It's always an interesting thing to be the new guy . . .
On one hand, we have our dear friends Karl & Natalie, and their children, and we have some other friends in the area who we have not seen yet. Among them, its like a visit to see old friends, but as we reach out to their friends its exciting and nerve-racking at the same time.
This week we just met people that Karl & Natalie know, who are interested. We had 30 people come and worship, have communion, and listen to me speak about the Power of God, the Works of God, and the Word of God (John 5.19-47). It was a wonderful time of worship and fellowship. (Some of the sweetest saints I have ever met.) As we talked I felt like I had known some of them for years. At the end of the evening some approached me about coffee, about helping us unload our truck, and about what the next steps would be. Others said they loved it but they have a church home. (I appreciate that and do not want to "steal sheep.") As the evening ended I was filled with emotion. I felt excitement and yet I was left with a huge number of questions, more than answers. I am looking forward to having those coffee, lunch and dinner meetings with all of those individuals.
Meanwhile, we are working to settle in: banking appointments, school appointments, house shopping, car shopping, and all of those earthly necessities. These are also opportunities to meet new people, to pray for them, to share the vision, and to make new appointments with. Along the way we have discovered Lizzie's Coffee House. their pies made a debut at our first gathering. They have some of the best espresso I have ever tasted. Lizzie and Jay, the owners, are great people too. They made me feel welcome to Brooksville.
As followers of Christ, we are called upon to be a people of hospitality. I have moved often throughout my life, and experienced the uproar of change, of meeting new people, and finding my place. In that process it has occurred to me that while everyone is making me feel welcome, I must not wait for people to enter my life. My responsibility to not to sit and wait for people to make room for the new guy. Hospitality is a two-way street. As the people of Hernando County extend their hospitality, I need to reciprocate, show my interest, and make friends. I cannot wait for it all to happen to me. How about you?
New guy or old guy, who is new in your life. Who is the person who needs you to be Jesus? I don't mean preaching to them or changing them. I mean who needs your friendship, a place in your life, a cup of coffee, lunch, dinner, directions, you name it. Often we are so busy with the necessities of life, (bank stuff, house stuff, car stuff, work stuff) that we do not make time for what is best . . . people. People are the most valuable. Jesus did not come to save my stuff, he came to save me and you (sometimes from our stuff).
New guy or old guy, gifted in hospitality or simply following the Lord's example, how about rearranging your life for what matters most? Make room for the new guy?
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
Moving to Hernando County Florida
Well, this is not exactly a theologically centered post, its personal, but in that way it is deeply theological. This post is about the work of God within me that has brought me to the point of moving to Hernando County, leaving the security of a good job, pay, insurance, and all the people we have come to know and love in Dayton, Ohio.
I am sitting in the Starbucks in the Beavercreek Kroger. Many friends have come by as I have been sitting here, my internet is turned off at home. I cam here to write something "profound" and I became overwhelmed with the realization of my journey. This will be our fourth church plant. Yet nothing can prepare you for being the new guy, the unknown, the lack of trust, the suspicion. So why do it?
I am going to Hernando County for a multiple of reasons. One of them is the Leibensperger family has been asking me for eight years to come and plant a church. Certainly Florida itself is riddled with great qualities, not the least of which is the weather. At the end of the day, I cannot uproot my family and move for those reasons. I am moving because of the great call of God. Hands down I must go. I must leave safety and security, and loved ones, because of an apostolic mission that has been placed upon the church, and in this case upon me. Not that there are not other churches in Hernando County, all doing a great work, but there are not enough! Some might point out that there are not enough in Ohio either. I agree. Yet God called me to Hernando County. My friend Karl says, it was his prayers. He may be right. Paul received the Macedonian call when a man prayed for him to come to his home. So that is why I am going to Hernando County.
The vision for this church plant is what has been brewing in me since early 2000. Has the message we have preached in the American church produced the fruit, the kind of followers of Jesus that fill the church today by accident? I think not. We do not have weak followers of Christ in-spite of the message preached but as a direct result. If we despair of the condition of the church today then we must examine ourselves and the message of Matthew 28.18-20 and ask how does our message compare. I am going to Hernando County to tackle that issue head on in my life and in the life of the church in Hernando County. To make disciples who continually and regularly, make disciples, who will do the same.
We need your prayers! Will you pray for us, in this transition, over the next two years, will you cover us with prayer, and spiritual warfare intercession. Will you pray for my children, and for my wife to enjoy the journey, to make new trusted friends, to find their way, to succeed, and to make a new life in Florida? Will you pray for Tyler as he heads west, to begin his new career, apart from us? Pray for me in that one too?
Last will your pray for the church, not just the Hernando County Vineyard Christian Church, but for the whole church, maybe even for yourself, according to Matthew 28.19-20?
I am sitting in the Starbucks in the Beavercreek Kroger. Many friends have come by as I have been sitting here, my internet is turned off at home. I cam here to write something "profound" and I became overwhelmed with the realization of my journey. This will be our fourth church plant. Yet nothing can prepare you for being the new guy, the unknown, the lack of trust, the suspicion. So why do it?
I am going to Hernando County for a multiple of reasons. One of them is the Leibensperger family has been asking me for eight years to come and plant a church. Certainly Florida itself is riddled with great qualities, not the least of which is the weather. At the end of the day, I cannot uproot my family and move for those reasons. I am moving because of the great call of God. Hands down I must go. I must leave safety and security, and loved ones, because of an apostolic mission that has been placed upon the church, and in this case upon me. Not that there are not other churches in Hernando County, all doing a great work, but there are not enough! Some might point out that there are not enough in Ohio either. I agree. Yet God called me to Hernando County. My friend Karl says, it was his prayers. He may be right. Paul received the Macedonian call when a man prayed for him to come to his home. So that is why I am going to Hernando County.
The vision for this church plant is what has been brewing in me since early 2000. Has the message we have preached in the American church produced the fruit, the kind of followers of Jesus that fill the church today by accident? I think not. We do not have weak followers of Christ in-spite of the message preached but as a direct result. If we despair of the condition of the church today then we must examine ourselves and the message of Matthew 28.18-20 and ask how does our message compare. I am going to Hernando County to tackle that issue head on in my life and in the life of the church in Hernando County. To make disciples who continually and regularly, make disciples, who will do the same.
We need your prayers! Will you pray for us, in this transition, over the next two years, will you cover us with prayer, and spiritual warfare intercession. Will you pray for my children, and for my wife to enjoy the journey, to make new trusted friends, to find their way, to succeed, and to make a new life in Florida? Will you pray for Tyler as he heads west, to begin his new career, apart from us? Pray for me in that one too?
Last will your pray for the church, not just the Hernando County Vineyard Christian Church, but for the whole church, maybe even for yourself, according to Matthew 28.19-20?
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Friday, May 27, 2011
What difference does the reading the Bible make?
A 2009 study by the Center for Bible Engagement (CBE) says that among Christ-followers in their study, the number one indicator of spiritual growth was not church service attendance, as has been the common marker in studies by Gallup and Barna Research, but that a far more accurate marker is amount of time spent reading the Bible. Their reasoning was, the tipping point between action and inaction, seemed to be that those who spent at least four times per week, engaged in Bible reading, were less likely to engage in risky social behaviors, and more likely to share their faith, and know what the Bible actually teaches.[1] The data collected by the CBE would seem to reinforce Whitney’s conclusions about the impact of Bible reading upon discipleship, as it relates to obedience to Christ, and ultimately glorifying God. However, this is not to imply that by ceremonially reading through the Bible that a person will become more like Jesus Christ. In response to this idea Eugene Peterson writes,
The reading style employed more often than not by contemporary Christians is fast, reductive, information-gathering and, above all, practical. We read for what we can get out of it, what we can put to use, what we think we can use– and right now. “We . . . we . . . we . . . we . . .” all the way home.
If we are serious about following Jesus and living out the gift of his life in detail in our bodies and circumstances, we must swim against this whitewater river We and familiarize ourselves with the world in which Jesus and his gift of life are revealed to us. We do it by reading our Scriptures slowly, imaginatively, prayerfully, and obediently. Each adverb is important.[2]
It is precisely this kind of intentional reading and soaking in the Scripture that brings about the deep-seated change that enables the disciple to engage in the vocation of Christ. In his book, Invitation to a Journey, Robert Mulholland points out that much of the literature on discipleship and spiritual formation centers around the assumptions that we are in control of our relationship with God. Thus we believe that we can apply some quick formula fix-it and move on to spiritual wholeness. He suggests that we instead view life more as a journey filled with opportunities to give a faithful response to Christ, and learn to trust God’s control.[3] This is direct conflict with the world of the twenty-first century. Today, people live in what Dallas Willard calls, a society smothered in slogans, and cluttered with commercials, catch words and political slogans which have tiny bits of truth but not enough to live by, that fill the world with noise, and refuse silence.[4] The need is not for more of the same in a Christianized format. Over the last twenty years of American Christianity, there has been an incredible increase in Christian media, but there is no corresponding incredible increase in the number of Christians or in the quality of Christian living to suggest that it has been money well spent for discipleship. The church today needs authentic discipleship that will teach people how to live like Jesus. Willard laments the loss of Jesus’ central role as teacher in the modern church and asks if anyone can name a Christian Education program that regularly (or ever) teaches about “how to love your enemies” or “how to do good to those who persecute you” according to Matthew 5:44.[5] If the vocation of the church is the ministry of Christ, then central to that ministry is the intentional formal and informal discipleship of the individual. Robert Mulholland writes, “Spiritual formation is not an option. Spiritual formation is not a discipline just for “dedicated disciples.” It is not a pursuit only for the pious. Spiritual formation is not an activity for the deeply committed alone. It is not a spiritual frill for those with the time and inclination. Spiritual formation is not a fad. Spiritual formation is the primal reality of life.”[6] The church too often, either intentionally or unintentionally, gives the community of faith the impression that all one needs is to get saved, and that everything else is optional, but the discipleship motif is central to the New Testament and to life of the church.
[1]Center for Bible Engagement, Bible Literacy & Spiritual Growth: Survey Results, (Lincoln, NE: Back to the Bible Press, 2006), 16.
[2]Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVaristy Press, 2000), 204.
[3]M. Robert Mulholland, Jr., Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation, (Downer’s Grove, Il: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 12.
[4]Willard, Divine Conspiracy, 9-10.
[5]Ibid., 57.
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