Field Day!

Earlier this week, I drove to work on a perfect spring morning - bright sunshine, blue skies and a slight cool breeze.  I drove past Veteran’s Park School and all the kids were outside on the lawn, playing all different sorts of games.  It was Field Day!!

            Or at least that’s what we used to call it when I was a kid.  Field Day was one of my favorite days of the year. It always meant summer vacation was just a few weeks away. We had no classes that day.  Everybody brought a sack lunch and they had cokes on ice and those ice cream cups with wooden spoons.  After we took roll, everybody was dismissed to gather on the field outside the school.

            The teachers were ready with dozens of games-from dodgeball to SPUD to kickball to softball toss to all sorts of relays (involvng balloons and fruit and ball bats and more) to three-legged races to….the end of year tug-o-war!  They gave out ribbons to everybody and let us run and rip and yell and laugh and laugh and laugh.

            Remembering the simple joys of childhood brought a smile this week.

 

Monday Meanderings, 05/05/08

Around the web this week…

 +  Mark Buchanan is a Canadian pastor –and one of my favorite authors. He finds the gospel in ordinary things.  He is thoughtful & transparent, contemplative & creative, relentlessly Biblical & Christ-honoring.  He has recently become a columnist for Christianity Today.  This beautiful meditation on community is an example of the sort of insightful writing you can expect from him. Check out his books - Your God is Too Small, The Holy Wild, Things Unseen and The Rest of God.

 + We’re called to reach the nations with the gospel of Jesus.  It’s our part in God’s redemptive plan for human history, for Jesus said “the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.” (Mk.13:10) Billions have yet to hear His name, so that is a daunting task.  Not everybody can go-but everybody can give and everybody can pray.  Go to this site a look for unreached people of the day for a practical way to pray for the gospel to spread to the nations.

             + While you’re praying for the nations, pray for Myanmar, which was just hit with a devastating cyclone.  Multiple thousands are dead.  Pray that this tragedy could be used to share the love and hope of Jesus.       

            + Yesterday, we began a fresh partnership with Mosaic Church, a church plant in Versailles.  Pray for Pastor Todd & Kelly Probus and keep up with the church’s progress towards their September launch at the Mosaic’s blog.

      + So, I’m watching American Idol last week and the guest star for the week is Neil Diamond.  He’s ancient and I wasn’t too excited about him when he was in his prime.  He has a new album called Home Before Dark, and he sang the first single release, Pretty Amazing Grace. I was stunned by this lyric.  The Christian imagery is obvious and astonishing. I don’t know if he has become a Christ-follower, but one would have to think he is “not far from the Kingdom.”  You can listen to the whole song here.  

Pretty amazing grace is what you showed me
Pretty amazing grace is who you are
I was an empty vessel
You filled me up inside
And with amazing grace
Restored my pride.

Pretty amazing grace is how you saved me
And with amazing grace, reclaimed my heart
Love in the midst of chaos
Calm in the heat of war
Showed with amazing grace
What love was for.

You forgave my insensitivity
And my attempt to then mislead you
You stood beside a wretch like me
And pretty amazing grace was all I needed.

Stumbled inside the doorway of your chapel
Humbled and awed by everything I found
Beauty and love surround me
Freed me from what I feared
Asked for amazing grace
And you  appeared.

You overcame my loss of hope and faith
Gave me a truth I could believe in
You led me to a higher place
Showed your amazing grace
When grace was what I needed.

Look in a mirror I see your refection
Open a book you live on every page
I fall and you’re there to lift me
You share every road I climb
And with amazing grace
You ease my mind.

I came to you with empty pockets first
When I returned I was a rich man
Didn’t believe love could quench my thirst
But with amazing grace, you showed me that it can.

In your amazing grace I had a vision
From that amazing place, I came to be
Into the night I wandered, wandering aimlessly
Found your amazing grace to comfort me.

Pretty amazing (repeat 8x)

You overcame my loss of hope and faith
Gave me a truth I could believe in
You led me to that higher place
Showed me that love, and truth, and hope, and grace
Were all I needed.

                        Neil Diamond, 2008

 

31 Flavors

            To celebrate their anniversary, Baskin-Robbins had a special night this week where you could get a scoop of their ice cream for just 31cents. That’s about 1/7 of the normal cost, so it was a great deal.

            Think of it-a scoop of pralines-n-cream or chocolate chip cookie dough or raspberry or whatever your favorite flavor might be, for only 31 cents.  I heard there was a limit of 10 scoops per person.  So it was a great (cheap) date for college students, a great (cheap) spring evening outing for families with young children, or a great (cheap) way to get your fill of ice cream.

            So, after I got home from church, Paula and I got in the car and drove the couple of blocks to our local Baskin-Robbins. What greeted us was a truly astonishing sight.  The parking lot was full to overflowing, with more cars pouring in by the minute. People were walking across the lot as far as they would walk if it was the week before Christmas at the mall. 

The fairly small store was packed-and the line stretched out the door, down the sidewalk, around the bend into the shadows of the closed specialty grocery store next door.  There were old young and old, boomers and busters, married couples and singles, pierced and plain-all standing in a line in the dark for a scoop of ice cream.  

            Why did 31 cent night at BR work so well?  It’s pretty simple: a good product was made easily accessible for a broad range of people. 

            That got me thinking.  The gospel of Jesus is the sweetest reality any soul will ever taste, the most awesome truth any heart will ever encounter, the best news any one will ever hear, the most beautiful thing anyone will ever see.

          Nothing compares with the combination of love, mercy, forgiveness, grace, hope, joy, truth, freedom, healing, wholeness, newness and life found in Jesus.

        So, how do we make that gospel easily accessible to a broad range of people in our community? Oh, I know that we have bunches of churches-we are on the edge of the Bible Belt, after all.  Those churches have worship services for every taste, teaching and training and programs for every person’s unique lifestage needs. We have Christian radio, Christian television, Christian movies, Christian bookstores, Christian T-shirts, Christian-based programs for weight-loss, marriage enrichment, financial planning and a dozens more Christian things. 

         But somehow, in the midst of all of that, a whole bunch of people are missing the gospel. Old and young, boomers and busters, married couples and singles, pierced and plain-all drive right past our churches every Sunday morning, if they’re out of bed.  They are missing the wonder of a gospel that rescues, redeems, and transforms their life and eternal destiny. As a matter of fact, I suspect it never crosses their mind. People just don’t seem to line up outside our doors for a taste of what they see we have.

Tough question #1:  Why not?

Tough question #2: How do we help the people we’re in the middle of realize that what they hunger for will only be satisfied by the sweetness of Jesus and His gospel?

Tough question #3: What are we willing to adjust (not just for one night, but for always) to reach those precious people and help them “taste and see that the Lord is good”?

Yes, I know there’s only one version of the gospel, and that it never changes.  But the diverse population of people around us needs a bunch of Christians willing to creatively think, dream, plan and adjust ourselves-so they can come near to Jesus-and know all His glorious flavor.

 

Monday Meanderings, 04/27/08

            Around the web this week…

            + For some time, it has been apparent that the government of Russia was taking steps back toward its old Cold War ways, with its saber-rattling along the European border and tough talk towards the US. Now it appears the retreat of democratic freedoms is extending to religion as well—and especially Protestants. The New York Times reported last week that the Russian Orthodox Church has re-emerged as the state church, endorsed and protected by the government.  Other groups, including Baptists, are being watched, harassed, marginalized and even shut down.  Pray for our brothers and sisters in Russia.

 

            + Check out this map, which shows the prevalence of various religions in regions, graphically showing the dominant church identification in each county across the Unites States. As you might imagine, we’re in a predominantly Baptist area.  But that doesn’t mean everybody’s reached here—just that there are a bunch of churches.  As a matter of fact, being “over-Baptist-ized” may make it more difficult to reach people who assume a culturally accepted version of Christianity is the same as a saving encounter with Jesus.  We have work to do.

 

            + In light of that work and an earlier post this week about a disturbing annual report from Southern Baptist Churches, check out these compellingly honest conversations with SBC missiologist and researcher Ed Stetzer.

 

            + Interesting commentary / teaching from Ben Witherington of Asbury Seminary on the relationship between human action & decisions, and God’s eternal purposes.  Though I think he skates pretty close to the open theism guys, it will make you think.

 

            + I’m not a huge football fan and even less of the NFL, yet I was interested to see where the celebrated UK players went in the draft.  Sort of shocked that Andre Woodson dropped to the 6^th round, where has to compete with Jared Lorenzen for a spot on the Giants roster, but I also understand the concern that he is a bit slow to make a read and get out of the pocket. Not shocked that Jacob Tamme was the first Kat chosen or that he went to Indy. Tony Dungy likes guys with high character and smarts, and Jacob fits on both counts.    

 

Reality Check for Southern Baptists

            The 2007 Annual Church Profile of the Southern Baptist Convention was released this week-and it is not pretty. (If you’re not Southern Baptist, the ACP is a combined report of key indicator statistics from all 45,000 or so churches)

            Baptisms were down 5.5% to their lowest level since 1987-and have fallen for 7 of the last 8 years. Church membership dropped for the 2^nd time since 1926. Some other key indicators either flatlined or dropped. 

            For years, Southern Baptists have (pridefully) laid claim to the title “the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S.” and have (gleefully) compared ourselves to the declining mainline denominations like Methodists, Presbyterians, etc.  We no longer have any cause to be prideful or gleeful. Southern Baptists are no longer growing; we are declining.

            Nathan Finn asks the tough question: Does the SBC Have a Future? and has a spot-on answer. Ed Stetzer (one of our best missiologists) asks, Is this the end of the beginning?  and answers with a prophetic ring:

             For now, Southern Baptists are a denomination in decline…. Our responsibility before God is, then, to urgently consider how we should respond. Yes, most of our response should be personal and lived out in our local churches….. But if we are choosing to partner in this network of churches, and the network is faltering, it will also take some joint action….

Three issues rise to the top. First…. we have witnessed a serious (and increasing) depopulation of young leaders at our convention. Also, ethnic leadership remains absent…. Vacant seats still exist at the SBC table for the ethnic and generational diversity that matches the America we are attempting to reach.

….A second issue is the infighting which defines so much of the SBC-its meetings, its churches, and its blogs…. Satan has used our incessant bickering over non-essentials to promote his last great mission on earth-to keep lost people lost…. If the focus of every SBC meeting is a new controversy to be debated, new parameters to be narrowed, and new issues to be fought, the trend toward decline will only accelerate.

The third, and most important, issue is our loss of focus on the Gospel. I find it difficult to even say such a thing, but, I believe it to be true. We must recover a gospel centrality and cooperate in proclaiming that gospel locally and globally….

If we commit ourselves once again to the Gospel which guided the Apostles and the early church, then perhaps we can reply to Christ’s call made to the church of Sardis in Revelation 3: “I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.”

….My prayer is that, unlike the church at Sardis, we are far from dead. However, it is obvious to us now that we are slumbering in the light. It is time for us to once again rise to a new day. The temptation will be that the news of the day will result in a new denominational obsession to fix the problem with a new plan. It won’t work. Instead we must refocus on the Divine Obsession (Luke 15), the obsession with lost people.

…. The promise of the Conservative Resurgence was to reestablish our unwavering belief in the inerrancy of scripture…. Now is the moment for us to hone our vision and take on a bigger battle-we must battle to build upon our Conservative Resurgence and make it a Great Commission Resurgence.

If we don’t, why did we bother with the Conservative Resurgence in the first place?

 

Why Do I Call Them Impact Churches?

I had somebody ask me how I arrive at the designation of churches on the sidebar as impact churches. Well, the first thing that’s important to realize is that any church, regardless of size, is an impact church from a Kingdom perspective when they are faithful to Jesus, lead people to Him and serve their community through His love. 

            I have a few criteria that always come into play.  I look to make sure that the churches hold to orthodox theology, including the Triune nature of God, the primacy of the gospel of Jesus and the authority of Scripture.  I look for a strong commitment to fulfill the Great Commission, with a Kingdom perspective.  I don’t agree with every detail of every church’s faith and practice, but these “first order” issues are vital.  Having said that, not all of these churches are Southern Baptist.  The Kingdom is bigger than us and honestly, not all SBC churches would meet the first order criteria.

            Of course, this is a completely subjective list.  It’s made up of churches that are sparking interest in my own heart and mind in this season.  By the end of the year, it could be a different list!

            So, why these churches in this season?

                        The Church at Brook Hills is an SBC church in Birmingham, AL. They have a remarkable commitment to disciple-making - both locally and globally, with a very cohesive strategy.  “Secret Church” is an innovative event that combines intensive Bible teaching, prayer and missions.

                        First Baptist Church of Leesburg is an SBC church where I served for almost 6 years. They are a pioneer in ministry-based evangelism and community ministry that meets the real life needs of people (alchoholism & substance abuse, poverty, homelessness, family stress, medical care, etc.), and have begun to use media in some very creative ways. 

                        Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, AR has taken the ministry evangelism idea and expanded it to practically mark every aspect of the church’s life, from small groups to community-wide ministry projects.  This independent evangelical church is committed to being an “irresistible influence” for Jesus in their community.

                        Imago Dei is an independent evangelical church in Portland, OR. They want to make God’s Kingdom come alive in all aspects of this secular city, want to be involved with the broken, have an intriguing ministry to artists, as well as a desire to express beauty as a Kingdom value.

                        Mars Hill Church in Seattle is an independent evangelical church in one of the US’ most unchristian cities that is reaching young, driven, secular people by the thousands.  They thoughtfully and intentionally connect with the unique culture of their city, call Christians to live as missionaries in the culture, and have fostered a burgeoning church planting movement called Acts 29. 

                        Northpoint Community Church is an independent evangelical church in Atlanta, GA that creates intentional environments to draw unchurched people to a relationship with Jesus.  All their lifestage ministries follow the same pattern of increasing intimacy (foyer, living room, kitchen) and they have done fabulous, original thinking in the areas of small groups and children’s discipleship. 

                        Perimeter Church is a PCA church in Atlanta. Their commitment to place discipleship at the core of the church’s life is helpful. Perimeter also pioneered some early multi-campus ministry approaches to reaching an entire city with the gospel.

                        Redeemer Presbyterian is another PCA church, this one in New York City. They are the undisputed leader in evangelical urban ministry, have a strong commitment to multiplying congregations and have done some genuinely unique thinking about workplace ministry that is reaching secular people.   

                        Summit Church is an SBC church in Durham, NC that has undergone a dramatic transformation over the past five years-from a slowly dying, traditional program church to a rapidly growing, high-energy church.  They are reaching college students in the Research Triangle with a mix of biblical teaching, creativity and challenge to take risks for the gospel here and among the nations.

                        University City Fellowship is an independent church planted by some friends of mine in Charlotte, NC. They meet in a movie theatre, use significant creativity and intentionality in all their ministries, and focus on building relationships in a powerful way. That approach is helping them make a significant impact on students, young adults and families.

            And finally, Victory Baptist Church-our church family. We are in a metro area with an urban center, a major university and dozens of suburban communities. Lexington is consistently ranked one of the most desirable areas in the nation.  Our people live, work and go to school all across metro Lexington and in many Central Kentucky communities.  We are so strong in loving relationships and have so many people who have a real passion to follow Jesus and make a difference for Him. 

I believe we are uniquely positioned for a major impact on the 369,000+ people in our city that attend nobody’s church on Sunday-and may not know Jesus at all. Still, we have a lot thinking, growing, learning, adjusting, creating, risking, loving and reaching to do as we “lead all people to know and treasure Jesus above all things.” 

Along the way, we can watch and humbly learn from our brothers and sisters in other places. We can’t copy them, but we can be spurred on and encouraged by them to become the best church we can be for the people we have been called to reach and the Jesus we are privileged to make famous in our generation.

 

           

 

Monday Meanderings, 04/21/08

Around the web this week…

       + There was quite a stir when American Idol used the Christian worship song “Shout to the Lord” two nights in a row.  Some wondered about the appropriateness or the motive. Others celebrated like Paul, “some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will…what then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.” (Phil. 1:15, 18)  As always, Bob Kauflin of Worship Matters (who arranged the hymn “Like a River Glorious” that we sang last Sunday), has a thoughtful response.

       + When I was first in youth ministry, one of the icebreaker games we would, play (in the dark ages before video games and DVD”s) was “Mad Libs”. These were stories with blanks for verbs, nouns and adjectives. The object was to come up with the wildest words possible, with no idea of the storyline or context.  The resulting stories are strange-and  hilarious. This week marked the 50^th anniversary of Mad Libs.  You can find more here (for children) and here.

        + David Wells, theology professor at Gordon-Conwell Seminary consistently offers some of the most thoughtful and Biblical analysis of American evangelicalism available anywhere. You may not agree with all his conclusions or preferences, but he will make you clarify your own. His quartet of books (No Place for Truth, God in the Wasteland, Losing Our Virtue and Above All Earthly Pow’rs) is an astounding achievement, developed over 12 years– and worth working through. His latest book is The Courage to Be Protestant: Truth Lovers, Marketers and Emergents in the Postmodern World. Here is an interesting interview with Wells, part 1 and part 2.  

        + The new movie Expelled opened last weekend.  It shows how the idea of intelligent design, which posits that the complexity of creation must point to a singular and cohesive intelligence behind it all, is brutally fought by many proponents of the theory of evolution in academia.  Now, this is not a movie that defends creationism. But it may be a movie that would provide an interesting bridge to a conversation with those outside the faith. There are reviews and commentary here, here, here and much less positively, here.  You can see Expelled in Lexington at Regal Hamburg, AmStar at Brannon Crossing and Movies 8 at Lexington Green. 

      + There may be no more glorious piece of classical music (or any music for that matter) than Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Rich Copley has an interesting appreciation here, including excerpts of performances.

    + I know I’m about a year late, but I just saw End of the Spear, the movie about the martyrdom of 5 missionaries in Ecuador in 1956 and the resulting ministry of grace and reconciliation expressed to the same tribe by their widows and children. It’s a truly remarkable story of the power of Jesus’ mercy to change the most hardened hearts.     

 

How Do You Pray with a Broken Heart?

            Life happens. 

Lots of times what happens is good.  It makes you giggle for gladness.  Your heart feels light and the world glows with the sort of feathery light that comes with early spring mornings.

Lots of times what happens is bad.  It makes you weep for sadness.  Your heart feels heavy and the world glowers with the sort of dark clouds that gather before a summer thunderstorm.

It’s fairly easy to pray when life is good.  Praise and thanksgiving roll off the tongue with ease.  God’s goodness is so real.

On the other hand, it’s often not easy to pray when life is bad.  No matter our theology of God’s sovereignty, praise can get stuck in our throat.  God’s goodness seems like a wispy memory of another time.

How do I pray with a broken heart?  Well, obviously I can’t go with my immediate emotional reaction, because, quite honestly, being upset with God is not a great basis for effective prayer.  Neither is self-pity or self-righteousness. I know, because I’ve tried all of them.

How do I pray with a broken heart? 

            + I remember the cross. No matter my circumstances, this fact remains: “God demonstrates His love for us in this: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8)  The cross stands tall over all the mess of my life to assure me that God loves me - me!-in Jesus.

            + I pray somebody else’s words.  When there are no words for my pain, confusion, hurt, despair, I borrow some-from the Psalms. I think that’s why God inspired and preserved them. “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing…my soul is also greatly troubled.  But You, O Lord-how long?….Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge….When I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God, whose word I praise….I am continually with you; you hold my right hand…He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust….Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His steadfast love endures forever…With my voice I cry out to the Lord; with my voice I plead for mercy….Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God….(Ps. 6:2, 16:1, 56:3, 73:23, 103:14, 118:1, 142:1, 42:5)

            + I trust the Spirit’s groans are better than my words. There are moments for which there are no words, but “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” (Rom.8:26)  Those groans are rich with the Father’s hope.

            + I hold onto the unseen hand of my Father’s providence. He is actively working “all things together for good to those (like me) who are called according to His purpose.” (Rom. 8:28).  Somehow, in and through this beautiful mess, my Father is displaying His glory, pursuing and redeeming sinners, spreading Jesus’ good news, expanding the borders of His kingdom-and shaping my life and character to be like Jesus.

These things don’t make praying in bad times any easier. But they help me pray…anyway.  

 

Marking a Massacre

Today marks one year since the horrible shootings at Virginia Tech that resulted in the deaths of 32 students and faculty members.

Sometimes, the horrors of a broken world just blend together and become indistinguishable from each other. 

Somehow, this one is different.

The father of one surviving student describes the lingering heartache with this poignant metaphor: “It puts you in the ocean and keeps you there.  You feel carried by the tide, and you can fight enough to stay afloat, to not drown, but you don’t have the strength to get out of it.  People outside, on the shore watching, don’t understand how engulfing it is.”    

Read Derek O’Dell’s story in this beautifully written piece from the Washington Post –and then take a moment to pray for the families and others who still grieve.

 

Monday Meanderings, 04/14/08

            Webbed…

 + Christian bookstores across the country are in a bit of trouble.  Check out a package of stories from Christianity Today here, here, here and here.  Changing retail patterns from local stores to internet), the shift of music purchasing to digital downloads, a broadening market for spiritual or values material in other venues, consolidation of independent stores into larger chains, on-line self-publishing that can market niche books and more have contributed to bookstore struggles. But the most interesting observations note that Christian bookstores have become almost too Christian: “the typical Christian bookstore is bland and predictable. “Folks are looking for something different. We should surprise and delight our customers….”In order to offer “something different,” bookstores may need to become “third places,” a term coined by author Ray Oldenburg in The Great Good Place. Third places are inviting alternatives to home and the workplace (think Starbucks)…. A tribe of more traditional Mosaics or Busters might shop in a conventional Christian bookstore, but fewer young adults are doing so….Traditional Christian bookstores are often embraced by more conservative Christians as safe places to shop, with no worries about sexual content, profanity, or wild theology. The larger Christian chain buyers may consider themselves gatekeepers of appropriate content. However…this newer generation “is less willing to be sheltered and cloistered. Adults might think they are ‘dining with the Devil’-but younger adults are more comfortable thinking of themselves as exiles in a Babylonian culture. They tell us, ‘We don’t need you to caretake our content-we can make these decisions.’ They are skeptical of places that feel antiseptic or too polished.”

 +Again, Willow Creek Church has taken steps to respond practically to the changes suggested by the massive Reveal survey. The shifts include adjusting Sunday services to include expository Bible teaching, deeper worship songs, Scripture reading and more elements that were anathema in the seeker-driven days, and abolishing the mid-week service for believers in favor of theology and Bible classes. The most compelling quote: “We used to think you can’t upset a seeker. But while focusing on that we’ve really upset the Christ-centered people”…. most people are leaving the church because they’re not being challenged enough. “Because it’s the mature Christians who drive evangelism in the church”, Hawkins says, “Our strategy to reach seekers is now about focusing on the mature believers.”

 + Let’s all hope this was an awful April Fool’s joke.  If not, it’s just plain awful.

+ Check out Lessons from Odd Jobs.  Some truly intriguing stories along the way.

 + A quote worth pondering: “Christians come to see that both their sins and their best deeds have all really been ways of avoiding Jesus as savior. They come to see that Christianity is not fundamentally an invitation to get more religious. A Christian comes to say: “Though I have often failed to obey the moral law, the deeper problem was why I was trying to obey it! Even my efforts to obey it has been just a way of seeking to be my own savior. In that mindset, even if I obey or ask for forgiveness, I am really resisting the gospel and setting myself up as Savior.”

To ‘get the gospel’ is to turn from self-justification and rely on Jesus’ record for a relationship with God. The irreligious don’t repent at all, and the religious only repent of sins. But Christians also repent of their righteousness. That is the distinction between the three groups-Christian, moralists (religious), and pragmatists (irreligious).  (Tim Keller)