One Church Planter's Journey

Fall is coming...

2009-09-13T21:51:00.003-05:00

My favorite season of the year is creeping into the neighborhood.

Why we don't ascribe to "innerancy"

2009-09-11T09:42:00.003-05:00

I've said it a thousand times, I love the theology of the Church of the Nazarene. I love that we stand smack-dab in the center of Christian tradition and orthodoxy, avoiding the extremes views (on most things, anyway).

A perfect example is our view of scripture. We've found a way to describe the partnership of God and humans in co-authoring scripture, while avoiding an "all humans" or "all God" extreme.

Check out this article, it's a GREAT read! http://www.naznet.com/inerrant.htm

Love Wins is expanding!

2009-09-09T09:54:00.004-05:00

Continuing with the TFC tradition, we're going to be taking the love of Jesus to a place that most Christians either completely avoid, or when they do engage that community they mis-represent the love of Jesus. We've been affectionately calling this new endeavor Love Wins Part Deux but the official name is "Love Wins: LGBT" (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, trans-gender). It's now "Love Wins: Gentlemen's Clubs" and "Love Wins: LGBT."

I won't be able to get the audio up until next week but below is the text of what we discussed on Sunday. While you likely won't be able to sense it from the manuscripts, Sunday morning's worship was INTENSE! People were calling out affirmation, crying, praying intensely and generally getting all pumped up about where TFC is headed. The past 4 years have been quite a ride but I have a feeling we're only getting started. I never could've imagined how much God would've blown apart my narrow box of what defines "church." But it's happening and it's amazing. I just got a note from a pastor in St. Louis who wrote, "I'm admiring what you're doing from a distance. Thanks for incarnating a new model of church."

Or to quote Pastor Andy, "LOVE WINS, y'all"!

To read more and to ask questions, check out Pastor Andy's blog here.

Here's the text of Sunday's message:

Pastor Donnie
As you’ve likely already noticed, we’re doing things a bit different today. Rather than discussion groups after the message, we’re going to spend more time in prayer. We’ll still have the chance to discuss the message, though but it will happen later in the week, via Pastor Andy’s blog, which he’ll explain later.
Just before the blessing, we’ll read Dr. Seuss’ “Oh, the Places You’ll Go.” But we’re going to start by looking at a time in scripture in which Jesus dared to go to a place where no “upright, religious person” would ever go. John 4:1-10 running commentary
Vs. 3 – once again, Jesus is making the ultra religious people, the ones so caught up with rules, mad because he won’t follow their rules and doesn’t fit their expectations
Vs. 4 – “had” map of Samaria We’re seeing some irony here. Samaria is right in the middle between Judea and Galilee. When a good Jewish religious person went from Judea to Galilee, they always took the long way around, so they didn’t have to go through Samaria. They wouldn’t be caught dead in Samaria. This had been going on for centuries.
The Samaritans didn’t keep the rules the same way the Jews did. To the Jews, Samaritans were spiritual sell-outs, compromisers. You couldn’t hang out with a Samaritan. Just being in the same country would get you contaminated.
Religious people haven’t changed much. I enjoy seeing people’s reactions sometimes. “You hang out in bars? Your wife hangs out in strip clubs?” One time, a lady told us (in a very condescending voice) “well, I guess they need Jesus, too.” Wow, that still makes me mad. Jesus is going to a place that rule-following religious people avoided like the plague.
Vs. 9 - Jesus is breaking so many rules here.
1) He’s in Samaria
2) He’s talking to a woman – alone
3) The woman is Samaritan
4) She’s the town whore. She’s been married 5 times and is now living with a guy to whom she’s not married. She’s at the well at noon, the hottest part of the day, because she knows no one else will be there. She’s an outcast.
5) In that culture, a man did not ask a woman for help, it was beneath his dignity. Especially not a loose Samaritan woman.
Vs. 10 – Jesus is breaking all the rules because he knows people matter more than rules. This woman needs a relationship with Jesus. Jesus refuses to put a rule above a relationship.
They then have this whole conversation in which Jesus points out that she’s trying to find fulfillment in relationships but that only he can fill that void in her life.
John 4:25-30
Vs. 26 – had Jesus been following the rules, he never could’ve had this conversation with this woman. He had to break the religious rules to share God’s love.
Vs. 27 – “shocked” Of course, it shocked the disciples. Here’s the deal, if you’re showing love the way Jesus showed love, it will shock most religious people. Religious people focus on rules and performance. Jesus is about grace and acceptance. The love of Jesus is scandalous.
Vs. 30 – Not only was the Samaritan woman’s life changed. But an entire village of religious outcasts met Jesus. Why? Because Jesus dared go to a place no one else would go.
2 years ago, we launched our Love Wins ministry. Daring to take the love of Jesus to a place where most Christians either ignored, tried to shut down or stood outside with picket signs. 2 years ago, right before our first trip to the clubs, I shared what we were going to do with some pastors at an annual meeting of churches in the KC area. You should’ve seen some of the shocked faces. 2 years later, our DS told the Love Wins story to a couple thousand people as an example of how to share the love of Jesus. We’re going to watch the videos he shared.

Last month, our newly elected Advisory Council heard a proposal from Pastor Andy regarding taking Love Wins to another group of people. Another group that, just like the employees of the clubs, have been bullied by Christians. Who have felt a Christ-dishonoring condemnation, rather than a Christ-honoring love.

Pastor Andy
Today is a big day Trinity Family. Today we continue the story of Love Wins. Before I get to that though, let me begin with a story.The summer before I came to Trinity Family, I lived in Togo, a small country in West Africa. That summer, my team and I saw some of the most amazing things happen. God was all over that trip inspiring us and shaping us in ways we could have never imagined. The story I want to share with you from our trip is about a banana lady, Outside of a massive Shell refinery there was this lady with a small stool, a big pan, and a whole lot of bananas. We would visit this lady when we wanted to buy bananas. One day God compelled us to reach this banana lady. We knew what we needed to do. We bought bananas and we bought bananas and we bought bananas. We bought so many bananas from this lady that it got to the point that when she saw our car she would run after us to sell us bananas. We ate so many bananas that summer it was unreal. We did it so that we could build a relationship with the banana lady so that we could share Christ’s love with her. It wasn’t about forcing Christ message down her throat, it wasn’t about pulling out our evange-cubes it was about building a relationship with a person so that we could show and share Christ love with her. Period. We went that whole summer and all we did was buy bananas. We built a relationship and guess what folks…out of that relationship came a new follower of Christ! LOVE WINS!This is what Love Wins is all about. It’s all about Trinity Family building relationships with people outside of our walls. It’s all about Trinity Family making friends with people that the Church has failed to make friends. It’s all about building bridges where the Church has burned them down. It’s all about a Church letting people know that no matter where you are in life or what you’re tangled up in or where you come from…GOD LOVES YOU!It’s exactly what Christ did. Today Donnie shared a story with you about a woman at a well. A woman that was one of the lowest people in her society. A woman that had messed up royally in her life. A woman that people shunned. A woman that people rejected. A woman that Church people thought God in the flesh should not take the time of day to acknowledge. What did God do? He acknowledged her. He gave her the time of day. He built a relationship with her. He told her God cared. He offered her living water. And guess what folks…out of that relationship came a new follower of Christ! LOVE WINS! God did what he tells us to do. Go into ALL the world. Not just the places we are comfortable but into ALL the world.That is what Trinity Family, through our Love Wins ministry is seeking to do. To go into ALL the world.The woman at the well is strikingly familiar isn’t she? The fact is…after 2000 years, still have those people that we say are just not worth the effort. They are identified by the names Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender. The LGBT. To those people Trinity Family has been called to go and we have answered that call because guess what folks…LOVE STILL WINS!Over the past few months, a group of people, of which I am a part, from Trinity Family have decided to become intentional about sharing Christ love with the LGBT community. We are not doing it by painting picket signs or handing out tracts, or by condemning anyone to hell. We are doing it by building relationships with people. We are intent on loving people where they are just like the God that we follow does because guess what folks…LOVE STILL WINS!Just as Christ did, we have a simple way of how we are going to reach the people that the Church has rejected but that God has called us to love. We will build friendships with members of the LGBT community. We will spend time with our friends showing Christ love to them and letting them know that we are not like all the others who reject them. We will be and are there simply to build bridges between God and the people that He loves... That’s it. It’s that simple. It’s about us being Christ presence in a community and a place where He longs for us to be. It’s all about loving people because guess what folks…LOVE STILL WINS!Got it? …GoodThat’s it folks. That’s what we wanted to share with you today. We wanted to share with you the direction where we firmly believe that Trinity Family is being called to go in.

Pastor Scott
Our small group is currently reading and discussing a book titled, Holy Fools: Following Jesus with Reckless Abandon by Matthew Woodley. In one of the recent chapters we spent time in titled, Demolishing Ghetto Walls, he describes what he calls Christian ghettos and our need to demolish the walls surrounding them. Let me explain.
By observing ghettos we find that they usually form when a minority group feels that it must band together and build walls around itself. A ghetto stems from some basic natural needs for a sense of community, survival and identity. They provide those inside it with security, comfort and a sense of belonging. That’s all good, but here’s the catch: They also tend to neatly divide the world into innies and outies. Ghettos tell us who to exclude.
Now if we’re honest, the Church (in general) has at times done a pretty good job of putting up walls and neatly dividing its world into innies and outies. In this book Woodley challenges this through pointing out that Jesus teaches us differently than what I just described. While it is a natural tendency for us to put up some sort of wall, Jesus teaches us to tear down those walls! Jesus didn’t wall himself in and hang around with people who were like him. Jesus sought after those on the outside. I’d like to read a quote from the book:
“[Jesus] subverted the entire structure of the religious establishment by changing the boundary markers. He essentially picked up the ghetto wall and moved it a few hundred miles down the street. In the process, Jesus blew apart our often rigid social categories of innies and outies.”
What Jesus did was straight up scandalous! Indeed, in many ways it remains scandalous today.
I believe in many ways our church follows Jesus’ model of loving those outside our normative boundaries. And for that I am proud to be a part of this church. This church loves people like no other church I have ever been a part of. But we’re not all the way there yet. We have some distance to travel. I have a passion and hunger for our church to continue to subvert “ghetto wall” mentalities that seek to exclude some people. God is challenging me to find new ways to reach people whom I normally wouldn’t find hanging around church (and as the youth pastor here, I suspect that may include teens). And as God is challenging me, I encourage you to ask God to show you some ways you can do the same. Because in large part, that is what kingdom living is about – loving the so-called unlovable. It is what Jesus did. So let’s do this thing. Let’s let God blow apart whatever amount of ghetto walls we have remaining, and look forward to seeing the amazing things God does in and through this church.

Pastor Donnie

TFC turns 4 years old next Sunday. These past 4 years have been quite a ride. At least for me personally. My understanding of church has changed so much over the past 4 years. I’ve matured, grown and stretched. And every positive that God has done in me as pastor has been the result of me screwing something up in the first place. The thrill of someone meeting Christ and experiencing life-change has been more than I’d imagined. So has the pain of someone walking away from Christ. We’ll keep having ups and downs, sometimes God will move in big ways, sometimes we’ll wonder what we missed.
But I know, in the bottom of my heart, that if we commit ourselves to hearing, obeying and then following the guidance of Jesus, we’ll continue to be amazed at where Jesus takes us.
With that in mind, I want to close with the Good News from Dr. Seuss.
Oh, the Places You’ll Go
It won’t be easy, we’ll get stuck, make mistakes along the way. But this journey of following Jesus is the most worthwhile and rewarding thing we could ever commit ourselves to.

One Day

2009-09-05T10:55:00.006-05:00

Isaiah 2:3-5
People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem. The Lord will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore. Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

Some missing videos

2009-09-02T12:02:00.005-05:00

I finally figured out how to compress video files using Windows Movie Maker, allowing me to finally share some videos that have been sitting on my computer unavailable to the larger world.

Enjoy

It's football season, baby!

2009-08-31T13:22:00.006-05:00

Say it with me now,
"Let's Go, Hawks!"

Dawson's first road race

2009-08-31T12:57:00.008-05:00

On Sunday morning, Dawson and I got up very early (well, Dawson's usual time) and headed to Corporate Woods for the annual Head for the Cure 5k benefiting brain cancer research (Erin's mom died of brain cancer when she was 13). One of the things about parenting I'd been anticipating during all those long years of waiting was jogging with my child. First with the jogging stroller, maybe later with a bike and possibly even both of us running. So Sunday was an exciting event for me.

Although it was only two weeks, I'd trained pretty hard for the race. I had the goal of breaking 25 minutes while pushing Dawson in his stroller. I was all fired up for the race but the intensity quickly turned to frustration. Those of us with strollers were instructed to start at the back of the pack, which put us behind hundreds and hundreds of walkers, people just walking the 5k for the purpose of giving money to the charity. I'm guessing most of these walkers had never run a race before, based partly upon the fact that they didn't leave the left side open for those who wanted to pass. I tried and tried to get through the crowd, even pushed the stroller on the grass for a bit, but wasn't able to break through the wall of people until after the first mile. It was quite frustrating.

But it was cool to take Dawson to the event. Since I usually need the goal of a race to motivate me to train, I was able to get back into decent shape over the past couple weeks. There was also the advantage of Dawson getting to ride alongside his godbrother, Ryder. In fact, the 5k was Franci's idea to begin with. I spent the 3.1 miles trying to convince her that if she could run a 5k, she could do the KC Half Marathon in mid-October.

Even though it took 45 minutes to complete the race, I was able to get back home, shower and get to PRMS before 10:00 on Sunday morning. Sunday night, Erin and I went to the New Theatre Restaurant to eat lots of good food and watch a great showing of The Sound of Music. With usual church activities packed into the middle of the day, Sunday was quite a long day.

Watch / Read this and try not to cry...

2009-08-28T23:04:00.006-05:00

Iowa High School Football experienced a first tonight; ESPN was covering the season opener for Applington-Parkersburg High School. Hopefully, espn.com will have the highlights. In the meantime, watch this video and read this article. I LOVE the forgiveness found in this story, I believe it greatly honors Jesus.

Entire article

Article on the game, including ESPN highlights

ESPN News right after the shooting

Where We're At

2009-08-11T13:20:00.006-05:00

Over the summer, we did surveys to find out where we are as a church in relation to each of our 5 Disciplines. Here's the comprehensive results of those surveys.

Worshipping God

How long have you been a part of Trinity Family?
0-6 months – 22%
6 months – 1 year – 11%
1-2 years – 14%
2 years + – 53%

Were you a part of a Church before TFC?
Y - 80% N – 20%

How often do you attend Sunday worship?
Less than once a month – 11%
1 Sunday per month – 3%
2-3 Sundays per month – 21%
Usually 4 Sundays per month – 65%
When you miss worship, what’s your primary reason for doing so?
Sick, out of town, other commitments, work, life, sick kids, human condition, not make it a priority, laziness, family

What aspects of worship help you best focus upon God?Worship music is huge and the message is key, lots and lots of music, familiar music, communion time, stories in the message, dim lights, scripture during music and communion, stillness, confession, reflective music, meditation time, prayer, Donnie, sermon, intimacy of worship, reading scripture out loud
Are there any aspects of our Sunday morning worship that distracts you from God?
Trying too hard, kids in service, babies, not knowing a few songs in a row – I start to tune out, being back with the kids a lot, no, not at all, if it becomes a show, not being in the right mindset, too much standing, not taking focus off myself, leaders talking too much, too spread out in seating, technical difficulties, clapping, background graphics like the cross one

Do you have any suggestions for helping us better focus upon God during worship?
Getting people involved in the sermon, longer music time, prayer prep, share life stories, interactive readings, real life application of scripture

How often do you engage in the SOAP readings?
Less than once a week – 68%
Once per week – 4%
2-4 times per week – 21%
5+ times per week – 7%

On a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being the highest), at what level do the SOAP readings help you grow closer to God?
1 – 30%
2 – 10%
3 – 30%
4 – 10%
5 – 20%

What practices of Trinity Family do you find the most enriching?
- SOAP #6
- Small Groups #3
- Ministry Teams 4
- Worship Music #1
- Communion #4
- Discussion groups after worship #5
- Preaching #2

Of the above list, what would you like to see more of?
In order of popularity:
Small GroupsDiscussion Groups
Music
SOAP

Other ideas: singing at beginning and end of worship, prayer time, singing old time songs, info on small groups, balances, small group discussion

What regular activities do you find draining?
Set up / tear down = hard, serving in kids area too often, set-up / tear-down, set-up/ tear-down, meetings, working with kids,

Connecting with Believers

On a scale of 1-5 (1 being lowest, 5 being highest) how relationally connected are you to others at Trinity Family?
1 -10% 2 -28% 3 -41% 4 21% 5

Are you a part of a small group?
Y 28% N – 72%

Why
It is a way to get to know and grow with others in our church
Need the close walk together
It’s important and I believe small groups are a great tool for community and discipleship
To better get to know Jesus

or why not?
Distance
Split shift work schedule
No child care and finding the right time
Never been invited or offering any information
My small group stopped meeting
Work schedule
The most recent one I was in ended
Haven’t found a good time and my husband doesn’t want to go
Time constraints
I work nights and it’s hard to find a convenient time
Was part of one, now waiting for new group to start
Did a small group bible study, but it is on “break” for the summer. Really got connected to others in the group and feel very grateful for those new connections.
We tried it awhile back and found it was hard to attend with small children. My spouse and I were never able to attend together.
As older person – I’m working a late in life, rethinking, I’m perhaps too “old school” to open up to families raising kids and struggling to make a living
Time
I am new
Work schedule
I’m new to Trinity
Because it disassembled
schedule

If it would help us to better foster relational connections, would you be open to a change in our Sunday morning worship facility?
Y -100% N

If it would help us to better foster relational connections, would you be open to a change in the start time for Sunday morning worship?
Y – 90% N – 10%

Would you be open to a periodic (maybe once a month) community meal after worship?
Y – 100% N

What suggestions would you have for helping the church foster relational development?
(write on back if necessary)
Use of the Liturgy in worship/ don’t make people move around/ Nametage – personally I loathe them but they really are good
The Point Leaders calling or sending personal email to people. Going to them instead of waiting for them to come to you.
I would like us to start having Sunday School. If not individual classes then as a whole church before service.
Maybe keeping an up-to-date list of people’s gifts, talents, experiences to help other’s needs. As well as a list of needs of the community.
More church functions for those who aren’t in small groups. Maybe some more “low-risk” small groups.
If the people who are the visible leaders in the church will be real with others, it will make it easier for others to be real.
Small groups get very connected with one another in the groups – not being a part of a group though, now causes me to see how the church can feel divided into groups – rather than having many small circles that know each other, care, etc. I would really like to see those groups connect with others to develop even more relationships. At an all church meal I still see just those groups talking. What if once a month or so, 2 groups get together and get to know each other – and those continue to rotate so that all groups at least have some connection?
I think you guys do an awesome job! You provide several ways for relationships to build
Bible study for old school Christians, not just newbies
I think you already are addressing the idea with small groups and meals. It will just have to happen by the people in God’s time.
Maybe bring back the preservice fellowship time with coffee and pastries. I love the community atmosphere at the park during potlucks. Good way to meet people genuinely before rushing into a more intimate small group setting.
Less show, more vulnerability, taking a collective look at the various gifts of the Spirit and how they cause us to rely upon each other.
Small groups, one-on-one discipleship, more frequent prayer meetings, discussion groups

Serving Others

Are you on a Ministry Team?
Y – 74% N – 26%

Please explain why or why not.
Too young, wanted to get involved more than just showing up at church, Because I feel it’s part of church – I also get fulfillment from it, to connect to others, because I feel called to work with kids, I love working with kids, I felt a need and decided to pursue it – Love Win, on a 2 month break, to serve God and give back, taking a one year break, I love working with and for the kids, I like to serve others, to give back to the other parents who watch my kids while I’m in church, Have been to TFC only 3 times, because I want to help and serve

Have you participated in a TFC Serves event?
Y - 41% N – 59%
Please explain why or why not.
Parents took us, Because I think it’s important, to serve the community, It’s a great way to serve outside of my circle of influence, I enjoy serving others, they’re a great time to do things together, Because Jesus loves so much we can’t contain it, conflicts with work schedule, work on Friday and Saturday, prior commitments on those dates, Kids had other obligations, other obligations and would need childcare, scheduling, child care, don’t find out about them in time or a scheduling conflict

What are some ways you enjoy serving others? Helping them with problems, making people feel less stressed and that someone cares, helping them with house work, I love to feed people – preparing or serving meals to people is a great way to serve them, helping them move, teaching and sharing what I have, anyway I can, being creative and taking and listening, hospitality – bible study – talking and listening, speaking – mentoring – teaching, being able to help where there is a need or a void, just helping, I like watching kids and making meals, Anyway I am needed, providing meals, helping kids, providing meals, socializing, cooking, cleaning, babysitting.
What is the best part about serving other people?Seeming them smile and knowing you are really making a difference for them, knowing they couldn’t do it without my help, the joy, meeting a need for someone else and loving on them in a tangible way, someone else’s life is made better or easier for awhile, the way some people react, knowing I helped someone or gave someone a different picture of God, being the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, making a difference, the unexpected that God allows to happen, seeing them smile, knowing it makes them happy, the fulfillment of watching the difference you have made, knowing that you’re helping, seeing the appreciation on their faces, seeing them smile
What’s the hardest about serving other people?
Time constraints, finding the time, time, someone else’s life is made better or easier for awhile, giving up my time or sometimes my money when I already feel limited with both, being interrupted, sometimes it’s awkward and sometimes it conflicts with schedules, remembering to help myself before helping others, coming up with ideas and the time, making it not about me and my image, breaking out of comfort zone and time constraints, being put in uncomfortable situations or environments, having the tools, nothing really – it does get in the way sometimes – but it’s okay, not knowing whether what you’re doing is helping, finding and making the time, setting aside time, the time

What’s one way TFC could better serve the community around us? helping people deal with everyday emotional problems, food drive, once a month TFC serves events, branch out to visible community events – the natural gathering of people at these events would allow for a possible large gathering, maybe see if we could help the kids in our community like the program for the inner city kids, we could do a clothing and food giveaway over a month – this was done in my previous church and helped to open up to the community

Giving Sacrificially

Do you give regularly to the ministry of Trinity Family?Y – 68% N – 32%

Do you give regularly to another ministry?
Y – 34% N – 66%What is your primary reason for giving? Yes
Help others, being God’s hands, because I love God and it’s the thing I want to do, What I do as a Christian, it is right, to be obedient to the call, to help directly without a bureaucracy soaking up a higher percentage, help the church, church home, because we recognize that others have more need than we do and we want to help others, to help other people of the church, to make life better for the less fortunate, take care of my church, it’s what God calls us to do, biblical command, it makes me feel good to know I’m being obedient to God and helping others, God has been good to us and we want to give back through the church, I know it’s what God asks of us – but it has also become a way of life – something I learned from my parents, to serve others in need, that more good can come from what we’ve been given, way of showing obedience and love to God, “supposed to” – working on changing that attitude J, “trust me in this and I will open the windows of heaven and pour out my blessings” – Malachi 3:10, I want to be a generous person, to serve God in love, thanks

No
Literally living paycheck to paycheck – we are continuously in the red to survive, feel I should but have no extra money – or at least it seems that way, so others are taken care of, a call to give, wanting to help, to bless others (gives to ministry other than TFC)

What do you believe is a person’s primary reason for not giving?
Yes
Selfishness / unorganization, greed or not knowing, selfishness, swamped with debt, seeking securing in saving, not enough or a bad case of “mine,” Don’t think they can, financial strain – wanting to hold onto their money for their own wants and needs, because they think it’s there’s or they think they can’t afford it, first leap is very tough, they think they cannot afford it, assumed lack of fiancés and “sickness of the mind,” feel like they cannot afford it, thinking they cannot afford it, worry and need for personal gratification, being afraid of not being able to take care of themselves – not being in control, fear, not understanding that they can’t afford not to, money is “tight” / consequences of prior spending, feel like they can’t afford it, fear, afraid that they won’t have enough, being blind to blessings already received, feeling overwhelmed and cultural pressures

No
Greed, don’t feel like they have enough, rather spend on self, being disorganized, feel family and pay bills first, selfishness or faith issues, not believing they can afford it and being new to the church, financial stress, feeling insecure about needs being met, many excuses, not having the money, not having money,

What inspires you to give? Yes
Kids, our great church, knowing it’s going to spread the word, others in need (especially those who give of themselves), my parents example of unwavering faith, knowing it will go directly to a real need, God, stores of need, children in need of basics like food, water, clothing and shelter, the feeling you get by helping out others, poor children in Afghanistan and other places, knowing God will take care of me, obedience to God – that’s what I strive for, stories like the ones shared today, without God’s help I wouldn’t have any income so its by his grace I can earn any money, the feeling of making a difference, It was something I “learned” from my family, inspiring others, seeing the difference a financial gift can make to those in need, knowing God can use money better than I can, the faith and trust that are required / the peace that comes with it!, freedom of not being controlled by money, knowing what it’s like not to have, the cross,

No
To feel and know what God wants me to do, remembering my mother and her faithfulness, how God uses the money, helping others with greater needs than me, other people’s stories, remembering God’s provision which includes us providing for others, following God, knowing it is what God asks of us, when I do give I LOVE the feeling I get, wanting to help, how I was raised
What discourages you from giving?
Yes
Irresponsible adults, not knowing the future, frivolity / squandering what is given / poor stewardship, my husband’s doubt and negative reaction, a need to save for a “rainy day”, my checkbook, fear of not making it financially, feeling like we won’t have enough money at the end of the month, thinking I don’t have the money, concern’s about long term financial stability, tight month, I still don’t “own” a home!, tight finances and non-obvious consequences, “mine disease”, my small paycheck J, my own fears of being in need, temptation – it’s tempting to set it aside for our own security, feeling like gift is misused – or not being able to see results, feel like there’s never enough money, times that feel like God is not providing – my father’s most generous person I know and I still struggle, fear, knowing what it’s like not to have, stress

No
Lack of income, waste / misuse / or having to miss a bill in order to tithe, paying bill and debts first, not enough money, financial strain, paying bills, not knowing, consent from spouse, not knowing how the gift will be used, not budgeting, not knowing where the money goes

How would you define giving that is sacrificial?
Yes
Giving up something I want and giving that money away, not knowing the future, could be saving it but I give it instead, going without in order to give, money your family needs but you give it anyway, giving until it hurts, something that might “feel” like too much, sacrifice, giving when don’t feel like you can or don’t have enough, giving when you think you can’t afford it, forgoing certain luxuries or wants in order to give them and money, giving with love and prayer and faith, just giving to a cause or to something that you KNOW does not directly affect you, when you can’t afford to give whatever it is, having to give up some of the “extra’s” in life to give, giving by faith, giving beyond what you can “afford” or giving til it hurts a little, giving beyond what you can “afford” or giving til it hurts a little, having to give up something I need or enjoy to help someone, you’re giving up doing more for yourself – even ‘responsible’ self acts like savings or getting debt free, a gift that challenges the giver – whether 1% or 50% - something that is intentional, giving even when you think you can’t afford it, surrender involved, any giving, giving even when it “hurts,” giving enough that it impacts me daily,

No
Giving what you don’t have, a blessing that gives back 10-fold, giving first, just looking beyond ourselves, giving even when it hurts, giving of yourself when you may have to change something, giving no matter the feelings – doing it though you don’t know what will happen,
Do you have a story about “God’s Math,” when you gave sacrificially and God provided in unexpected ways?

Just on a regular basis I am always worried about how I will make ends meet – but when I tithe or give first out of each paycheck, God has always provided for me – or given me more than I need.

Growing up parents struggles with money always worked out that when he would sell a car it would bring in income when it was needed.

Many times I have been asked to “sell my field” give up jobs, living arrangements car, people in my life – God always provides, He has been faithful to a promise from Psalms, “Lord, do not let me be disgraced.” My past two years have been surrender and sacrifice and learning to trust God, having nothing, God is my everything. And he is faithful! My life is simple but God’s love is extravagant.

We’ve always been on the back end. We’ve done a few “big gives” only because we got bailed out a few years ago.

When I give I tend to always be able to pay my bills.

No. Except that I have simply “never gone without anything I needed.”

We helped out a homeless family a couple of summers ago I had everything we needed.

We helped out a homeless family not too long ago. It didn’t go very well but we know we did everything God asked us to do. We would do it again in a heartbeat.

Donated $500 and brother and sister-in-law paid off our $1,200 credit card bill to help us pay off our debt.

I have always been able to pay my bills and give to God and others and have extra.

When we gave to 98.9 charity a month or so later I got a phone call from my brother, who makes quite a bit more money than we do and over Christmas we had been telling our family about our Dave Ramsey plan and my brother called me a month or so late and said they had been “called” to give mony to help us out and they wanted to pay off our credit card! They more than doubles the amount we gave away! God is good!

Investing in Future Christ-Followers

1) Were you a part of a church before connecting at TFC?
Yes – 62% No – 38%
2) Do you currently have a close friendship with someone who does not yet know Jesus?
Yes – 88% No - 6%

Why or Why not?
Yes
They are just my friends
Just do
No
Everybody has their own choice

3) Have you invited an unchurched friend or family member to TFC within the past 6 months?
Yes – 69% No – 31%

Why or Why not?
To experience the great atmosphere
Because I know this person seeks acceptance and this would be a great place for her
I thought they might enjoy it
Not enough
Because I want them to experience this sanctuary because they have questions

No
Scared to
I’m new within the past 6 months

4) Do you feel comfortable inviting an unchurched friend to TFC’s Sunday morning worship?
Yes – 88% No – 12%

Why or Why not?
Because I want them to find Jesus as I have
I just wanted to say that TFC is the definition of Christ-follower. Church isn’t all about the great service put on every Sunday, it is about being in relationship with Christ as well. This is one of those places you can go where you can be real and there is grace given. Thanks for being AWESOME!
I know it won’t be uncomfortable for them
I know that we won’t isolate them but sometimes I worry that some “Christian colloquialism” will slip out by someone up front that will be misunderstood.
I feel they will be received well and will feel comfortable with the atmosphere of worship.
Because you don’t have to “be” anything, you can just be you

No
Afraid of rejection
I’m usually comfortable presenting something unless I know everything about it. I don’t know everything about Christ.
TFC seems open and quite unassuming

My Big Mouth

2009-08-10T15:06:00.007-05:00

Sometimes I wish I could just be a vanilla preacher; preaching about how to "accept Jesus and improve your life." I can't though, because God keeps leading me to much more difficult places. Yesterday was one of the most difficult sermons I've ever preached. In a single sermon, I addressed abortion and violence. I had a knot in my stomach all week as I prepared, it wound up even tighter as I preached and it's still lodged in my insides. It was difficult but I've gotta be faithful to where God is leading.

You can listen or read the sermon here.

After pouring my heart out on Sunday morning, I received this amazing message on Sunday evening:
"Donnie, I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the message today. My husband and I were talking afterwards about how refreshing it was to hear someone talk on the topics of abortion and violence the way you did. We both grew up in churches that would rather stand on the streets and hold signs of judgement rather than actually do anything physically to help someone dealing with an unwanted pregnancy. The message on violence was also "right on" for lack of better words. I never thought I would actually hear a preacher in church talk on the topic of violence the way you did. Most of the churches (and Christians) I've experienced approach the subject quite differently, and do tend to forgot that our enemies are God's creation and we ought to value their lives as much as we value our own, if not more. Hearing you speak on these subjects today reminded me why I want to be a Christian. Even if there are many doubts and questions I have about the bible, God, Jesus, etc, I know that I want to be the type of person you described and challenged us to be this morning."

I wish I could take credit for being a great speaker but it's the Holy Spirit moving in and through me.

Conversation = Discipleship

2009-08-10T07:44:00.004-05:00

After more than half a year of considering it and several months of discussing and observing it with Shane, last Sunday we finally launched our conversation groups. To say they went well would be putting it mildly. We'd hoped for about 50% participation from the congregation but at least 90% of everyone in worship stayed for the conversation.
Two factors likely contributed to the high amount of participation: 1) The topic of conversation laid out in my message and 2) the novelty this being our first Sunday of conversations. I'm guessing we won't always have such a high participation but I'm hoping we could stay over 70%.

Here are the things I'm hoping come out of this change in structure:
1) Discipleship - this is the main reason we're doing this. These conversations are a way to "bring the message to life and people together." Though it may be a great way of encountering new ideas, not a lot of life change happens in listening to someone give a monologue. Life change is more likely to happen within the context of conversation and relationships. As we've been saying for awhile now, TFC is moving toward a more conversational approach in her ministry.
2) Relationships - according to this summer's surveys, only 27% of our congregation is in small group. While I believe small groups still result in a deeper level of community than our conversation groups can, they're a big step in the right direction.
3) Momentum - we're in serious need of some positive momentum right now as a church. A positive and refreshing change might bring that about.
4) Retention - People stick around a church because of relationships and we've now made the step from "be in worship" to "get to know people" a very, very short step.

We've got some challenges, too:
1) Preaching- I'll have to keep my messages shorter than I'm used to. I've also got to change my approach; rather than leading people toward a final ending point, I'm leading toward a continued conversation.
2) Service length - we're going to work hard to keep the service to one hour. Usually, this shouldn't be too difficult. When we have special events like a child baptism however, we'll have to figure out a way to streamline everything. One way we'll be doing this is I'm no longer making announcements - at all (unless they're massively important). "Check your weekly, sign up for our email list" is going to become my weekly spiel.
3) Space - This is the huge one. While it's wonderful for worship, the PRMS auditorium isn't structured well for conversation groups. We're working on ideas, though.
4) Creativity - we don't want to get stuck in a rut in our approach. So we've got some ideas of different ways we can begin and facilitation our conversations.

Finally, on a funny note, Willow Creek Church (the Willow Creek Church) just announced they're going to this exact same format. While I'd like to thing that means we're an early adapter, it more likely means that Willow Creek has become slow to innovate. Or maybe Shane is the early adapter and in adapting his idea, we're semi-early adapters.

The Journey

2009-08-03T11:51:00.003-05:00

Here's an honest story of someone on the journey of faith but still just not sure what to make of everything. This is Erin and my good friend, Franci. Even though she's a friend, I let occassionally let her know that the main reason I'm friends with her is because she lets me hang out with her son (our godson) Ryder.
We shared this video in worship a few weeks ago. I really appreciate the honesty here. We have to be committed to letting people take their time on their journey toward faith.

Thanks to David Brush for putting together the video.

Franci from David Brush on Vimeo.

Some R and R

2009-08-02T16:59:00.005-05:00

You may have noticed that it's been awhile since I've posted anything. Well, there's a good reason for that, I spent the last two weeks on vacation. It was a much needed vacation. When I went to record the vacation days spent, I realized that I had enough days left over from last fiscal year to cover these past two weeks (our fiscal year begins July 1). That's likely one of the reasons I needed a vacation so badly. To be very honest, I've spent the last two months feeling like I'm wandering around in an exhausted, blind fog. By the end of the first week of R and R however, that fog had pretty much lifted.

We spent most of the time at my parent's farm in Southeast Iowa. My mom loved having Dawson around and gladly took care of him when she wasn't working. This allowed me to do things like help dad pick sweet corn, cruise around the farm on the four wheeler, sleep in and continue working on the 1200 page Rise and Fall of the Third Reich that I've been reading most of this year.

When we weren't hanging out in the middle of Iowa cornfields, we were hanging out in the middle of Chicago skyscrapers. While Dawson stayed with Grandma and Grandpa, we snuck over to Chicago for three days. Since we'd been to Chicago in 05, we bypassed the touristy parts like the museums and spent our time shopping (Erin did the shopping), walking and eating in the various windy city neighborhoods and relaxing in the parks along the lakefront. Spome of our explorations took us to Wriggleyville, Old Town, Bucktown, Lincoln Park, Little Italy, Grant Park and Millennium Park. Strolling through quit old neighborhoods with their classic homes, huge trees and cool breezes while still in sight of the downtown skyline was a refreshing experience.

I did miss out on a chance to experience history, however. On Thursday morning, we were having breakfast at this nice little place near our hotel and discussing our trip home when the impulse to stay a bit longer and catch an afternoon White Sox game at "the Cell" entered my mind. I decided against it however, because we were anxious to get home and see Dawson. It was amazing how much we missed him. Well, that afternoon at "the Cell", Mark Buehrle decided to throw the 18th perfect game in MLB history. Bummer for me.

Last Wednesday afternoon was also a highlight of the two weeks. I spent that afternoon sitting in a lawn chair, just inside the shade of the barn, with just my bible, a pen and a journal. It was a wonderful time to catch up with an old Friend whose voice and direction I've had a hard time hearing lately. Those hours also went a long way to bring me back where I need to be as a leader and Christ-follower.

We took some great pictures but I'm too lazy to post them. You can see them here.

A Letter From Guido

2009-07-18T09:42:00.002-05:00

As I get older I realize that a lot of my views on life seem to change. One of them is the subject of religion. I grew up thinking that religion was all about control of the people and if you didn’t fit the mold you were thrown to the other side of the line. Either you’re a good person or a bad person. Most of my experiences with churches have been bad ones. I believed you don’t bother me and I won’t bother you. They criticize you if you don’t follow their rules even if you didn’t know the rules. From what I know of Jesus I thought he talked to all people and did not judge them but explained what they should be doing and let them figure out what they needed to change.
My opinion has changed over time but more in the past couple years. A big influence in my thought change has come about because of a couple, who years ago I would have judged as those church people and avoided like the plague. It all started one day when my door staff guy at work called me and said some church ladies were there I thought “Oh NO here we go again”. (Several years before some church ladies had been in our parking lot picketing and handing out negative brochures.) He said they were leaving some gifts for the girls. I think he asked them if they had paint bombs in them because he was also leery. After talking to the employees and the staff I found it odd they would bring stuff to dancers and thought what’s their angle? So this happened again the ladies came to the door dropped off gifts, smiled then left. I thought that’s nice so I had my bartender put together a basket of nice things for the ladies and drop it off. I later thought to myself “wow I’m interacting with church people”.
As time went on our opinion of religious people changed. We discussed a volunteer project at Our Fathers House in Paola. When we showed up I think Donnie and Erin were shocked not only that we showed up but in good numbers also. Now I’m a big burly guy who is not intimidated easily but I will tell you this was a situation that I’m not accustomed to. I thought wonder what all these other church people think of working beside strippers and people of our sort? Well the answer to that is everything went fine. I actually talked to Donnie for a long time and it was a comfortable conversation and one of the best I’ve had in a long time I really enjoyed our discussions. And I think it opened each other’s eyes a little I know it did mine. I like that Donnie and his group do things more like how I thought JESUS did things. We have done another day at Our Fathers House and hope we can do another one soon.
I have read the church blog and find it interesting that they were as leery of us as we were of them. The staff and the dancers have responded to the ladies in a great manor and we all were happy to find someone to take our Christmas family donations because in the past we have been denied by other religious organizations’ because of what we do for a living. Also we felt the love enough the girls felt they should return the love with baby gifts for Donnie and Erin.
I think this program has even worked on me. One day Erin and the ladies came in and when they left a new girl came up and said “why were they here they’re just here to condemn us for what we do”. I told her that’s not true I told her not to be so judgmental now she’s judging them like she thinks all churches do us. That they are the nicest people you will ever meet. Since then I have had two people ask me what I know about religion and that they were never taught anything about god. So I told both they could call and these people would be glad to help with their questions without judging. Not in a million years would I have thought I would be sending friends to church people to learn about GOD.
So my opinion has changed a lot over the past couple years due to some very different people. So I guess the Love Wins works and I hope more churches learn from your great example. Thanks for giving us a chance to see another side of religion. Keep up the great work
GUIDO

Toward an Emotionally Healthy Church

2009-07-15T13:38:00.005-05:00

I just finished one of the best books I've every read, The Emotionally Healthy Church by Peter Scazzero.
Scazzero starts by addressing the problem of emotionally immaturity in the church. "The sad truth is that too little difference exists, in terms of emotional and relational maturity, between God's people inside the church and those outside who claim no relationship to Jesus Christ. Even more alarming, when you go beyond the praise and worship of our large meetings and conventions and into the homes and small-group meetings of God's people, you often find a valley littered by broken and failed relationships."

This book hit home in a way no other ministry book ever has. Most books I read are about how to "do" ministry and they're written by guys much more skilled than myself, which is discouraging. But for the past two years, I've been trying to focus on how to "be" more than how to "do" and this book is exactly about that. Scazzero's main idea is that after a decade of leading a growing and innovative church all the "doing" wasn't resulting in maturity. Yes, people were learning more about the bible but they weren't maturing emotionally. And unless a person is maturing emotionally they aren't really maturing. Spiritual disciplines and bible knowledge is important but it won't do the work necessary to bring a person toward maturity. Boy does that statement fly in the face of about everything you hear in our church culture.
Here's another quote, "The sad reality is that too many people in our churches are fixated at a stage of spiritual immaturity that current models of discipleship have not addressed.... I can no longer deny the truth that emotional and spiritual maturity are inseparable"

Scazzero uses examples that could've come straight from some of my struggles with people within TFC. Pastoring has made it painfully obvious that just because someone has been in church for years and knows a lot about the bible, that doesn't mean they've matured one bit. Emotional immaturity causes so many unnecessary conflicts.

Quoting John Calvin's thoughts on 1 Corinthians 13 and Paul's writings in 1 Corinthians 3, Scazzero warns that churches can be building great ministries and inviduals can be excercising great gifts while still being immature spiritually. "Paul makes a clear point that you can use spiritual gifts and still be very much of a spiritual baby. The sign of the Spirit at work is supernatural love, not gifts or successful results." Ouch.

I connected on a deeper level, however with Scazzero's personal examples. What he said about church members not maturing despite years as Christians, spiritual disciplines or increased bible knowledge was even more true for him, as pastor. It's impossible to count the ways in which my own emotional immaturity has hurt people or caused unnecessary conflict. Although I've grown up a lot over the past few months, particularly because of the emotionally-focused therapy I went through during my study leave, I've still got a lot of growth to do.

And my role as pastor isn't just about "doing" but it's about "being." I've been shaped in such a way that I'm at my best as a leader when I'm acting as a model of healthy Christian living for my congregation. Which is how Scazzero ends the book, "Preaching sets a context and an environment of safety and grace to enable people to go further, but it is not enough. If you can work on yourself, then as you interact with others, the church will change. In short, if you do the hard work of allowing God to change you, the whole system will change." Wow.

Although I'm not sure what it will all look like yet, here's my plan for challenging TFC to mature emotionally.
1) I'm going to model it. I've already set up meetings with a mentor, Roy Rotz, who is going to work through Emotionally Healthy Spirituality with me. Before I can lead others in this way, I must be lead myself.
2) I'm going to mentor leaders in this area. Coming this fall will be our Leadership Community; a chance for discipleship and community-building among ministry leaders. We're going to be working through The Emotionally Healthy Church.
3) Our entire church will work through Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. Although I'm not sure of the details yet, Roy and I are planning how we can preach and then lead discussion groups on this topic.

Here's a final quote to share:
I don't want to wait until heaven to see an emotionally healthy, balanced, mature church. We don't need to. God desires, I believe, to initiate a Copernican revolution in our discipleship in the 21st Century, both in the US and around the world. It is a commitment, not only to see numerical growth, but more important, a quality change in the kind of disciples we are making. It is a paradigm change from the perfect, the powerful, and the big to the weak, the imperfect and the small.
I want to challenge you to apply the six principles of emotionally healthy churches first to yourself (as chapter 1 said, 'as go the leaders, so goes the church') and then to the rest of the congregation.
1 Look beneath the iceberg
2 Break the power of the past
3 Live in brokenness and vulnerability
4 Receive the gift of limits
5 Embrace grieving and loss
6 Make incarnation your model for loving well
It is the pathway to experiencing more of heaven on earth. The journey begins right now, gradually and powerfully rippling through you and then through your church to the hurting world around us."

We Love You Dawson

2009-07-14T08:56:00.005-05:00

We had a lot of work to do after the show on Sunday. The crew was busy working to put away props, reorganize costumes and tear apart the set (which I heard guys were doing until 9:30 Sunday night). Those of us on the GCT board counted ticket money and then paid expenses, although I did spend a little time helping put away props.

Erin was busy working on costumes while I was fulfilling my responsibilities, so our friend, Annie, volunteered to hold Dawson. I thought, "good, I can get a little work done before I need to hold him again." And then I started working, occasionally looking back to check on Dawson. At one point I asked "it's been awhile, is Annie still holding Dawson?" I turned around to look and no, Annie was not holding Dawson. I had nothing to worry about though, because some members of Dawson's birth family were holding him. After they were done holding him, some other people volunteered. Dawson spent his summer evenings at rehearsal but Erin and I were able to work on our responsibilities because there was always such a long line of people wanting to hold Dawson, or dance with him even.

Naturally, part of that is because everyone likes holding cute babies. But another big part is that Dawson is a GCT baby. Were it not for GCT, Erin and I wouldn't be Dawson's mommy and daddy. You can read the whole story here.

Speaking of that story, we got a good picture of Alex and Dawson. Alex is the young man who was wearing the elephant ears and singing "a person's a person no matter how small for Spring Hill HS's Suessical the Musical, through which God told us to adopt Dawson.

Here are some ladies from the show singing a slight variation of a song from the show. This particular version was what Erin and I sang over and over to Dawson when we first took him home from the hospital.

Our first takes of the video were on Saturday night and Dawson was just too tired to appreciate all those cute girls singing about how much they love him. He was in a better mood on Sunday afternoon.

Ask Anything Sunday

2009-07-12T22:04:00.008-05:00

This Sunday, we tried something completely new. We had a panel of people who had been through some level of theological education answer the congregation's theological questions. The questions were texted into the media guys, who then put the question on the screen. Mike Palmer was the moderator for the panel discussion.

"Ask Anything" was quite a hit. Now we've gotta find a way to address some of the questions we didn't get to and we've gotta schedule another "Ask Anything."

Thanks to my colleague, Shane Ash, for giving me the idea. You can listen here.

Oh Where is my Hairnet?

2009-07-12T21:17:00.006-05:00

Yes, that's me wearing a hairnet in public. First time that's ever happened.
We just completed Gardner Community Theatre's weekend production of Bye, Bye, Birdie and it was another success.

I was an extra in a couple scenes but my mail role was the dishwasher / baritone in the bar scene quartet. With the exception of Trouble, the baritone part in this one song was harder than all my other songs combined from The Music Man. I hadn't sang in a quartet since high school, so it took Erin working with me to get my pitch back. And when I was in a quartet, I sang bass, so baritone was a bit of a change. And to top it all off, this part sings way too many sharps and flats, making it very difficult. Our music director said the baritone was the hardest part but she cast me there believing I could do it. Until the beginning of this week, I was pretty sure I was going to let her down.

But after a lot of work, I finally got it. As you can tell by the video, we're having a LOT of fun onstage. Pete, Nick and Jim were a riot to work with. We had fun singing together, moving the huge set pieces together and giving each other crap in the dressing room.

It was another great show from GCT.

I tried to upload the video to youtube, but unfortunately, it didn't work. I don't know why that happens sometimes but it's frustrating.

What I Love about Theatre

2009-07-12T21:16:00.001-05:00

The rolling sound of the curtains opening

Being blinded by the stage lights

Seeing GCT's account in the black when ticket sales minus expenses equals money left over

The crowd's applause building in anticipation of the leads throughout the entire curtain call

The rush of trying to get the stage set before the curtains open and diving offstage just in time

Having to pause for laughter

Mingling with the crowd in costume after the show

The camaraderie that develops among cast members

The transformation that happens between readings at tryouts to the grand finale of opening night

How complete strangers become lifelong friends through the shared experience of 6 intense weeks of preparation

The cast's shout of triumph after the final curtain closes

Staying true to our roots

2009-07-03T14:14:00.004-05:00

Every 4 years, our denomination The Church of the Nazarene has what they call their General Assembly. Pastors are automatic delegates but there was no way TFC could spend the money necessary to send me. I've been watching it online though and some of the debates have been quite fascinating. Some of the resolutions brought to the Assembly were simple administrative changes. Some resolutions however, dealt with our basic statements of faith and Christian practices. All of our beliefs, practices and by-laws can be found in our manual.

What I love about the Church of the Nazarene is that we are a middle way between many denominational movements. While the COTN views scripture as our highest authority, we also trust reason, tradition and experience (the Welseyan Quadrilateral). This distinguishes us from fundamentalism (although with all their big talk about "literal" interpretations, fundamentalists argue away passages that don't fit their paradigm - as do all of us). We're believe in God's grace bringing about salvation while rejecting the views of the reformed movement (that God predestines some to salvation and some to damnation).

Clearly, fundamentalists and Reformers play on the same team as us. They enrich the family of God in their own unique ways. The COTN however, also brings our own unique approach to living for Jesus, so it's important we stay true to our theological roots.

Our commitment to scripture without being fundamentalists was evidenced in two rejected resolutions. 1) To add a statement about the need to believe in a literal 7-day creation and 2) the rejection of our practice of infant baptism. Some of the discussion was rather heated. Two pastors used phrases from outside our tradition. One phrase was "the innerancy of scripture." The COTN does not affirm the fundamentistic idea of innerancy. Rather, we hold to a belief in the "infallibility of scripture", that scripture "tells us all we need to know about how to have eternal life and how to live with integrity." Those differences may seem minor but they are quite different.

Another phrase used by a pastor was "Sola-Scriptora." The COTN does not hold to Sola-Scriptora - "scripture alone." While we hold scripture to be the highest authority, we also look to church tradition, human reason and people's experience to discern the truth of God.

In response to some pastors wanting to lead us away from our Wesleyan heritage, one delegate stood and made this passionate speech. "There is a pervasive wind of fundamentalism and reformed theology that is creeping into our church. I believe that it is essential to retain our Wesleyan heritage."

That comment received a loud round of applause.

To watch all of General Assembly, click here. To read about the resolutions addressed by the voting body, click here.

My 30th Year

2009-06-26T21:36:00.004-05:00

Year #30 ended today as I was born 31 years ago, today, at 3:45 AM. Ironically, I was awake this morning at 3:45 (since I drank several glasses of pink lemonade while celebrating my birthday with GCT friends at Austin's), so I acknowledged my birthday on the exact minute.

My 30th year was one of, if not the, best year of my life. To demonstrate how great year #30 was, it must be compared to year 29. During my 29th year, I was diagnosed with infertility, had a potential adopted son stillborn and had another potential birth mom stand us up. At Christmas that year, I had a meltdown watching Facing the Giants. On top of everything else, I spent my 29th year mourning the loss of my 20's. Erin said I basically turned 30 a year early, since I spent that entire year calling myself a 30 year old man.

My 30th year didn't start that well, though. 30 isn't really too old, not to me anyway, but it felt really old to still not have kids. My biological clock was ticking as loudly as Edger Allen Poe's Telltale Heart. But things started to change that September, when I got a call from a friend in the theatre telling us her niece was pregnant and wanted to place the baby in an adoptive family. To review the entire story, click on the adoption labels.

My 30th year was the year in which I received the greatest gift I could ever be given, the gift of a child. Dawson's the best birthday present I could ever ask for and he makes me feel younger. It's not that my knees don't still ache after I run or my hair isn't getting progressively thinner, it's just that I'm a dad now and that makes me feel quite youthful. Dawson did also give me a special birthday present - two full diapers. He's such a thoughtful kid.

I can understand why the Hebrew people in the Old Testament believed eternal life came through having children (they didn't have much of an idea of heaven, not like what we see in the New Testament). But I digress...

I spent the 2 months of my 30th year anticipating fatherhood and the last 4 months of my 30th year as Dawson's daddy. Of course, we had some other great things happen this past year, too but combined they still aren't as great.

Bring on year # 31.

God's Math

2009-06-22T17:28:00.003-05:00

To put it mildly, I'm not at my best when thinking out loud in front of a group of people. So when I walked back up front to offer the blessing and was given $100 to give away to "anyone who needed it," I was scrambling for the best way to have someone get the money without everyone seeing. I ended up putting it in the prayer request basket on the stage and someone was able to take it after worship without anyone else noticing. But my verbal stumbling aside, being able to pass along a gift of $100 right on the spot was one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced during worship.

And I'd communicated pretty effectively up to that point. When I'm ending my message and can tell that a lot of people are wiping tears from their eyes, I know I've made a connection. I was having trouble keeping from crying myself. You can hear the message here. The story I shared (that just so happens to be one of the most significant stories of my life) starts at 28:37. Just the other day, the person to whom we gave that gift said it's one of the most amazing things to ever happen in their entire life.

We live by God's math when we give to God and others first. When we live according to God's math, everyone is taken care of.

In Sunday's survey, we asked for stories of "God's Math." Here are a few of them.

"Just on a regular basis I am always worried about how I will make ends meet – but when I tithe or give first out of each paycheck, God has always provided for me – or given me more than I need."

"Many times I have been asked to “sell my field” give up jobs, living arrangements car, people in my life – God always provides, He has been faithful to a promise from Psalms, “Lord, do not let me be disgraced.” My past two years have been surrender and sacrifice and learning to trust God, having nothing, God is my everything. And he is faithful! My life is simple but God’s love is extravagant."

"We helped out a homeless family not too long ago. It didn’t go very well but we know we did everything God asked us to do. We would do it again in a heartbeat. We had everything we needed."

"When we gave to 98.9 charity a month or so later I got a phone call from my brother, who makes quite a bit more money than we do and over Christmas we had been telling our family about our Dave Ramsey plan and my brother called me a month or so late and said they had been “called” to give money to help us out and they wanted to pay off our credit card! They more than doubles the amount we gave away! God is good!"

First Father's Day

2009-06-21T20:22:00.005-05:00

I'd been waiting for this day for several years and it's been a pretty good day. It started with me feeding Dawson at 4:30 this morning, barely awake and took off from there. The past few days have been nonstop and today was more of the same. Ryder stayed the night last night, so we were giving baths, getting them dressed, cleaning up breakfast, giving bottles and everything while getting ready for set-up (me) and morning band practice (Erin). I get to watch both boys while Erin is singing.

After the craziness of church (which was AWESOME today - more on that later) and VBS set-up, I had to get over to rehearsal. I got home at 5:00 to find that Erin and Franci had taken the boys to Target and somehow gotten the last (display) model of a grill into Franci's jeep. Erin and I got it out and while she wasn't paying attention, I hauled the whole thing up the deck steps by myself (finally, something practical for all those hours in the gym). And I just finished the polish sausages I grilled on the $300 grill we got for half price. Man, it's been a long time since I've grilled.

Here are the thoughts I shared on Father's day during this morning's worship. In his own 4 month old way, Dawson knows that the two big people - the ones who always come into him room when he's crying, feed him when he's hungry, sing to him, play with him, rock him and everything else we do - care for him. I'm not sure how much he comprehends, but he knows there's something special about us.
But even though he has vague realizations that we care for him, he has NO IDEA the depth of our love for him. He couldn't even come close to grasping how much we love him. I still, sometimes, put him in his crib and then cry thankful tears as I pray over him.

And if our love for Dawson is so much greater than he can comprehend, imagine the power of our Heavenly Father's love. We could never grasp even a fraction of God's love for us. But if we could somehow come to live in the reality of that love, it would completely and eternally transform our lives.

Happy Father's Day

It's not how you start but how you finish

2009-06-18T22:52:00.003-05:00

To see some beautiful Melrose Magic just skip ahead to 2:19.

Greg Boyd does it again

2009-06-17T11:04:00.012-05:00

At this point in my spiritual journey, no one influences me like pastor/author/professor Greg Boyd. Boyd's teaching on the Kingdom of God has revolutionized my understanding of the church, what it means to be a pastor and simply what it means to be Christian. His book Myth of a Christian Nation is one of the best books I've ever read, and I've read thousands of books. It's a must read for any follower of Jesus, particularly those who, like myself, grew up in a church in which just before presidential elections we were given a brochure from the Christian Coalition, telling us what exactly was the "Christian vote." To hear me going off on the idea of a "Christian vote" listen to this sermon. I believe Boyd is bringing much-needed change to Evangelical Christianity; challenging us to reject the world's power structures and get back to the example and teachings of Jesus.

When Zach Pogemiller told me he'd just bought Myth of a Christian Religion: Losing Your Religion for the Beauty of a Revolution I figured I didn't need to read it since I'd already heard it all in Greg Boyd's podcasts. Thankfully however, I read the book anyway. While it's true there were no ideas in the book that were new, the book still convicted me and reminded me of ways in which I still need to grow as Kingdom person. The chapter on Judgment hit closest to home and I've heard the Holy Spirit call me out on judgmental thoughts the past few days.

Maybe the best way to summarize the book is to list the chapters, which will give you a general overview of the book's content. While almost every one of the 218 pages contains challenging ideas, I'm going to share a few of them below.

Giant Jesus
[My eyes were slowly] opened to the radical contradiction between the lifestly Jesus calls his followers to embrace, on the one hand, and the typical American lifestyle, on the other. Yet it struck me that the Church in America largely shares - even celebrates - the typical American lifestyle.

What I never understood was why followers of Jesus would try to gain political power over people when Jesus himself never attempted such a thing. Nor could I understand how Christians could act as if their sins were less serious than the sins of those they were crusading against.

I would explain the biblical reasons why our church never has, and never will, participate in political activity (as well as why we don't have a flag on our premises, sing patriotic hymns, celebrate the Fourth of July, or do other things like that. So I delivered a four-part sermon series entitled "The Cross and the Sword" that spelled out the difference between the Kingdom of God, which followers of Jesus are called to promote, and the kingdoms of the world, which politics concerns itself with. The messages exposed a division in my congregation that ran through the entire evangelical community. On the one hand, I'd never received such positive responses to anything I'd ever preached. Some people literally wept for joy, feeling that the Gospel had been hijacked by American politics. On the other hand, roughly a thousand people walked out. I faced similar extremes of positive and negative feedback when I preached the message on politics that is linked above.

But the Kingdom revolution is unlike any other the world has known. It is not a revolution for power over others, choosing instead to excercise power under others. It's a revolution of humble, self-sacrificial, loving sservice. It always looks like Jesus, dying on Calvary for the very people who crucified him.

Christ and Caesar
The power of this distinctive, self-sacrificial beauty is lost, however, whenver the Kingdom of God gets blended with the power-over attitudes and practices of the kingdoms of the world. The Kingdom stops looking like a giant Jesus and starts looking like a giant Caesar - which means the Kingdom for all practical purposes simply ceases to exist.

Some claim the church is supposed to be the "conscience of the government," but there's absolutely no basis for this claim in the New Testament. Rather, we're to position ourselves as society's humble servants, for this is what Jesus did.

The Revolt against Idolatry
In Jesus, our hearts finally find what they've been hungry for, so we are empowered to break our miserable addiction to idols.

The Revolt against Judgment
People on both sides whose source of Life is wrapped up with their patriotism just know that they happened to be born on the side of the good, while their enemy happened to be born on the side of evil. In America, for example, most people (including, it seems, most Christians) just know that God is on the side of political freedom and that it is worth killing for - despite Jesus' command that his followers are to love and do good to all enemies, and despite the fact that neither Jesus nor anyone else in the Bible ever said a word about political freedom.

The Revolt against Religion
While the holiness of Jesus ascribed unsurpassable worth to people, the "holiness" of the Pharisees detracted worth from people as they ascribed worth to themselves. The holiness Jesus manifested fed people, while the judgmental "holiness" of the Pharisees fed off of people.

What kind of holiness does the Western Church manifest today? To answer this, we need only ask: Are the prostitutes and tax collectors of our day attracted to us or repelled by us?
Jesus was known for the scandalous way he loved.
So, instead of being know as outrageous lovers, Christians are largely viewed as self-righteous judgers.

The Revolt against Individualism
When you combine our relationship-eroding consumerism with our stress on individual freedoms and rights, you can understand why most westerners have many acquaintances but few (if any) deeply committed relationships that echo the beautiful love of the triune God.
In his marvelous book The Great Divorce, CS Lewis envisioned hell as a realm in which people are forever moving farther away from one another. Hell is the ultimate, cosmic, suburban sprawl. It's a vision of hell that is becoming a reality in Western culture, and it's something Kingdom people in the West are called to passionately revolt against.

House gatherings were the primary social unit of the Jesus revolution for the first three centuries.

Welcome to McChurch, where you get served up a Gospel tailor-made to suit your personal tastes and needs and that never confronts you or causes you any discomfort. McChurch not only fails to confront the idols and pagan values of Western culture, it often "Christianizes" them.

The Revolt against Nationalism
For the first three hundred years or so of the Kingdom revolution, Christians on the whole remained beautifully free of nationalistic idolatry. The early Christians didn't see themselves as belonging to the empire they lived in, and they would not pledge allegiance to or fight for any ruler or country. They routinely chose to die rather than pledge allegiance to a symbolic statue of the emperor. They were consequently criticized and persecuted for being unpatriotic, subversive, and cowardly.
By their refusal to conform and willingness to suffer, these early followers of Jesus bore witness to a radically different, beautiful Christlike way of doing life. In sharp contrast to Islam, which experienced explosive growth in its earliest years by the ferocity of its warriors, the early Church experienced explosive growth in its earliest years by the beautiful way followers of Jesus chose to die rather than fight.
Constantine's alleged vision, telling him to go to war under the banner of Christ changed all this. Christianity was reduced to a pagan, nationalistic god of war.
Leaders as well as the masses too often embraced their nation's values and goals as though they were God's own.

We've been seduced by the Powers. It's time for Kingdom people in America to be done with this. Our ultimate allegiance cannot be to America or any other country. It cannot be to a flag, democracy, the right to defend ourselves, the right to do what we want, the right to vote, or the right to pursue happiness however we see fit. We are Kingdom people only to the extent that God alone is King of our lives, and thus only to the extent that we revolt against the temptation to make any cultural values or ideas supreme.

The Revolt against Violence
Although it might appear that Jesus is telling his followers [In Matthew 5 - "turn the other cheek"] to be passive, masochistic doormats in the face of evil, that is not what he's suggesting. The word translated "resist" antistenai doesn't necessarily suggest passivity. Rather, it connotes responding to a violent action with a similar violent action. We aren't to passively let evil have its way, but neither are we to sink to the level of the evil being perpetrated against us by responding in kind. Our response is rather to be consistent with loving the offender.
We aren't to be passive and we aren't to be doormats. But because we aren't to be defined by the evil we confront, neither are we to become violent. Quid pro quo has been entirely abolished in the Kingdom Jesus brings.

Our willingness to go against our fallen nature and love and serve enemies rather than resort to violence against them is the telltale sign we are participating in the Kingdom of God.
Notice this: there are no exception clauses found anywhere in the New Testament's teaching about loving and doing good to enemies.

For while the way of violence may appear to curb evil in the short run, it always - always - produces more violence in the long run. It's self-perpetuating.

Suggested Websites: Christian Peacemaking Teams Witness for Peace
Peace Brigades Nonviolent Peace Force

The Revolt against Social Oppression
The truth is that Jesus' teachings and examples are primarily about brining God's will "on earth as it is in heaven" in the lives of his followers here and now. We're now living in the year of jubilee, so all class distinctions are to be abolished in the community of God's people now.

The majority of American churches are as segregated along socioeconomic lines as much as they are along racial lines.

The Revolt against Racism
This means [Ephesians 2:14-16] that revolting against racism is not a nice addendum to the Gospel, as many contemporary white Christians seem to think. It's one of the reasons Jesus came and died on the cross. It's as central to the Gospel as anything could possibly be. We can no more refrain from proclaiming and demonstrating the reunification of humanity in Christ than we can refrain from preaching forgiveness of sin in Christ!

The truth is, racism in America is far more subtle and sinister than this. America was conquered by white Europeans, was structured by and for white Europeans, and it continues to privilege white Europeans. Racism has been woven into the very fabric of our culture from the start.
One of the ways the social system of America continues to privilege whites over others is that it insulates us from the ongoing effects of America's racist past.
For more reading on this topic, check out Lies My Teacher Told Me

The Revolt against Poverty and Greed
When Jesus offers warnings to "the rich," therefore, he's talking about most of us. And his warning is that riches have a way of entrapping us.

It's sobering to compare America's spending on the military with its aid to the poor. In 2005, America spent twenty-seven times more on its military than it did on alleviating global poverty. Some estimate that the amount spent on the Iraq war alone in 2006 could have fed and housed all the poor on the planet six times over. It's also sobering to consider that Americans spend enough money on entertainment each year to feed all the hungry people on the planet for a year.

The Revolt against the Abuse of Creation
"The time has come for judging the dead... and for destroying those who destory the earth." Revelation 11:18

I'd like to suggest that, from a Kingdom perspective, it shouldn't make a bit of difference why the earth is warming up. Nor should it make a bit of difference if it suddenly starts cooling down. For we as Kingdom people are called to care for the earth and the animal kingdom simply because this is part of what it means to be faithful to the reign of God. Following the example of Jesus and the general teaching of Scripture, we're called to manifest God's loving care for the earth and the animal kingdom while revolting against everything that abuses creation.

The Revolt against the Abuse of Sex
Something is precious when it is not common. It costs a great deal to purchase a diamond but costs nothing to acquire an ordinary stone, because diamonds are rare while ordinary stones are not. Sex is intended by God to be a precious and beautiful diamond precisely because it's not intended for common use. Sexual intercourse is the only place where God creates the "one flesh" reality that reflects his beautiful and costly relationship with humans in Christ. It is to be shared only by those who have paid the ultimate price of pledging their whole loves to one another.
What God knows - and what we desperately need to understand - is that our own well being and the well being of society depends on our treating this diamond like the rare and precious stone that it is. When we treat this diamond like a common stone - as our contemporary recreational view of sex encourages us to do - we are desecrating the "one flesh" reality it creates, disdaining its role as a sign of God's relationship with the Church, and violating its role as a sign and sealing of the marriage covenant. We are making a mockery of a beautiful, foundational aspect of God's plan for humans on earth. And we are, consequently, bringing destruction upon ourselves and society.

The Revolt against Secularism
I've been trying to practice this discipline after being inspired last year by Greg Boyd and John Burke's preaching.
A central task for a Kingdom disciple, therefore, is to cultivate a life of unbroken communion with God through Christ. Far from living in a "secular" world where we rarely surrender ourselves consciously to God, our goal must be to abolish the seperation between the "secular" and the "holy" in order to make everything - and every moment - holy. This is our revolt against secularism.

Practicing the presence of God is something we strive for moment-by-moment, even if it's something we will never perfectly attain in this life.
Like me, you will undoubtedly forget to remain aware of God's presence in a few moments. But if you're open to it, before long the Holy Spirit will break through your secularized consciousness and whisper to you, "Remember me?" And when he does, our job is to yield to him and surrender to God's loving presence in that moment - and then seek to do so in the next moment, and then in the next.