I recently returned from a board meeting of 3:18 Ministries in nice & warm Globe, AZ. 3:18 is a ministry to the Apache people of the San Carlos Reservation, showing the love of Jesus in a place where it's all too rare. While I missed interacting with a couple members who couldn't make it to the meeting, I really enjoyed the time with the rest of us, not to mention the escape from the gray NE winter to a couple days of green (which was a little surprising for me - I forgot that color existed) and AZ sun. More than that, it was great to spend a couple days dreaming and discussing and clarifying what God is doing through 3:18. The hope and vision in the lives of 3:18's board are contagious! I have little claim to earn membership in such an awesome group of kingdom servants, but I'm humbled and thankful to get to spend some time and effort and prayer with them. Through God's power working on the reservation, parents are learning how to lead and love their children, families are gaining more suitable housing, and children who think they're not wanted are learning how precious they really are to their Maker. God's love is being made known in the actions of His people and even bigger developments are on the horizon for 3:18. I can't wait to see where God takes us all!
The trip got me thinking again about this post I'd started several months ago about some missions that matter to me and my family. We give to these ministries, in terms of finances, time, prayer, and effort. We see God at work in these ministries and want to be able to help in any way we can. Maybe you can help, too. In addition to 3:18, would you be praying for these Kingdom efforts? Take some time to look into what they do and see if God has some role for you to play in their work.
Sparrow's Nest - A few years ago, our small group piled into Forest (as we dubbed our green church van) and drove to the West Coast for Catalyst. (It's interesting to me that after all the miles I've driven those vans, it took a small group of adults to give one a name!) We were joined by my friend, Tory (of the previously mentioned 3:18), and a friend of one of our group's couples, Carissa. While our initial contact was tainted by the lingering effects of the "Mile High Tamale" incident, it was a joy to meet Carissa and see how she's responding to a dream planted in her by God. That dream has become The Sparrow's Nest in St. Charles, MO. The mission of The Sparrow's Nest is "to provide Christ centered shelter and to educate homeless, pregnant, and parenting young women." They want to empower young mothers to make positive life decisions for themselves and their babies. It's been amazing to see God work as Carissa has pulled together a team to build this much needed 'nest' in the St. Louis area. Visit their site to check out their story - maybe you'll find a place in it, too.
Nebraska Christian College - Getting married right after high school was a no brainer for LuAnn and I. We were going off to college hundreds of miles from anyone we'd ever known and there was tremendous encouragement in doing that together. From July of 1994, when we landed at the empty campus (the only ones I remember being around were two other couples a few years ahead of us, and Humphrey, who couldn't go home for the summer because home was Malawi and he needed to work to pay for the next semester) until May of 1998, when I graduated and a well placed dart landed in Loveland, CO - NCC was our first home. Some of our deepest relationships were forged there and some of our most formative growth was instigated there. We've supported NCC ever since as the college continues to train servant leaders who know Christ and are making Him known. Though the place where all that college magic happened for us has been left behind for another location, the college continues to be an exciting part of what God is doing and we continue to be excited by just what He is doing through NCC.
Compassion - Very early in our marriage, we wanted to establish that our lives, our jobs, & our income would never just be about us. Whatever God brought our way, we wanted to be willing to use it for His glory and someone else's benefit. Compassion was one of our first outlets for doing exactly that. Through Compassion's child sponsorship program we've been able to help kids in a couple Latin American countries, Haiti, and Kenya with names like Pilar, Imacuelease, & Wairegi find hope in the name of Jesus. I've also enjoyed getting our youth ministry students involved with Compassion, raising money for hunger and AIDS relief, or pulling a few friends together to sponsor a child of their own. We once had a talent show to raise money for mosquito nets, where our duct-tape-wearing friend Theresa joined a couple sisters and friends for a hilarious Burger King skit - before she traded the paper crown in for one with more diamonds at the Miss America pageant of 2011. Compassion is changing the story for thousands of kids living in poverty throughout the world. They have a special day of emphasis coming up called Compassion Sunday in April - check it out and find out how you and your church can rewrite some stories, too.
Youth Ministry - This may go without saying, but youth ministry is incredibly important to me and my family. After 4 years of college and 12 years of being a youth pastor, I still love seeing students living life as disciples and learning to be the church God is calling them to be. I still love it when they start to understand how deeply Jesus loves them and to allow Him to shape their lives. I hope I will never join the masses in losing that enthusiasm for teens. I hope you'll join me in praying for the teens in and around your own life. They need you to care enough to invest your life in them. Get to know them and find out how you can reach into their lives. Do the work of a missionary, reaching across generations to understand and to build bridges. You probably won't see huge dividends immediately, but do it anyway - bring God's Kingdom to their tribe.
There are many other ministries that we care about and continue to pray for. I think of Marilyn and Connie and their family in South Africa (long time family friends back to my grandpa's generation), and Hudson (a former student) and his family preparing to reach into places to which most of us are too afraid or ill-prepared to reach. I think of other former students who are carrying Christ with them in youth ministries and IT departments and construction sites and nuclear plants, as well as friends and family planting churches in exotic places like New Zealand and North Dakota as well as Wyoming and South Dakota. There are many others being the church in big cities and small towns closer to home. I think of Northwest Haiti Christian Mission, where some of our WestWay family go a couple times each year to offer hope. When I stop to think about it, I'm humbled to be a part of such a diverse fellowship of people who've taken up Christ's mission to reconcile, to seek what has been lost and restore people to the relationship with God that we are created for.
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What are some of the ministries in which you and your family are involved? How do you help them? What's God up to there?
Showing posts with label mission. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mission. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Don't Just Stand There
It was a huge mess. After watching their oppressors being hounded by bloody water, frogs, flies, gnats, hail, dying animals, locusts up the wazoo, darkness, festering sores all over their bodies, and the deaths of their firstborn sons... now they were free. Well, they were on the edge of the wilderness loaded down with loot, with no homes to which to return, but at least they weren’t slaves anymore, right? Then it all started to look really bad...
Camped along the shore of the Red Sea, happy to be out of Egypt, the Hebrews looked out in the distance and saw the Egyptian army marching toward them. In terror at the realization that they were stuck between an army bent on their destruction and a Sea that left nowhere to run, they cried out to God and turned on Moses. “Why did you lead us here? We could have died just as well in Egypt! Why couldn’t you have just left us alone?”
Moses kept a calmer head and offered what seemed to him to be good advice, “Don’t be afraid of them, just stand firm and watch what God will do. He’ll fight for you, just be quiet and watch.” Doesn't that sound comforting? "God's led us here & it's His fight - just watch." I’ve got to admire Moses’ trust in God at this point. He knew that God had led them there, and he knew that God would deliver them. But his fight or flight response must have been broken by the burning bush experience or something. When the army’s coming after you and you’ve got nothing with which to defend yourself, you run! Hide! Hey, maybe you pick up some rocks and prepare to do your best to buy some time for your wife and kids to get to safety, but you don’t just stand there!
“The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.” Those are the words (NASB) Moses said to the people in the face of certain death. Does that not sound crazy to anyone else? I bet it did to a lot of them! Now, several thousand years later, we know he was right. We know what they could scarcely hope for as they stood near the sea, waiting to die. God did rescue them. But He saw the whole episode a little differently than Moses did. He said to Moses, “Why are you crying to me? Tell the people to get moving!” Essentially, He said “Don’t just stand there dummy. Go!”
Sometimes, we’re tempted to think there’s nothing we can do to make a situation better. We’re stuck, and we think the only thing we can do is sit there and cry (to God?). Or maybe we think we need to just wait out the storm and perhaps, somehow the impending army won’t crush us and we’ll survive. So, we whimper on the shore when God’s ready to break open the waters and let us escape to life with Him - if we'd only get moving...
I don’t mean to make light of asking God for help - we do need to be desperate for Him to rescue us. Some of us need to be a whole lot less self-reliant. But we also need to get moving. When God tells us to move forward, into that brick wall, or perilous sea, or whatever obstacle is in the way... we need to get moving!
I wonder if Jesus had something like that in mind when He told Peter that He was going to build a church that even the gates of hell couldn’t stop? When He told His disciples to “Go into all the world...” did He hear His Father’s words to Moses echoing through time, beckoning this tiny band of misfits to turn the world upside down?
Church, are we stuck between the army and the sea, just waiting for God to do something? Are we desperate for God to act on our behalf? Maybe it’s time that, in our desperation, we move AND see Him act... Maybe it’s time to take that first step toward the water. It sure beats dying on the shoreline. May we charge the gates He’s brought us to, following Him as He’s led the charge on His mission to rescue and reconcile.
Camped along the shore of the Red Sea, happy to be out of Egypt, the Hebrews looked out in the distance and saw the Egyptian army marching toward them. In terror at the realization that they were stuck between an army bent on their destruction and a Sea that left nowhere to run, they cried out to God and turned on Moses. “Why did you lead us here? We could have died just as well in Egypt! Why couldn’t you have just left us alone?”
Moses kept a calmer head and offered what seemed to him to be good advice, “Don’t be afraid of them, just stand firm and watch what God will do. He’ll fight for you, just be quiet and watch.” Doesn't that sound comforting? "God's led us here & it's His fight - just watch." I’ve got to admire Moses’ trust in God at this point. He knew that God had led them there, and he knew that God would deliver them. But his fight or flight response must have been broken by the burning bush experience or something. When the army’s coming after you and you’ve got nothing with which to defend yourself, you run! Hide! Hey, maybe you pick up some rocks and prepare to do your best to buy some time for your wife and kids to get to safety, but you don’t just stand there!
“The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.” Those are the words (NASB) Moses said to the people in the face of certain death. Does that not sound crazy to anyone else? I bet it did to a lot of them! Now, several thousand years later, we know he was right. We know what they could scarcely hope for as they stood near the sea, waiting to die. God did rescue them. But He saw the whole episode a little differently than Moses did. He said to Moses, “Why are you crying to me? Tell the people to get moving!” Essentially, He said “Don’t just stand there dummy. Go!”
Sometimes, we’re tempted to think there’s nothing we can do to make a situation better. We’re stuck, and we think the only thing we can do is sit there and cry (to God?). Or maybe we think we need to just wait out the storm and perhaps, somehow the impending army won’t crush us and we’ll survive. So, we whimper on the shore when God’s ready to break open the waters and let us escape to life with Him - if we'd only get moving...
I don’t mean to make light of asking God for help - we do need to be desperate for Him to rescue us. Some of us need to be a whole lot less self-reliant. But we also need to get moving. When God tells us to move forward, into that brick wall, or perilous sea, or whatever obstacle is in the way... we need to get moving!
I wonder if Jesus had something like that in mind when He told Peter that He was going to build a church that even the gates of hell couldn’t stop? When He told His disciples to “Go into all the world...” did He hear His Father’s words to Moses echoing through time, beckoning this tiny band of misfits to turn the world upside down?
Church, are we stuck between the army and the sea, just waiting for God to do something? Are we desperate for God to act on our behalf? Maybe it’s time that, in our desperation, we move AND see Him act... Maybe it’s time to take that first step toward the water. It sure beats dying on the shoreline. May we charge the gates He’s brought us to, following Him as He’s led the charge on His mission to rescue and reconcile.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Hypothetically Church
Let's play a little hypothetical Monday afternoon:
Imagine with me... a group of people, mostly in their mid to late 20's, living in the same apartment complex near the hospital where most of them work. There are a handful of single med students, several newlywed couples, a few widows & widowers, and even a couple families with young children (though, their apartments are getting a bit crowded so one of them may be moving out soon to a place with a yard where their kids can play).
It's not a huge complex, so they see each other often, and there seem to be several running conversations in the group that are always picked up and left off as they pass in the hall and hang out in the lobby. These people know each other really well. It's not uncommon at all to see one of the younger set helping out the older folks by carrying groceries or doing whatever else may be needed. The youngest kids talk excitedly about the grandmas and grandpas they have in the building, and if you had to guess, you'd probably think they really were family. And they are... just not in the way that has anything to do with genetics or legal agreements.
I go to church in their neighborhood, and have visited their building a couple times. When Bill got sick and had to retire from his work in the hospital's ER, they threw him one of the coolest retirement parties I've seen. It was amazing to see people whose lives Bill had saved or whose broken arms he'd set get together and talk about what a difference he'd made to each of them. He never stopped at just the basic care they'd expected. The apartment crew, as I've come to call them, also went way above and beyond to celebrate Bill's work over the years. The extra mile seems to be a pattern for all of them.
These people really seem to love each other, too. They don't just live in the same space, they genuinely and excessively care about the well being of each one in their community. Several times a week, all of them who can get there will share a meal together in the courtyard (or the lobby when it's cold), and no one ever eats alone. I was surprised at one visit to hear them talking about some Bible passages they'd read lately, and how it motivated them to love even others outside their community the same way they loved each other. They've taken the word neighbor to a whole new level...
My neighborhood's not like that, so I pressed them once about what the difference was. They said the difference was that they'd each committed to loving Jesus, loving others, and doing the things Jesus said to do - which I thought was kind of odd because most of them hardly ever go to church. I asked why they don't go to church and they said they'd each chosen to work Sunday morning shifts so that other people could go if they wanted to. They did point out that they had been taking turns leading devotions in the lobby every morning before the kids had to be at school, and they'd built a prayer wall in one of the halls where they'd post stuff to pray about with each other. They showed me the board, full of notes from just about every one in the building.
As I visited yesterday, one note in particular really hit me. It was from Jake, one of the boys who may be moving soon. He only asked for two things:
Why is our group called 'church' but theirs is not?
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Just a quick, non-hypothetical point: This is not about the guy who claims to be worshiping God in nature because he'd rather go golfing on Sunday mornings. It's not about Justin Bieber saying he doesn't have to go to church because somebody else just religiously goes to church to go to church (more perspective on that here from Scot McKnight & Dan Kimball). It's about the essence of church. When you strip everything away that's superfluous in the church, what's still there? I know this apartment dwelling group is fictitious. But the question remains: should it be?
Imagine with me... a group of people, mostly in their mid to late 20's, living in the same apartment complex near the hospital where most of them work. There are a handful of single med students, several newlywed couples, a few widows & widowers, and even a couple families with young children (though, their apartments are getting a bit crowded so one of them may be moving out soon to a place with a yard where their kids can play).
It's not a huge complex, so they see each other often, and there seem to be several running conversations in the group that are always picked up and left off as they pass in the hall and hang out in the lobby. These people know each other really well. It's not uncommon at all to see one of the younger set helping out the older folks by carrying groceries or doing whatever else may be needed. The youngest kids talk excitedly about the grandmas and grandpas they have in the building, and if you had to guess, you'd probably think they really were family. And they are... just not in the way that has anything to do with genetics or legal agreements.
I go to church in their neighborhood, and have visited their building a couple times. When Bill got sick and had to retire from his work in the hospital's ER, they threw him one of the coolest retirement parties I've seen. It was amazing to see people whose lives Bill had saved or whose broken arms he'd set get together and talk about what a difference he'd made to each of them. He never stopped at just the basic care they'd expected. The apartment crew, as I've come to call them, also went way above and beyond to celebrate Bill's work over the years. The extra mile seems to be a pattern for all of them.
These people really seem to love each other, too. They don't just live in the same space, they genuinely and excessively care about the well being of each one in their community. Several times a week, all of them who can get there will share a meal together in the courtyard (or the lobby when it's cold), and no one ever eats alone. I was surprised at one visit to hear them talking about some Bible passages they'd read lately, and how it motivated them to love even others outside their community the same way they loved each other. They've taken the word neighbor to a whole new level...
My neighborhood's not like that, so I pressed them once about what the difference was. They said the difference was that they'd each committed to loving Jesus, loving others, and doing the things Jesus said to do - which I thought was kind of odd because most of them hardly ever go to church. I asked why they don't go to church and they said they'd each chosen to work Sunday morning shifts so that other people could go if they wanted to. They did point out that they had been taking turns leading devotions in the lobby every morning before the kids had to be at school, and they'd built a prayer wall in one of the halls where they'd post stuff to pray about with each other. They showed me the board, full of notes from just about every one in the building.
As I visited yesterday, one note in particular really hit me. It was from Jake, one of the boys who may be moving soon. He only asked for two things:
- That they could find a house big enough for the whole family. By the picture he drew with the note, I could tell 'family' didn't just mean his brother and parents!
- That moving to a house didn't mean they'd have to stop helping at the homeless shelter the 'family' had started around the corner from their building.
Leaving the apartments, I noticed our church building just down the block. The parking lot was empty and I knew the doors would be locked, but I walked down anyway and sat down on the steps for a bit. I couldn't help but wondering about myself and all my friends that get together here every Sunday. We talk about Bible passages and sing songs telling God how awesome He is and how much we love Him. We pray together and some of us chat a little bit after services. But then we all go home and mostly don't see much of each other until next Sunday. I think we're trying to love Jesus in all of this, but the more time I spend with those people in the apartment building down the street, the more I wonder if we might be missing something.
Why is our group called 'church' but theirs is not?
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Just a quick, non-hypothetical point: This is not about the guy who claims to be worshiping God in nature because he'd rather go golfing on Sunday mornings. It's not about Justin Bieber saying he doesn't have to go to church because somebody else just religiously goes to church to go to church (more perspective on that here from Scot McKnight & Dan Kimball). It's about the essence of church. When you strip everything away that's superfluous in the church, what's still there? I know this apartment dwelling group is fictitious. But the question remains: should it be?
Friday, October 28, 2011
One Meal One Day
A few weeks ago, I showed our students a quick video introducing One Meal One Day. It's a program put together by Compassion to encourage students to skip 1 meal and donate the money they would have spent on it to feed hungry children. I showed the video to sort of gauge interest and see if it was something my students wanted to pursue. The response was pretty positive, so we're going to do it, but sometimes you just can't wait for something, right?
I just heard this morning that one of our students has already raised about $500! After seeing the video, he did his own checking online and took the information he found to a teacher at school. From there, he went to the principal and finally to the school board to pitch the idea. This little K-8 school has primed the pump, and I can't wait to see what God will do throughout our other schools!
This is what happens when you let kids try! (Or when you plant seeds and don't get in the way...)
Thursday, August 18, 2011
A Quick Message for my WestWay Students
As I was thinking over what we talked about last night, I began reading in 1 Peter this morning and came across some stuff I wanted to share with you guys. I noticed some things there that I think you need to know as you get back into school.
"And now God is building you, as living stones, into His spiritual temple." Guys, I think that verse is for us, not just the Christians in the first century. It's for you. God is still building His people into a living, breathing, dynamic place where He makes Himself available. As you check out your new classes and new teachers and teams... make sure you're letting Him live in you AND make Himself known through you.
"They stumble because they do not listen to God's word or obey it... But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are a kingdom of priests, God's holy nation, His very own possession. This is so you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light." As you finish up Filter over the next couple weeks, finish strong. But don't just read your Bible - live it. Obey it. Let His Word sink into your soul and reshape you from the inside. Then, you become more than just a youth group, more than just a bunch of kids who like to hang out together and stay out of trouble - you become His Church (His priests, His nation, His possession...) - an unstoppable force of light, showing others the goodness of God.
Whether this is your first year at a new school, or your last year as a Senior, make this year a time when you really step out to shine Christ's light. Make Him known. Your schools are your mission field: show His goodness there.
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| You may not think you're much, but together, God is making something amazing! |
"They stumble because they do not listen to God's word or obey it... But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are a kingdom of priests, God's holy nation, His very own possession. This is so you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light." As you finish up Filter over the next couple weeks, finish strong. But don't just read your Bible - live it. Obey it. Let His Word sink into your soul and reshape you from the inside. Then, you become more than just a youth group, more than just a bunch of kids who like to hang out together and stay out of trouble - you become His Church (His priests, His nation, His possession...) - an unstoppable force of light, showing others the goodness of God.
Whether this is your first year at a new school, or your last year as a Senior, make this year a time when you really step out to shine Christ's light. Make Him known. Your schools are your mission field: show His goodness there.
img: Jono Hale @ creationswap.com
Monday, July 11, 2011
NewsMakers?
"It is the one great weakness of journalism as a picture of our modern existence, that it must be a picture made up entirely of exceptions. We announce on flaring posters that a man has fallen off a scaffolding. We do not announce on flaring posters that a man has not fallen off a scaffolding. Yet this latter fact is fundamentally more exciting, as indicating that that moving tower of terror and mystery, a man, is still abroad upon the earth... Hence, the complete picture they give of life is of necessity fallacious; they can only represent what is unusual."
G.K. Chesterton in The Ball and The Cross
Two things have been rattling around in my head since a couple days ago, when I came across this passage:
1. If we rely solely on media to define our perception of the world around us, we won't get a very clear picture of that world. Even with the wide array of media choices available to us, we'll only be getting a few of the most unusual pieces, pieces which someone else has deemed most important. If you want to know what the world is really like, get out there and do something - experience it! Better yet, shape it.
2. Chesterton's description of man as "that moving tower of terror and mystery" points to the great capacity that each of us has. Our actions have the potential to change the very world we live in. Each breath that fills our lungs carries with it one more opportunity for meaningful action. The fact that our lives may never make headlines should never deter us from doing what we can to make a positive impact wherever we are.
Anybody made any good news, lately? Share your story in the comments - you can even start with the fact that you're still breathing!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Sticks & Chisels 3.4
(Continuing thoughts regarding the use of media in ministry)
...First and foremost, the media ministry must always keep in mind that their function is to enhance the church's communication (internal, as well as external).
...First and foremost, the media ministry must always keep in mind that their function is to enhance the church's communication (internal, as well as external).
Anchored in that mentality, it’s best for a church to make use of every technology it can effectively manage. This will depend on a number of factors, like church size, location, and budget, and the personal expertise of the media ministry team. There’s little argument about the use of older technologies. Who would oppose the use of print in the church, or electricity? When it comes to adapting newer technologies, however, there is sometimes resistance to what can be seen as unnecessary innovation. The keepers of the status quo may even feel threatened by proponents of technology and media that they don’t understand. Balance is important here. We don’t have to always chase the latest and greatest, but we should certainly be aware of the pulse and pace of technology’s current advance. Imagine a preacher who carved out his messages with sticks and chisels. He’d be seen as a relic and much of his message, no matter how good it is, may be lost to the perception of irrelevance.
Which leads into my final assertion regarding media ministry. More important than any technology we use or don’t use is this fact: we are the media. We are the media that God is using to reveal Himself to the world. God has a message He wants to deliver, and He wants to do so through our lives. If a certain media technology enhances our ability to be used by God to communicate His love and ours, then we should take hold of that tool and put it to use. But we are by no means obligated to use any particular media just because it is there. And we should be careful to craft our use of any media technology to minimize our separation from the intended recipients of His message.
Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This letter is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts. -Paul
Monday, March 28, 2011
Sticks & Chisels 3.3
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... And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others. We are Christ’s ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you. We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, “Be reconciled to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. -PaulThe church has been entrusted with the greatest message known - that the reconciliatory love of our Maker has been offered to humanity in the atoning death of His own Son, and that the power that affected His resurrection is the same power available to work transformationally in our own lives. By any measure, that is a hugely consequential message to carry to an innumerably vast and diverse audience. Eternal life and death are at stake, so we should make the most of every available resource for the communication of that message. That is the essence of media ministry.
The word, media, is used to talk about a means of communication. Media is simply a conduit for the transference of a message from the giver to the receiver. Media ministry, then is not about the shiny, new toys of technology. It is about the effective communication of Christ. This is a key issue to effectively leading the media ministry of a church. It’s too easy to become so distracted by Dells and pixels that the technology can actually hinder our communications efforts. First and foremost, the media ministry must always keep in mind that their function is to enhance the church’s communication (internal, as well as external).
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I'll post the rest of the paper later this week, but for now:
- What are some creative uses of media you've seen?
- How are you making the most of the resources available to you to communicate Christ's message?
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Let's Speculate!
It was pretty cool to see Trevor Bayne win the Daytona 500 Sunday. He seems like a great guy - and I love seeing young people succeed like he did. He's only 20 years old and he just won the biggest race in NASCAR.
I heard an interview after the race where Bayne was asked what he was going to do with the money (almost $1.5 million). His gut level, first response? "Give it all away, man." You can call that short sighted and naive if you want, but it's awesome to see someone whose first response to money is to use it to help someone else. He went on to mention some missionary friends in Mexico, and I've seen several comments from other NASCAR guys online about him helping 'orphans and poor people' and stuff. I love that.
It doesn't take a million dollars to be known for helping people. All it takes is a mentality that values people more than things. All it takes is for me to recognize a need that is deeper and more important than my desire for another cheeseburger/nicer car/bigger house... and a willingness to use what I have for the benefit of another.
But it is fun to speculate. I can't say for certain, but here are a few things that I think I'd make priorities:
I heard an interview after the race where Bayne was asked what he was going to do with the money (almost $1.5 million). His gut level, first response? "Give it all away, man." You can call that short sighted and naive if you want, but it's awesome to see someone whose first response to money is to use it to help someone else. He went on to mention some missionary friends in Mexico, and I've seen several comments from other NASCAR guys online about him helping 'orphans and poor people' and stuff. I love that.
It doesn't take a million dollars to be known for helping people. All it takes is a mentality that values people more than things. All it takes is for me to recognize a need that is deeper and more important than my desire for another cheeseburger/nicer car/bigger house... and a willingness to use what I have for the benefit of another.
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| courtesy: leonardini via sxc.hu |
- Pay off our house. - and pay someone to finish all the remodeling projects that keep stacking up.
- Pay off someone else's house... anonymously. That would just be awesome! Can you imagine getting a letter from your mortgage company telling you that you had no more house payments because "Jesus just took care of it." No further explanation... no strings attached... just PAID IN FULL.
- Help The Sparrow's Nest take flight. I love what this new ministry in St. Louis is doing. Maybe I could payoff their house, too!
- Buy a car that doesn't require duct tape (see yesterday's post). Maybe even a purple mini-van for my crazy wife! (I'm not letting her pay someone to paint our house purple, though!)
- Help resource a certain young church I know of in Laramie and a ministry in Arizona that are both breaking some exciting ground as they work to reveal the kingdom of hope.
- Get some new boots - my cleats are shot and it's almost time to get outside and kick some balls around!
- Buy the empty Wal-Mart building in town and turn it into a sweet youth center. Indoor soccer field, climbing wall, and all kinds of teenage awesomeness... I'm probably going to need your million dollar winnings, too for this one... let's get on that.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Stuck?
Yesterday, I commented on the awkward situation Saturday night. As I wrote about trying to communicate in the unexpected, I wrote this phrase,"I felt stuck between a group of church banqueters looking for some spark of inspiration or encouragement and a group of party-goers just wanting to relax and have a good time." As soon as I saw the words on my screen, I was hit with the thought that that statement is much larger than Saturday night.
It's a metaphor for my life in student ministry. I'm not saying I feel stuck in a job I don't like. If I didn't love doing student ministry, I would have found something else to do a long time ago. But I keep finding myself stuck between two (or more) sets of people, each with very different desires/values/goals/etc.
Here are some rocks & hard places I live between:
Parents][Students.
Seasoned Leaders with tempered expectations][Idealistic Teens who have huge dreams.
My family][My church.
Church Kids' Parents who want a safe environment][Kids who need Jesus to rescue them from the dangers they're living in.
Peers who see me as one of the kids][Kids who see my as a 'parental type'.
Loving Church matrons and patriarchs][Kids who love Jesus LOUDLY.
Usually, it's not that one or the other is right or wrong - it's just that these groups can approach life very differently. I get both points of view. I want to be encouraging to the 'church banqueters' - but we're also called to reveal God to people who don't even seem to be looking for Him. This space I was so tangibly reminded of Saturday night is the space between church people, striving together to know what it means to follow an Invisible God, and those who are living unaware of just how loved they are by their Maker. For me, I feel like doing what I need to do for one, sometimes inhibits what I need to do for the other.
How have you seen this tension in your life & ministry?
How are you leveraging your position between rocks and hard places to bring attention to the greatness of the God who put you there?
It's a metaphor for my life in student ministry. I'm not saying I feel stuck in a job I don't like. If I didn't love doing student ministry, I would have found something else to do a long time ago. But I keep finding myself stuck between two (or more) sets of people, each with very different desires/values/goals/etc.
Here are some rocks & hard places I live between:
Parents][Students.
Seasoned Leaders with tempered expectations][Idealistic Teens who have huge dreams.
My family][My church.
Church Kids' Parents who want a safe environment][Kids who need Jesus to rescue them from the dangers they're living in.
Peers who see me as one of the kids][Kids who see my as a 'parental type'.
Loving Church matrons and patriarchs][Kids who love Jesus LOUDLY.
Usually, it's not that one or the other is right or wrong - it's just that these groups can approach life very differently. I get both points of view. I want to be encouraging to the 'church banqueters' - but we're also called to reveal God to people who don't even seem to be looking for Him. This space I was so tangibly reminded of Saturday night is the space between church people, striving together to know what it means to follow an Invisible God, and those who are living unaware of just how loved they are by their Maker. For me, I feel like doing what I need to do for one, sometimes inhibits what I need to do for the other.
How have you seen this tension in your life & ministry?
How are you leveraging your position between rocks and hard places to bring attention to the greatness of the God who put you there?
Thursday, February 03, 2011
Sticks & Chisels 2.1
Today, I took a looked back into the shadows of this blog and found some of my favorites listed among the most visited posts here over the last 6 or 7 months. Not sure what it all means for tomorrow's weather, but at least we're above zero.
#10 Humility of a Half-Marathoner - Some humble, post-race reflection after the CO half marathon. I can't even remember the pain anymore, but man that was fun!
#8 Dear Youth Minister... - This is why I don't quit - and I'm glad to be hearing outside this blog how this has been an encouragement to youth workers I'd never have had the opportunity to encourage otherwise.
#7 A Question Regarding a Church Planting Mindset - Eric Bryant sparked a thought in me that hasn't gone away. What if we were planting a church with a team as big as our current congregation and with the same budget? I'd love to have you go back and check this one out and dream together in the comments section, especially if you're from WestWay...
#4 Help Us Help Haiti - An invitation to a concert we hosted to benefit the earthquake relief efforts in Northwest Haiti Christian Mission. There is still so much to be done...
#1 Leaders Who Don't Know What to Do - An admission that sometimes, we just don't know what to do - and that puts us in pretty good company, and causes us to depend on Someone who does know what to do. This one got picked up by YouthWorker (the online home of YouthWorker Journal) for their blog section, which bumped it up from sixth (or so) to first.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Where You Go, I'll Go
Do you ever think about where the church is going? Where are we taking the message of the Kingdom of God? What dark corners are we getting into for the purpose of making disciples? Are we really going anywhere at all?
I know that's a heavy load of questions to wrestle with, but I just wonder if we're really going where Jesus is going today. He left the comfort of majesty and humbled Himself to live as one of us. Are there comforts we need to leave behind in order to incarnate His presence for the world today? He ate with hookers and tax collectors (and religious people despised Him for it). When was the last time you (or I) spent any real time with "the least of these"? Are we really going where Jesus is going?
Or are we just going to church?
That phrase makes my fingernails quiver like someone's scraping their teeth across a chalkboard. Yes, I know that's backwards... that's how much I hate that phrase. We attend church, go to church, skip church, leave church, pick a church... but Jesus doesn't play that game. He says we ARE the church - and where the Head goes, the Body follows. I once had someone tell me to choose a church by asking myself if Jesus would attend there. "If He came into town, is this the church He'd come to?" Excuse me? WHEN Jesus comes to town, His church will come to Him!
By all means, Church, keep gathering together to worship our Maker. But stop showing up on Sunday morning feeling like you're doing God a favor. Keep on meeting together to encourage each other and love each other and learn and grow together. But stop "going to church". Instead, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." Follow the Spirit He's placed within you instead of the spirit of fear that whispers "Be good and stay away from sinners."
"He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me..." -David, in Psalm 23
There is a path of righteousness through dangerous places. Jesus is going there, leading His church on a rescue mission to bar the gates of Hell... are you with Him?
I know that's a heavy load of questions to wrestle with, but I just wonder if we're really going where Jesus is going today. He left the comfort of majesty and humbled Himself to live as one of us. Are there comforts we need to leave behind in order to incarnate His presence for the world today? He ate with hookers and tax collectors (and religious people despised Him for it). When was the last time you (or I) spent any real time with "the least of these"? Are we really going where Jesus is going?
Or are we just going to church?
That phrase makes my fingernails quiver like someone's scraping their teeth across a chalkboard. Yes, I know that's backwards... that's how much I hate that phrase. We attend church, go to church, skip church, leave church, pick a church... but Jesus doesn't play that game. He says we ARE the church - and where the Head goes, the Body follows. I once had someone tell me to choose a church by asking myself if Jesus would attend there. "If He came into town, is this the church He'd come to?" Excuse me? WHEN Jesus comes to town, His church will come to Him!
By all means, Church, keep gathering together to worship our Maker. But stop showing up on Sunday morning feeling like you're doing God a favor. Keep on meeting together to encourage each other and love each other and learn and grow together. But stop "going to church". Instead, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." Follow the Spirit He's placed within you instead of the spirit of fear that whispers "Be good and stay away from sinners."
"He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me..." -David, in Psalm 23
There is a path of righteousness through dangerous places. Jesus is going there, leading His church on a rescue mission to bar the gates of Hell... are you with Him?
Monday, January 24, 2011
Momentum Starts When You Take Action
I came across this video by Geoff Schultz that was made for Elevation Church. The graphics are fun, but the message has been recurring for me lately - take action... do something... move... go... take the next step... put ideas into motion...
I get it.
I lost momentum. Over the past year or so, I've gained some new momentum back, but there is much that still feels stalled. Pray I make the right steps next, that I incarnate the right ideas.
Momentum from Geoff Schultz on Vimeo.
I get it.
I lost momentum. Over the past year or so, I've gained some new momentum back, but there is much that still feels stalled. Pray I make the right steps next, that I incarnate the right ideas.
Momentum from Geoff Schultz on Vimeo.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Sticks & Chisels 1.2
There are 168 hours in every week. The highest proportion of church members will spend about 2 of those hours "at church" on Sunday morning. Add in a couple hours with a small group and an hour or so in a Sunday School class or Bible Study and you get 5, maybe 6 hours for the people who seem to be at church "all the time".
Most people would consider someone who goes to Sunday School, worship, Bible study, and a small group to be pretty heavily involved in church. But this heavily involved person, in reality, has spent about 3% of his time in those congregational activities. (Doesn't sound so heavy when you look at it that way...)
It's obvious that 3% of a person's time is not enough to be truly connected with the body and engaged in Jesus' mission for the church. If we really are the Body of Christ, we need to be connecting with each other outside of a congregation's weekly-held, regular programming. We can do that through meals, sports, hanging out, working out, working for the good of someone else together... Projects like Habitat for Humanity and the soup kitchen are some great opportunities we have locally to connect with each other AND engage in His mission. One of the greatest assets of the trips we take in our youth ministry is the time we spend together, getting to know each other and growing relational connections to each other.
It's easy to see how these things help us to be a continuous church - one that is always open. But I wonder, too if we can effectively leverage technology to help people in the church stay connected outside of Sunday mornings? What could a great web site coupled with solid social media training do for our level of engagement? What if every message and lesson were echoed by dozens of tweets, blogs, and status updates?
------------------
In a related post for leaders, Ron Edmondson lists these 7 Reasons You Need Social Media as a Christian Leader: (though he does qualify that "need"may be too strong a word)
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| What does three and a half percent look like? |
It's obvious that 3% of a person's time is not enough to be truly connected with the body and engaged in Jesus' mission for the church. If we really are the Body of Christ, we need to be connecting with each other outside of a congregation's weekly-held, regular programming. We can do that through meals, sports, hanging out, working out, working for the good of someone else together... Projects like Habitat for Humanity and the soup kitchen are some great opportunities we have locally to connect with each other AND engage in His mission. One of the greatest assets of the trips we take in our youth ministry is the time we spend together, getting to know each other and growing relational connections to each other.
It's easy to see how these things help us to be a continuous church - one that is always open. But I wonder, too if we can effectively leverage technology to help people in the church stay connected outside of Sunday mornings? What could a great web site coupled with solid social media training do for our level of engagement? What if every message and lesson were echoed by dozens of tweets, blogs, and status updates?
------------------
In a related post for leaders, Ron Edmondson lists these 7 Reasons You Need Social Media as a Christian Leader: (though he does qualify that "need"may be too strong a word)
- Networking with people who are making a difference.
- Go where people are.
- You’ll meet great friends.
- Keep updated on breaking news.
- Wise use of time.
- Breaks down barriers between people.
- Stay current with culture.
Friday, January 07, 2011
Have You Seen Anything?
In the church, evangelism is a big deal. Well... at least the idea of evangelism. It's one of those big church words we like to throw around about sharing our great message with the world, but we don't always do a great job actually doing what we're talking about. So we've come up with classes and sermons and books to teach us how to evangelize. I get invitations and ads from conferences promising to make my students better evangelists by giving them the best techniques for sharing Christ and teaching them to make the most of every opportunity to tell someone about Jesus.
But all this makes me wonder... I'll grant that there's sometimes a deficiency in our outreach. But I'm not sure the problem is a 'how to' kind of problem. I don't know that the issue is understanding better methods and procedures for telling people what Jesus has done. Maybe the issue is actually seeing Jesus do something.
If you had to testify in court about events to which you were an eyewitness, would you need to go to a witnessing seminar? If you ask me about my children, I don't have to consult a parenting manual to be able to talk about them. If you ask me about a recent trip I took or my roofing project, I don't go to a seminar to learn how to tell you what happened. I don't need to because I was there, in the middle of what was going on.
May we learn to see with eyes that recognize Jesus on the move. May we see the Wind blowing and recognize its origin so definitively that we'll set set our sails to be moved ourselves. May we find ourselves living His story, full of experiences worth sharing. May we experience Jesus so compellingly that we recognize that we know someone worth talking about...
But all this makes me wonder... I'll grant that there's sometimes a deficiency in our outreach. But I'm not sure the problem is a 'how to' kind of problem. I don't know that the issue is understanding better methods and procedures for telling people what Jesus has done. Maybe the issue is actually seeing Jesus do something.
If you had to testify in court about events to which you were an eyewitness, would you need to go to a witnessing seminar? If you ask me about my children, I don't have to consult a parenting manual to be able to talk about them. If you ask me about a recent trip I took or my roofing project, I don't go to a seminar to learn how to tell you what happened. I don't need to because I was there, in the middle of what was going on.
May we learn to see with eyes that recognize Jesus on the move. May we see the Wind blowing and recognize its origin so definitively that we'll set set our sails to be moved ourselves. May we find ourselves living His story, full of experiences worth sharing. May we experience Jesus so compellingly that we recognize that we know someone worth talking about...
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Hearing a Voice?
In a discussion the other day with a minister friend, we were talking about books as we rode down the highway, and Francis Chan's Forgotten God
was mentioned. It really is a great book that addresses what I believe is the root cause of so many churches finding themselves less effective than they want to be - without the power of the Spirit of God, we simply cannot accomplish the mission of God.
I was challenged with a question: "So, how did the book impact your life specifically? What are you doing different because of it?" (This is a great question to ask someone when they tell you how good a book was.) I blathered something about trying to pay more attention to the Spirit and spending more time digging through Scripture, becoming familiar enough with the voice of God in Scripture that I recognize it more readily outside of Scripture.
Another youth minister who'd been at the meeting we were at all day had commented earlier about feeling that the Holy Spirit was pulling in a particular direction. Some in the meeting sort of chuckled at that idea, jokingly accusing him of trying to drum up support for an idea by invoking the Spirit of God as the idea's generator. It was a lighthearted moment for most of us, but I wonder... why are we so cautious (even skeptical?) when a trusted servant of Christ with a good reputation and a level head shares that God is leading him?
When the wind blows, why are we so afraid to let ourselves be moved?
I know, I know... how do you know the wind will take you where you want to go? How do you know it's really the Spirit of Jesus and not some other? How do you really know you can trust what you're feeling God wants? I offer no easy explanations for these questions, but I wonder... is our fear of the uncertain keeping us from connecting with the very power to do what we ARE certain should be done? We know, for example, that the church is here to continue on His mission. Do we really think we can accomplish the mission of Christ apart from the power of the presence of the Spirit of Christ?
The early Corinthian Church may have thought so, and Paul reminded them of God's foolishness. He concentrated only on Jesus and His death on the cross (which is not how you start a global movement of any lasting significance). It wasn't Paul's exceptional rhetoric that convinced those early believers - it was the Spirit of God.
Paul told them to stop fooling themselves, "Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?"
Do we need to stop fooling ourselves, too?
-------------------
Maybe this is more of an issue within myself... How are you seeing the Spirit of God lead you? What are you doing to recognize and respond to His leading?
was mentioned. It really is a great book that addresses what I believe is the root cause of so many churches finding themselves less effective than they want to be - without the power of the Spirit of God, we simply cannot accomplish the mission of God.I was challenged with a question: "So, how did the book impact your life specifically? What are you doing different because of it?" (This is a great question to ask someone when they tell you how good a book was.) I blathered something about trying to pay more attention to the Spirit and spending more time digging through Scripture, becoming familiar enough with the voice of God in Scripture that I recognize it more readily outside of Scripture.
Another youth minister who'd been at the meeting we were at all day had commented earlier about feeling that the Holy Spirit was pulling in a particular direction. Some in the meeting sort of chuckled at that idea, jokingly accusing him of trying to drum up support for an idea by invoking the Spirit of God as the idea's generator. It was a lighthearted moment for most of us, but I wonder... why are we so cautious (even skeptical?) when a trusted servant of Christ with a good reputation and a level head shares that God is leading him?
When the wind blows, why are we so afraid to let ourselves be moved?
I know, I know... how do you know the wind will take you where you want to go? How do you know it's really the Spirit of Jesus and not some other? How do you really know you can trust what you're feeling God wants? I offer no easy explanations for these questions, but I wonder... is our fear of the uncertain keeping us from connecting with the very power to do what we ARE certain should be done? We know, for example, that the church is here to continue on His mission. Do we really think we can accomplish the mission of Christ apart from the power of the presence of the Spirit of Christ?
The early Corinthian Church may have thought so, and Paul reminded them of God's foolishness. He concentrated only on Jesus and His death on the cross (which is not how you start a global movement of any lasting significance). It wasn't Paul's exceptional rhetoric that convinced those early believers - it was the Spirit of God.
Paul told them to stop fooling themselves, "Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?"
Do we need to stop fooling ourselves, too?
-------------------
Maybe this is more of an issue within myself... How are you seeing the Spirit of God lead you? What are you doing to recognize and respond to His leading?
Sunday, December 05, 2010
Dear Youth Minister...
Dear Youth Minister,
I know sometimes your job well done goes unnoticed and you feel taken for granted... A lot of people just don't seem to understand and they seem to be too busy to really, genuinely care or even take an interest in the next generation for which you are pouring yourself out... Just thought I'd send a quick note to remind you why you don't quit.
You don't quit because you don't work for them. God has called you into His mission to rescue young people from the sin and apathy that subtly choke the life out of them before they even have a chance to fully live. He is the one that works through your efforts to resuscitate a generation that is desperate for a breath of true hope. You're not responsible to the hearts of the people who look right past you and the students you love - but to the Father who loves us all... so you keep moving forward with Him.
You don't quit because your kids are awesome! They may be ignored by most of the adults in their lives, but you've seen what can be... you've seen the glimmer of life that blooms when Jesus moves in. You've seen them set aside their own egos and agendas in order to do what God is calling them to do, even if they don't know the outcome. You've seen them try - and keep trying and praying and learning to work to reveal the Kingdom to their friends who don't see it... so you keep working with them to help them hone their craft and offer the best of what they have to give to a King who deserves nothing less.
You don't quit because you've seen the future. If the church abandons the young the way much of the rest of culture has, it will be further relegated to a place of scorn and shame, set on a back shelf to collect nothing but dust and mold. As long as it is called 'today' you'll not let that happen without doing everything possible to see God turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. You love the Bride of Christ too much to let her be put out to pasture like some old cow... so you keep showing up in some strange stretch of time, trying to connect yesterday with tomorrow.
Your job in student ministry will result in waves of change you may never fully see. But those waves are part of a history shaping tide that will demolish the gates of Hell. It's never going to be easy, it's never going to be finished, and nothing in this world will be an adequate reward... so work hard, stay fresh, and remember Who you work for. May God strengthen you and sustain the work He's doing in and through you.
In Hope and In Faith
A Part of Your Tribe
I know sometimes your job well done goes unnoticed and you feel taken for granted... A lot of people just don't seem to understand and they seem to be too busy to really, genuinely care or even take an interest in the next generation for which you are pouring yourself out... Just thought I'd send a quick note to remind you why you don't quit.
You don't quit because you don't work for them. God has called you into His mission to rescue young people from the sin and apathy that subtly choke the life out of them before they even have a chance to fully live. He is the one that works through your efforts to resuscitate a generation that is desperate for a breath of true hope. You're not responsible to the hearts of the people who look right past you and the students you love - but to the Father who loves us all... so you keep moving forward with Him.
You don't quit because your kids are awesome! They may be ignored by most of the adults in their lives, but you've seen what can be... you've seen the glimmer of life that blooms when Jesus moves in. You've seen them set aside their own egos and agendas in order to do what God is calling them to do, even if they don't know the outcome. You've seen them try - and keep trying and praying and learning to work to reveal the Kingdom to their friends who don't see it... so you keep working with them to help them hone their craft and offer the best of what they have to give to a King who deserves nothing less.
You don't quit because you've seen the future. If the church abandons the young the way much of the rest of culture has, it will be further relegated to a place of scorn and shame, set on a back shelf to collect nothing but dust and mold. As long as it is called 'today' you'll not let that happen without doing everything possible to see God turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. You love the Bride of Christ too much to let her be put out to pasture like some old cow... so you keep showing up in some strange stretch of time, trying to connect yesterday with tomorrow.
Your job in student ministry will result in waves of change you may never fully see. But those waves are part of a history shaping tide that will demolish the gates of Hell. It's never going to be easy, it's never going to be finished, and nothing in this world will be an adequate reward... so work hard, stay fresh, and remember Who you work for. May God strengthen you and sustain the work He's doing in and through you.
In Hope and In Faith
A Part of Your Tribe
Friday, December 03, 2010
Pulled Together
We had a great night with our student ministry Wed. night. We did an open mic night where I encouraged the students to share what God had been teaching them that they could pass on to the rest of us. There were some really good comments shared by the students and even more after we were done. It is awesome to see the students really taking ownership of their faith and responding to what they see God doing around them. They want to be a part of His mission! I'm excited to see them continue to grow and to see what God will do as more hearts are open to Him.
Last night followed that up with a good time with our small group. We haven't all been together for a while, so it was great to meet again. There was nothing too urgent on the agenda, but it was great just to get together to talk and pray together and to bring together some resources to send to a great ministry's (3:18 Ministries) Christmas project. It's awesome to be brought into community with people with a pretty wide range of backgrounds & interests to encourage each other as we join God in His mission, and to be pulled into His momentum.
God is on the move in our community of faith. He's at work to rescue what's been wandering... to find what's been hiding. Today as I sit here reflecting on what's been a pretty good week, I'm so thankful to be able to be a part of it.
Last night followed that up with a good time with our small group. We haven't all been together for a while, so it was great to meet again. There was nothing too urgent on the agenda, but it was great just to get together to talk and pray together and to bring together some resources to send to a great ministry's (3:18 Ministries) Christmas project. It's awesome to be brought into community with people with a pretty wide range of backgrounds & interests to encourage each other as we join God in His mission, and to be pulled into His momentum.
God is on the move in our community of faith. He's at work to rescue what's been wandering... to find what's been hiding. Today as I sit here reflecting on what's been a pretty good week, I'm so thankful to be able to be a part of it.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Abandon the Bleachers
I'm a terrible fan. I just don't get the whole idea of fan-hood. I 'became a fan' of exactly nothing on facebook (though I'm a little better at 'liking' stuff). I did have a poster of the Broncos' 3 Amigos when I was a kid (Can you name them?) and a hat that was autographed by Sammy Winder... but they're long gone now. For the most part, my life has been free of any 'fan' related paraphernalia. No giant foam fingers, no cheese or corn heads, no crazy colored body paint... I'm just not a good fan.Don't get me wrong - I love sports. Almost all of them. I do have issues with basketball, but I can sit for hours watching cars turn left, Franco-Italian guys roll around on the pitch as if that beautifully executed slide tackle actually hurt them, grown men throw each other around like my boys do (minus the giggling), huge hulks of men in pads slamming into each other trying to move a weird shaped ball down the field, & even an occasional puck and ice related clash... But I'm just not a good fan.
But I don't want to be. This weekend's Husker-Aggies game only reinforced that. To put it quickly enough to make both sides hate me... the Huskers lost, their fans are bitter about missing out on that last little stab at A&M before they take their ball and go play somewhere else, the Aggies were saved by Cyrus Gray and Black, White, & Yellow, and their fans are left trying to defend a win that was not as completely earned as they would have liked. I have good friends in both camps. If I were a good fan... I'd be outraged by the poorly timed calls and the 'how could you not see that' no calls and the pinching of the nether regions. But I'm not (except the pinching stuff... that's just wrong in any context).
My favorite teams have always been the Broncos and Rapids (Colorado's good football team this year!) and Cowboys (of Laramie, not Dallas) and Huskers. That's not likely to change, but I'm also not sculpting my bushes into Cowboy Joe, I'm not painting my house red & white, and I'm not spray painting the rock part of my yard orange (although, that one does sound kind of fun, now that I think about it).
Here's the thing: I don't want to be identified by a mass of face painted wackos, I don't want my day ruined when my favorite teams lose (I remember being baffled when I saw the depression, seriously, of Husker fans when they lost one game one special season long ago), and I don't want to be forced to defend an outcome I had no hand in determining.
I don't want to kick the dog because what I'm seeing on tv is driving me mad. I don't want to sit in the stands and scream - I want to be on the field, pouring out everything I can to make sure my team comes out on top when the clock hits 90:00 (+3 or whatever) or zero if you're stuck in that football. And I think I've just wandered away from the realm of sport... but I think Jesus has too many fans in the church.
What if you got off your couch and stopped telling the church what to do to be better... and DID something to BE a better church?
What if more of us stepped out of the crowd cheering for the King as He rides in on a donkey (a fickle crowd that incidentally screamed for His death just a few days later) and joined Him in His work to win back the hearts of His people?
What if we stopped patting the preacher on the back for a job well done and actually did what the Word he's sharing says we should do?
Jesus doesn't need us to rabidly abandon all logic to defend Him. He doesn't need us to buy the latest and greatest Jesus junk, or to hold up our foam prayer fingers at all the right times...
He wants us to step onto the field with Him.
Abandon the bleachers.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Great Way to spend 7 Bucks!
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