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.

Just a Little Catch Up

It's been a while since I've blogged on what's going on at the Hazenberg household, so here goes:
Sunday Greg was presented with a beautifully handmade lectern.  He was so surprised!  Our Youth Pastor, Josh Kemper, asked his step-father, Mike, seen below, to build it and he did a beautiful job.  With cherry, walnut, ash, and 50 hours of donated labor, Mike put raised crosses on the front and inlaid Greek symbols for alpha and omega with a cross in between on the desk face.  Greg, Mike, and I and probably others had tears in our eyes as Greg saw it for the first time.  I apologize for my poor impromptu photography.  I think there is something wrong with my camera.  Kristen took a better picture below with her camera.

Also this week, my ophthamologist appointment went well.  My cornea is a little thicker than normal, which produces higher pressures, but they don't hunt that down with medications anymore.  So I'm good for another 6 months!  My optometrist said my left contact was -2.25 but my vision in that eye was -3.0.  That explains my bad vision!  So that's all good too!!!

Kristen went to the oral surgeon this week and found out she has 2 impacted wisdom teeth.  Three of the teeth haven't erupted yet, but one barely did.  If the insurance gets back to us quickly she should have all four out on the 18th of February.

Kristen was asked to Homecoming and will be wearing a burgundy gown.  They are going to see the play "Wicked" in San Francisco and have dinner.  She's very excited.

Greg had surgery on his arm today to remove a 50 cent piece-sized skin cancer called basal cell carcinoma.  It was done by Joe Romeo of Romeo Medical Clinic.  (We love our medical center.  Everything is in one place!)  He was in and out in less than an hour.  Deep and shallow stitches, and he can shower and work.  The shallow stitches come out in a week, the others dissolve.  Local anesthesia.  He's all good!!!!

Mark has been fighting a cold and a little sleep deprivation but he's almost done with his winter-term class on Nazi Germany.  He love the subject.  He's now working with the Jr. High at New Life Christian Center.

This Sunday, the 31st, we'll wrap up our last sermon on Reaching Out, then we start a 4-part series on Family.  I'm excited that Greg and I will be sharing what we do to nurture a healthy family emotionally and spiritually the 7th.  Josh Kemper will speak on the 14th on A Healthy Family is Learning to Communicate Well, Dan will speak the 21st on A Healthy Family is Learning to Spend Time Together, and Dick will speak the 28th on A Healthy Family is Learning to Grow Spiritually and Emotionally.

I got back on the mower this week, twice.  Boy am I sore.  I trip to Atkinson Chiropractic and I'm all good!!!

Have a blessed sunny Friday!!!!

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

As promised, now we'll look at the seven camels that distract us by Floyd McClung.

Camel #1: Dabbling
Are you a spiritual dabbler?  Do you borrow from other people's walks with God but have little or no intimacy with the Father yourself?  Are you constantly shifting focus in your life, running after the newest, latest, "prevailing word of the Lord" as some people call it?  Is it hard for you to put down roots emotionally in a community of people and build deep friendships of trust and accountability?  If your answer to these questions is yes, you may have developed a pattern in your life of spiritual dabbling.  To dabble literally means to have a casual or superficial interest in something, to paddle, play, or splash in the water.  Spiritual dabbling may feel good, but God has much more for you.

Camel #2:  Plateauing
We plateau when we stop growing.  A plateau is a period or phase when there is little increase in our life.  It is a season of life intended for our personal growth and development in which little headway is being made.  God invites us to a lifetime of learning and spiritual growth.  He is continually at work in us to form us to be like his Son, Jesus. 

Spiritual growth cannot be separated from the testings of God.  God tests those he loves.  If we, or others around us, don't create the circumstances that test us, you can be sure that God will do it for us.  He loves us too much to leave us on our own.  If we fail the tests God takes us through, we plateau.

I have nothing against big churches, but then can be convenient places of hiding for those who have plateaued spiritually, including the pastor or others on the staff of the church.  You can go to church and hide in the church.  If this is you, you need to take time to do some serious spiritual homework if you are going to get off the plateau and move on to higher ground.

Camel # 3:  Inner vows
An inner vow is a promise we make to ourselves, normally in response to pain or difficulty we experience in human relationships.  Typically the vows we make use language like "I'll never do that again" or "I won't ever let anyone get that close to me again."  Or, "Whatever it takes, I will make sure that never happens again."

The problem with making vows is that they imprison our heart.  They set us on a course of action that locks us into a certain kind of behavior.  Vows determine how we think and how we see.  An ungodly inner vow gets us locked into idolatrous thinking patters that become an inner belief system.  Ungodly inner vows rob us of true passion.  Because they are based on fear, shame, unbelief, and a drive to prove ourselves to others, they rob us of our freedom to obey God.  Or we strive to obey God for the wrong reasons.  Inner vows can be discerned through the help of the Holy Spirit or a good counselor, and they can be broken through the power of the Cross.

Camel #4:  Unclear vision
Nothing is more confusing to people than a leader or a person who frequently changes direction.  I call this "blowing an unsteady trumpet."  When the sound of a trumpet warbles or is off key, it does not inspire anyone, and it certainly doesn't make great music.

If God has spoken, then blow the trumpet and call the people to action.  But don't call them to action in one direction and then blow it again and ask them to charge in another direction.  If you are seeking direction, find out what God is saying and stick with it.  Don't change because it gets tough, or because it is more exciting to move on to something new.

Godly passion grows as a response to a clear, steady, consistent vision of God's glory saturating the planet through movements of organic and obedient churches.  Know what part God has given you in this worldwide movement of movements and stick with it.  Don't waver and don't look for new direction when things get tough.  Stick with what God says.  It may take many years of consistent obedience to realize all God has planned to bring about through your life.  Faithfulness is a long journey of obedience in the same direction, empowered by a sweet-tasting grace of God.

Camel #5:  Financial Security
The most God-glorifying gathering I have attended on the subject of finances was called Generous Giving.  The name says it all.  Good stewardship is not about accumulating but giving, not about hoarding but sharing.  God expects us to be wise stewards, and that includes investing and making a profit.  But the treasures that will be enjoyed forever are those that are the result of investing in people's lives for eternity, not the ones stored up on Wall Street.

If you experience a loss of fervor for spreading the gospel, it may be in direct proportion to the amount of time you are occupied with your future security.  If that is the case, it's time for some honest evaluation.  Jesus said it very clearly:
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven...For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

That was a pretty long 5 camels.  Next time we'll do the rest.  This time I just want to add something to camels 4 and 5.  Camel 4 talks about unclear vision and the context is that of shifting from one vision to another.  I agree this can be very unclear for a congregation.  Anything handled in this fashion can make it unclear and leave people without a firm foundation, whether it is ministry (like having a great idea and hyping it up, getting everyone exciting and involved, then never doing it again), or a new way of preaching (whether the norm is topical or walking through an entire book of the Bible), it will be fresh and new when it changes but if it is not consistent to a degree, it can throw people off.  Vision, as well, needs to be consistent.  Seek God, cast the vision to the congregation, and put it before them often and in different ways so that every person attending knows where the church is headed and what they believe and stand for.  Someone once said that they were church shopping and knew they found their church because the first day they attended they knew where that church was headed and what they believed.  Other churches they attended for a few weeks never mentioned their vision or values.  Be consistent. 

Camel #5 talks about financial security in the context of investing on Wall Street.  I think it is much more common that people invest in Wal-Mart.  We are a nation of shoppers and the advertising companies who serve retailers know this.  Americans have a reputation around the world as being materialistic and greedy.  True, we have a lot, make good money, and live comforably compared to most nations.  But I think it is important to evaluate what we really need compared to what we want.  I think we often have additctions to shopping.  We go into a store, not really needing anything, but just wanting to waste time or get the thrill of getting a good bargain.  We come home with a treasure that moth and rust destroy and thieves can come in and steal.  Junk.  Stuff.  Future garage sale items.  Future trash can items.  Why?  Because there is something deep down inside us that we are trying to satisfy and we're looking in the wrong places.  I would rather take that money and invest it in a college fund to enrich my children's lives than blow it on coffee, shoes, make-up, or clothes.  I would rather give it back to God, generously and abundantly, because it is His to begin with.  I have much satisfaction and peace giving back to God and God continually provides for all my needs.  I can't outgive Him.  I have faith in His faithfulness.  He loves me so much.  This is where true satisfaction lies when it comes to money.  Investing in God's treasures . . .people.  One way our church is showing practical love is that we are beginning to bring food to church and after church take it to the homes around us and give it away.  Whether it is a bag of tangerines, a gallon of milk, or the cookies and muffins and coffee that don't get consumed during services, we are putting feet to our faith.  It's all about where our focus lies.

Have a blessed cloudy Monday. 

One man's mission of hope in Haiti

This is a great place to donate for the relief effort in Haiti.  We have donated here.  Watch the story that aired on NBC on this man and his organization.  One man's mission of hope in Haiti

Also, to learn more about their organization and how they got started in Haiti, as well as how to donate online, visit their website here.

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

We're on the home stretch now, more than halfway through the book, more like 2/3 actually.  Floyd McClung has given us much wisdom.  In this chapter, Watch Out For The Camels, we learn three ways to learn faithfulness and what it means to be a focused person.

Being what the Bible calls a faithful servant is essential to pleasing God and doing what he calls us to do.  Jesus promised that the person who is faithful in little will become "lord over much."  In the same passage, Jesus taught that the servant who is faithful over mammon - things - would earn the right to be a steward of spiritual matters.  In other words, if you don't pay your bills and don't keep your word, professing readiness to obey God is just so much hype.  God can't trust a person with spiritual treasures who is not faithful in the practical issues of life.

Jesus taught in the same passage that a person who has not learned to be faithful in "another man's vineyard" will not be master of his own.  What Jesus meant by this was that learning to serve another person's vision or ministry, learning to be faithful in our service under someone else's leadership, is a prerequisite for being trusted by God to lead others.  Serving people teaches us lessons that prepare us for finding our place in the kingdom of God.

It may help to define what it means to be a focused person.  It means to give a determined, concentrated effort and your full attention to the particular thing God has called you to, such as an assigned responsibility or a commitment to do something.  It means sticking with something until it is finished.

Focus is not just about what we see outside ourselves.  Focused people have a fixed point of reference in terms of their core values and standards as well.  They have inner strength.  Some people may think focused people are stubborn.  I think of them as reliable.  They don't change their message or behavior to please the crowd they are with.

Focused people are not moved by lack of approval.  They have deep inner convictions that allow them to give their attention to the one thing they are assigned by God.

If you are passionate about engaging your culture with others in organic church, you will have to say no to many good things in life.  You will have to reduce the circles in your life, the spheres of activity that draw you away from faithfulness to what you believe in and are committed to.  Simple church requires us to simplify life.

Modernization, with all its advantages, also has disadvantages that can cause us to live a fragmented and harried existence.  We normally live at a hectic, speedy pace that mitigates against what organic church, the ecclesia, is called to be.  You don't have to consciously say yes to sin and temptations to be compromised by our modern way of life; just go with the flow.  Do what is expected of you, and you lose the battle for focused obedience.

Tomorrow we'll look at seven camels that distract us.  But for now let's touch on a couple of the points made above. 

Faithfulness.  Have you ever noticed how God takes us through little things, then builds upon them?  Maybe we start off with making coffee at church on Sunday morning.  We're behind the scenes.  No one really sees us, but if we're not faithful, like if we sleep in instead of showing up on time, there is disappointment and frustration.  If we are faithful, God gives us bigger responsibilities.  It's through this building process that we learn many lessons and God, in turn, continues to mature his disciples.  I was teaching a Bible study last year and we were talking about faithfulness as we studied the story of Ruth.  Someone had an epiphany and said, "I think God is telling me that if I take better care of the things I already have, God may give me more and better things!"  You should have seen how bright that light bulb was that went off in her head!  Since then, she has worked very hard in her home and God has blessed her with better items.  God is faithful.

Focus.  In re-reading this text, I was reminded of two experiences which were quite opposite.  I was sitting with a friend once, just the two of us, discussing a variety of things and learning about each other.  In the hour or so we were together, her cell phone went off with calls to texts several times.  Each time she said "Excuse me," and apologetically took the call or texted back.  None of these interruptions were emergencies, but it seemed as though this was a normal part of her day, to stop whatever she was doing, and respond to whatever distraction came along through her technology.  In contrast, I met with three different ladies this week.  Two were in public settings and one was at her home.  In each case, whether cell phone or home phone, they began ringing.  In all cases, not one lady even flinched to answer.  One even turned off her phone completely.  I must say I felt much more valuable to these three ladies than I did to the first I described.  I saw a maturity in these three ladies that I admired. 

I make it a policy not to interrupt a one-on-one meeting by answering the phone. I believe the person I am with is more important than whatever else may try to interrupt our time together. The only exception is if I hear my child's voice on the message machine saying they are ill and need to be picked up from school, then I will pick up. Otherwise, the call can wait until I'm available to return it.  This decision starts with a time of thought (without distractions), to really consider what is important to us.  We must consider what it is that we value and make sure that lines up with God's principles for how we live our lives.  Life is made up of many choices.  Who we are and what we say and do are the result of the choices that we make.  Are you content with the results of your choices?  If not, spend some time in prayer and seek God to help you determine where you need to make different choices.  Read God's Word (Proverbs is a great place to start) and discover His will in this area. 

Blessings on this cloudy Friday night.   

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

The latest highlights from Floyd McClung's book:

Apostolic leaders are called to focus their gifts and energies, and the gifts and energies of those they lead, on winning, maturing, and multiplying others in church-planting movements.  They can do this in the marketplace and in the nations.  If they do this well, they are "wise master builders."  Not to do so is to be a foolish builder.

If you are devoted to apostolic ministry, and gathering and multiplying new disciples for Jesus does not excite you, there is a good chance you need to go back to the Cross.  You may need to fall in love with Jesus all over again, to catch a fresh vision of why God made you they way he did.  Effective disciples of Jesus know what they are called to do, and they do it single-mindedly.  It's certainly not for their own entertainment or fulfillment that they are called to follow Jesus.  They are not gifted with the gifts God has given them to bounce from one visionary endeavor to another.  They are called to build God's church, no matter what their vocation in life. 

I am convince it is not the famous but the faithful who will receive the big crowns in heaven.

Ten Characteristics of Courageous Apostolic People

1.  Vision
2.  Faith
3.  Building, not just blessing
4.  Miraculous supply
5.  Starting new churches
6.  Settle disputes and apply discipline
7.  Appoint and coach local church leaders
8.  Suffer persecution and endure hardship
9.  Impart values and vision
10.  Movements and networks

Leading reluctant people and helping them overcome their objections and fears is what helps leaders stay close to God.

When I look at the list above, and compare Greg to it, it is obvious he is an apostolic leader.

1. The first thing he did when he asked God to confirm the name of our church is to receive the vision from God.
2. He has an unwavering faith, believing God for the impossible. How many other people do you know who would plant a church in the poorest part of town?
3. He started building our church with a prayer walk and prayer meetings.
4. I remember Greg telling me of a conversation he had with God about 30 years ago. He was working hard in his landscaping business, at the time focusing on becoming more successful than his brothers in business. He was considering buying a house and saving for retirement. God told him not to. He struggled with this, as would I, that it wasn't logical not to plan for the future. But God knew his plan for Greg. Someday he would marry me, who had a house and a retirement fund. He didn't have to worry about it, just focus on what God was calling him to do at the moment, and God would take care of the rest.
5. He started a church.
6. He is often brought in to settle disputes and facilitate healing between people.
7. He's built an awesome launch and leadership team and continues to add and develop leaders.
8. He lost a wife to diabetes, and one to her adultery. He lost his dad to cancer. He's been financially poor. He's been accused of things and had his pastor not defend him or try to bring truth and restoration to the situation.
9. He has taught our vision and values to our team over 6 months and helped us live it out.
10. We want to be a church that plants other churches.

Yeah, I'd say Greg is apostolic. It's very cool living with someone who's passion is God's passion. Never a dull moment!

Have a blessed Thursday.

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

Continuing on with Floyd McClung's book.

Like Jesus when he worked as a carpenter is intended by God to be an example to those in the marketplace.  They are just as called and commissioned to minister within their vocation as those who go to other nations.  By working as a carptenter, Jesus was modeling how he wants the church to infiltrate every sphere of life.

The strategy Jesus followed in the next season of life, the three years of intentional discipleship with the twelve, modeled the goals and methods we should follow no matter what vocation God has called us to.  In the two seasons of his life, Jesus both validated the sanctity of ordinary life and modeled how to intentionally make disciples as we do ordinary life.

To be dedicated to Jesus is not first of all about being a missionary or pastor but being intentional and obedient in making disciples.

Apostolic people take the church to the world; they don't wait for the world to come to the church.  God always intends the fruit of apostolic service to result in more obedient disciples for Jesus.  That means getting them together in small, simple gatherings, then equipping and encouraging them to obey all Jesus taught us to do.  When th Holy Spirit falls on such a missional community and it begins to grow out of control, a church-planting movement is born.

Without its apostles, the church becomes hopelessly ingrown, and ultimately disobedient to Jesus' commission to disciple all nations.  When local churches, Christian organizations, and educational institutions marginalize or exclude those with apostolic passion, they can no longer expect to be fully obedient to Jesus.

We had a great speaker in church today.  John Dupree from the Harvest Group and one of our board members, blessed us with an awesome talk on being a Cross Cultural Christian.  It hit home for many I heard and was very timely for many.  I took special joy in hearing him talk about being apostolic, the very thing we've been looking at in this book recently.  He confronted selfishness, taught on giving and on the great commandment.  He talked about the top line and bottom line of the Bible, Bob Sjogren's wisdom.   It was very equipping.

We also had an opportunity to start to say good-bye to the Hicks family.  Though they were with us for only 4 months, we have been blessed by their heart, their humor, their ministry, and all the things that make them a great family.  They will be missed. 

Have a blessed Sunday evening.

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

Continuing with Floyd McClung's book, this section titled Strong but Weak.

Being courageous is about believing God for what he puts in your heart to do for him, and then doing it.  It doesn't mean you have it all together, or that you always have faith to move mountains, but it does mean stepping out in faith to obey the next thing God tells you to do, whether you're twenty years old and have been walking with God just a few years or you have known Christ for decades.  One of the problems with not seeing ourselves as courageous is that we don't take up the challenges God has for us.

I have discovered that God is more concerned about my passion than my ministry.  I have learned that if I keep my heart on fire for him, he will take care of my ministry.

I have learned that these times are arranged by God for us to seek him.  It's his way of putting desperation in our hearts for him, to prepare us for the fresh word he wants to give us.  These types of experiences usually precede a major decision in our lives.  As I said, it's God's way of preparing us, of stirring our hearts to be alone with him so we can hear his voice.

Courageous Leaders Mobilize Courageous People

When you inspire your friends and people around you to obey the commands of Jesus and model obedience to Jesus yourself, you are courageous.  When you go one step further and intentionally invest in the lives of those you are discipling to obey the Great commission, you are equipping them for courageous ministry.  The word equip is used by Paul in Ephesians 4:12.  It was originally a medical term used to describe what happens when a broken limb is mended and set straight.  To equip someone is to mend what is broken in his life so he can go all out for Jesus.

We join his mission by living a lifestyle of personal evangelism, prayer, and disciple-making, and by inviting others to do the same.  Reaching out to the unchurched and poor of the earth is central to God's purpose for the church and for each of our lives.  When Jesus was crucified, he was led outside the gates of Jerusalem.  Apostolic people follow Jesus' example and go outside the gates.  We go where we are not comfortable.  We take risks.  We get away from comfortable and familiar church life and get among the people.

I really like the definition of the word equip used above.  It is funny that for many of the people in our church (me included), there have been deep spiritual hurts in their lives.  God has led them to our church to mend, get rid of misconceptions, and be set straight to follow Jesus with their whole hearts.  God even brought a couple one week who had been spiritually hurt, and after Greg listened to their story and prayed with them, sent them back to their church to work out the problem with those who had hurt them. 

Ephesians 4:12 was the scripture that God used to name our church EQUIP.  I was reading a church planting book I had picked up and read this scripture in it.  My eyes kept going back to the word equip, as though I hadn't read it or comprehended it.  Finally I got God's point, that was what He wanted us to name our church.  Bringing the word to Greg was interesting.  Greg didn't immediately latch on to it.  But being the Godly man he is, he prayed, saying, "God, if this is the name you want for our church, because it is so unique, you've got to show me why.  You've got to give me a reason, some proof, this is of you."  Sure enough, God showed him within a day the acronym that would be our vision:  "Everyone Qualified, Unified, Ignited in Purpose."  It is this acronym that encompasses our values and purposes.  Pretty cool. 

We went over our vision and values last Sunday.  This Sunday we're having one of our elders come and talk about outreach.  If you're interested in checking us out, our times and location are on our website at http://www.equipchurch.org/.

Have a blessed overcast once again, Friday.

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

Starting Chapter 4, The Next Bono-or Is It Billy Graham by Floyd McClung. 

I have discovered [that], because I have a dream in my heart of what the church is called to be, I am not the prisoner of those who don't share my dream.  I dare to dream because God has deposited some courage in my heart.  It is his grace to me, and I receive that grace to follow my dream.

 Changing the way we do church has to be motivated by something greater than a dislike of the old ways.  It must be apostolic in the biblical meaning of that word.  We must be deeply convinced that the church as been commissioned to go into the unknown, that we have a life-changing message, good news for those who have never heard it, and that everywhere we go we are to establish outposts of the kingdom of God.

Jesus is the model for changing the old way of doing things.  He broke with the Jewish ways of doing things that he himself had initiated, and if he did it to the Jews, what makes us think he will not change the church today, the very church he began two thousand years ago?  The need for a radical reformation is just as great now as it was then, much more so than is widely emphasized or taught.

For example, though he was sent by the Father to launch a worldwide movement, Jesus spent most of his time investing in a few people, particularly marginalized and broken people.  There are thousands of churches in the cities and villages of Africa, but too few of them are modeling holistic, discipleship-based church like Jesus did in Palestine.  The men and women Jesus spent most of his time with were not powerful, famous, or recognized as leaders in his day, Jesus chose twelve ordinary men and a few women to be the first leaders of his movement.  He invested in them, mentored them, and taught them how to do life.  His influence on them changed how the men treated their wives, how they did business in the marketplace, and how they handled their finances.  He commissioned them to make more disciples (like he had done with them), who in turn were to raise up still others.  Jesus started small and personal, but he had something vast and global in mind.  The commission Jesus gave his first disciples reflected the greatness of the one who sent him.  He worked on a personal level because the Father cares deeply for people, but he gave his disciples a worldwide commission because the Father also cares for all nations.

I believe all those who say yes to Jesus today receive the same commission as the original twelve apostles.  We may not all be apostles by gifting, but we are all charged to be part of the apostolic mission of the church.

So here's the question:  Are you participating in the apostolic mission of the church?  Are you discipling someone?  Perhaps being discipled?  Are you seeing Sunday morning as the game, or the huddle?  Is your playing field the foyer of your church, or your community?  Do you meet regularly with people for prayer?  Do you stop and pray for needs when someone shares with you?  Are you part of a small group?  The book of Acts has all kids of examples of what it means to be apostolic.  Ephesians 4 has lots of examples of leadership.  Study the playbook, get a coach, huddle on Sunday, then head out into the community to play ball!  The superbowl is just around the corner!

Have a blessed overcast Thursday!

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

Continuing with the chapter called Courage to Change by Floyd McClung, this section is titled, Leaders Need Friends Too.

Having numerous people in your life can actually prevent the development of significant friendships.  Jesus preached to the crowds, but he built his friendships with a few close associates.  He knew the difference between a follower and a friend.  And we must as well.

We can and should build friendships with those we disciple.  Every effective leader invests in the lives of a few people at a time.  In-depth personal discipleship takes the sting out of the lonely leader syndrome and creates a culture of friendship and community in our church.  Genuine personal discipleship involves friendship.  You can't invest yourself in someone's life without becoming friends.  Paul said, "We loved you so much that we gave you not only God's Good News but our own lives, too."

There are times when I have to say no to a coworker.  When that happens, I sometimes must take off my friend hat and speak firmly about what I believe is right for everyone involved.  That kind of talk is a test for friends and coworkers, but talking truth with each other is absolutely essential if we are to grow together as real friends and healthy coworkers.

Is this too difficult to do?  Not for Jesus, and not for us either if we are willing to grow in the skill and honesty it requires.

Apostolic Teams and Their Role

Elders in a simple church serve to equip and disciple the members of the church, or network of churches, they serve.  Apostolic teams focus on pioneering among those who have not yet heard the good news, moving throughout a network of churches.  Apostolic teams give oversight to pioneering movements.  They cultivate and uphold a set of core values that empower such a movement.  Local church elders care for the flock under their charge; an apostolic team does the same thing but also cultivates a church-planting culture of faith and vision for those who have never heard the good news.

Apostolic teams are focused.  They are not satisfied with just overseeing the affairs of a local church.  They burn with a desire to plant churches and reach those outside the influence of the gospel, especially those who have never heard of God's love in Christ.  Apostolic teams are not apostolic because the team members are prophets or apostles.  They are apostolic because they have a vision to plant churches where the gospel has not yet been proclaimed.  You can be an apostle by gifting and fail to fulfill the purpose of your gift.  Apostles are pioneers by calling, but they start new churches to fulfill their calling.

I have a very simple way of defining apostolic teams:  they do what apostles did in the book of Acts.  They preach the gospel, make disciples for Christ, plant churches, and appoint and coach elders of local churches.  They believe God for the impossible and pull down Satan's strongholds.  They suffer and sacrifice for what they believe in.  In short, they win, gather, and multiply disciples and churches for Jesus, especially where people are unchurched and unreached.

You can talk about being apostolic until you're blue in the face, but if you don't plant and reproduce churches, you're not apostolic.  If you worship and fast together to hear God's plans and strategies for the lost, and then lay hands on those God' appoints to be sent out, you have the beginnings of an apostolic team.

Death Benefits:  The Price of Leading a Dry-Bones Army

We are called to die.  Not just once to sin, but as a way of life.  By dying to our rights, we find life.  That means dying to our opinions, dying to the right to be understood, the right to be represented, the right to be loved, the right to be treated justly, and all of our other rights.  Very few leaders understand this truth.  They strive to find their role, their ministry, how they fit on the team, and so on.  It is sad to watch men and women strive to keep what they have to give up anyway if they are to be part of God's mission.  Jim Elliot wrote in his journal, "He is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose."

That was the end of chapter three.  I love that quote by Jim Elliot.  Greg has been teaching the concept of dying to oneself to some of our leaders.  He's teaching what it truly means to be a shepherd.  We are blessed to have a humble, teachable team, but as mentioned above, sometimes there are those who have a grandiose dream of a high position in a church.  Perhaps their dream includes sitting behind a large desk, having people come to them crying with problems, having the perfect thing to say, and being the hero.  Maybe they see themselves preaching or leading worship to large crowds of people who adore them.  Perhaps a big salary and car are part of the picture.   It's a beautiful daydream, isn't it?  But the reality of serving God is often much different. 

Greg told the story Sunday of going to Nicaragua near Honduras to visit an old man who was a shut in and had recently stopped talking.  This man had planted many churches in his lifetime and led many to Christ.  But now, he was discouraged.  He would write, "Where have all the brothers gone?"  Meaning, "Why isn't anyone visiting me in my old age, I've impacted so many lives, where are they?  Have they forgotten me?"
In order to visit him, Greg took an ambulance ride for over 6 hours over horrible roads to get to the edge of a river.  There, he found out, he had to get in a canoe and travel up the Cocoa River for 2 days.  With him where a team of men from Argentina, and other countries, to visit this man.  When they finally arrived at his house, he was sitting in his chair, unable to walk or talk, but able to motion.  He was happy to see he had visitors.  This team of men laid hands on him and prayed for his healing before going to bed in a house across the road.

The next morning the team heard commotion from the old man's house.  They ran across the road.  His wife couldn't find him.  He wasn't in bed.  They finally found him in another room, praying to God for his visitors.  He could walk and talk!  All this to say, that sometimes we have to put aside our agendas and die to our comforts and go outside ourselves to minister to others.  Six hours in a cramped ambulance with seven other men, three days in a canoe.  But look at the joy it brought that man, a servant of God himself, in his last days.  This is what we're called to do.  Hospital visits in the middle of the night, consoling grieving and counseling feuding families, confronting sin, taking hits to our character and responding with grace, believing God for the impossible, hugging the homeless and praying for the lost.  I'm sure my eyes haven't even begun to scratch the surface of what God has in store for us, but I try to keep my heart prepared for the unexpected.  It's not about us.  It's about giving God all the glory he so abundantly deserves.  We are His servants, He owes us nothing.  We are to seek Him and obey.  Plain and simple.

Hve a blessed overcast day.

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

This segment of Floyd McClung's book is on Team Leadership:

Each person needs opportunity and encouragement to serve side by side with their gifts and passions.  Just how does diversity on a team glorify God?  There is a unique honor God receives from a team of people who subordinate their individual personalities to work through his or her differences and fears.  The glory God receives from a team learning to work in such a way is much greater than that which comes from one-person leadership models.  Each team member has to accept the invitation to go to the Cross with each new challenge the team faces.  Dying to one's rights, preferences, mistrust, and old ways of relating is the price to pay for team unity.

Harnessing the gifts and callings of a group of strong-willed, gifted, and opinionated leaders takes a major work of grace on the part of each member of the team.  It can be done, but not without the leader getting involved in each of the team members' lives, spouses included.  It takes years of sacrifice, humility, and continued growth on the part of each member of the team for it to work.

Team members who are not open with one another about their fears, their hurts, and their sinful tendencies make it impossible to build a foundation of trust.  Patrick Lencioni, in his brilliant book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, defines trust as "believing other members of the team have my well being in mind."  Trust means I want people to help me by speaking into my area of ministry, my personal performance, and the deep places of my heart.

Failure to build trust in a team is damaging because it hinders healthy debate, resulting in little or no heartfelt commitment to decisions, avoidance of mutual accountability, and getting sidetracked from our mission.  Without trust a team cannot be a team, certainly not a team that reflects the love that exists between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  A team without trust and mutual submission cannot experience the oneness of spirit and purpose that God intends them to have.  ...team ministry is almost impossible where the team leader is not a father to hose on the team.

The funny thing is I was going to comment and in the process refer to Patrick Lencioni's book, but Floyd did it for me.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who works with others, either in a secular or spiritual environment. 

There is so much truth in these paragraphs.   I've been on great teams who worked together, as well as potentially great teams that totally missed the mark.  Patrick's quote, "believing other members of the team have my well being in mind", is called charitable assumption.  I've been guilty of bringing baggage into teams where I thought there was no charitable assumption.  I just automatically thought people didn't like me for whatever reason because in my past people have make judgments against me for no reason.  This in itself caused people to not treat me authentically because I didn't have an authentic view of myself and projected that.  If someone isn't being who they really are, they are cheating themselves.  I much prefer being around people who are honest about who they are, good, bad, and ugly.  Most believers will naturally treat others with charitable assumption.  Those that don't need to be taught.

Have a blessed, overcast Saturday.