You’re Outta Here!

I came across a blog recently that really articulated something that I’ve been thinking about lately. I’ve pasted the content of the blog below:

“Get Out Of Here!!!”

“But Jesus! You are my Lord!”

“Get away from Me. I never knew you.”

“But I healed people in Your Name. I spoke in tongues and cast out demons.”

“I said, “Get away” – You’ve never been a part of Me or My message.”

“But I prophesied damn it. Don’t you get it? I prophesied!!!!”

“Get – Away – From – Me.”

How is it that people can believe they’re a Christian with out the presence of Christ making a radical change in their character and priorities?

How can we believe we are a light to the world when our behaviours and our speech show that our lives are as dark and confused as the life of the pagan next door?

How can I claim the love of Jesus if I don’t sacrificially love?

Thanks to Makarios for posting what I was unable to articulate.

Not Normal

In his book “The Celtic Way of Evangelism” George G Hunter III writes:

Pastors and churches, today, who regard outreach to lost people as the church’s main business, and especially those who are perceived to prefer the company of lost people to the company of church people are suspect, marginalized, and “shot at” by establishment Christians and church leaders.  No major denomination in the United States regards apostolic ministry to pre-Christian outsiders as its “priority” or even as “normal” ministry.

From my understanding of the above statement, according to Hunter – those organizations which prefer to hang out with the “lost” are considered to be on the fringe or are otherwise the social outcasts of the Christian establishment. To further his point about the establishment – he indicates that no denomination lists this as a priority or as a normal part of their ministry.

I am not a huge proponent of traditional American-style evangelism such as: Door-to-door “soul-winning,” televangelism or manipulative conversations on the beach like some promote.

When Patrick went to Ireland in the 5th century, he had a knowledge of the people there.  He had been enslaved in Ireland as a young man.  Because of his intimate knowledge of the people and the culture he was able to have influence in Ireland when Rome was unable to.  Hunter states:

There is no shortcut to understanding the people.  When you understand the people, you will often know what to say and do, and how.  When the people know that the Christians understand them, they infer that maybe the High God understands them too.

What’s wrong with building relationships with people in the community? What’s wrong with getting to know the people in the community and sharing in the joys and sorrows of your friends and neighbors… and when asked… sharing your faith.  Not keeping it a secret – but not making it the sole reason for my relationship with them?

Relational evangelism within the confines of a missional perspective on life allows for me to hang with the ‘lost’ and befriend those in my neighborhood and those I encounter in my daily life as I endeavor to expand and extend the Kingdom of God wherever I go.

All Figured Out?

Have you got God all figured out yet? I mean really figured out? If you do “A” will he automatically do “B”?  I have to admit that I don’t believe that God is a cosmic vending machine where if we were to punch in the correct cosmic code on the keypad, we would be overrun with “product”

In other words, if you do steps 1-4 then God won’t automatically pour out “extra” blessings on your life.

God is a mystery and not simply a formula to be figured out.  You don’t simply connect-the-dots, crack the code, or say the magic words and expect that the genie will come out of the bottle to do your bidding.

I do believe in cause-and-effect – things that there are consequences – good or bad. I also believe that there is Grace – things that God does on our behalf although we haven’t earned it and definitely do not deserve it.

This faith-journey that I am on has caused me to realize that I don’t have it all figured out and I probably never will… but each day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before as I learn, grow, and rely on Him more and more.

Choices

In a conversation with a relative – on Thanksgiving Day – I had a hard time articulating why I believe that CHOICES are our God-given right. I was struggling to define that CHOICES have natural consequences and that God has set into place that we can CHOOSE.

Recently, Rick Warren was part of a Q&A session with the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and he shared the following statement:

Here’s my philosophy of life: If God gives me a choice to reject him or love him – because it’s not love if I’m forced to love him – if God gives me a choice to reject him or love him, then I’ve got to give everybody else that choice too. And that’s why I believe in America. I’ve got to give everybody the choice.

Week 1 of Advent: Hope

(My interpretation of the message from VCC yesterday)

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.(1 Cor 13:13)

HOPE – A powerful word – there is a future

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.(Romans 5:1-5)

We can make a choice to become bitter due to the circumstances of life…

Or we can grow and realize that we have a bigger space in our heart for God.

Something inside of us knows that we need the comfort that only God can provide.

New things are birthed out of the pain we experience in life. We have a hope…

I can have confidence and lean into the future and expec something good no matter what difficulties occur.

Due to no decision or fault of my own I experience trials and yet i still trust that God has good for me.

Life remains a mystery and we don’t understand all of the pieces and parts of it but we get to experience hope because of Jesus!

Blessed

I am so blessed to be able to get to hang out with a group of men who genuinely love God and love people!

Last night at our monthly Men’s meeting (called “Champions”) we had the opportunity to read our personal life’s mission statement – mine was long-winded but can be shortened quite a bit…

Here’s the original:

Fully dependent on God, my unique purpose is to utilize my giftings, talents & abilities in every avenue of media to create relevant worship environments, serve the global Church through efficient, useful, & affordable technology, foster a culture of belonging before believing, and serve people through mercy missions (offering that “cup of cold water in the name of the Father”) in the US, Africa, and the rest of the world.

My mission statement can be summed up in three words… MEDIA, MERCY, and MISSIONS.  It needs to be wordsmithed a little bit – but it’s getting honed :–)

Thought on Faith

Faith is…
More than wishes or daydreams…

It is a belief – from the core of who you are – that ‘something’ (not yet seen or experienced) is going to be!

There is an expectation.
There is hope.
There is unity.

Whew. Long weekend now over.

I had a GREAT 4th of July Weekend. I hope you did too.

Hung out with Friends on Friday…

Saw Mark Batterson speak at Central on Saturday

and…

Served at Epic on Sunday.

How was YOUR weekend?

Think Different(ly)

Do you remember the old “THINK DIFFERENT” Apple commercial? It went something like this:

Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some may see them as the crazy ones,
We see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world,
Are the ones who do.

What a great commercial.  You can view a version of it below:

What if we applied the “think different” concept to the way we “do” church?

I have a friend who attends a church that is thinks differently.

The church is called Christ the King Community Church International they are deliberatley simple and minimalist in virtually everything that they do. It all comes down to relationships.  Sure there are thousands of people involved in their services – but the vast majority of them will never see each other… They are one church in multiple locations. They have hundreds of small groups.  They meet in restaurants, grange halls, Elks Clubs, old Theatres, schools, and other facilities.

Check it out and dare to think different(ly).

Babies in Church

A friend of mine pastors a growing church North of Seattle and is struggling with the increase in the number of babies in the sanctuary.  He wrote a blog today called “I need your help” in order to work through some of the issues that they experienced in yesterday’s services.  Head on over and join the conversation.