of Jesus, committed to leading people in new life with Jesus, accept the call to give up life as we presume it should be - life as we think it would most benefit us - for something that is greater, more purposeful, and more in line with who and what God designed us to be.

C. S. Lewis said, it better than I ever could: "The Christian way is different: harder and easier. Christ says, 'Give me All. I don't want so much of your time, so much of your money, so much of your work. I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there. I want to have the whole tree down...Hand over the whole natural self, all of the desires which you think innocent and all the ones you think wicked - the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.'" (From MERE CHRISTIANITY.)

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

End of the "Worship Wars"!

Sometimes God speaks by the simplest of means. Something we happen to see around us just becomes vivid, clear evidence of the heart of God. I saw such a thing a couple of weeks ago. Through this seemingly innocuous vision, God seemed to be saying to me, "I really don't care about the 'worship wars.'"

For those of you unfamiliar with the "worship wars" that refers to a battle that has been raging in various Protestant congregations throughout North America for the better part the last quarter century. It is the conflict between those who want "traditional" elements of worship and those pushing for "contemporary" styles of worship. Depending on denominational affiliation, "traditional" worshippers want songs/hymns that have been around for many decades and elements of worship (styles of dress, types of prayers, organ and piano accompaniment, orders of worship, creeds, etc.) that have remained in use and unchanged for whole lifetimes. "Contemporary" worshippers push for newer music, usually involving electric and string accompaniment, percussion, use of video technology, etc. Congregations will divide into virtual armed camps around this, and thousands of churches have fought or are fighting this mission-distracting war...this despite the fact that all "traditional" worship was "contemporary" at some point in history, and most of what passes for "contemporary" really isn't! (Ask any worshipper under 25 years old!)

Anyway, a few weeks ago, while worshipping in a service I will not label, I happened to look to my right to a little girl in the same service. She is new to faith and to Christian worship, having come to our congregation on the invitation of a neighbor. She was singing praise with absolute exuberance and gratitude for the chance to do so. She understands little about faith and church at this point, but she gets the fact that Jesus is someone real and someone who seeks her and invites her. I realized looking at her, that she is the goal. It doesn't matter what style of worship is used, as long as that little girl and people like her experience what she was experiencing. (And, no - I'm not going to tell you which style of worship she was in.)

So, best wishes to all my brother and sister Jesus-followers who think the most important thing is to keep fighting the worship wars. I'm out. It's not the main thing. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

A Meal A Week For Mozambique

I often hear people ask, "How do I know if God is speaking to me?" That's a good question, and God speaks in multiple ways. Sometimes God speaks when factors converge.

As with many congregations of Jesus-followers, our church is observing the season known as Lent. Lent is a period of roughly 40 days leading up to the observance of the death of Jesus of Nazareth, and our belief that God raised Jesus from death. Followers of Jesus often use Lent as a time of reflection, penitence for our distance from God, and sacrifice. Some are in the habit of making specific sacrifices, such as giving up certain food or practices, or maybe giving up a meal a week.

In a community called Mucocane in the poverty-stricken African nation of Mozambique, there is a church community of our particular denomination. Against widespread disease, hunger, and want, this church is growing with vibrancy in reaching people for Jesus. Like many places in Mozambique, the absence of fresh water in Mucocane is a constant battle. People have to make a 6 kilometer walk one way to get any fresh water at all. Reliance on tainted water results in constant disease and death. In addition to what the church people in Mucacane can scrape together, $10,000 given through our denomination's Mozambique Initiative would facilitate the digging and operating of a well.

If 200 people in our church gave up a meal a week, named $10 as the cost that would go into that meal each week, set aside that $10 a week, then brought the accumulated money on Easter weekend, the well would be bought! For the price of sacrificing a meal a week, lives would be saved for generations to come.

Where the need of people God loves intersects with our ability to meet that need, that's God speaking! I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

A Kayak!

I began this blog on February 23, 2008. In that post I explained that I spend a lot of time canoeing Missouri Ozark streams. At the time, I was dreaming about a kayak as my next vessel of choice for rivers. Last Thursday - March 3, 2011, I brought home a ten foot fishing kayak, a little over three years after first posting my future hope.

It took longer than I expected to get it. At times over the last three years I came near amassing the right amount of funds to get it done, only to have some other financial need in our household put be back to square one. Sometimes I thought it would just be better to give up on the idea of owning a kayak. Now I can hardly believe that it is actually sitting out on our back porch.

Similarly, God's vision for our future rarely happens according to a time line or project plan that we would select and prefer. It would be easy at times to give up on it. When it finally arrives it may not be as we would have pictured it. Yet God's future most certainly will unfold.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river - in a kayak...finally!

What Is Your "Something"?

Helen Keller was a brilliant, passionate advocate for physically challenged people of all kinds. She herself was both blind and deaf, yet she had unrivaled impact on how we regard and treat one another. Here's a quote from this exceptional lady:

"I am only one, but I still am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do."

Each of us must ask ourselves, "What is my something?" For followers of Jesus, we know that God has called and equipped each one of us to contribute to God's vision of changed lives and a transformed world. Do we each know our own something? Are we each pursuing it. As with Helen Keller, are we steadfastly refusing to let the world convince us that we should not be doing the something for which God has called and equipped us?

I can't remember from whom I heard this, but it has stuck with me for years: Maintenance pastors measure success by their personal sense of fulfillment in ministry. Missional pastors measure success by changed lives and changed communities.

I believe this to be true, not just about pastors, but with reference to individual followers of Jesus and congregations of believers as well. And I belief this applies to followers of Jesus who go by all different brand names. Many Christians and churches measure success according to individual satisfaction. The pastor feels comfortable in how he/she is spending time in ministry. People who come to worship have a sense of spiritual warmth and peace. The entire congregation and its leaders becomes content with doing things in certain ways that signal a message of predictability and equilibrium in the congregation. If everyone personally "feels good," then that means success.

Pastors, church leaders, and congregations who choose to be driven by making disciples of Jesus measure success differently. They are looking lives changed by Jesus. These persons and ministries gauge effectiveness as they see people baptized and beginning a relationship with Jesus, growing with other followers in commitment to Jesus, and engaging the ministries to which the Holy Spirit has called them and for which the Holy Spirit has equipped them. As Jesus followers take their new life into their homes, families, friendships, and workplaces, the change becomes exponential. Relationships change, marriages change, families change, friendships change, work lives change, the way people do business and deal with each other changes - and whole communities begin to change. This is what it means to succeed in fulfilling the Great Commission. (See Matthew 28:19 in the Bible.)

Which kind of church would most likely draw you? Think about that, and I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

What a "Kingdom Win" Looks Like

Here's what leading people in new life with Jesus looks like:

Because of personal invitation, an individual with no church connection, whose feels the tug of turning God-ward, comes to worship. In the course of getting to know this individual, followers of Jesus discover a little bit about his life, his work, and the things that are important to him. He is an educator, with a passion for transforming young lives. He is concerned in particular for under-resourced children who start their public education pathway several steps behind children who happen to enter kindergarten with more resources and preparation available to them. From these conversations people begin to talk and pray and vision about how followers of Jesus could come alongside school systems and close that gap. A specific concept and vision for a ministry is born, and many church folks line up to provide hands on work, to provide funding, and to provide organization and resources. And new relationships are formed outside of the church walls through which Jesus may be experienced and known.

All because of one person welcomed into a worshipping gathering of Jesus-followers. This is happening right now in the congregation of which I am a part. Similar things are happening everywhere in congregations that are moving past just going through the motions of being "church," and are moving into the mainstream of God's heart for a lost and hurting world.

This is what a "win" for the Kingdom looks like. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Preparing to Meet the Real Me

People in our community will soon be discovering "the real me" in the eyes of God, via a resource called The Me I Want to Be by John Ortberg. In preparation for that, the following prayer by Thomas Merton seemed appropriate:

"My Lord God, I do not know where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you actually does please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone."

In the name of Jesus, amen. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

An Adventure, Not A Safety-Net

I heard a really good question this morning. "If being a Christian doesn't solve all my problems and make my life perfect, why would I want to be one?" First, this is a good observation. As much as the faith is sometimes marketed as nothing more than a quick fix for what ails you, that's not what it was for the first Jesus followers. Many of them faced unbelievable hardships while staying true to their commitment to Jesus.

Second, though, what is our motivation? Jesus does offer the relationship for which we are designed. All that separates us from God is forgiven and erased, and we look to an eternity with God. We get the strength and encouragement to deal with the ups and downs of life, anchored in the One who died and rose for us. All of this is true.

There's another motivation, though, that gets overlooked. We get to be a part of the adventure of a lifetime! I believe God has placed a hunger in us for quest, challenge, and epic journeys. Unfortunately, we've domesticated all that. We too often decide that the goal of life is sheltered safety, and we've boxed in and redefined faith in Jesus to support that. However, ours is a tale of great adventurers and risk-takers, from Paul to St. Francis of Assisi, to Martin Luther, to John Wesley, to Dietrich Bonhoeffer and more. Following Jesus is not about safety. It's about joining God in the adventure of a lifetime - the battle for the heart and soul of humanity.

What adventure will you and I pursue for and with God in 2011?

(Recommended reading on this, especially for men: Wild at Heart and Waking the Dead - both by John Eldridge, and The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus)

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.