Long Time, No Write

Let's play catch up. Hmmm. I think I last wrote in early August, when we got our kitten Faith. She's doing well. Has 'kitty flu' at the moment, but getting her spunk back.

Work is good. I continue to work on writing a book, but am currently facing writer's block. It's a good challenge to work through. I've got the skeleton of the book and am working on putting the muscle on it. The muscle is about 60% done.

Church is good. We're working on our Harvest Party, then we tackle Christmas, then an advance (leadership retreat), then VBS.

Greg and I have been working on a layout for the backyard. Still! Today we got sod. We haven't tapped into the mainline yet or installed sprinklers, but we have sod in the backyard. I guess landscapers can put the cart before the horse sometimes.

I'm reading two books, slowly. The first is Mentor Leader by Tony Dungy and the second is Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Both are good. Crazy Love is kicking my backside, though. Ouch!

Had a cool experience yesterday at work. A friend of one of the ladies came in with her 1 year old daughter. Very cute. I waved and smiled at the baby. The mom was around the corner and the baby strained to see me. I waved again. Then the baby arched her back to be put down. Mom put her down and she walked around two corners and right up to me in the office, stopped, put her arms up for me to pick her up, (and of course I did!) and she sat happily on my lap playing with my necklace, glasses, mouse, pen, paper, and calculator for about 15 minutes. My boss, who is pregnant with her first, said, "She just walked right up to you!", repeatedly. She was so cute! Yeah, I like babies, at least the ones that don't scream when they see you.

Kristen is in MacBeth as a drummer. Lots of late nights rehearsing. Glad when she can come home after school again.

Mark is doing well. It seems like overnight he grew up.

Not much else is happening. Have a blessed Saturday!

She's turned a corner!

For the first two weeks we had Faith, our kitten, she was very sick. Between an upper respiratory infection and an infected eye, not eating too much and sleeping a lot, it reminded us of Sputters, our pukey kitty we had to put down after 13 years. Faith hadn't gain any wait in 9 days. She had a constant fever. The eye ointment was working but the antibiotics didn't seem to fix anything. Then the eye infection went to the other eye.

After I took her back to the vet, her fever broke that night. It was back a little the next day, but then was gone for good. He eye infections completely subsided. Saturday she started playing, running, jumping, chasing our other cat, and being a kitten. What a joy!

She's hilarious. It's so entertaining watching her and Kira play together. Today Faith gets her stitches out and hopefully gets off her antibiotics.

Wahooo, we have a kitten!

A Little Respite

A week ago Sunday our church celebrated their one-year anniversary. It was great seeing friends we haven't seen in a while. It was also great to hear Greg reminisce about the last year in the life of God's church. Each time we put on some sort of event, it gets easier. I think I don't stress as much, as I get more experience under my belt.

Preparations weren't too hard. We bought almost 20 lbs. of tri-tip. Greg and I prepared it the night before, then we popped it in the oven Sunday morning. When it was done, I wrapped each roast in foil and put it in the ice chest to get it to church. The grill was cleaned and fired up and on they went. Pretty good stuff for our first try. Many people, from leadership to neighbors, prepared dishes and brought them to share. We even had a cake made by one of the mom's of the kids on our kid's leadership team. A wonderful thing happened at the celebration. Greg had Kristen go up front with all the kids that go to the Saturday swim parties. She had taught them the books of the New Testament. She demonstrated how she taught them and taught the congregation as well, and had the kids do them. Everyone was very into it. John DuPree, one of our Elders, and the top guy of The Harvest Group was very impressed. So impressed that he asked Kristen to be one of the speakers at the Traction Conference held in Sacramento in January. Traction is a missions conference for 18-24 year-olds. She will be teaching the books of the New Testament as a drama presentation. As a speaker she gets to attend the whole conference, Wednesday through Saturday, for free. Cool, huh?

On Tuesday after the celebration, we got our new kitty Faith. She came home with a bad cold. Sneezing, runny nose and eye, then her eye became infected. She's on amoxicillan and eye ointment. She no longer has to be on pain medicine which made her sleep alot. We're just waiting it out. Some days are better than others.
Last weekend we went to A Lovely Place, and once again, loved it! I got to work on a project I've been hammering away at, which was great. We saw a fox carry a rabbit up the hill in its mouth, 4 deer, and a squirrel. We love that place!

I think that's about it for now. Keep praying Kristen gets a job soon! School starts in 2 weeks!

Have a blessed warm Tuesday.

Aaaaawwwweeeee!

The vet called yesterday to ask all the pre-op questions and then let me know since we were doing a de-claw, we couldn't bring Faith home until Tuesday after 10:00 a.m. (which means 12:00, when I get off work). Bummer!!!!! A whole week since we adopted her! The wait is killing me! I guess if I can wait 6 weeks for Mark, I can wait a week for the kitten!

The Best Week Ever!

We've had a wonderful week! These are not in any particular order.

1. Mark is home!!!!!!!! With a cold, but he's home!!!!!!!
2. We adopted a kitten! I named her Faith. She comes home Monday afternoon. She's a total snuggler. Our other cat is aloof and is Kristen's so this one is mine. She's perfect! Not the best picture of her, but she's 3 months old and just beautiful.
3. Kristen had 2 job interviews. The hospital, and a vet office. I hope she gets the vet office one. She's much better geared towards animals. Michael's is interested in her, they just have to get permission to let relatives work together.
She wants that job the most.
4. I don't have to do landscaping anymore! That means that I can work my other job in the mornings, which I prefer.
5. The weather is supposed to be in the 80's for the next week!
6. It's Friday and Sunday is our one year celebration of our church!!!!!
Have a blesssed Friday!

Relief! Joy! Anticipation!

Mark is back in the states from his trip to Turkey! He called last night and we had a great chat. I can't wait to see him! Kristen washed his car. This valley is notorious for layers of dust and dirt on things that don't move.

We had a great leadership meeting yesterday. We planned our 1-year celebration coming up this Sunday. Can't wait!

Gotta eat breakfast and get ready to go to work. Lots of errands this afternoon.

Have a blessed warm, sunny Monday.

Very Satisfying Day

The weather is beautiful, upper 80's, low 90's. I've been able to cut back on landscaping. Kristen is over her toe infection. Mark comes home from Turkey in a week. This afternoon I'm going to organize the bathroom cabinets.

The last two days at work I've been able to organize the file cabinets, do payroll, and program! I never thought I would miss it. As I dug in, I found myself in that 'zone' again. Working on big, long, hairy formulas. Looking up function names online, in help, and in an Excel book (the book was no help at all). Focused, talking to myself, raising my hands up in the air and saying "Yes!" when I fixed a problem. It took me back to my days at Gallo, and the time flew by. What my boss was expecting me to work on sporadically over the course of the rest of this year, I have almost done. I think. We'll see what he says when he sees my graphs when he gets back. Tomorrow I get to make everything look pretty, since the data is there and the graphs are working. Exciting!

Worship practice is here tonight, so I'll be getting the words into the laptop for Sunday. Speaking of church, we are celebrating our one year anniversary of starting weekly Sunday services. It's August 8th at 9:00 a.m. if you would like to join us. BBQ to follow. Go to our website here. I've been making a little gift for everyone. They turned out great! I can't believe I did it. I bet everyone who knows me won't be able to believe I did it either!

We're also planning a community-wide evangelistic seminar where people can learn how to share their faith. It will be held at Family Bible Center, 5 East Main Street Turlock, CA on September 11th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. Evangelism resources will be available for browsing and buying. This will be the first of a 3-part series on evangelism.

Blessings on this beautiful Thursday.

The Days of Middle-Age Have Come

I dare glance at the bookcase, I fear
My old friends, many more to be read, I tear.

Days gone by, enthralled, empassioned, I read
A heap of work, a mountain to climb, I dread.

The days of middle-age, have come
The brain forgetful, coming more quickly, for some.

The desire still remains, to read, to write
The days sift through my fingers, and too, the night.

God's Perfect Timing

Yesterday at church sure had it's moments! It was one of those days when you think the enemy is up to no good and working overtime. It was a test of my attitude and patience. I give myself a B-. We got a couple of calls the night we came back from Monterey that our refreshment person and our Sunday school teacher (married to each other) got very sunburned the day before while rafting and wouldn't be going to church. I had to pick up the refreshments and do set up the next day. Not a big deal, everything was ready to go.

Our worship leader got a call 15 minutes before he came to church that his guitar player wouldn't be coming to church.

Our AV person was camping for the weekend so I was asked to set up the projector to the computer and run the words for worship. I didn't think it would be too hard since I had set up that kind of projector many times at Gallo for presentations in PowerPoint. However, running our worship software proved a little different. For the whole hour before service, I worked on it. I had an image for a while, but not the right size. My monitor on the laptop was doing strange things. Then I lost the signal all together. A quick call to our AV guy proved futile as he was out of range. On my own. Greg and our worship leader were great trying to help. Greg got the kids to set up the refreshment table and called us to prayer about the AV equipment.

I got a call while working on the projector that our greeter, who was also scheduled to work in the nursery, had an eye infection and wouldn't be coming to church. I was also to fill in doing the greeting as well, as well as my normal duties. Fortunately, the babies and toddlers we were expecting didn't come either.

At about 3 minutes to 9:00 I finally got the projector and computer working together and the words were just like they were supposed to be. I quickly handed the bulletins out and sat at the laptop to start worship. The first song wasn't going well on the screen so Greg gave me a quick tutorial he learned from our AV guy. Then the rest of the songs went smoothly.

Mid service I was asked to get a watermelon and knife out of the fridge for an illustration Greg was doing. While I was in the kitchen, the new baby arrived with mom. She was 4 lbs 6 oz, so tiny! They came into the service, Greg stopped the service and prayed for them and they stayed for the rest of the service. Fortunately, the person who translates for her was at church yesterday.

What a crazy Sunday service! I'm thankful God pulled everything together and that the kids came early and helped with the refreshments and other setup responsibililties.

A Day Away

Yesterday Greg, Kristen, and I went to Monterey for the day. You gotta love traveling from 100 degree weather to high 60 degree weather. It was great. We did the typical touristy things: Fisherman's Wharf, the beach at Asilomar, Cannery Row. We had lunch at the Grotto at the wharf and dinner at Pea Soup Andersen's on the way home. We ate too much and still had leftovers. Here are some pics:

All Kinds of Good Things!

Seeing my last post was 5/30, I thought I would update you on all kinds of good things that have happened in the last few weeks.

1. Mark went on his mission trip to Turkey on 6/21. He should be back August 5.

2. Kristen is job hunting. We had fun shopping for 'work clothes'!

3. I got a part-time job as a bookkeeper for Vail Creek Jewelry Designs, Inc.

4. I'm working for Greg 2 5-hour shifts per week.

5. We're trying to schedule a few days away. Can't wait!

6. We took Kristen and Mark to San Francisco Saturday to see Wicked for Kristen's
18th birthday. It was fantastic!

7. We're doing a lot of organizing around the house. Yeah!

8. Sascha has recovered very well from her stroke.

9. Casey is calming down. Puppy stage is finally ending.

10. A family in our church just had a baby girl, a month early, but mom and baby
are doing fine. The baby's name is Casey and will be home in 6 weeks or
less. Only 2 lbs. at birth!

11. Saturday swim parties are a hit! Greg is developing 3 student leaders.

12. My mom had back surgery and is doing fine.

Off to work. Praying for cool wind today.

Have a blessed warm Thursday.

Trying to Relax

This month has been a whirlwind. So much busier than I ever remember Mark's last month of high school. Work was busy, I finished Kristen's scrapbook, took her to catch her bus for her senior trip at 5:00 a.m. last Saturday, picked her up at 3:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning, planned and decorated for her party, went to her graduation and hosted her party, was on a procurement committee for Sober Grad Night, chaperoned Sober Grad night Friday night from 12:15 a.m. to 2:00 a.m., had an overnight guest for graduation night who showed up unexpectedly at my house that afternoon, interviewed and got a part-time job, have a full-time job possibility, and am planning on starting a women's Bible study on the Old Testament this Saturday. My body is trying to catch up on sleep but it's having some trouble. Too overstimulated from all the excitement I think. Enjoy the pictures.

End of the School Year

We're in the home stretch. Last Friday night we went to Kristen's Junior/Senior Banquet. The theme was Phantom of the Opera. We entered a brick cave and all the Juniors were dressed in white dress shirts and black slacks. Some of the Juniors had roles to play, like Carlotta. She had a beautiful burgundy gown and a white wig that was over a foot tall! The opera house owners were in tuxedos and of course, you had the stars and the phantom who wore a tux with cape, and a half white mask. After entering the hall, each family was assigned a host to escort them to where their pictures were taken, then to their assigned table.

The tables were beautifully set. Each graduate had a long-stemmed rose at their place setting. Each table sat 3 graduates and their parents. There was an appetizer bar set up with fresh fruit, different kinds of cheeses and crackers, and pastries, and punch.

After opening in prayer, the first course came. The dinner consisted of salad, chicken cordon bleu with green beans and roasted potatoes and chocolate mouse finished the meal. Each table got a bottle of Welches white and red sparkling grape juice.

We were entertained by the performers mouthing the words to 3 or 4 phantom songs as they acted out the songs. After dinner, there was a slide show of the graduates from infant to senior picture. The graduates had an opportunity to share their thoughts during 'open mic'. The principal got up and shared the scholarships the kids had been awarded as they applied to different schools as well as what schools they planned to attend.

The evening was closed in prayer. It was a wonderful experience!

Our First Baptism!

Yesterday we did our first baptism. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. After the baptism, we had a BBQ. Yummm!!!! Can't wait until the next one! Enjoy!

Touch Continued

Continuing on with Chapter 5, Holy Disgust by Pastor Rudy Rasmus. BTW, have you read Holy Discontent by Bill Hybels? It's a great little book, a quick read, and a must read for anyone trying to figure out what they're supposed to do in their spiritual walk, primarily in ministry.

Most of us are wary of taking bold stands, because we don't trust our anger to be a form of holy disgust. To be honest, there's every reason to have that hesitation. The vast majority of anger and defiance that we see - in others and in ourselves - isn't holy at all. The goal of these emotions isn't justice and restoration; it's revenge.

Complacency isn't a fruit of the Spirit, and passivity and fear aren't products of a life of faith. Holy disgust crystallizes our thinking and propels us into action.

We are naturally in awe of powerful people, and we assume that they achieved power because they've earned it. Or maybe we've seen what happens when someone questions the motives or actions of these leaders. At one point, Jesus healed a blind man, and the Pharisees questioned him about the event. When he didn't give them the answer they wanted to hear, they kicked him out of the temple. For him, and for some of us, crossing religious authorities can lead to being ostracized. But for many of us, fear drives our decisions. It's much safe to get along by going along, keep the blinders over our eyes, and avoid making waves. And we keep going along to avoid the guilt and blame we'd suffer if we said, "Enough is enough!"

But another factor keeps us locked into toxic religion: when powerful people promise we'll get wealthy and healthy by following their directions.

Malcolm Gladwell observes that our preoccupation with the acquisition of things is our primary faith challenge, because it steals our hearts away from God and isolates us from people in need. We may get a new house or car or pretty dress or electronic gadget, and we enjoy it for a while. But soon we notice that somebody else has a nicer one or a newer one, and the fire of desire burns hot. It's hard to be committed to God's purpose, God's plan, and God's promise when they don't include a fifty-inch plasma television set with the latest audio equipment.

My talk that morning included an update on my recovery from the cussing habit my father passed on to me (384 days and counting!). As soon as my update was finished, a well-dressed family from New Orleans, sitting near the front of the church, got up and left. Was it something I said? I would have thought they'd be impressed that I've stopped cussing!

We've had dozens, maybe hundreds, of well-dressed people come to St. John's, but most of them came only one time. They look around, and they feel uncomfortable with the needy people they see sitting next to them in the pew. At that moment, they have a decision to make. The question may not be formulated in a crystal clear way in their thinking, but it's instinctive: Do I want to stay here and be part of a gut-level, caring community, or do I want to go down the street to a church where people look, smell, and sound more like me?

(Of missions trips) Observers report, though, that the most significant change occurs in the hearts of those who go, not the ones who are the recipients of their efforts.

Just a word of advice for today's blog. If you notice someone doing something wrong (illegal, immoral, unethical, unbiblical, etc.), please confront them. If you don't, you're basically an accomplice, especially as a believer, regarding another believer. What you could lose on earth will be less than you could lose in the spiritual realm. Do the right thing, at all times.

Have a blessed sunny Tuesday.

Touch Continued

We'll continue with my highlights from the book Touch by Pastor Rudy Rasmus. We'll start with Chapter 4, Through His Eyes.

Expectations are premeditated resentments.

Fear is the root of these expectations. We're afraid that person - a family member or a stranger - will crack the shell of safety that we've carefully constructed to protect ourselves.

Until our own fears are cast out by God's great love for us, we'll continue to see every person as a stepping-stone to reaching our own selfish goals or a threat to our safety and significance.

"If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance" (2 Cor. 1:6 NIV). Did you get that? His distress helped him minister more effectively because he could identify with others' sufferings, and the comfort he experienced enabled him to pour out comfort to others who were hurting.

As we experience more of God's unconditional love - especially when we feel most unlovable - we'll be more secure. Then we won't see others as threats, and we'll be able to truly love them.

Truth is the foundation of a caring community. Faith, though, doesn't insulate us from trouble; trust in God gives us strength and insight so that we can handle those troubles instead of being overwhelmed by them.

Those are all excellent thoughts to meditate on. As I read some of them, I went, "Ouch!" And some where, "Ain't that the truth!" I've had seasons of fear and seasons of great peace and faith. If you truly consider how very much God loves us, how very patient He is with us, and why He created us, I think you come up with a formula for not being fearful. What could we possibly be afraid of when God is in control? What could we ever go through that others haven't already gone through and made it through just fine? We have God, omni-everything. What on earth is there to be afraid of?

Have a blessed cloudy Mother's Day!

Update

Greg is feeling much better. He'll be preaching this morning. This afternoon we'll be attending Kristen's play at 2:00 with family and friends. At 6:00 we have a membership class at our house. Fun, fun, fun!

Sascha is still recovering. Kristen has a cold. She's playing the bongos this morning for church and Greg decided not to bring the pulpit but to preach on a stool with a music stand. It's almost like having our own church building, not lugging those things to and from church. Nice!

Have a blessed sunny, breezy Sunday!

New Book

My daughter, Kristen, bought me a book for Christmas. It's called Touch and it's written by Pastor Rudy Rasmus. He pastors a church Called St. John's in downtown Houston. Side note, Beyonce grew up in this church and wrote a little note on the back cover.

I'm only on chapter 6, but thought I would share a few of my highlights.

The ministry of St. John's exposes fear, hurt, and doubt in each of us, and it lavishes love to heal these wounds.

The more I experienced the touch of His love, kindness, forgiveness, and strength, the more revolution God caused in my heart. I began to see myself as an advocate for the marginalized around me: drug addicts, homeless people, gays and lesbians, gang members, and misfits.

One day, a well-dressed lady who was a corporate professional came to me with a complaint, "Rudy," she said with a tone of disgust, "things just don't seem to be improving around here. What are you going to do about all of those people?"

I believe people have built-in radar to detect the level of acceptance we offer them.

ENGAGE BEFORE JUDGING
LOVE BEFORE LEAVING SOMEONE'S PRESENCE
PERSONAL PAIN IS FERTILE GROUND TO LEARN TO LOVE
REAL LOVE REQUIRES DEFENDING THE HELPLESS

(About a lady he knew in the neighborhood) She looked the facts squarely in the eye, and then she stepped up, spoke the truth, and took action. I've tried to follow her example by being brutally honest about people and circumstances, and then defending the rights of the helpless and hopeless against exclusion, racism, and all forms of injustice.

What can we expect when we choose love over fear in relating to people? We can expect most people to repay our love with trust and loyalty, but we can also expect a few to try to take advantage of our kindness, and a few of them will despise us. That's the range of people's responses to Jesus. Why should their response to us be any different?

And the reason for our limited ability to love might be that we live in fear and try to protect ourselves from being hurt again.

C.S. Lewis said, "Pain is God's megaphone." He uses it to get our attention. God uses our pain to deepen our dependence on Him so we move past fear and we learn to live in love. When we experience God's love, we can lower our guard of self-protection, and we can really love people.

According to Robert Linthicum in his book, Empowering the Poor, ministries can be characterized by their attitude toward "the least of these." Some churches have ministries "to" needy communities, some minister "in" those communities, and some minister "with" needy people.

Ministering "to" needy people is keeping the at arm's length. A suburban church may take old clothes to a shelter and drop them off. They expect the effort will help in some way, but they have very little contact with homeless people or abused women and children served by the shelter.

Many churches minister "in" their communities. The building is found in the town or city or countryside, but they see people outside the church as "them" instead of "us." They see their church as a haven from the injustice ad heartache outside the church, and they develop a fortress mentality. If people come to them, the church will try to find them some help. But if they don't come, that's fine too.

Instead of the church being a fortress to protect us from threatening people, the church is a family that cares for all of its people, the saved and the lost, the rich and the poor, the clean and the smelly. Churches that minister "with" their communities live in love, not in fear.

That's a good chunk to chew on for today, three chapters in fact. The next chapter deals with our fears. Tune in again!

Blessings on this sunny Friday.

Sad Face :-(

This week our beloved dog Sascha of 15 years suffered a stroke. We don't know exactly when it happened, but she is walking with her head tilted, not walking straight and stumbling, and has some visual damage.

There is nothing the vet can do but he did gave us hope. He said with damage at this low to moderate level, she can recover after three weeks of rest. We can't give her blood thinners, as this could increase the bleeding in the brain if it hasn't stopped yet. She wants to walk, and even run, but she can't get her blood pressure up. We continue to keep her separated from our 3 year old golden retriever, Casey, as he is too rambunctious for her delicate condition. The vet said if she is vomiting consistently to let him know and he will give her some strong car sickness medicine for the nausea. If she starts seizing, it would be time to put her to sleep. Right now she's not in pain or discomfort, other than being really dizzy. He said it was like being a kid spinning around several times, then trying to run or walk a straight line. I get that.

So we're watching her and are hopeful her dizziness and head tilt will lessen in a few weeks and she'll be able to walk straight again.

Please pray for her full recovery. She's the best dog we've ever had. Loving and protective, gentle and loyal.

Have a blessed sunny Thursday.

Too Funny to Miss!

We saw Kristen's play Friday night. It was hilarious, just like the brochure said. I was not expecting Kristen's character. I didn't recognize her when she walked on stage. The costumes and make-up were so good, you can't tell these are high schoolers! This is a laugh out loud comedy that pokes fun at Christians and the silly way we sometimes do church. In the end, it all works out and hearts are changed. Friday Greg was on an embankment at a customer's house in Modesto and started to slide into dry creek. He grabbed a vine and didn't realize it was full of nettles. His hand was red, swollen, throbbing, and prickly until the next day.

He's better now.

Have a blessed sunny Saturday.

Back to Work

After being off all but 4 hours this week, and that 4 hours was in the rain, we've got a full day ahead of us today. Greg said to pack breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Yuck! I'm eating breakfast at my desk as I type, so maybe it won't be as bad as I thought.

I'm going through a New Testament survey book with a friend and I love it! I'll be starting the Old Testament survey book with another friend in 2 weeks and can't wait.

We have a busy weekend with Kristen's play opening Saturday night at 7:00 at Sunrise Christian Church. Here's the info, if I haven't already posted it.

A Hilarious Comedy About the Church

Pastoring a new flock didn’t sound so difficult . . .
But nobody told him he’d be working with Turkeys!

Performed by the TCHS “Class Act”

Dates:
Saturday April 24 at 7:00 p.m.
Sunday April 25 at 7:00 p.m.
Friday April 30 at 7:00 p.m.
Saturday May 1 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Sunday May 2 at 2:00 p.m.

Sunrise Christian Church, 1000 E. Monte Vista Ave. Turlock
Tickets $5 to $7 at the door

Off to work!
Have a blessed cloudy Friday.

EQUIP Update

This Sunday we're having a special kid's service. Children will be singing songs, reciting memory verses from VBS, giving testimonies, and reading scripture.

This Saturday we are having a baptism class and in a few weeks a baptism and bar-b-que. We will be having an interpreter for the parents of the children who will be baptized who don't understand English very well.

A membership class is also on the schedule and we're planning another leadership meeting soon.

Our small groups are going great. Greg and I are about ready to lead one ourselves for those with rotating work schedules.

The "Harvest Gathering" of Churches for God's Greatest Glory is a powerful, 2-day conference for churches throughout Northern and Central California. It is an opportunity for believers to hear from dynamic plenary speakers, interact with dozens of mission organizations, attend workshops to learn about strategic opportunities, and connect with like-minded believers from throughout the region. April 30-May 1 at The Home Church in Campbell CA.
This was a huge blessing to our team last year and we encourage anyone interested to go and check it out.

For more info on EQUIP's calendar of events, go to our website at .

Have a blessed gray Wednesday.

A Little Shove

Two friends have told me that although my book review blogs were good, my best blogs are the ones where I share what God is teaching me or what is being revealed to me. This will be one of those kinds of blogs, and hopefully good!

A friend of mine and I are starting a study of the New Testament. I started blogging on the Old Testament survey study we did about a year ago and the same author, Bill Jones has come out with the companion book, Putting Together the Puzzle of the New Testament. I can't wait! Thursday night I had some quiet time alone. Greg was in the bedroom watching Flash Forward (too stressful for me), Kristen was at her drama rehearsal, Mark was at his college group so I had the living room to myself. Yeah!!!!! I love those times.

I was reading the introduction to the book, which is more like a summary of the book when I read a sentence that stopped me dead in my tracks and brought me to tears, remorse, and repentance.

Lately, as you know, I've been very busy. Work, Easter, VBS, etc. During that time, I missed about 6 quiet times in a row. That's about my limit anyway, before I sit down and catch up, which was also what I was planning on doing Thursday night. I know God is waiting for me to join him, but I also tell myself there is grace when I don't make it every day, and I do make up for it, sort of. God chose this sentence to get my attention:

There they struggled with the tendency of turning away from the living God who loves and cares for them and turning to gods made from the hands of the Canaanites.

I felt I was doing the same thing. I had a tendency that I struggled with - putting God on hold while I put other things first in my day. In so doing, I was choosing to turn away from the living God who loves and cares for me. I started to feel some of the pain that God must feel when we do this, when I do this. He loves and cares for me. All the time, no matter what. And yet I struggle with the tendency to turn away. How horrible of me. I turn to gods made from my hands - business, tasks, stuff all screaming, "I'm urgent!" But these things are not important. God is the most important thing I have.

I sat, I cried, I apologized over and over. I let the moment of correction wash over me, not wanting to hurry it, but to experience it fully.

Today I am 1 day behind. I need to do yesterday and today. Reading through the Bible in a year helps me keep on track, otherwise I have a tendency to let it go much more. The schedule is a tool to help me stay accountable, it is not a God. There is only one God, and He corrects me.

Have a blessed sunny Saturday.

A Grand Send Off!

The Coburns joined us about 8 months ago for a season of recharging, healing, refocusing and direction. We expected this season to be from 4-6 months and all sensed their time with us was winding down as God has called them to start a small group in their home in Manteca. Under the covering of their previous church in Manteca, they already have many couples asking to be part of their ministry.

We announced their move a few weeks ago to give the congregation time to say their good-bye's and Sunday we had their family up front for a time of prayer and encouragement. After service we had cake. Tuesday night three families traveled to their home in Manteca for our monthly prayer meeting. Many prophetic words were spoken as we prayed for Dan and Audra, their children, and their ministry. It is an exciting time for them as they see where the Lord is ultimately calling them.

Many blessings to the Coburn family. God will do great things through them with their willing hearts to serve Him at all times.

Wheeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

You know the exhiliaration of coming off a roller coaster ride? You're coasting into the final stretch as they apply the brakes, your hair flying backwards, or, if it's short, straight up. You have this silly grin on your face, that if you're lucky, the picture they just took makes you WANT to buy it.

That's how I've felt the last couple of days. So, if you've been reading my last couple of blogs, you saw the spiritual warfare taking place, mostly in our business. Then, early last week, our marriage was attacked. Fortunately, it was only a couple of days and by the time VBS started, we were on good footing again.

VBS was great. It was a spiritual high. Such a reward could only have been preceded by warfare, as the enemy knew what was coming. I have to say we were very drained. It sucked every bit of energy out of us but it was all worth it to see many kids come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

VBS itself was only 2 hours each day for three days, but we were there for 5 hours each day, which included setup, registration, and tear down. Much easier if we had our own building and could have transported everything needed once.

We started in the sanctuary with worship from Turlock Christian's Worship Band, which was great. Here they are practicing before we started the first day.
After worship, a few instructions and an introductory skit (written by Alex Gutierrez and performed by Alex, Jessica Bardini, Kristen and a few others as extras)
the kids were separated by age group and started their rotations. Some stayed in the sanctuary for a time of Bible lesson teaching (the theme was Heroes of the Bible) and the teaching separated girls from boys where the girls learned about Esther and Ruth and the boys learned about Gideon and David Wednesday and Thursday respectively and Friday everyone learned about the mystery hero, Jesus. Some kids went to crafts, led by our Sunday School teacher Amber Hutcheson and some went outside to play games that had to do with the theme and hero of the day. One of the games was throwing water balloon bombs at a 9 foot tall plywood Goliath, made by Dick and Mark Pritchard and painted by Kristen, when studying David. Goliath had signs attached to him like gangs, drugs, gossip, selfishnes, pride, etc.
After game time outside, it was snack time. I got to be in charge of registration and snacks and loved doing both. Their snacks were trail mix with cheetos and m&ms and cereal, brownies, mini cinnamon rolls, goldfish, and fruit cocktail. They also had lemonade, tang, and water.
Before VBS the first day, we got to play jumprope. Here's Greg and I giving it a try. I won! At the end of the day the kids came back together in the sanctuary and got to see the resolution to the intro skit from the morning. Sometimes they got a new skit. Before and after VBS the kids got to go into the Dora the Explorer bounce house. After VBS each day, the kids were treated to popcorn, manned by our actresses Alex and Jessica. The crafts included paper machet balloons, painted rocks, and bookmarks.

As VBS progressed, kids were rewarded with stars for attending, bringing a friend, memorizing up to 4 Bible verses a day, winning games, doing acts of heroics (like praying for someone, comforting, peacemaking, serving, etc.) and a few other things. At the end of VBS the highest performers of each age group were given their choice of prizes, like t-shirts, games, CDs, posters, etc. The kids were also given an opportunity to accept Christ the last two days and many did for the first time. Some were kids that went to our church, and others didn't go to church or went to other churches. That was the highlight for me!

To see all the pictures from VBS, look at the slide show below.

And Another Thing!

So, we're visiting my mom yesterday and we leave Kristen's 5x7 of her homecoming picture up there. Not a really big deal, we'll get it back at the end of the month when they come down for Kristen's play.

So, I'm getting things ready for today's Easter service, and I can't find the tray I bought Tuesday for the refreshments! I looked everywhere. I don't know if I even brought it home. It's on the receipt, so I know I had it at the register, but can't find it anywhere. I used a larger tray I also bought Tuesday, so it worked out. Just another frustration.

Now that Easter is over, I wonder if the attacks will stop. Probably not until VBS is over I'm guessing.

Easter service was great. I loved the baby dedication, worship, and sermon on Spiritual Strength. The weather was a bit chilly, but we made it through. The kids had a great time finding eggs in the grass. One of the people in our church brought chocolate crosses and handed them out to everyone at church! We also had special music, she and her sister sang Amazing Grace. It was beautiful.

I'm looking forward to a nap, but I'm told we were invited to a birthday party, so we'll go there first, then crash. Glad there is nothing else scheduled for today!

Have a blessed Resurrection day!

It's almost laughable!

As if my laundry list of our week or two wasn't enough, it just keeps getting better!
1. Today we lost a set of keys for work.
2. Greg had two guys coming to help us with a weedeating job and he had to piece together 3 pieces of equipment to make one weedeater.
3. Then we lost the gas cap to one of our weedeaters. The funny thing was, we had an extra gas cap because two weeks ago the oil cap broke and we bought the gas cap by accident, but we couldn't find our extra today. We went to one of our supply stores and they didn't sell them.
4. One of the keys we lost is to our storage unit so we couldn't park the trailer in there tonight. It will cost $50 for the storage unit people to break our lock, or $65 for a locksmith to come out. Last time this happened (oh yes, this has happened before!), the storage unit people loaned us their lock cutters for free. The times they are a changin'!
5. My back is killing me and I think I may have to go to the doctor.
6. There have been more, but we can't remember them, thank goodness!

Here's the good news:
1. The big mower is working and tomorrow we have 2 jobs left and we're done for the week! (Assuming no more equipment malfunctions)
2. We get to go out of town Saturday for several hours, and Mark got the day off to go with us!
3. It's almost Easter, and the bulletin is almost done, the fliers for VBS are printed, the baby dedication certificate is done, and the refreshment stuff is ready to go!
4. A lot of the VBS supplies are ready!

I just can't wait for this week to be over! Have a blessed cool, Thursday evening.

It's Pouring!

I've often titled blogs like this When it Rains, it Pours, so I thought I would be a little different today.

Taking into account that it is before Easter, I can understand why we are experiencing the things we are experiencing.

It started three weeks ago when Greg got sick.

Then the belt on our big mower came off.

Then I got sick.

Then Friday we lost our trailer's license plate in Modesto. I know where we lost it. The Modesto PD was too busy to look for it, so Greg went back up after work and couldn't find it. We did a missing plate report on our way to Tracy yesterday and as I write, Greg is standing in line at the DMV to get a replacement plate.

Then yesterday the same belt came off, along with a large spring, and the drive belt. A spool holding the blade belt was bent. No mower for 24 hours or more. We were very fortunate to be able to drive the mower from where it broke to the trailer and up onto the trailer.

We're also trying to figure out why our taxes are higher this year and are combing through income reports trying to find overstatements. This is a pain and a hassle.

All this while trying to plan for Easter and VBS, landscape the backyard for graduation, and keeping our discipleship and counseling appointments.

It's a little busy, but God is sufficient for all our needs. We're not irritable. We're looking at this time as part of the territory of Pastoring.

I don't mean to whine, just sharing. The Bible tells us to share one another's burdens as well as joys. I don't mind sharing either. What I do mind is when people are unwilling to share the difficult situations. It really robs the body of opportunities to minister and intercede for one another, which promotes spiritual growth.

Thanks for reading. Have a blessed cloudy Tuesday.

Updates!

Something strange happened. I hit 500 blog posts and I had no desire to post. It was like coming to a stoplight and the light never turned green. There I sat with nothing to say. Well, now it's time to update everyone on all kinds of stuff.

EQUIP Update:
1. We had 4 kids accept Christ in our worship service a month ago. Yesterday some kids from Turlock Christian joined us to deliver 450 flyers to neighboring houses on the westside, inviting them to our Vacation Bible School April 7-9. Today we had 6 new kids come to church, and got 7 registrations, 6 of which came from one of the kids!
2. Greg and I reconnected with 2 families we've helped in the past. It was great seeing them again and helping them out.
3. Still praying for a building of our own.
4. We had 23 kids in church today. We may have to switch rooms with them soon. They're outnumbering our adults!
5. We've got a baby dedication planned for Easter. We also have 2 people in our church with birthdays on Easter this year!

Personal Update:
1. I'm back working with Greg 3 days a week and feel very good. The arms are good, the shoulder is almost fixed. I was told last week that I'm 'on the other side', meaning that there is no impingement, but we just have to keep stretching it for the next month to get full range of motion back. It doesn't hurt anymore, just an ache here and there, especially after work.
2. Easter is almost here. The busiest day of the year for churches, which we are one, and the busiest day of the year for landscapers of churches, which we have three. We're in a double crunch but doing well and on track. Greg is feeling a little scrunched this week, preparing his Easter sermon, getting all our customers done, going to see my mom on Saturday, and we have 2 meetings this week at night.
3. Mark is planning a 6 week missions trip to Turkey in June/July with Monument. (Monte Vista Chapel's college group via Campus Crusade for Christ). He is raising $3500, so if you'd like to help, send a check with his name on it to Monte Vista Chapel. He's a junior at CSUS taking 15 units and working 2 part-time jobs, as well as being on Monument's worship team playing keyboard.
4. Kristen is a senior at Turlock Christian, working hard on her senior project, which is called "Whether or not Dads are important in a child's life". She has to present both sides with multiple references. Pretty involved. Powerpoint, oral presentation, written report, etc. She's also working on her part in a drama which will be at Sunrise Church April 23-25, 30 and May 1-2. She plays a church secretary of a dysfunctional church. It's a high comedy. I can't wait! She also plays drums for our church on Sunday mornings.
5. We're hoping to get our backyard done before Kristen's graduation. Fence, sprinkler system, sod, plants, fruit trees, shade trees, etc. Our taxes were more than expected so this and a few smaller things are waiting for that first.

Now you're caught up! I hope to blog more after Easter. Blessings on this gorgeous Sunday evening.

You See Bones, I See an Army (cont,)

I'm on a roll.  Continuing with Discipleship Defined by Floyd McClung.
Discipleship is not telling other people what to do, nor is it a rigid set of rules and practices for spiritual growth.  Nor is it a way of relating for "moderns" that does not apply to "postmoderns." 

While discipleship involves helping each other grow in Christ, it doesn't mean we take responsibility for each other's decisions.

People grow the most when they learn to hear God's voice for themselves.  The aim of making disicples is to point people to Jesus.  There is no greater joy for people than when they discover God's will for themselves.  As much as we may be tempted to give people the answers or "fix" them, God alone can transform the human heart. 

Making disicples is not an option, it's a command.
Jesus said, "Teach tme to observe all things I have commanded you."  Obedient disciples make disciples.  It's the heart of what we do.  There is nothing more important than investing our lives in other people.  There is no more crucial role for leaders in the church.  When leaders invest their lives in other leaders, it's discipleship at its best.  Why?  Because only those who live with apostolic intent can create a leadership culture conductive to attracting and releasing more leaders.  When a leader develops other leaders, the impact of one life is multiplied many times over.  It produces more fruit for the kingdom of God.

Making disciples is personal in nature but global in scope.

Making disciples begins with building relationships with people who don't know Jesus.

Making disciples is another way of describing church planting. 

Making disciples is God's way of transforming cities and nations.

Sadly, many leaders are getting people to make decisions about Jesus, but they are not making disciples for Jesus.

Discipling someone means intentionally identifying with God's interests in that person's life.

There are churches and movements today that produce these kinds of disciples, while others don't come close.  The reason some churches and movements produce these kinds of disciples is because the leaders have been captured by a vision of laying down their lives for the purposes of God.  If the people who lead have this kind of passion and vision, it will be passed on to others.  unless we make disciple-making our main agenda, all our visions are fantasy.  It's the difference between dreaming and doing.  And to do the job really well, we have to make our main business making disciples who make disciples.

Personal discipleship helps create the truest form of trust between people.  Not just the kind of trust that believes a person is reliable, but trust that is based on knowing that other people have our best interests in mind.  It's the trust that comes from people baring their hearts to one another.  It's the trust that results from dealing with conflict in healthy, loving ways.  It's the trust that says, "I want input from you, even if it means significant adjustment to my character or plans."

Trust takes time, hard work, connecting from the heart, humility, and lots of transparency.  Trust is the assurance that you can rely on people to tell you the truth, knowing that they believe in you.  Trust creates safety and assures others they can open their hearts to one another without fear of retribution.  Without a strong sense of trust, people build walls, lift the drawbridge to their heart, and live behind barriers of suspicion and cynicism.  Amazingly, we can pull down walls of mistrust through being vulnerable to another person.  Discipleship embodies this way of relating.

Disciples make disciples.  There is no shortcut and there is no other way for a church or movement to reproduce itself.

That concludes the book!  The appendix gives five core practices to start and multiply simple church communities.  They are:
1.  Pray
2.  Meet
3.  Disciple
4.  Gather
5.  Multiply

This has been a fascinating and motivating book.  I have heard people say that reading Christian books isn't good because it's not the Bible.  I disagree.  If God can inspire people to write the Bible, he can inspire people today to write good Christian books that motivate and explain in today's language the message and purpose of the Bible.  They are no substitue for the Bible or my daily reading and time with God, but they pour into me the same way sitting across the table from someone giving me wisdom about the Bible does.  It's like listening to a good sermon.

My kids have a video game called Sonic that has this little critter running really fast down roadways.  Every so often he hits a patch and is propelled even faster.  You want to hit those patches because you are racing against time.  It's the same with my Christian walk.  I'm racing against time.  The days are evil.  We are running a race to expand the Kingdom of God.  These Christian books motivate me and encourage me to disciple others and help me keep in mind the whole reason I was placed on this earth:  to give God glory and pleasure and win souls.  They spur me on a little faster. 

Have a blessed Thursday!

You See Bones, I See an Army (cont,)

Down to the wire on this book by Floyd McClung.  Continuing with the last post on The Heart of Everything.

Passion and purpose come at no less a price than Jesus and his disciples paid to possess them.

"I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.  He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  If anyone serves me, let him follow me."

Jesus is the grain that fell to the ground and died.  Those who have loved and obeyed him down through the centuries are the disciples of Jesus, the new grain that his seed produces.  But notice the qualifier:  these disciples of Jesus are people who have lost their lives.  They have died to the cares of the world.  They have taken up their cross, followed Jesus, and are devoted to obeying him with singleness of mind and heart.  They are faithfully and fiercely focused on obeying Jesus' command to make disciples.

Jesus chose personal investment in people's lives as the primary way he did church.  The Sunday-centric model of church will not change the world.  Some think the church started on the day of Pentecost, but I disagree.  Jesus led the first New Testament church.  He modeled for us how to do church by the way he gathered and invested in the lives of a few men and women.  He modeled a new way of doing church.  He gathered, equipped, and mobilized faithful men and women into a movement of devoted followers.  This kind of one-on-one intentional relationship is the key to helping people get freed from their brokenness and turned on to serving Jesus.  Discipleship isn't a school or program, but a lifestyle of passion and purpose passed on through personal investment and involvement in one another's lives.

Discipleship is helping another person to know, love, and obey Jesus.

This same pattern is repeated throughout church history.  One amazing example is a Sunday school teacher named Edward Kimball back in the 1880's.  Kimball began to strike up a friendship with a few young men in his Sunday school class.  Kimball was particularly committed to a fellow classmate fresh from the farmlands who had begun working in a nearby shoe shop.  One day Kimball decided to visit his new friend at work.  He entered the shop, found him in the back room, and struck up a conversation.  Later he led his friend to a personal relationship with Jesus.

When describing this young man years later, Kimball said, "I have met few friends whose minds were spiritually darker, or who seemed more unlikely ever to become a Christian."  But Kimball's faith in his new friend and his investment of time and personal mentoring made a huge impact.  His new friend was D.L. Moody, who went on to become an evangelist who led tens of thousands to Jesus.  Eventually Moody invested in the life of a man he met in England, named F.B. Meyer.  Meyer was a pastor who resisted Moody's evangelistic zeal and fiery preaching style, but responded when Moody invited him to the States to spend time together.  Meyer was deeply impacted by Mood's personal life, more so than his preaching.

Meyer in turn influenced a man named J. Wilber Chapman who decided, as a result of his friendship with Meyer, to go into full-time evangelistic ministry.  One of Chapman's disciples was a man named Billy Sunday.  Sunday in turn spent time discipling a group of businessmen in North Carolina.  After years of praying together, these men were prompted by God to invite an evangelist named Mordecai Ham to speak to a citywide gathering in Charlotte, North Carolina.  During one of the meetings conducted by Ham, a young teenager came forward and gave his life to the Lord.  His name was Billy Graham.

Edward Kimball started a chain reaction in 1880 that eventually reached the world's most influential evangelist, Billy Graham.  By investing in a few people's lives, these men passed on to each other what had been given to them.  They followed the example begun by Jesus when he spent time with a few young men many years before, pouring himself into their lives.

You can have that kind of impact on people.  Start with who you know.  Who can you influence today?  Call them up and invite them to coffee.  It's that easy.  It's that simple.  God can use you if you avail yourself to Him.  Hop on the chain.  If you don't see the benefits of your investment in this lifetime, you will when you get to heaven. 

Blessings on this rainy Wednesday.

You See Bones, I See an Army (cont,)

Up to my ears in taxes, but trying to finish this book by Floyd McClung.  Today we'll look at what is at the heart of everything we do.
Jesus said the parable of the sower gets at the heart of everything we do.  Notice how important Jesus ranks this parable in all of his teaching:  "But if you can't understand this story, how will you understand all the others I am going to tell?"

This story strikes at the heart of what Jesus modeled for his disciples, and what he expects of us today.  He sowed the seed indiscriminately and abundantly in all the towns and villages of Galilee.  He said there were going to be four responses: callousness-the hard ground; quick acceptance without depth-the shallow, stony soil; those who respond but then are caught up in the cares of the world-the thorny ground; and those who respond with depth and sincerity-the soft soil.

Here is what I learned a long time ago about disciple-making:  look for those who are genuinely open and want to grow, and invest lots of time and energy in them.  I learned that I am not responsible for making people grow who don't want to grow.  I love them and pray for them, but I don't chase after them.  I continue to love them and serve them while I look for those who are serious about knowing and obeying Jesus.

But loving people unconditionally and making disciples are two different things.  If we don't make a distinction, we will confuse the Great Commandment to love our neighbor as our self and the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations.

If we would love God with a pure heart and do the possible, God would do the impossible through us.

Disciple-making is looking for those God has selected for us to disciple and passing on what God has deposited in our lives.  It is the heart of everything we do that counts for God.

Building a disciple-making culture and birthing a disciple-making movement does not happen by accident.  Passionate people catch the fire that burns in them from someone else and in turn pass it on to others.

There is a valley of dry bones God wants to use, but those bones won't become an army until they are prophesied over.  The dry bones are the poor, the rebellious, the marginalized of society, the broken, the young, and-if they are willing to humble themselves-the rich and powerful.  For the dry bones to live again there has to be desperation for change.  The dry bones are those people longing for someone to believe in them.  They carry wounds, have been abused, suffer from AIDS, are widows and single parents; they look scraggly and are often so poor they have lost hope of finding a purpose in life. 

Having been a single parent for 13 years, (that's not me, btw) I sometimes felt like dry bones.  Inside I knew I had gifts and abilities, faith and obedience, but I sometimes felt people looked at me as something much less.  I remember being asked one day, "How was your Christmas?"  The words were fine, but the tone was, "You poor thing, you must have had a horrible Christmas."  If she only knew how awesome my Christmases were!  I remember being asked if I needed anything done around my house.  I so appreciated the thought, but I also knew that someone was viewing me differently because I didn't have a husband to do some things for me.  I guess you can't be treated totally the same as a married person when you're a single parent, but it was always my goal for my kids to have as normal an upbringing as possible, in spite of their circumstances. 

I have a great appreciation for my church at that time.  They looked past my broken marriage and gave me opportunities to serve in ministry.  Sometimes too many opportunities!  They made me feel whole and worthy.  They saw my potential and trusted me.  Though I was never discipled, God taught me greatly during those years.  Look past someone's circumstances and see them as God sees them.  God uses the poor, the foolish, the persecuting, the fisherman, the tongue-tied.  Who is in your life that wants to grow?  Pour yourself into them.

Have a blessed sunny Tuesday.

You See Bones, I See an Army (cont,)

Movements, Not Just Meetings by Floyd McClung:
In his book, Organic Church, Neil Cole describes his journey of disenchantment with church growth seminars that explained the secret to growing churches revolved around clean bathrooms and plenty of parking spaces.

Cole describes his coming to the realization that God wanted him to help birth a movement that radically lowered the bar for what it meant to be a church, but raised the bar for what it means to be a disciple in the church.  By aggressively sharing Christ and making disciples, their movement, Church Multiplication Associates (CMA), grew in just a few years to over eight hundred churches in more than thirty states in America and twenty-five countries around the world.

...simple-church movements are spurred in their growth by personal discipleship.  It is people discipling people.  Programs don't disciple people.  Buildings don't disciple people.  People disciple people. 

It is the heart of what we do in our own movement.  In Cape Town, I meet with Nelis weekly, who in turn disciples Timothy, who meets several times a week with three young men, and if they trust Christ, Timothy will train them to reach others also.  In Pretoria, it was Gawie who discipled Cobus and Marlize, who in turn discipled Gustaf and Marina, Frans, and Werner, who are now leading the simple church.  Cobus and Marlize are now in the Middle East, where their dream is to build a movement of simple, reproducing communities carried forward through disciple-making relationships.

In South Asia, it is Bob and Sonam pouring their lives into the new leaders of a simple church of believers from Hindu and Buddhist backgrounds, who in turn are making disciples of family members and neighbors, who are discipling others as they put their faith in Christ.

When we first think of being a discipler, it can be a scary thought.  It sounds like such a big responsibility.  Really, it's just being a friend.  Someone who cares enough to correct the things that are out of line with God's word and encourages.  It's being a good listener and a faithful prayer.  Who isn't already doing that with at least one person in their life?  But we also must be strategic.  Pick people who are willing and desiring to grow.  People who will benefit from the experiences you've already had.  At the same time, it's good to find someone to pour into you.  If you're a fairly mature believer yourself, find an accountability partner.  Accountability is kind of like routine maintenance.  It's just what you need to stay on the right track, sharing new discoveries in God's word and encouragement.  Be purposeful.  Be obedient.

Matthew 28:19-20 says, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Have a blessed rainy Tuesday.

You See Bones, I See an Army (cont,)

Last Chapter by Floyd McClung:  The Heart of Everything
His [Jesus] way of making disciples was to select and focus on a few, ask them to join him as he reached out to people, then teach them in more depth what his stories meant and how the message applied to their lives.

The Holy Spirit led Jesus, but Jesus also had a plan.  He was not just spontaneously doing whatever came to mind that day.  He was intentional.  He carried out his plan from a whole different paradigm.  If we want to birth movements and not just more meetings, we have to change our paradigm as well.  Don't try to create a new wineskin and fill it with old wine.  Don't rearrange the way you do worship services and call it a revolution.

Jesus bypassed the cumbersome religious structures and irrelevant worship practices of his day and started something living and organic.  The word organic is a good one to describe a spontaneously reproducing simple-church movement because it describes something that grows naturally, without artificial additives.  It consists of elements that exist together in natural relationships that make growth and multiplication possible.

Notice the way Jesus got the disciples exercising gifts of leadership from the outset, before they were ready.  Jesus didn't wait for disciples to be born again, baptized, trained theologically, and supervised under a safe religious system with guaranteed controls before he involved them in leadership.  He got them out telling others about him within a few weeks of being with him.  He led the movement he began from underneath, very quickly involving the disciples in leadership assignments without mentioning positions or titles.  He had a radically different paradigm from the religious leaders of his day-and of our day as well.  After all, the journey of discipleship doesn't start when a person comes to faith in Christ, but long before.

By the way, have you ever asked yourself  when the disciples actually were born again?  Think of it this way:  if you began a movement now the same way Jesus got things going in his day, it would mean telling everyone you meet about Jesus, watching who responds with keen interest, and then selecting a few people who are most open and investing lots of time in them.  You would start to meet with this group of seekers in times of discussion over a meal.  You would ask one of them to read a few short verses from the words of Jesus, another to lead a discussion about what Jesus meant and how his teaching applied to their lives, and still another to teach a new song they wrote.

You would encourage them to tell their family and friends what they were learning about Jesus.  You would meet in their homes, not yours.  You would want as many of their friends and family to sit in on the discussions as possible.  When you would come together as a group around a meal, you would model a facilitative style of leadership that got everyone involved, carefully taking a back seat so you could encourage their development.  You would be pleased as they quickly took ownership of what was happening.

You would have already met one-on-one with your disciples behind the scenes, asking different ones to take part in the group gatherings.  You would ask each member of the group to help make it happen in different ways, and then you would coach them, seeking to instill in them leadership values that would prepare them to lead new communities as they sprang up.  You would encourage them to gather their friends and family members and tell them about Jesus.

I have questioned Greg about when the discipleship relationship starts.  He had the same answer as Floyd McClung.  Long before someone is a believer.  When you look at how Jesus did discipleship above, it's easy to see how simple it is.  I think when we start overstructuring discipleship, that's when it gets difficult for us as well as the disciple.  People are generally trustworthy.  They want to please and succeed.  As you start or run your small group, look at how much trust Jesus gave his disciples.  Everyone had a role to play in the meetings.  I'm not just talking about hosting.  I mean leading different areas.  This is how people grow the fastest, by actually being given an opportunity to try leading.  Don't be a ministry hog by talking the whole time during the meeting, except for a question you throw out here and there.  Remember, the point is discipleship, and it happens better when there is more than just a teacher/student format.

Blessings on this cloudy, breezy Friday.

You See Bones, I See an Army (cont,)

Today we'll look at the 5 Apostolic Passions Floyd McClung has chose to be his core values:

1.  Apostolic Abandonment - Too many people want the same amount of fruit the apostle Paul enjoyed without paying the price that Paul paid.  Paul died.  He died to everything.  He died daily.  He was crucified with Christ.  This strong-willed, opinionated man knew that he must die to self.  He reckoned himself to be dead to sin so he could be alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Paul declared tot he Galatians that he was dead to the world and the world was dead to him.  One translation says Paul had been "set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate."

We have chosen apostolic passion only when our hearts long for Jesus to be worshipped by our neighbors and in the nations.  When that passion beats in our hearts above all other passions, then we knew we have exchanged our life for his.

Apostolic Focus - We have sseen one of the greatest enemies of apostolic passion is lack of focus.  You can expend energy on all sorts of good ministries and not get one step closer to living with apostolic intent.  God has called us to live single-mindedly for Jesus.  We must focus, or we won't obey.

Focus on what?  Obeying Jesus.  God wants a people for himself.  Being busy for God without sharing God's passion for more worshippers for his Son is good religion, but it's not the mission of God.  Whatever you do for Jesus must lead to this one thing:  that Jesus has more worshippers who know, love, and obey him.  Call that what you will.  I call it making disciples; other people call it church planting.  But make sure that above all things you do what he commanded us to do:  go, teach, baptize, and make disciples.  That is apostolic focus.

2.  Apostolic Praying - A young man in Bible school offered to help a well-known preacher years ago when he was ministering on the streets of New York City.  The man of God asked him how much time he spent in prayer.  The young student estimated about twenty minutes a day.  The preacher told him, "Go back, young man.  Go back for a month wand pray for two hours a day, every day for thirty days.  When you've done that, come back.  Come back, and I might consider turning you loose on the streets where there is murder, rape, violence, and danger.  If I sent you out now on twenty minutes a day, I'd be sending a soldier into battle without any weapons, and you would get killed."

Here's the challenge for you:  ready everything Paul says about prayer, then ask yourself, "Am I prepared to pray like that?"  In his various letters Paul said that he prayed "night and day with tears . . .without ceasing . . . with thankfulness in the Spirit . . .I pray constantly . . .boldly . . . for godly sorrow . . . against the evil one."  If we want Paul's passion, we need to pray as Paul prayed.

3.  Apostolic Decision-Making - There are too many overfed, under motivated Christians hiding behind the excuse that God has not spoken to them.  They are waiting to hear voices or see dreams - all the while living to make money, provide for their future, dress well, and have fun. 

Apostolic decision-making starts with a fresh encounter with God, then leads to a burden for lost people.  Most people ask where-and-when questions without a revelation of God's glory burning in their hearts.  Is it any wonder they never hear God say "Go!"?  They have not cultivated a passion for the passions of God.  Lesser desires are holding them captive.

4.  Apostolic Courage - Courage is the quality of those who see the need in the world, have faced their fears, and choose faith instead of fear.  Courage is overcoming our struggles by facing down the lies of the enemy that have been holding us captive.  Courage is not the absence of fear in the face of danger; it is the willingness to trust God in spite of danger.  Courage is believing that God's grace is sufficient for every situation, and then acting on that belief.  I am convinced that in myself I would deny God if I were persecuted.  I am banking on the grace of God.  That, to me, is courage.

Courage does not come arbitrarily to the brave; it is taken hold of by the obedient.

5.  Dangerous People - If you have apostolic passion, you are one of the most dangerous people on the planet.  The world no longer rules your heart.  You are no longer seduced by getting and gaining the things of this world, but you are devoted to spreading and proclaiming the glory of God.

Next we'll look at making disciples, then we'll be done with this book.  I love the story above about the street evangelist.  He knew the dangers of being unprepared when going out to fight spiritual and physical battles.  In our church we use a term called "prayed up".  Greg often asks our Pastors and intern before they have something important to do, "Are you prayed up?"  There is a spiritual preparation that needs to take place whenever we step out to do something for God and, therefore, against the enemy.  Are you prayed up?

Have a blessed cold, cloudy, windy, Thursday.

You See Bones, I See an Army (cont,)

Working throught the Camel chapter by Floyd McClung:
One Focus Above All Others
The one theing that transcends all others, the focus we are to have above everything else, is the glory of God.  That's all that matters.

To quote John Piper:  "If the pursuit of God's glory is not ordered above the pursuit of man's good in the affections of the heart and the priorities of the church, man will not be well served and God will not be duly honored."

Seeking to know the will of God without a revelation of the glory of God will lead to resisting, reacting against, and negotiating over the will of God.

Big Cars with Very Little Engines
Millions of Christians have given up on conventional church, not becuase the church demands too much from them, but because it demands too little.  The church in the West is stuck in a rut of building-based, Sunday-centric, pastor-oriented Christianity.  If the experience of attendig church on Sunday mornings boils down to sitting next to strangers for one to two hours, listening to another stranger (the pastor) talk for thirty to forty minutes, and then going home, it's no wonder that 80 percent of those who attend church are frustrated.

The church was not placed on this planet to entertain people for one hour a week.

The Need for Apostolic Passion
What is apostolic passion?  I don't know what it means to you, but for me passion means whatever a person is willing to suffer for.  In fact, that's the root meaning of the world.  It comes from the Latin Patior and Passus, meaning "to suffer."  It is what you desire so intensely that you will sacrifice anything to have it.  Show me your checkbook and your appointments calendar, and I will tell you what you're passions are.

The word apostle means a sent one, a messenger.  To be apostolic means we are sent on a mission.  The apostolic calling of the followers of Jesus includes forging new ways for how we do church and pioneering new places where we do church.  To be apostolic is to be radical, to be adventurous.

Apostolic passion, therefore, is a deliberate choice to live very intentionally for Jesus among our neighbors and in the nations.  It has to do with being committed, to the point of rejection or death, to spreading the message of his love.  It's the quality of those who are on fire for Jesus, who dream of making disciples for him.

I've given you just a smidgen of text on the glory of God.  There were several pages on it.  I suggest picking up the book and reading it.  Understanding the glory of God really puts life in proper perspective.  Another good resource for understanding the glory of God is Cat and Dog Theology by Bob Sjogren.

We have 2 small groups (care groups) starting the 9th and 11th.  If you're interested in more info, please email me and I will give you the details.

Have a blessed Sunday and Monday.

You See Bones, I See an Army (cont,)

Now we get to see Camels 6 and 7 of Floyd McClung's book.

Camel #6:  Frantic Pace of Life
Don't buy into the lie that the world determines how fast a pace of life you must live.  And don't let your kids buy into it either.

If there are no margins in your life, you will not have time to hear God.  Passion for Jesus and his purposes in life are chosen, then nurtured by those who refuse to let the world shape them in its mold.  You are free to say no.  If you don't the camel of frantic living will hunt you down, run you over, and then dance on your grave!

Camel #7:  Conventional churchianity
Erwin McManus [from his book The Barbarian Way] speaks the truth when he says God is not unwilling to stand against the very church he started:  "Two thousand years ago God started a revolt against the religion he started.  So don't every put it past God to cause a groundswell against churches and Christian institutions that bear His name.  If he was willing to turn Judaism upside down, don't think for a moment our institutions are safe from a divine revolt.  I am convinced that even now there are multitudes of followers of Jesus Christ who are sick and tired of the church playing games and playing down the call of God.  My travels only confirm that the murmurings of revolution are everywhere.  I am convinced that there is an uprising in the works and that no one less than God is behind it."

Many people are leaving institutional churches, not because they don't believe in church, but because they do believe in it.  They are not leaving because they have lost their faith; they are leaving so they won't lose their faith.  The church has become a hindrance to the spiritual growth of many people.  George Barna estimates that 53,000 people a week are leaving the church in America. 

Why have so many left the church?  They haven't!  You can never be any less church than you already are as a follower of Jesus.  What many people have discovered, and many institutional church leaders have yet to realize, is that church is who you are, not where you go.  Sadly, many people are so addicted to the programs of the church, they aren't able to enjoy the beauty of simple, organic church.  Institutional church has made them weak instead of strong.  They need others to do church for them.

God is a God of order, but that doesn't mean he won't move against the order of man and create some holy disorder to get people to experience church as he intended it. 

We measure greatness by how big an instituional church becomes, how many books an author has written or how moving a person is as a speaker.  But God measures greatness by how faithful we are to him.

Amen!  Camel #6 struck me in this piece.  The frantic pace of life.  I see it everywhere.  Texting, cell phones, video games, internet, just to name a few of the things that pull our focus away from God and others.  These, of course, aren't bad themselves, but when they occupy our thoughts and our actions beyond what is necessary, they can make us unhealthy in may ways.  But it is a choice.  Remember the good ol' days (think Walton's Mountain) when kids went to school, came home, had a snack, did homework, chores, ate dinner, and listened to the radio WITH THEIR FAMILY while mom and grandma knitted something to keep them warm at night?  Back then there weren't the high statistics of people dying from heart failure like there are today.  Ever think the stress of being pulled in too many directions has something to do with that, coupled with fast food consumption that helps encourage the fast-paced lifestyle? 

Let's start saying no to the unimportant, unnecessary wants in life, the wants that we want because everyone else seems to want them and think them important, and strip our lives of the things that give us short-term fulfilment and immediate gratification. If we took these things out of our budget, how many children could we sponsor in another country?  How much could we sent to Haiti?  How many first aid kits could we send to Africa to tend to AIDS victims?  I guess when we focus more on ourselves than on others, we spend our money on ourselves instead of on others.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Matthew 6:21.  

Have a blessed weekend.