DownshoreDrift

God At Work in the SBC?

Well, I've been writing on everyone else's blog about the issues going on at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with the semi-censoring of chapel speaker and SWBTS Trustee Dwight McKissic. So, I'd thought I'd write here. To catch you up, the Fort Worth Star Telegram, Dallas Morning News, and Ethics Daily have good summations of the event if you are not familiar with what happened (thanks Dorcas!).

Katrina Remembrances Pt. 3: The Gulf Coast Convulses in Despair, But Help is On the Way. August 31, 2005

As Wednesday, August 31, 2005 dawned, one thing was becoming clear. The Gulf Coast was disintegrating. New Orleans was in total despair. The levees had broken and thousands upon thousands were stuck on rooftops or were looking for refuge in places like the Superdome or Convention Center. The Mississippi Gulf Coast had been flattened. The news media was airing stories of death, loss, and brokenness. I'll never forget the interview with the man in Mississippi who told the story of how his wife had been ripped from his hands as she was washed away by the tidal wave. He was wandering around in tears, beyond hope, clueless as to what to do next. Watching those images that morning served as a powerful motivation to get to my family, my home, and people in need. Each moment in Montgomery was another moment that my parents possibly didn't have water or means to take care of themselves. Each moment here was another moment that someone else went without. We had to hurry.

Katrina Remembrances Pt. 2: Devastation Revealed, We Respond. August 30, 2005

This is the second in a series of articles on the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the United States.  These events are seen through my eyes as I watched in horror as my homeland was destroyed and I made every effort to get to my family in Picayune, MS. 

I awoke Tuesday morning, August 30, after just a few hours of sleep. I didn't sleep well. I went to the television and switched between CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News. CNN seemed to have the best coverage as their reporters seemed to be so engaged with the story. I watched for a while as they began to report on the breaching of the levees in New Orleans. Ariel views began to come in of neighborhoods filling with water.  A yacht club burned out of control and filled the sky with smoke. The images on my screen could not be real. It was like something out of a movie, but it was happening to my beloved City. The Mississippi Gulf Coast was obliterated and I could only imagine what happened to Picayune. I couldn't turn away, but I had to get moving.

The Celebrity Factor

When I saw this article last month in Outreach Magazine, I knew that I would write about it as soon as it went online. Ed Stetzer declares that we should possibly appeal to the celebrity factor in our culture by helping create superstar pastors in Can Mega Be Missional (HT: Todd Littleton). Here's his perspective:

Our culture craves "celebrity"—just glance at any grocery store checkout stand or TV show. Recently, Len Sweet, one of the leading voices on culture and the Church, challenged me that Americans' love affair with celebrities could and should be seen as a mission opportunity. Len is convinced that if the culture desires celebrities, then it will create celebrities, even in Christendom.

You don't have to look far to identify pastors who've reached celebrity status—dynamic individuals leading large numbers of people, selling thousands of books and booking weekly dates as conference speakers.

For many of you, this section will make you cringe (I cringed while writing it), but like it or not, the obvious desire to "celebritize" the Gospel presentation is everywhere—sports, music, even Hollywood. It seems that every celebrity who becomes a Christian is soon giving testimonies across America (can anyone say "Kirk Cameron"?). For better or for worse, people do listen to celebrities. Perhaps it's a Christian practice because it's a cultural reality (and yes, like every cultural practice it needs to be examined in the light of Scripture, but that is another article).

It's not an accident that every megachurch on the Top 100 lists in this issue is known locally, regionally or nationally for charismatic leadership, gifted communication and almost always, a well-known leader. Most megachurch leaders possess the abilities to inspire those around them to achieve great things and seem to have an innate talent to speak in a way that reaches through the chaos in people's lives. As a church grows to mega status, these leaders also gain a platform of notoriety, becoming "celebrities"—and possibly widening the window for more people to hear the Gospel.

He's right: I'm cringing. Personally, I think he goes too far here. I think that celebrity worship is an idol in contemporary America. I don't think we do anyone any favors by bringing that aspect into our evangelism and discipleship. I don't think that we should appeal to the baser aspects of our nature - the fallout down the road is pretty severe. This blending of our culture's idols with Christianity is called syncretism, and it is very dangerous for the future spiritual health of anyone who takes part in it.

We are a different people and should be holy in our lifestyles and our methods. I can probably attract a crowd doing a million different things. Our problem is not that we don't have a lot of ideas, but rather, that we do not have spiritual power to convict hearts. Not to mention what the whole celebrity thing does to the pastor in question. Marty at SBC Outpost is chronicling that pretty well right now.

Should we use celebrity pastors to reach more people? Do you see any dangers in that approach? Am I off base? Again, Todd Littleton has opened this discussion as well.  I'm all for relating to our culture and being missional, but I don't buy this. It seems like at this point, we stoop too low. What do you think?

Katrina Remembrances Pt. 1: Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans? August 29, 2005

This is the first installment in a series of  articles that I am writing commemorating the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast in August-September 2005. The story is told from my perspective and is meant to create a record for my family of all that took place. It is a good deal longer than my usual writing, but if you have the time, I would love for you to journey with me. If you do, you will understand why I care so much about that area. It is home.

  In late June, 2005, I travelled back home to visit my Dad who was having a minor surgery. I wanted to be with him in case anything happened. He came through it alright and we had a good visit. The next day, I travelled down to New Orleans to see a friend of mine. He lived down on the River up from Audubon Park just across the Jefferson Parish line. I loved the drive across Lake Ponchatrain on a warm summer evening. I remembered driving across the lake as a kid and thinking that it was so huge. Before I got to the lake, I drove through Slidell where my grandparents and uncles used to live. I drove past the nursing home where my Mamaw now lived, my only living grandparent. I wouldn't have time to see her this trip. Oh well, there'd be other chances.

As I drove deeper into the city, I experienced the feel of New Orleans as the warm afternoon turns into evening. It is humid and thick and wraps around you like a blanket. You lose yourself in the warm gulf breeze and it's as though the day is literally melting into the evening.  There's a feel and smell that never leaves you. It is a mix of the tropics, swamp, decay, salt air, and windy warmth.  There's no place like it in all the world.

Thoughts to Start Off the Week

A few things I'm thinking about today as we start off another week . . .

Ernesto seems to be moving east toward Florida. I don't wish a hurricane on anyone, and my sister lives in Orlando, but I am very glad it is not projected to hit Louisiana-Mississippi. They truly can't take it. The tens of thousands of people living in FEMA trailers would again be homeless. I just pray that this hurricane season remains relatively quiet.  This week is the one year anniversary of Katrina and the memories are strong. I'm going to write a bit about my memories from last year. Even though I didn't go through it, we were down there four days later and my family went through it. It was a horrendous time and I want to get some thoughts down.

We had a great day at church yesterday. I preached on Philippians 3:17-4:1. Powerful passage. We talked about how Paul's example and pattern were the "way of life in Christ Jesus" (1 Cor. 4:16-17), and how that is so different from just moral behavior alone. Rather, it is finding your righteousness in Christ by faith and allowing Him to live through you and transform you. That leads to moral behavior, but Christ is always our starting and finish point. He is our guide and our goal. The message notes and audio will be up on Gatewaylife.net later this week.

God Have Mercy

Ernesto is coming . . . Please Pray.  Here are some different projections I found:

   

Obviously, if this hits anywhere in the possible projected area, it is very bad news for the people on the Gulf Coast. The second projection would be a bit better for New Orleans, but not by much. We're already gearing up by connecting with our contacts down there and are making plans to activate the network that we established of churches in Montgomery to send groups and help. If you would like to be a part of that, leave a comment and I'll get in touch with you. We are positioning ourselves to be a shelter of last resort for people who live in FEMA trailers. Over 50,000 people alone live in FEMA trailers on the MS Gulf Coast. In strong winds, they'll roll like a tin can. I've made a bunch of phone calls today and our camp in Waveland is getting the world out to residents to offer them shelter in Montgomery. Things are gearing up. I hope it goes somewhere else. This area can't take it.  Further updates later . . .

The War for China's Soul

I came across a great article today about the rise of Christianity in China, entitled The War for China's Soul (HT: Andrew Hicks). The article was in Time Magazine.  This is a truly fascinating article and I highly encourage everyone to check it out. It is saying that Christianity is gaining an incredible foothold in China and is transforming the society. Persecution is breaking out in places, but the Chinese leadership knows that it cannot stem the tide. It is becoming too strong. So, they are letting the house churches go as long as they are not too boisterous. Only in cases where the house churches become too bold are they cracking down, like in Hangzhou where the Christians had the nerve to build a church building. The soldiers came in and bulldozed the building and began to attack the believers:

Witnesses told TIME that at about 2:30 p.m., thousands of uniformed police and plainclothes security officers appeared at the construction site. The police cleared a way through the crowds for a few drill-equipped backhoes, and the authorities then demolished the church. Witnesses say police bludgeoned people indiscriminately with nightsticks. "They were picking up women--some of them old ladies--by their hair and swinging them around like dolls, then letting them crash to the ground," says a man who watched the clash from across the street. A statement faxed to TIME by the information office of the Xiaoshan district government describes the scene differently, claiming that about 100 Christians "attacked and injured government officials" and that although the police detained a few protesters, none were injured. But the volunteer interviewed by TIME produced receipts from the local hospital attesting to his treatment for broken ribs, which he says many others suffered as well. "They treated us like dead dogs," he says. "Some of them scoffed at us as we lay there, saying, 'Where is your God now? Why can't he help you? If you want to go to heaven, we'll help you get there right now.'"

I know that these stories are happening all over the world, but it seems that in China the faith is really spreading and taking root. The article goes on to say:

After four failed attempts over a millennium and a half by foreign missionaries to gain a foothold in China, Christianity is finally taking root and evolving into a truly Chinese religion. Estimates vary, but some experts say Christians make up 5% of China's population, or 65 million believers. And thousands more are converting every day, the vast majority through unofficial "house" churches like the one that sparked the clash in Hangzhou.

God is on the move in China. May we pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ as they develop Christianity into a "truly Chinese religion." We now live in a time where Christianity is global. God is moving all over the world. It doesn't look very American anymore and it is spreading like wildfire. Yes, there are problems as there are in America. But, we should embrace God's movement and encourage it wholeheartedly.  Praise God! Let this final excerpt be an encouragement to read the whole article:

In the long run, though, government attempts to circumscribe how people practice their faith seem unlikely to succeed--and could well spark more unrest. It's telling that even in the face of such crackdowns, some Chinese Christians say they are confident that they will eventually win the freedom to practice their faith as they choose. Brother Chow (not his real name) is one. He is every inch the model of the modern Chinese Christian, a preacher who doubles as a businessman. Despite his pressed jeans, polo shirt and fancy mobile phone, he professes to believe in a deep, ancient faith, one that he says has carried many a Christian through persecution. "Why don't I think it will be a problem? Because as time goes on, the government will get to know the Christian spirit and realize that God exists." He smiles with the secret knowledge of a true believer. "And then," he says, "they will become Christians too."

Update on Radiation

Many folks come to my blog primarily for news on Caelan. I just wanted to write and tell you that he is doing fine. We are a little over two weeks into radiation with another two weeks to go. Erika has been staying up there in Birmingham with him and they come home on weekends and occasionally for an afternoon/evening during the week. I'm taking care of Ashtyn, Peyton, and Kieran and we are all doing fine. Peyton and Kieran are struggling some missing their Mommy, however. Peyton has been very clingy and has become so eager to please. He almost breaks into tears anytime I correct him. Kieran has withdrawn some and is getting angry once in a while. That isn't like him at all. They're really in my prayers and I'm seeing God minister to their little hearts as well. He is faithful.

Erika has had a tough time recently. Please surround her with your prayers. What she is going through each day with Caelan is very hard and it's easy for fear to creep in. She has such a great attitude and has looked to God so consistently. But, it's still very hard. Please pray for her tonight that she would experience God's presence, know His joy, and be able to trust her little boy to Him. She does that, but it's a constant surrender. She's really been my hero through all of this.

I'm pretty tired. Taking care of three kids is A LOT of work. I can't say that I've been the best pastor lately either, and I feel like a lot of things are falling through the cracks. It's difficult to really get stuff done and get in any type of rhythm. But, God is blessing the church and people seem to really be growing. I'm doing more through prayer and spending time with the Lord right now than through controlling everything. That's probably what I need to be doing more of anyway.

So, that's an update. I so appreciate all your prayers. God has sustained us and carried us through all of this in amazing ways. We continue to praise Him and look to Him. This is one of the hardest times of our whole ordeal, and it is hard being split up as a family. But, Christ is sufficient. He is showing us that each and every day.  May His grace be sufficient for you as well.

What a Tragedy

I ran across this article this morning about a little boy who drowned when the levees broke in the Ninth Ward in New Orleans when Katrina hit. He was 6 years old. Here is an excerpt:

The foul floodwaters swept little Montava Trueblood away, snatching him from his mother as New Orleans fell into absolute horror almost one year ago. Montava slipped off a rooftop in the Lower 9th Ward and into a violent sea of destruction on Aug. 29. He never got to enter first grade. He never got to celebrate his 7th birthday in December. Instead, he slipped beneath a pile of debris and drowned.

Only days ago, Montava was finally given a proper funeral, as the world prepares to take notice of the one-year anniversary of the worst natural disaster -- and arguably the worst engineering failure -- in the history of the United States. Preachers comforted the 30 or so mourners inside Littlejohn's Funeral Home on Aubry Street. On Aug. 15, the boy's remains were identified by the Orleans Parish coroner's office through a DNA sample his mother gave mortuary officials a month after the storm, the Trueblood family said.

When the child's ashes are placed in a plot at Resthaven Cemetery, he will not be alone. Montava will be laid to rest in October alongside his mother and his baby brother who, after barely escaping the floodwaters, perished in a fire in Milwaukee in December, a few days shy of his mother's 32nd birthday.

I just dropped my kids off at school and I had a picture in my mind of losing my Ashtyn (7), Peyton (4) or Kieran (3) to such a horror. A great deal of emotion welled up in me and I couldn't bear the thought. I love them so much and want to protect them with all that I am. But, we are all just a moment away from death and the tragedies that we see on television are real people. It is only by God's grace that we have not experienced such a tragedy. We have become so calloused and self-centered, that we don't even realize what people have gone through. If you truly take the time to read about what happened in New Orleans and the hell that it became, you have a better understanding of the anger and hopelessness that was displayed at the Superdome and Convention Center as people waited 5 days to be picked up.  My heart breaks as I realize it just as easily could have been my family going through that. How would I have handled it?

Can any of you imagine losing one of your children this way? How would you respond? The mother and baby died in an apartment fire in December when she fell asleep while smoking up in Wisconsin. How depressed do you think she was? How much pain was in her heart?

There are hurting people all around us and we entertain them unaware. Perhaps God has placed you where He has or is sending you somewhere today to bring some hope and blessing into someone's life. Or, maybe it's you. Maybe you have experienced a terrible blow and are wondering if there is any hope for you. Our prayer is, "Come quickly, Lord Jesus." We ask that Jesus would return and deliver us from this world of decay. But, in the meantime, we ask that His presence would rest upon us and that He would comfort us in all our troubles so that we, in turn can comfort others. This life is hard. Real hard. But, there is a God who comes to us to bring redemption, hope, and comfort through His Son, Jesus Christ. May God live through each one of us today so that we can bring hope to the hopeless.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5  "3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows."

May we comfort the afflicted today.

Bring the Rain

A guy in our church passed this song by MercyMe on to me the other day. It's a lot better with the music, but the lyrics are powerful:

"Bring The Rain"

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You
Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain
So I pray

Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty

May we all learn to praise God, especially in the midst of difficult times. In the message last Sunday, I made the statement that whenever hard times come, we should not ask God, "Why me?" Rather, we should ask ourselves whether we are going to let this circumstance push us to the Lord, or away from Him to something else. Suffering can have a powerful effect in our life in that it teaches us to cling to Christ (James 1:2-4; 2 Corinthians 4:7-12).

Could it be, that in an affluent, success based, materialistic American culture, one of the BASIC discipleship lessons that we should be passing on to others is how to praise God in the midst of suffering? May we not just pray to Him when we face tough times, but may we REJOICE in the Lord always (Phil. 4:4). We can rejoice in the Lord, because no matter what we go through, He is the same. He never changes. His provision, grace, and love never fail. And, even when we die, this life is not all there is. We will be with Him forever and we will be praising Him! We might as well start now.

Mark Dever Nails It

Arkansas Razorbaptist pointed me to a post by Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. where he points out the biggest problem that came out of the SBC in Greensboro: the disapproval of the resolution on integrity in church membership by Tom Ascol.  Southern Baptists have 16 million members, but we can only find about 8 million. The other 8 million do not come to church. The resolution stated that we should purge our rolls of people who don't attend. It called for honesty in reporting of our numbers by our churches. The resolution was defeated and one of the reasons given was that it would encourage the removal of prospects off the rolls of the church. Prospects?!?! How can church members be prospects? The idea of membership in a church is that you are to be regenerated by the Spirit. You are to be a believer who is born again. You are to be a Christian. How can you be a prospect? If you don't come to church, it might not mean that you aren't saved, but your church does not need to lie and say that you are a part of that body. How can you be a part of a body with which you have no relationship other than your name being on a list?

Anyway, I started thinking that this is a MUCH bigger issue than we are willing to admit. In the South, we have millions of people that are innoculated against the gospel because they feel like they are alright. They are members of a church, or they got baptized years ago, or something. They are fine even though they have no desire for the Lord, they haven't been to church in years, they live however they want, and there is no conviction of sin. But, they are o.k. because they've been told they are o.k. What are we doing? I'm not saying we should condemn people, and I am all about grace, but lying to people about their relationship with the Lord and making them feel better only prepares a soul for hell. We should take this very seriously.

I know I don't usually talk like this. But, there is NO salvation outside of saving faith in Jesus Christ. We must be born again. Many will say, "Lord, Lord" on the day of judgment, but Jesus will say, "depart from me you evildoers. I never knew you" - Matt. 7:21-23.  This is a critical thing that we have played fast and loose with for too long. Compassion and love dictate that we are honest and that we endeavor to rescue people from damning complacency. Mark Dever is right. One day, we will give an acount before the Lord and we will have to tell him that we cared more about numbers on a report than souls for eternity. God help us.

While Christians Argue Over Every Little Thing . . .

Murders Soar in New Orleans Suburb

While Christians continue to try and find more and more comfortable places to live and better churches to attend, and while we continue to argue over stupid things, real life (of the hard and ugly variety) continues to occur.  The parish next to New Orleans, Jefferson Parish, has seen a rise in homicides do to increasing drug trade after many people moved out of New Orleans to relocate there after Katrina.  That's not unexpected, but here is the truly gruesome part:

In the latest slayings, a 24-year-old man was shot 11 times Monday night. On Tuesday night, a man was called out of his house by a teenager on a bicycle who demanded money for crack he had sold the man, the sheriff said.

"The guy didn't have the money, so he shot him in the top of the head," Lee said. "I think over a $40 debt. How do you explain that? How does a 15-year-old find it necessary to carry a gun?"

What answers do we have for those folks? What kind of confusion is a 15 year old going through to shoot a guy over a $40 debt? I know there are ministries that are addressing these types of things, but are we? When we think about rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, do we think about these folks? Do we think about them in our own city? Does the Gospel that we talked about in the previous post have power to change the lives of folks like this? We would all say yes, but do we go to them? We should not complain about things like this. We should rush straight into these types of problems with the only thing that can make a difference in human hearts: the good news of Jesus Christ. What do you think?

On What Do We Base Our Righteousness?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. What do I base my righteousness on? Am I righteous because of my performance or because of Christ's performane? Am I righteous because of my holiness or because of Christ's? Most of us with any theological upbringing at all would affirm that it is all Christ. But, we live like it is all us. And we judge like it is all our neighbor. What do we do when we sin? Do we ignore it and justify it and say it's no big deal because of grace? That's the position of the antinomian (without the law). Or, do we beat ourselves up and try harder? That's the position of the legalist. Both are wrong and both lead to death. And, we put death on others by what we condemn and/or affirm. No, there's another way. The Gospel Way.

Jesus is my righteousness. I am righteous because of Him. His righteousness is objectively true outside of me, not based on anything I do, but based on His finished work. It is all by the grace of God's initiative. I access this righteousness by faith. This is what we've been talking about in Philippians on Sunday's. Phil. 4:9:

9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

Our righteousness is in Christ and He works it through our life as we grow in Him and come to know Him. But, He never stops being our source of righteousness. It is all Christ all the time.

Do we really believe this? Do we minister this to others? What do we do when a brother has sinned? How do we disciple people? This is a critical issue, but we spend our time just trying to get people to live better lives instead of helping them put their faith in Christ to be transformed by Him. There is precious little Jesus in our religion and a great deal of us. Jerry Bridges has a GREAT article about this in this months Modern Reformation. Check it out. It's called The Discomfort of the Justified Life.

Tagged.

I got tagged by Jamie Wooten on this book thing. So, I thought I'd give it a shot. Not all of my answers are from my pastor days. I thought about my whole life and had some pretty interesting memories.

1. One book that changed your life: This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness by Frank Peretti. I know that you're laughing, but I read these books when I was a freshman in college and totally away from the Lord. The stories really spoke to me and I started to question the direction of my life. God used it to bring me back to Him.
2. One book that you've read more than once: Wild At Heart by John Eldredge. It was a message I really needed to hear at the time.
3. One book that you'd want on a desert island: Purpose Driven Church by Rick Warren. I could finally do it right with no other "people" to mess it up.
4. One book that made you laugh: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I read it as a cynical, angst-ridden 14 year old. It was hilarious at the beginning, but sad at the end. Holden Caufield had serious issues, but a very dry sense of humor.
5. One book that made you cry: Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller. Like everyone else, it made me laugh, too, but I was particularly affected by the story of Don's friend who wanted to be "good soil." I was so moved by that, I broke down, saying that I wanted to be good soil too. Powerful.
6. One book that you wish you had written: A River Runs Through It by Norman MacLean. Loved the movie. LOVED the book. I've wanted to fly fish in Montana ever since.
7. One book you wish had never been written: Babywise by Gary Ezzo. No need to say anything.
8. One book that you are currently reading: Nothing. I usually read 10 books at a time and I am always looking through something several times a day. But, I am not seriously engaged with a book right now. Hmm. I wonder why? Three kids to take care of, wife away with baby getting radiation, busy time of year at the church. I am a voracious reader usually, but right now, I can't sit still long enough to really think hard. This is very unusual for me and I didn't even realize it. I'm feeling the mental drain of grazing. I'm going to change that and tomorrow I'm going to start . . .
9. One book that you've been meaning to read: The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard

Let me also say, for ministry purposes, I really recommend The Present Future, by Reggie McNeal, Unstoppable Force, by Erwin MacManus, and The Shaping of Things to Come, by Hirsh and Frost. Also, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene Peterson is excellent.

I'm tagging Paul Littleton, Joe Kennedy, Chris McCorkle, and Rob Slagle.

Al Quaeda is Still On the Map

Praise God, Praise God, Praise God! British counterterrorism agents stop what could be the "Big One," as they arrest over 20 people in a plot to blow up commercial airliners over the Atlantic on their way to the U.S. They were going to use liquid explosives. Hundreds, maybe thousands, would have died. The overall purpose of my blog is to chronicle where I see God at work in the world. Well, this definitely qualifies!

What a miracle! What if they had not stopped it? This will be forgotten now, but if it had happened, we would have had another 9/11 on our hands. This reminds us to pray all the more for us and our allies as we work to put a stop to this collective evil of global terrorism. We need to take the war to Al Quaeda even more than we have. Let's praise God today, but also pray for continued success for our troops and the intelligence agencies of us and our allies. Sometimes, it's easy to forget there is a war going on. Not today.

Radiation Has Begun

Well, radiation began Monday for my son, Caelan, and everything is going well overall - except that we are dealing with doctors. What I mean by that is that everything keeps changing. They had told us that we were going to get electron therapy and that would be the best form of radiation by far. Much better than that nasty photon therapy. Then, Erika shows up on Monday (I didn't go because I was with the other kids and thought this would all be routine), and they change it to photon therapy because the electron therapy won't work. So, you get all geared up to go in one direction and then they switch course on you and you are trying to figure out if what is happening is best or what. I know they are doing the best they can and are working with the information they have, but when this happens, you are emotionally drained and don't have the energy to just switch gears and not let it get to you. So, this is pretty hard.

So, we get through that. Then, yesterday, there is a visit with our surgeon because he is gaining fluid in the cavity where the tumor was taken out. The surgeon says it's nothing after seeing the ultrasound and the CT scan they just took, and she is sure that it is just fluid. But, it's a bit more than she expected, so she is moving up his next CT scan to be in 6 weeks instead of 3 months. Just to be sure and overly cautious. And, she reassured us by telling us that she didn't feel that a biopsy was necessary. Whew, glad for that . . . a BIOPSY?!?!?!  What the heck are you talking about?!?!?  That was my response to Erika on the phone.  Erika assured me that he was fine, but I just wasn't prepared to hear about how it was good that we didn't have to have a biopsy right now. Why are we even mentioning a biopsy?

Anyway, the first three days of radiation have been MUCH harder than we expected, at least emotionally. Caelan is doing fine so far, but there have been so many other things that have gone along with it that NO ONE told us about. Erika is exhausted and needs your prayers so she can rest. I am feeling overwhelmed. Our kids are happy, so that's good. But, this is just hard and you keep wanting it to be over with and you keep thinking that you can't take anymore and it keeps coming and you keep getting back up and you keep praying and you stay tired and the stress builds and you wonder how you're going to make it and you do. Somehow, you just do. God is still there. He gives you strength. One day turns into the next and you try and distract yourself by thinking about other things, like Bobby Welch and the stupid alcohol resolution in the SBC. But, in reality, all you're thinking about is, "Is my son going to be o.k.?" and, "If he is, is he going to be deformed?"  And, you think about your wife and you hurt for her because you don't want her to be going through this and you just wish you could do something to make it stop.

But, you can't make anything stop. You can't control anything. All you can do is show up, take it as it comes, and trust God. Trust God. Those two words are weightier than ever. Trust God. Trust that He is not surprised by any of this and that this is just another chance to prove Himself strong. Trust that He is working all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Trust that this life is not all there is and our hope is found in Him and in the life to come. Trust that He has strength for us each day and as we suffer in our soul we come to know Him better and He is our reward. Trust that He will be glorified through this and that is all that matters. Trust Him with our hearts and our lives and the future of my child and the weariness of my wife and let that be enough. Trust God. Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. I know what to do and am doing it, and God is seeing us through. But, it is still hard. It still hurts. And,we still trust and choose to rejoice in the Lord.  He is all we have and He is enough.

On Bearing False Witness in Religion, Politics, and Relationships

Yesterday, I ran across an interview that outgoing SBC President Dr. Bobby Welch gave after the convention in Greensboro (HT: John Stickley). As many of you know, there was a resolution that was passed against the consumption, use, manufacturing, and sale of alcoholic beverages.  Obviously, every Baptist is against drunkeness and agrees with the Biblical prohibitions regarding that issue. That is not what the debate has been about. The debate has concerned whether it is permissable for a Christian to have even a glass of wine on a rare occasion. The resolutions says "No."  Many have countered the resolution by pointing out that there is no Biblical injunction against having a small amount of alcohol in moderation and even Jesus turned water to wine. Anyway, it has been a big debate and I have been kind of bored by it because everyone just snipes at each other and no one really listens, it seems. I have tried to stay out of this debate to follow the admonition of Romans 14: 19-23 that tells us to do what leads to peace and mutual edification and to not cause your brother to stumble. It also says that whatever you believe about such matters you should keep to yourself so that you will not be condemned by what you approve of and that everything that does not come from faith is sin. So, I see little benefit in coming down on one side or another of a non-essential, unless it becomes a gospel issue, which at times it has. 

But, when I read the words of Bobby Welch in an interview he gave on June 27, I had to take issue, not over the alcohol issue, but over bearing false witness against your neighbor. The Ninth Commandment in Exodus 20:16 says, "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor." I believe that Bobby Welch did so. Here are his words:

Sabbath Ponderings Re: The Culture War and the Gospel (or lack thereof)

Michael Spencer at internetmonk.com totally blew me away with The Tactics of Failure: Why the Culture War Makes Sense to Spiritually Empty Evangelicals.   This was one of the most interesting posts I have read in some time. If you read anything this week in the blogosphere, take a moment and read this article.  Spend some time with it. THINK! PROCESS! PRAY!  Here are a few excerpts to get you going:

Both families and churches struggle in turning out disciples. American churches specialize in an consumerized, gnostic, experiential Gospel that is increasingly inseparable form the culture in which that church exists. American evangelicals have become as much like the dominant culture as it is possible to be and still exist at all. In fact, evangelicals continue to exist, in large measure, because they have mainstreamed the culture into their religion so that one’s Christianity hardly appears on the radar screen of life as any in any way different from the lives of other people. We are now about values, more than about Christ and the Gospel.

Evangelicals should come to terms with this: they are in every way virtually identical to suburban, white, upper middle class American culture. They are not as bad as the worst of that culture, but they are increasingly like the mainstream of that culture and are blown about by every wind of that consumerized and materially addicted culture. In fact, go to many evangelical churches and the culture is so present, so affirmed, preached and taught that one would assume that there is nothing whatsoever counter cultural about the affirmation that Jesus is Lord.

AND,

Spiritual formation is no longer interesting to most evangelical churches. Pentecostals want experience and megachurches want activity and support. The point at the end of it all is the expansion of the churches themselves and the ability of individual Christians to live in support of the church as the proper end of the earthly Christian life. The missional goal of most evangelical churches in America is the further growth of the church.

Eugene Peterson has written for years on the loss of the pastor as one who directs the spiritual formation of Christians through the Word, prayer, community and the sacraments. He has lamented the ascendancy of a “pastoral” model that is, in reality, a church growth technician, not a spiritual leader. Peterson has been a true prophet, and we can only hope that younger evangelicals are going to reread and finally hear his warnings now that they have all come true. (One truly trembles at the prospect of many younger pastors actually having to explain scripture, conduct a funeral or counsel someone on an issue of spiritual importance. Rabbi Feinberg, check your messages.)

My Conclusion

I am suggesting, therefore, that the increasing interest in the culture war among evangelicals is not an example of a reinvigorated evangelicalism remaking its culture. Instead, I believe the intense focus by evangelicals on political and cultural issues is evidence of a spiritually empty and unformed evangelicalism being led by short-sighted leaders toward a mistaken version of the Kingdom of God on earth.

The Culture War makes sense to Christians who have little or no idea how to be Christians in this culture except to oppose liberals and fight for a conservative political and social agenda- an agenda often less than completely examined in the light of scripture, reason, tradition and experience.

So, what do you think? Is he right? While I despise the culture war, I am still adamantely pro-life and support pro-Christian values in the public sphere. However, the political and "power" approach that we are taking doesn't seem to be working very well (see Ralph Reed) and I can't really find it in the Bible anywhere.  So, again, what do you think? Where is God at work in all of this? How can we stand for what is right and still keep our integrity as GOSPEL people? More on this later . . .

BTW, PLEASE read the Eugene Peterson article referenced above by Spencer, called Spirituality for All the Wrong Reasons. Shattering. I think I'm going to be posting excepts from this soon with some commentary, but read ahead.

Happy Birthday Caelan

One year ago today (August 3) our son and fourth child, Caelan Joshua was born.  We named him Caelan, which means "victorious people" and Joshua, which means "Lord our Saviour." He's had a tough first year and his second year isn't going to be any easier with the cancer that he is facing. Radiation starts Monday and it will be everyday in Birmingham for 4 weeks. Erika will be staying up there a lot and will come home some. But, she will spend every night in Birmingham. With 3 other kids, this is going to be pretty tough. We are probably heading into the toughest part of the whole ordeal for our family, at least physically.

The doctors have said that the radiation will cause the right side of his chest to develop at a slower rate, so it may appear shrunken compared to his left side. His skin will be irritated like a sunburn in the treated area.  Also, there is a VERY SMALL chance that radiation therapy could cause additional cancer.  We are believing God to make muscle and bone grow! God can do anything and He is our hope. We appreciate your prayers as well.

On Saturday, we'll have a family birthday party for him and celebrate his life. He has taught us so much about relying on the Lord, God's providence, the love of other believers, and the power of God in answer to prayer. We never thought we'd go through something like this, but we can say that God is good and His grace is sufficient. As we step into one of the most difficult times, we will continue to believe in Him and trust in His mercy and love. We are very tired right now and all of this has taken it's toll. But, we continue to hope and believe and we continue to receive joy from the Lord.

So, Happy Birthday, Caelan. May your days be long and richly blessed by the Lord and may you live out your name of leading people to victory through the Saviour, our Lord. We love you very much.