This is My Story- Part 2

Stories. We love them. From a young age we are indoctrinated by story. Bedtime stories, nursery rhymes and cardboard books dominate our childhood. As adults, we are just as addicted. Movies tell stories. Music communicates story in an emotive way. Even sports usually have a storyline running through them as we cheer for the underdog to overcome all obstacles to defeat their hated rival.

What's your story? You might not think it's much, but it's yours. God has given you a story to use for His glory.

My story is simple. I grew up in a Christian household with godly parents. At the age of 16 I thought I wanted to preach. My home minister scheduled my first sermon for a Sunday night service. Blessed with a preaching grandfather and a teaching father, I had many resources to pull from to write a sermon. With the vigor of youth I zealously researched, wrote and rehearsed. I was determined that it would be the greatest sermon ever preached. In my mind's eye I saw people repenting with tears, the waters of the baptistry rippling and fire from heaven consuming those who would defy the Lord (what can I say? I love the Old Testament!) Oh the naivety of youth!

The day came and I approached the pulpit with confidence. The pulpit was old school in design. It was elevated on an elevated stage and boxed the speaker into a fixed position. As I laid my Bible and notes on the pulpit a 'gust' of air blew and all 30 pages of notes fell off the pulpit to the floor below. Two things happened. First, I learned that numbering pages is a must. Second, I learned the power of prayer as I gathered the notes from the floor beseeching God that they be in the right order! In my rehearsal time the sermon took 45 minutes. When I reached the pulpit, again, I noticed the people (who knew people would be there!) and I sped-read the notes, not caring if they were in order, and finished in under 5 minutes.

As I shook hands after the service I was touched by the good Christian people who tried to be encouraging. Some offered pats on the back, others lied to me and said it was good, a few simply smiled and shook their heads as if to say, 'Nice try. Find a plan B.' I no longer thought I wanted to preach. One of the deacons, my future father-in-law in fact, handed me a slip of paper with a scripture scrawled on it. He told me to read it when I got home. I thanked him and placed the now wadded up paper in my pants pocket and promptly forgot about it.

Fast forward a couple of hours as I sulked in my bedroom. I argued with God over His calling. I know, it's stupid to argue with God, but I was determined that He made a mistake. As I prepared to bed down I cleaned out my pockets and discovered the piece of paper. The Scripture scrawled on it was 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. As I read it, I began to weep at Paul's words, "When I came to you brethren, I did not come to you with wisdom or superiority of speech. For I resolved to know nothing among you except Christ Jesus and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and fear and with much trembling and my message was not with wise and persuasive words, but in demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God." As I read those words through the tears in my eyes I realized my mistake: preaching is not about me. It must never be about me. It's always and forever about the God who called me. I no longer thought I wanted to preach, I knew I wanted to preach.

That's my story. So far.

This is my Story- part 1

When I entered the sanctuary about an hour before the session started I heard the chords of a familiar praise song reverberating off of the 9,000 empty seats. Immediately my mind matched lyrics with music and I began to internally sing, "He loves us, O how He loves us, O how He loves us." I settled into a seat that promised plenty of leg room for my 6'7" frame. As I flipped through the conference booklet a melodic voice began to sing "This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long." But the music hadn't changed. In an instant I found myself caught up and carried away by the unexpected merge of modern mixed with traditional. Soon, another voice began to sing the lyrics that first popped in my head in harmonious unison with the familiar hymn. I began to worship as I contemplated that my story is His story of love for me.

I will have more on this topic later, but for now, What's your story?

On Purpose

Raising children is an adventure to say the least. Comedian Bill Cosby has made the assertion that unless you have more than one child you are not a true parent because one child does not fight with themselves! Lately I have felt more like a referee than a parent as our two youngest daughters have been constantly bickering over everything from whose side of the room is whose, or who is the rightful owner of a particular toy (this despite the fact that the other has an identical toy), or whose clothes are whose since Charley is beginning to wear hand-me-downs from Savannah. Sometimes the bickering escalates into something more physical in nature. The most recent bout took the form of hair-pulling and face-smacking. As I interrogated the diminutive divas, Charley kept saying, "I didn't do it on purpose" as if that was an excuse for her wrong actions.

This prompted my mind to wander to the excuses we have when God convicts of sin. How often do we claim, "I didn't mean to sin. It wasn't as if I did it on purpose"? I can remember using that excuse with my mother once, to which she quickly responded, "You didn't mean not to either." In other words, I didn't purposefully make the choice to avoid my shortcomings.

Purpose. Purpose imbues intention on an action. As I read the Scriptures I am convicted that the best way to avoid sin is not to go through life with the, "I will not do this today." Rather, we must approach life with purpose, with intention, as we decide to do good in the place of evil. Good actions must replace evil deeds. It's not enough to avoid sin. It's not enough to simply say, 'I will not do this.' We must replace the sinful deeds with good ones. We must purposefully seek to do good. We must live life on purpose.

As I thought about this, I began to evaluate other areas of my life and work with the lens of purpose set upon it. Are my sermons 'on purpose' or are they simply set up according to whatever whim hits me at the time? Do my Bible studies reflect intentionality or do they simply jump from one random book to the next? Fortunately these two areas passed the purpose test. But some areas did not. Some personal areas that deal with familial issues and other not so personal areas, one of which is this blog failed to measure up to the standard of intent. I have not approached this blog with purpose or intention. My writings have been based upon whatever is bouncing around my cranium at the time.

I want to change this. Starting at the first of the 2011 year, this blog will show more purpose. It will still have book reviews from time to time (I'm not going to turn down free reading material), but the other posts will reflect more intentionality. They will reflect (1) the topic of that week's sermon for those of you who attend Cool Springs Christian Church that will also be applicable to those not privy to the sermon material, (2) a challenge to do something for the Kingdom, and (3) prayer topics based either on the post, the ministry that I am serving in or the impact of the blog. Even though I'm a small voice at a small church, it is my prayer that God can use this blog to impact a worldwide audience!

Transforming Church in Rural America

I've been serving local churches in ministry for over a decade. All of them have been small churches struggling to find ways to grow. Some have been limited by a worship of the past, others were hampered by overbearing leaders and others still by poor location combined with limited facilities. In his book, Transforming Church in Rural America, Shannon O'Dell writes a church growth book specifically geared to small churches in small population areas. By using examples from his own congregation in rural Arkansas, O'Dell challenges the 'myth' that only churches in large urban/suburban settings can grow and succeed in dynamic ministry.

Through the use of the acronym VALUE (Vision; Attitude; Leadership; Understanding; Enduring Excellence) O'Dell imparts principles that a congregation of any size can follow. The author outlines his own successes and failures for the reader's benefit. The book is written in a very conversational tone that makes it both easy to read and to understand.

As for negatives, they are minor. There is an emphasis on vision throughout the entire book. The other principles are overshadowed by O'Dell's focus on developing, adopting and communicating vision to leaders and congregants alike. The book might be better promoted on how to develop vision for the rural congregation. Although I did appreciate the emphasis that a leader with no vision has no business being the lead minister.

Also, under-emphasized throughout the book is one of the major keys to O'Dell's success: a supportive leadership. Experience has taught me that in order to effect change in the traditional, country church you must have the lay-leadership in your corner. If not, change will not occur. O'Dell's claim that change produces conflict is 100% accurate, and without leaders that are long-time members of the church giving support, a minister will not be able to achieve his vision, no matter how clear it is.

I would recommend this book to any leader in the rural church who desire to cast God's vision before the church. The principles O'Dell outlines are solid even though his methods may not work in every congregation.

My Prayer for MACU

On October 3, two students at my alma-mater, Mid-Atlantic Christian University, got into an altercation resulting in one young man being shot and losing his life. My heart has been breaking, and this is my prayer...

Lord,

I want to scream. I want to shake my fists and yell. But my enemy has no face. No, rather than give an object for wrath, he leaves this cold, impotent rage that struggles to be voiced. So I turn to You. My questions swim around my head. Questions of why this happened and how could this be allowed to happen and who does Satan think he is attacking my school, my family, my heritage?

But it's not mine is it? It's not mine, it's Yours. She was Your school and he was Your child. One family loses a son to murder, the other to prison. But they are Your families. A campus full of students has lost her security; her innocence. But she is Your campus. So I turn to You, to implore You, to beg You, be the God You have always been. The God who avenges the innocent. The God who protects the helpless. Spread a blanket of protection over the students, staff and families affected by this tragedy.

You are the God that drowned the armies of Pharaoh. Drown out the cries for retribution with Your grace.

You are the God who dried up the Jordan so Your children could enter the Promised land. Dry our tears and mend our hearts.

You are the God who knocked over Jericho's walls. Knock down the walls of fear that threaten to imprison us.

You are the God that guided David's sling. Guide our hearts toward restoration.

You are the God that destroyed the prophets of Baal. Destroy the arguments of those who would use this to defame Your name.

You are the God who restored the sight of the blind. Open our eyes to see who the real enemy is.

You are the God who rolled away a stone and proclaimed life out of death. Roll away this black curtain and speak life into a seemingly hopeless situation.

You have done all these things before and now we beg that you do it one more time. Out of the despair, bring rejoicing. Out of the anger, bring peace. Out of the sorrow, bring joy. Out of death, bring life. Then the world will know You are God.

Thank You for listening, for hearing and for doing. Take MACU in Your arms, dry her tears, and be the God You have always been.

In the name of the death conqueror: Jesus,

Amen

Of Plants and Men

Jesus would often use the physical world to explain spiritual realities. Mustard seeds illustrate faith. Fruitless fig trees illustrate pointless living. A farmer sowing seed illustrates evangelism. The Gospels are chock full of Jesus' stories and their effectiveness is undeniable.

As a preacher, I am always looking for ways to emulate the Master Teacher. As fall approaches and the time for planting bulbs and certain other plants draws nigh, my wife is excited. After four years of living in an apartment with no yard, she is itching to plant a spring flower garden. This means that trips to plant nurseries, reading of countless internet articles on botany and visiting landscaping websites has occupied much of her time. This also means that I, the loving and understanding husband, have spent more than a few minutes listening to plans, ideas, and interesting tidbits about various plants. As she was doing this one day she reminded me of two phenomena that I remember learning in High School Biology class (I typically try to repress all memories from High School. Highwater jeans, thick glasses and a body type that resembled an anemic giraffe made me the recipient of much unwanted attention).

The first of these phenomena is phototropism. Have you ever put a potted plant in a window and after a few days it leans toward the window? What it is leaning toward is the light. The plant is actually stretching itself, and growing toward the light. God has equipped these plants with photo-receptive cells that can sense where the most light is and sends messages of, 'Hey, we need to go this direction if we want more sunshine!'

The second phenomenon is thigmotropism. Watch a vine grow up a trellis or see a venus flytrap close when a fly lands in its open maw and you are witnessing thigmotropism. The plant can actually 'feel' touch and will react to it. While most thigmotropic plants are harmless, some are parasitic and will wrap around another living plant, like a tree, and literally sap the life from them.

So what type of plant are you? Are you phototropic or thigmotropic? Do you want to grow in the light of a living God, thriving in your relationship with Him, or do you simply go with what 'feels' right at the time. The problem with being a thigmotropic Christian is that often what 'feels' right isn't. Solomon knew this when he penned, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." (Prov. 14:12). As a minister I have seen this first hand when lifestyle choices that are contrary to God's plan are justified by saying, "In my heart I know this is right." God's Word begs to differ: "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick..." (Jeremiah 17:9a).

What hope is there? I mean, if we can't trust our gut feelings and heart what can we trust? Simply put, we trust God's Word. In Psalm 119 David composed a love poem to God's word. In it he proclaims God's word as a "lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." (v. 105) If we are phototropic we live in God's Word, and if we stay phototropic, eventually we can trust the heart again. How? By hiding God's Word in our heart (Ps. 119:11) In fact the true 'Word' of God is Jesus (John 1:1) and when He takes residence in our heart, He doesn't merely dwell there, He renews the heart! This is what God promised through Ezekiel when He said, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove the heart of stone from you and give you a heart of flesh." (36:26)

"God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth." I John 1:5-6

Old Time Religion vs. New Morality

I make it a point to try to read what people who disagree with my worldview write on a regular basis. My hope is to discover what makes them 'tick' or what they view as supremely important. Knowing that I do this, my wife pointed out an article to me on CNN's website:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/09/16/brook.moral.code.outdated/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

The article basically takes the stance of if we accept the technological advancements of our age, we must therefore accept the moral advancements too. In other words, our moral code is too 'antiquated' to be effective for such a modern time. Instead of looking to people of great faith for our morality, we should look to people who made tremendous profits for our morality. To quote the authors, "it is they (the profiteers), not the Mother Teresas of the world, that we should strive to be like and teach our kids the same."

I wonder if the authors took into account that our current economic state is due to the fact that people valued profit above morals. I also wonder if they would be in favor of re-instituting the practice of colonial slavery in order to turn a quicker profit. While I respect their candor and intellectual honesty, I can't help but wonder where our world would be in the absence of such out-of-date morals. As it is the child sex slavery industry is devastating economically challenged countries. But the practitioners are earning the big bucks. Should we teach our children to honor that as well? This is what happens when we place intellectualism as a god instead of following the One who created all things (and yes, I still look to the Old Testament for my beliefs on origins).

Perhaps the most disturbing thing about this article is that it is written by two well-respected men. I worry that this philosophy of 'moral evolution' will make it into our classrooms (in some instances it already has I'm sure). I am confident that this very philosophy is being taught in many institutions of higher learning, resulting in the ethical vacuum we see on Wall St., in politics and in our judicial systems.

I am reminded of the book of Judges, where it is said twice of the extremely immoral time, "In those days Israel had no king and every man did what was right in his own eyes." I feel that the same is true of America. If we make profit our 'king', then we are headed toward a downward spiral that will end in catastrophic ruin. Instead, let's return to that "old time religion". It's good enough for me.