There seems to be nothing less needed, in fact, nothing more detrimental to the well being of God’s Kingdom in this world than yet another church started by, planned by, moved by, and sustained by the machinations of man.  Such an entity is a waste of time, energy, and Kingdom resources, only serving to divert those within and without from experiencing the true transformative power of God’s Kingdom on Earth.

The Kingdom and the world are in need of a body of believers whose true leader is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. It must be directed by, empowered by, and satisfied by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

The earthly leadership of such a church must come from those who are deeply sensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit,  conscious of its dependance on the Holy Spirit, and content in obedience to the Holy Spirit.

Such leadership, in contrast, can not be full of their own ideas, assuming that because they think something that the thought automatically came from the direction of the Holy Spirit.  As Scripture commands, such things must be “tested,” not assumed.  Further, such leadership must understand that the best efforts of men are not enough to move one soul closer to the redemption that God offers through Christ.  The only power available to the church is that given it by God’s presence.  Finally, such leadership must know that obedience to God’s direction will be the only thing that earns the “Well done” of the Father.  No earthly goals or worldly acclaim will satisfy the commission that God has always given to His people, that “obedience” is better than sacrifice.

A few weeks ago, following a sermon series through the book of James, I preached a sermon called “Elijah, a Man with a nature like ours” as a clarification of James’ claim that we all come from the same stuff and that God might use any of us like He used Elijah, if we were willing. The text was 1 Kings 19:9-18. If that doesn’t ring a bell, and you don’t desire to follow the link and read the Scripture, it is the story of Elijah in the cave, after the showdown with the prophets of Baal.  God told Elijah to go to the mouth of the cave, where Elijah expects to hear from the Lord.  At the mouth of the cave, there is a fierce wind, an earthquake, and a fire, but God did not speak to Elijah in any of those things. Finally, there was a still, small voice and God was in the voice.  Elijah recognized God’s presence, pulled his mantle over his head in a sign of reverence and listened.

Like us, Elijah’s problem, the one God was addressing with this parade of big, empty things, was that he was prone to take off and do something before listening to God.  In the scene before Elijah journeys to the cave, He is seen calling down fire from heaven and calling Israel to the Lord.  The people respond, reject and kill the prophets of Baal and turn to the God they had only heard did great things like this.  The main difference in the journey toward the showdown and the journey to the cave is that God had sent Elijah to former, but Elijah took the latter on himself.

Imagine a life of constant communion with God, but where God only speaks through enormous actions.  Your average day would be fraught with near misses and calamities on every side.  That’s not what God desires and the scene at the mouth of the cave was a teaching moment to Elijah.  Remember, the first words from God in Verse 10? “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  As in, who told you to do this?  Not me… Must’ve been you.

Here are 5 things that can help us to live lives that are increasingly attentive to the still, small voice.  Lives that are more powerfully used by God.

1.  Stop inundating ourselves with meaningless media.  God has to use big things to cut through the blare of white noise that are our lives.  Technology is not evil. Media is not evil.  Giving massive amounts of our time and attention to both train us to listen carefully to them, ignoring more important things, like the Holy Spirit.

2. Spend earnest time tending to our hearts.  Spiritual Disciplines, Prayer, Scripture Memory, Bible Study, and honest Introspection are necessary to the heart of the growing believer.  We don’t have to prove anything to God.  This is not a burden to carry.  If we want the joy of a deeply personal walk in connection with the Holy Spirit, though, we will pursue God.

3. Be obedient. If God speaks, don’t say no.  Why is God going to continue to speak to a heart that is periodically being hardened?  He is not going to reinforce bad behavior. If we have a point of known disobedience, we must immediately go back and make it right.  If He says go, we must go.

4. Crucify the flesh.  We are constantly tempted away from a life of obedience to God.  Victory is not dependent on us, but on Christ. Nevertheless, our acceptance of Grace is participation in the Crucifixion of the flesh and is formed in obedient cooperation when the Spirit points out what must be pruned.  “The fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faith, Gentleness, Self Control.  Against such things there is no law.  Now the one who belongs to Christ has crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we walk by the Spirit, we must follow the Spirit.  We must not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” Galatians 5:22-24.

5. Meditate.  Spend time being still and quiet.  Our world works against this at every turn.  If cutting down on media is the first step, this is the last.  This would be other side of the coin, so to speak.  I’ve learned how to do this a bit in the last year.  It is a powerful thing to still your thoughts and simply focus them on God.

Why is it that after a prolonged absence, we feel the need to explain where we’ve been to the odd half dozen or so folks who still check in from time to time?  Really, most of the traffic (I still get some, can you believe it?) comes from search engines that are funneling folks to specific articles I’ve written in years past.  A few still hit my home page, lately to find my last article from October 31, 2011.  Yes.  8 months ago.

It almost begs an explanation, though I recognize that I’ve already published several over the last couple of years.  The only thing to do is ignore it or come clean.  Never one to miss an opportunity to over share, let’s go with coming clean.

Several things have conspired to to keep me from writing.  Among them

1) Discovering an emptiness in the topics of political observation within the SBC.  Old news and no reason for further comment.

2) Busy-ness within the responsibilities of the Pastorate that kept me from managing this blog and my church responsibilities.  I was new to the pastorate in 2006 and new to my church as well.  It takes a while to become fluent with the minutiae of any job and I had plenty on my plate.  Add to that the changes that we were working through and I was tired of writing.

3) (This is the coming clean part…) I had several church members that were frequenting my blog, often misconstruing or just misunderstanding what I had written (sometimes years before) and then repeating their misconstruction/misunderstanding to others at the church.  It’s no secret that change is rarely embraced readily by all and we had all our plates could handle moving through ours.  When some were adding the misinformation coming from others claiming this blog as the source, it just wasn’t worth it.  So I quit writing to remove a source of misunderstanding.

I should add that I am not accusing everyone from my church who read my blog of misrepresenting me to garner political support within our church.  I think that was actually quite rare.  Nevertheless, any stream of misunderstanding that can be removed, should be.  I prioritized the church over this blog and I doubt anyone would second guess that decision.

So what’s changed? Several things!

I’ve had a personal spiritual growth like I’ve never experienced before.  Call it a Gospel Awakening.  I’m sure we’ll get to that in the near future.  For now, simply consider that God, in His mercy, considered it His pleasure to crush me in order to shape me in an image more like His Son.  For this, I am grateful.  Honestly, “grateful” doesn’t cover it.  Even for an aspiring writer, I have no words for how I feel about this.  I consider it worth everything.  More later.

The church has come to a place of peace.  We still have some issues and we honestly need to move forward in some areas, which means change.  Small ones, but still…  Nevertheless, Earlier this year, God wrought a situation that allowed us to finally air our heart in a loving way.  It has brought a tremendous peace on the church and we gather together without fear of dissension breaking out.  We are praying for Spiritual Awakening and have been since the Spring.  We are beginning to see the fruits of it and have enjoyed God moving among us significantly over the last couple of months.

With my life and the church in the throws of burgeoning renewal, the desire to write as presented itself once more.

And since I’m paying good money to host this blog, I thought I would be a better steward of that opportunity.

If you’d like to subscribe to an email notification, there is a box at the top right to let you do that.  Every time I write a new article, it will let you know and should give you a preview of what’s here.

“This is our gift to our community,” I said as our neighbors looked around at all that our church was offering.  The list of possibilities was long:

Free food that included hot dogs, brats, grilled corn on a stick, BBQ sandwiches, popcorn, cotton candy, lemonade, mini-muffins in ice cream cones and, to top it all off, funnel cake.

Along with the food outside, there were a row of inflatables that ranged from obstacle courses, jousting, basketball long shots and a giant slide in the shape of the shoe home in the nursery rhyme.

Inside there were games all over the gym and two more inflatables, including one that was two stories, stretching toward the roof.  All of these games paid off with candy, whether you win or lose.

And all of it was free to our guests.

A few years ago, we charged money for the food (which was much smaller) and the Fall Family Fun Festival (as it had come to be known) was a big event for us.  It became the biggest single emphasis in our church when we decided to expand the food and make it all free.  After that, the inflatables, games and everything else grew as well.

Attendance blew up with all that we were offering, coupled with our relationship with the community through our partnership with Skelly Elementary nearby.

And it all happens because we determined to give and not trade.  We give to Skelly Elementary, and now to Skelly Primary.  After several years, we have begun to receive trust and dependence.  When they have a need, they call us and we have the honor of helping the families of our community at our local school.

We give to the neighborhood, free food, games and a safe place for a family.  In return, we get trust, appreciation and an open door to share the Gospel.

This year our follow up will be a packet of information about our church sent to everyone that registered followed by a phone call from one of our church members making sure they got the information and welcoming any questions.

What do you do?

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Grace is not just the soft comfort of God loving the broken.  That is a part of Grace, but not the whole of it.  Grace is also God denying us those things that we chase that are not Him.

Grace is God pursuing us in redemption to establish that relationship with Him for which He longs and for which we were created.

But the brokenness of us is often pursuing cheap substitutes.  We crave satisfaction but are only briefly numbed by infatuation with one relationship after another, chemical distortion of drugs and alcohol, sexual exploits that mock true intimacy, money and possessions that trick us into thinking that we are valuable or important or even cared for by those around us who really just want our stuff.

But God is gracious and will, in His mercy toward us, kill that cheap thing and rip it from our clutching hands so that we will realize the shallow nature of that which we’ve worshiped.  He does it so that we will turn to Him and find what we really need.  We find what will actually satisfy and in which we will find ourselves complete.

We find Him.

I have always been moved by the love and acceptance of others.  There are many reasons why, but for now let us just say that need for approval is just the way I’m broken. It numbed me, temporarily, to the reality that I was a mess.  I felt good about myself, for a minute.

So last year I found myself in the process of having that idol crushed and torn away.  When acceptance and adoration of others is your idol, the way God kills it, at least in my case, is public contempt by others.  A year ago, I faced several public meetings where people I cared about assaulted my character, my skills and my value.

The good news is that, though some of those relationships remain wounded, others were restored and our church experienced healing, unity and peace during this year.

The best news is that in God taking from me what I should not have worshiped, He replaced it with Himself.  In that, I have found myself in the greatest time of growth and peace in my walk with Him.  I’ve never been more close to Him than I am.  I’ve never loved Him more. I’ve never been more sure of His love for me.  I’ve never needed public adulation less.

And I owe it all to the hard Grace of public ridicule.  Thank God for His Grace.

When working last week in the DFW Metroplex with Mission Arlington, I had the unexpected opportunity to observe the reputation of MA among the larger Metroplex community.

Before I tell the story of my observation, I should tell you that the leaders of MA went out of their way to coach volunteers on the handling of their reputation.  Matt Hart, one of the leaders, frequently helped us to understand the attitude with which we should engage the world around us when we performed our assigned task.  At one point, our group was asked to execute a “Free Garage Sale” at an apartment complex that was known for its residents not having many possessions – or even any furniture at all.  Matt coached us that our instinct may be to regulate how much anyone takes, trying to ensure that there may be some equity in the taking or even that some may be hoarding for reasons that we might suspect to be vaguely inappropriate.  Matt encouraged us to be generous.  No matter what anyone took, we should help them carry it to their homes and bless them on the way.

As MA would be continuing to work with these people long after we were gone, they were hoping for the reputation left by all of us to be one of gracious concern for the community, no matter who they were.

Seeing that their reputation was so carefully cultivated (and I mean that in the most positive way), it should not have surprised me, then, to find it working in our favor not long after we arrived.

On our trip down, I noticed the engine sounding as though there were a leak in the exhaust system.  By the time we got to Dallas, the leak had become problematic – meaning that the exhaust had come completely apart just after it left the engine which caused the van to run very rough under acceleration.  It sounded like a redneck pickup, and as a recent owner of a pickup, I say that with all due respect. ;)

I talked the situation over with Matt, and he handed me off to a mechanic not far from the MA facility.  This is where my observation of the MA reputation began.  The mechanic said that he did not deal with exhaust issues much, but would look into it.  He later would tell me that the exhaust was indeed in two parts and that he wouldn’t be the man for the job, but he had noticed the low mileage on the van and called a local dealer to see if the problem might be under warranty.  They thought it could be, but would have to see it before they could commit.  When I offered the first mechanic some money for diagnosing the problem, he wouldn’t take any.

Upon arriving at the dealer, I told him what was going on, that we were down from Tulsa working with Mission Arlington and needed to get the van back into action as soon as possible.  I then asked him to check if we were under warranty.  It turns out that, while we were well under on mileage, the time on our warranty had run out.  The dealer service rep then gave me directions to a muffler shop that would do a good job.  When was the last time a dealer rep helped you find his competition?  It’s never happened for me.

I took the directions to the muffler shop and told him our story thus far, including our need for the van in use with our Mission Arlington responsibilities.  He walked over to the van, listened, looked and then said, “No problem.”  He was going to fix it while I waited, but we were due at our ministry spot, so I left the van with him.

When we pulled up to the ministry responsibility less than an hour later, he called and gave me the run down:  Someone in Tulsa had tried to steal our catalytic converter, but had not gotten all the way through cutting the pipe.  Under pressure of driving, the pipe ruptured the rest of the way and was in two pieces.  He had welded it together and was charging us $20, a bare minimum for time and labor.

Each of these men was encouraging and deferential.  All of them wished us well in our efforts with Mission Arlington.

Later in the week, we went to a local Cici’s Pizza for the buffet.  It was the only time we went out for supper during the week.  When they found out that we were from MA, they knocked the price of the buffet and a drink down to a flat $5 from the $8 and change range that it normally was.  It saved us about $50.  They told us how happy they were to help us as we helped their community.

Proverbs 22:1 says: “A good name is to be chosen over great wealth; favor is better than silver and gold.”

Matthew 5:16 says: “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

As I reflect on my unexpected observation of the reputation for helping the community that Mission Arlington has earned over the last 25 years, I am torn.

On the one hand I am astounded and inspired by how powerful that reputation is among so many in the Metroplex and how it elicits aid from people, some of whom were not a part of the Kingdom of God.

On the other hand, I am grieved by how non-existent that reputation is around the world where other parts of the people of God gather to worship and work.  Especially those in the part of the world where I live, work and worship.

A few thoughts:

This is not about immigration, but poverty.  Immigration is just an example of one thing we do poorly and say we are making a difference.

World poverty will be eradicated when the individual economies that are producing the radically poor are stabilized and access to opportunity is given to all.

Some of this is beyond our control.  Politics, both local and global, are not always accessible to us beyond grass roots engagement.

The improvement in economic conditions can work in America and around the world. We should do our best to affect both arenas, according to the doors open to us.

One thing left out of this video is the role of Education in economic development:  it’s vital.

For the church, specifically, the better educated and more economically stable/advantaged, the higher the receptivity to the Gospel.  It’s vital.

The question left to us is whether or not we have the responsibility to develop the economies of the poor around us locally and globally.  My answer is yes.  To the best of our ability.

A lot of churches will host Christmas events this time of year.  Skelly Drive (where I pastor) used to have a Living Nativity that was somewhat groundbreaking in its day and is still remembered fondly by everyone that I’ve ever met that either put it on or attended.

Invariably, these productions, be they musicals or whatever, will begin to journey into the untested waters of live animal participants.  Usually, this works well until they bring in the camel.

Camels are some of the most ill tempered animals you can ever be around.  I saw one in a musical with a muzzle on to keep him from biting passersby.  They stomp on you, lay down when you want them to stand, stand when you want them to lay down and are generally naughty in every way they think will aggravate you.

And they spit.  Nasty stinky spit that you might be able to use as masonry compound in a pinch.

Not to mention that they smell horrible.  You can’t bathe these guys often, it’s winter and the water is cold.  But even if you can, they’ll be curling the nose hairs of your attendees within a few hours.  It’s just their nature.

And pray they don’t pass gas during your event, especially if you are insane enough to bring them indoors.  They can have your whole cast on the ground before the first wave hits the audience.

So, a little advice to you Christmas event planners out there.  If the donkey, the cow and the occasional goose have worked out all right so far, stick with them.  There really is no need to “up the ante” here.

Just because there are camels in the Middle East, doesn’t mean you have to have one in your church to make your event “authentic.”

But if you are stubborn and won’t heed my advice, pray this doesn’t happen to you:

I didn’t even notice it the first couple of times I watched it, but did you observe there was some poor woman, serving God the best way she knew how, coaxed up on top of the camel?

You see her bare feet and then, moments later, her head pops up.  She looks a little disconcerted, don’t you think?

I was asked yesterday what I had learned about pastoring that would be different if I had to do it all over again.

Lots of stuff.  Among the most critical: Casting Vision.

Essential to moving an organization from one way of doing things to another is the understanding of where they are going and why it must be done in the most proficient way possible.  I’ve learned a few lessons the hard way.

1. Don’t assume that because you understand it anyone else does.
2. Don’t assume that another person understands because they say they do.  They may honestly think they do, but they aren’t the best judge of that.  Ask clarifying questions to make sure they “get it.”
3. Communicate in multiple ways.  Not everybody understands things the same way.  Some are visual and need diagrams.  Others are verbal and need rich descriptions.  Communicate the same message in every conceivable fashion to hit everyone.
4. Cast your vision in smaller, non-pressure settings where questions and dialog are not threatening.  If an impending change is scheduled and you are under the gun to get everyone on board by a certain date, you begin to talk with large groups of people, which cut down on dialog, and you try and move quickly – both to meet your deadline and to make sure everyone’s question gets answered.  Doing it this way rarely gets all the questions asked, fewer answered and very few answered satisfactorily.  Don’t plan a move until you know the vast majority of the group is on board.
5. Study your organization first.  Find out what they expect when it comes to making changes.  Are they willing to follow because they understand and believe or do they need to be a part of the crafting of the vision before they buy in. Give them what they need to make the move.  Asking them to move in the way you are most comfortable only works if everyone is exactly like you.
6. Not everyone will come along.  Don’t take people for granted and don’t be callous about some leaving, but don’t have expectations of perfection.

Change is messy.  Doing it poorly is more messy, so do it really well.

I watched a video yesterday in which John Piper described “missions” as taking the Gospel across cultural lines.

I’ll accept this definition readily and then reply by saying that the crossing of cultures is mandatory in the every day lives of almost everyone in the entire world.  We do it when we go to work or school.  We do it when we go to the store.  We do it when we visit our neighbors.

The people with which we deal in the course of our routine lives come from various places and they have different cultures.  They have divergent values and they speak in a dissimilar voice.

I admit that the differences are minute in many cases, but they are still there.  In other instances, we find dramatic disparity.

Which is why every Christian should carry the mindset of a missionary with him or her, wherever they go.  It is necessary that we seek to understand those around us:  how they communicate, what they think, what they value.  When we understand these things, we can more effectively share the Gospel with them.

The Missional Church is simply a church in which the members consider themselves missionaries in the context where they already live.  Rather than depending on the staff or a select group of “visitation” volunteers, all the members of the church take on the responsibility of living and communicating the Gospel to the various networks to which they belong.

If the church is made of people who don’t understand the separate cultures around them, the separate values systems… if it is made up of people who expect that the people around them already share their values… the spread of the Gospel is  diminished for two reasons.

1. The church member does not recognize the need around them, assuming that their friends and acquaintances already share their values – Christian values – and is not motivated to share the Gospel to meet that unseen need.
2. If the church member does attempt to communicate the Gospel, they will likely not attempt to communicate in a manner intended to be received easily by the hearer, but one that is easier for the teller.  It’s not unlike moving to Africa and then expecting the Kenyan to speak English so that you can communicate.  It might happen, but it’s not likely, and if they do they may not be very good at it.

If a church really expects to fulfill the mission of God to which it is assigned, the people must understand who they are:  Missionaries to their own world.