DownshoreDrift

Random Thinking

Last night, I couldn't get to sleep. My mind was racing. Finally, I drifted off, but not before I ran through a dozen different subjects. I've been told by friends that I have adult ADD. Maybe so. It would explain a lot. Normally, I write essays for this blog because it is really rewarding for me to lock in on one topic and explore it and I use it as a teaching platform for my church. Today, I'll take you on a random tour of what I'm thinking about in classic, stream-of-consciousness form. Each of these thoughts could be a blogpost all their own and they have been building up in my head. So, I think I'll clean out my brain a little so that I can think more clearly and start over.

I'm going back to India at the end of next month. Around midnight last night, I called Thom Wolf in India and talked with him for awhile. It was almost noon there. He was my professor and intellectual mentor in school back when I lived in San Francisco and he lives in New Delhi. We will go north to the Himalayas and do our normal thing with the ministries there, and then possibly travel with him for a couple of days to the south of India to meet some people doing very interesting things.

I am working through Paul's letter to the Philippians right now in my Bible study and my preaching. I am also writing essays to go along with each topic. Philippians is a great letter to address the "God as a means to an end" syndrome that plagues contemporary Christianity. I am thinking of releasing the essays after I am through with this. It has been really interesting. Today, I am working on one called "Chains" about how Paul volunteered to put himself in less than ideal situations so that the gospel would be spread to others through his life and suffering. Check out Philippians 1:7-14. Am I willing to do the same? 

"According to some estimates, Christians in developed Western countries now represent only 37 percent of believers worldwide. As I travel and also read chruch history, I have observed a pattern, a strange historical phenomenon of God 'moving' geographically from place to place: from the Middle East to Europe to North America to the developing world. My theory is this: God goes where He's wanted." ~ Philip Yancey, Finding God in Unexpected Places. 

I ran across a fascinating article today on urban development in post-Katrina New Orleans on Newgeography.com by Andres Duany.  Duany, of Cuban descent, says that "New Orleans is not among the most haphazard, poorest or misgoverned American cities, but rather the most organized, wealthiest, cleanest, and competently governed of the Caribbean cities."  He says that New Orleans is not really an American city at all. Rather, it is a Caribbean city.  Jimmy Buffett, after Katrina hit, said that the northern Gulf of Mexico is actually the northern part of the Caribbean, not the Southern part of the U.S.  I agree. Being from there, it is different that the rest of the country, and I love it. Totally different way of thinking, worldview, and lifestyle. Maybe this is why Baptists have had so much trouble reaching the Gulf Coast?  Hmmm. 

My two favorite songs on my ipod right now are "Rocket Man" by Angie Aparo and "A Change is Gonna Come" by Ben Sollee. They are both cover songs, but the music and vocals are really intriguing. If you haven't heard either of these guys, check them out.  Here's a live version of "Rocket Man." I think about this when I am travelling too much.

And, Ben Sollee on the cello.  Yes, the cello.  This is amazing.

This week marks the 3 year anniversary of us finding a lump on Caelan's chest that was a cancerous tumor. It has been a hard three years, but I praise God everyday for His faithfulness. Last night, Erika told me that the little 3 year old girl that my family has been praying for since we saw her at Caelan's last scans died last week. Her name was Cassie. My heart was broken over that. Maybe that is why I keep singing "A Change is Gonna Come." Ben Sollee, covering Sam Cooke, says he doesn't know what's beyond the sky. I do, and more and more each day I pray that God's Kingdom come.

"As heretical as it sounds today, it is probably worth telling Americans that you don't need Jesus to have better families, finances, health, or even morality. Coming to the cross means repentance - not adding Jesus as a supporting character for an otherwise decent script but throwing away the script in order to be written into God's drama. It is death and resurrection, not coaching and makovers." Michael Horton, Christless Christianity.

Baseball season is about to start. I really don't like baseball. Too slow for my taste. During the dead of summer, it is almost like there are no sports going on. I'm just waiting for football. Although, our church has formed THREE softball teams with about 50 players and they'll be playing mostly on Monday nights, so I am glad for the fact that a lot of people from our church will be hanging out together and building relationships. Being blind in my right eye caused me to never play baseball because I have no depth perception, so maybe that is why I don't like it. I do plan to play summer league basketball, though. 

The groundbreaking for our church's new building is April 5, right before we have a huge neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. We've been reaching a lot of teenagers in our community lately, and God really moved in their lives at a youth retreat that we had this past weekend. Several came to Christ and many more opened their hearts to Jesus. We have also started tutoring, GED classes, and are helping with job placement.  God is doing some amazing things. The building is just a tool to help us with this, and it should be finished by October. I'll be very happy.

I keep watching Jon & Kate plus Eight. I don't know why. Erika keeps asking why I stop there when we are watching TV and I have the remote and I told her that I really can't believe how mean Kate is to Jon and I can't fathom how they manage eight kids like that. Wow. It's like a car wreck. I have four kids of my own. Do I really need to watch someone else's stress? Strangely, I'm drawn to it. That, and Clean House, which is about people who live in an unfathomable mess.  I guess that it is cathartic to see other people's stress and mess instead of my own.  Normally, these shows come on right after we put the kids to bed. Hmmm.

I turned in my taxes yesterday and I'm trying to get some insurance stuff taken care of. It's a pain and seems to be taking forever. Car tags have to be paid on Monday and I'm doing a TV interview tomorrow for a local religious broadcasting station about our work in India. I lump all of that together because it all feels about the same to me - stuff I have to do that I don't like doing. I'm not just trying to be humble about the TV thing either. I HATE stuff like that. Communication should be two-way and interactive with feedback, not captured on a television for people to pick over and misinterpret as they wish. Maybe I'm just insecure. 

Books I'm reading right now (they happen to all be "Christian" books, which is not good - I need to vary things up a bit and learn from some other disciplines):

• Finding God in Unexpected Places by Philip Yancey - picked it up in the airport last week. Yancey writes essays about where he sees God working in the world. Excellent.
• Christless Christianity by Michael Horton - states that the American church has given itself over to an alternative gospel that he calls, therapuetic moralistic deism.
• No Place for Truth - Or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology by David Wells. This came out about 15 years ago, but it was recommended to me by a friend of mine. It is pretty dense, but a good read. Makes some of the same claims as Horton, but from a historical perspective.
• People of the Dream: Multiracial Congregations in the United States by Michael O. Emerson. Just picked this one up.

My church is always heavy on my mind and my heart. I graduated from seminary over 9 years ago. I've been the lead pastor of our church for 3 1/2 years. I'm realizing more and more each day that I am not smart enough, talented enough, entertaining enough, or gifted enough to do what needs to be done, no matter how many books I read. God has to work through me. I need Him. I carry the weight of people's struggles pretty intensely. I greatly desire for people to walk with the Lord and to glorify Him and I want our church to hunger after Christ with their whole lives and to reach people who do not know Jesus. But, I am really having to pray about this and release it to the Lord. I can't make anyone do anything. I am completely powerless to make anything happen. God has to do it.  I have always known that intellectually. I am learning that emotionally and spiritually and it isn't easy, believe it or not.

Ashtyn has started soccer.

I have great kids and an amazing wife who listens to me go on and on about everything that I am thinking about. She is really patient and she always gives me great feedback. I do not deserve her, and I'm not just saying that because it is what I am expected to say. She's really something. She texted me two days ago and said that we should go on the mission trip with the youth group this summer. I told her that I agreed. Not many mother's of four kids would do that. 

My city, Montgomery, just elected a new mayor in a special election a couple of weeks ago. In his election night interview, he said that he hoped that he would "rule" well.  Rule #1 in American politics: Never tell the people that you plan to "rule" them. It doesn't sit well in a democracy. Then, he said that he was pushing the inauguration back a week because he was taking his family to the beach. Rule #2:  When we are in a severe recession, don't tell the people that just elected you that you would begin to rule, er, serve them, but first, you have to go to the beach.  Go to the beach in a few months AFTER you have worked for them for a little while. Wow.

Look, a BUTTERFLY!!!! Sorry, had to get that out. Does anyone ever feel that way? Random as can be.

I've lost 10 pounds in the past two weeks and I don't know how. I guess that I haven't been eating as much. Duh. Stress? Busyness? I don't know, but I'll take it. I could stand to lose a lot more.

____________________________________________________

Well, that's about it. Not really, but I figure that no one is still reading at this point, so I might as well stop. Believe it or not, engaging in an exercise in complete randomness actually made me feel better. So, I leave you with a picture of my kids that I really love. 

God is good, by the way.  And, He's always working in every thing. Big, little, important, mundane. God is always at work.

 

Missional Holidays, Part 2

Eugene Peterson says that it is the role of the pastor to keep the community attentive to God. In speaking of community here, I think that he means the church. He is right and I take that role very seriously, however imperfectly I carry it out. But, I also think that it is the role of the church to make the larger community attentive to God.  God is always working (John 5:17) and He works through us, His body. So, every Christmas season, we have begun looking for ways to be attentive to God ourselves and to call our community to be attentive to God as well.

This year, we have seen some amazing things happen. We had our annual Thanksgiving Dinner where the place was packed and we had 19 nations represented.  Two weeks later, we had our annual Christmas Extravaganza, where we joined with Family Life Bible Fellowship, a predominately African American church for a night of worship, singing, dance, instrumentalists, food, and fellowship. It was amazing to see people from different churches and cultures come together as one in Christ. Christmas is about the Incarnation and we got to experience Christ in our midst through this gathering. I really feel that when we do these things, we are prophetically saying that we live differently from the world. The world divides according to all kinds of things. In Christ, we come together. Where there is strife and struggle in the world and peace is usually false, in Christ, all dividing walls are taken down and we are one. This is our lost witness and it must be reclaimed. I am not talking about oneness based on nothing, but oneness based on Christ and the unity that He has already provided for us.  If Christmas is about Jesus being made flesh to bring us salvation and redemption, then the best thing that we can do is to herald the reconciliation that we have in Christ. We are reconciled both to God and to one another. Praise God!

A few years ago, we also started doing "A Time to Serve." I actually read about a church in Colorado that did this and ripped the whole thing off from them, so I am not claiming originality. Each year, we develop 8 or so service oriented projects and get people to lead them. Then, others in the church sign up for them and carry them out. We will wrap presents for people for free at the local Wal-Mart, have children sing at retirement homes and homes for disabled children, adopt needy families and buy presents for them, pass out Christmas cards in the neighborhood around our church, etc. Each year, the projects vary, but the point is that we encourage people to serve someone else and to share the real meaning of Christmas. It has gone well again this year and I praise God for all those who are taking part.

Last night, we danced, ate, laughed, and laughed some more. And, we ate. Our LIFE Group had our Christmas Party at our house. We had almost 40 people come over (adults and children) and we had a great time. Christians don't seem to have a lot of parties, or if we do, we tend to be pretty stiff about it. But, not this group. I love our group because they are made up of real people that know how to share life together, laugh, cry, give, and minister to one another. We have seen God do miracles in one another's lives and we have been able to intervene and intercede for one another. There is little pretense. Basically, this small group of people acts as the church within a larger church and it is a blessing to be a part of it.

I really do want to brag about my church. Gateway Baptist is the finest church I have ever been a part of. It is not perfect and it is not made up of perfect people. But, they know that they aren't perfect and they depend on God's grace. They also really want to follow God and make Him known to others. I have a lot of friends that are pastors and I hear stories about the struggles with their churches. Honestly, I can say that Gateway does not struggle with the vast majority of things that other churches do. We give God the glory, but I think that the reason is that we have kept following hard after God a top priority in our fellowship. People who have other agendas or who don't want to do that either repent and live for God themselves (that is always what we work toward and there is much love and grace for people to do just that), or they don't stick around very long. I was telling some folks last night that it is a blessing to know that there is a church that is supportive in what we are trying to do so that we can all face a broken, needy world together, instead of us all having to focus on unnecessary problems within the church. Jesus living through His people is a beautiful thing.

I just wanted to praise God and thank Him that in this time of Christmas celebration, He causes us to be attentive to Him and enables us to represent Him to others. That's about all that I want for Christmas and I have already received it. God is good. 

Missional Holidays: The Nations Came To Our Church For Thanksgiving Last Night!

Every year, we have a huge Thanksgiving Dinner, the Sunday night before Thanksgiving. We bring tons of food and pack out the sanctuary, which also serves as our fellowship space. Each year, we are almost filled to capacity with our members and their friends. We eat, sing, and people share from the floor what they are thankful to God for. It is really a beautiful time as the Body of Christ is on display and we see the beauty of Christ at work.

This year, our Thanksgiving Dinner promised to be a little different. Over the past couple of years, we have been praying about how we could reach across ethnic and cultural lines and we are starting to see that happen. We are seeing African Americans and Hispanics come to our church. Our youth group has doubled in size, primarily with African American boys who are coming to Christ and being discipled. God is at work and it is amazing to see.

Also, we live in Montgomery, AL where Maxwell AFB is colocated. So, we have a lot of military personnel in our church. Every member of the Air Force will come through Maxwell at some point in their career because Air University is here. All of the schools for the Air Force are located here. This also means that international officers and their families from the nations of the world come to Maxwell each year for Air Command and Staff College. Over the past couple of years, people from our church have been adopting these families and have been spending time with them.  When a lady in our church told us that she had invited about thirty of them to our Thanksgiving Dinner, I was happy, but I was also thinking, "Where are we going to fit everyone!"  Our youth minister had already invited the families of the 20 or so new youth that were coming to our church.  We are already usually packed for this event. I am always talking about outreach and missional living, and here was a prime example of how our church had been doing and they wanted to bring everyone together. But, we just don't have much room!  My excitement over the evening was mixed with the implications of a looming disaster as people would not have seats and would bump into each other all night.

I met with my administrative assistant and we just decided that we'd make it work and we weren't going to worry about it. Somehow, it would work out, we hoped. So, we set up every table and chair that we possibly could, started serving early, and trusted God for the rest. And . . . it all worked out!  Somehow, we fit everyone in, and people didn't mind sitting in corners and along the walls and down the hall. It was our largest Thanksgiving Dinner ever!  People shared with one another, gave praise to God for His work in their lives, and enjoyed being together. At one point, I asked people to shout out what nation they were from. There were people there from America (obviously), Mexico, Peru, Brazil, The Philippines, The Ukraine, Germany, India, Egypt, Jordan, Bangledesh, Pakistan, China, Turkmenistan, and other countries that I cannot remember. There were people from 19 countries in all.  We also had a great number of African Americans that are coming to our church now and are getting involved in our body.  That is notable because we are a Southern Baptist church that was lily white just two years ago, and I understand how difficult it is for these barriers to be broken down. 

Jesus was represented and the gospel was spoken by people as they shared. It was beautiful. At one point, an international officer from the Middle East stood up and said how happy he was to be here. He thanked us for inviting him and his family. He also said something very interesting: He said that he was amazed and honored to be in a place where Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and many more could come together and gather in peace. He couldn't believe it.  For many of these people, this was the first time that they had been in an environment like this. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Through Him, we, as Christians, can respect and love others, even though we know that there are differences. We believe and represent that Jesus is the only way to the Father. But, unless we build relationships with people and love them, they will not hear that message. Jesus also enables us to love people different than us because we recognize that each person is made in the image of God. 

In two weeks, we will have our Christmas Extravaganza. We will join together with Family Life Bible Fellowship, an African American church in our city and have a mass choir, singing, praise dance, poetry readings, and other artistic expressions of worship on display. We will celebrate our unity in Christ.  We will eat lots of good food together and we will laugh, pray, and celebrate. The international officers and their families will be invited again and the place will be packed out.  I can't wait!  

Christmas is the celebration of the Incarnation of Christ, where Jesus took on flesh and made His dwelling among us (John 1:14). He is doing it again in churches and communities all across the world.  We'll make room for Him, no matter what it takes, or at least we should. I praise God for people in our church with great imaginations and faith to believe God for great things!

The Biggest Loser

Some guys in our church have decided to levy a challenge: Starting September 2, we are going to enter a contest to see who can be the biggest loser. You've probably seen that show on television. Well, we are going to make a pact for the next four months to change our lifestyle so that we can get in better shape, lose weight, and become healthier. We will hold each other accountable and encourage one another. Unfortunately, I really need to do this. I'm 33 years old, and the spare tire around the middle is starting to grow. I was always really skinny in high school and college, but those days are gone. With each passing year, I add another 5-10 pounds. If I don't start to reverse this, it won't be pretty in another 5 years. It already isn't pretty.

So, in the spirit of the gluttony resolution that was submitted to the SBC this year, we have decided to do something about it. I noticed a considerable weight gain last year when my son Caelan was diagnosed with cancer. I didn't understand it, but I just seemed to be piling it on. I was (and in many ways still am) under an enormous amount of stress. Well, according to an article that I read on MSN today, stress can be a major trigger for weight gain. Check it out HERE.  So, in addition to a healthy diet and regular exercise, I also need to get regular sleep and find a way to let things go instead of holding onto them so tightly. I can be a pretty intense person at times, and I think that is having an affect.

So, as another means of accountability, I will post here each month how much weight was actually lost. I pretty much have to do this or else suffer the consequences of public humiliation. That might seem like too much pressure for some, but I welcome it. I do not binge eat or snack during the day, so the biggest things for me will be to get regular exercise, get enough sleep, stay away from sweets and fast food, and do not eat late at night.  If I can do those things, I think that this will be successful. So, here we go!

Singing in a Bar and Other Christmas Musings

Well, Christmas is almost here. This will be my last post until after Christmas. I've got family coming in tomorrow and LOTS needs to be done to get ready and to finish up all of our Christmas preparations. My wife would not be happy to see me sitting on the computer while she does everything, so, this is it until next week. I'm also looking forward to our service on Sunday and our Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion Service (I love that!).  SOOO,  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! 

We've been trying to make Christmas more spiritual and missional this year. Instead of just focusing on ourselves and receiving, we have tried to find ways to connect with neighbors and friends and serve them. Later this evening, my family and I are going into our neighborhood to deliver little goody packages with a scripture verse on them to all of our neighbors. We don't know the vast majority of them because everyone is so private. We thought this would be a great way to get to know them, pass on a blessing, and start to build some relationships. My wife and children spent the whole afternoon yesterday baking all types of cookies, brownies, fudge, etc., and they had a blast. Please pray for us as we do this. I am trying to teach my kids that Christmas is a great time to reach out to others and bless them, even if you don't know them. They're pretty excited about it.

Along those lines, a group from our church went Christmas Caroling on Wednesday night (see image on left - that was us! Yeah right!). This was the last event in our Time to Serve. We did not have our normal service, so around 40 of us went to the apartment complexes near our church and sang a few songs. Some folks came out to listen, but even though many people were home, people tended to not be very responsive, except for a few (including a Muslim family). I was kind of surprised. How often do you have Christmas Carolers show up near your house? I guess not often enough. We were walking back toward the church, and I was a little disappointed, honestly.

But, then I had a thought. We were walking on the street back toward the church and passed a restaurant/martini bar named Dabbo's. It occurred to me that they might let us come in and sing Christmas carols to their patrons (I'm thinking of an Irish Pub type of thing). I told the group to wait and I went and asked if they would have us. They said "sure!" and told us to come in. There was no one in the restaurant, but there were about 10 people in the bar area. It was a pretty nice place filled with an older crowd that was dressed nicely. We all crowded in (kids and all) and sang our Christmas carols and told them Merry Christmas. Many of the patrons sang along with us. We then gave out little flyers that had some of our church information on it with candy canes attached. In return, they gave us money! I rushed up and kept telling them "NO! Keep your money! We didn't come here for money! We're trying to bless you!" They insisted. They were so happy that we came in, they took up a collection for us and told us to use it for a good cause! It was spare cash they had in their pockets, but it ended up being $30! I went back to the church and assigned it to our benevolence fund. We regularly have people coming to the church and asking for food or gas, so those folks in the bar will help feed some folks in the coming weeks.

So, I thought that was pretty cool. It just shows me that God always has surprises for us when we step out in faith and incarnate the gospel. The Incarnation of Christ into a lost and hurting world has been my running theme this Christmas and I am so excited about what God has taught me. Our God is a missional God and He sent His Son cross culturally to our planet to bring us the Kingdom of God. We have so much to rejoice over and so much to tell people about.

Again, please pray for my family and I as we try and build relationships with our neighbors tonight. We're going to around 25 houses and are praying for friendships to develop with people that we only see in passing. We hope to follow this up with neighborhood get togethers as the year goes on, but everyone is so isolated and private, we thought Christmas would be a great time to break the ice.

I wish each of you a merry Christmas. So does my wife Erika, and my 4 children. Merry Christmas!!!

With all the talk about alcohol in the SBC . . .

I ran across this article today and thought it was pretty funny. It just goes to show how we can make the Bible say just about anything we want based on our presuppositions, eh? As you read this, think about other passages that can be taken out of context, viewed in isolation, and used wrongly.

MINOT, N.D. — Jack Crocker, a beer-loving machinist and "part-time Christian," finally agreed to read Proverbs with wife Reanna. He's glad he did.
    "I'm a Proverbs 31 husband all right," says Jack, then quotes Proverbs 31:6-7: "Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more."
    "That's my permission to crack open a cold one," Jack says, having a Coors after dinner.
    But Reanna, a new church member, is pushing Jack hard to stop drinking. She insists he is neither "perishing" nor "in anguish." But Jack researched the Bible on the Internet and found 2 Corinthians 4:16 and 5:2 which say, "Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day," and "Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling."
    "Everyone is perishing and in anguish," Jack says. "Until we're delivered from these bodies, the Bible says to drink up."
    As part of the escalating family tension he created a "Proverbs 31" category on their weekly budget and listed "beer" under it. He also wants to start a Proverbs 31 Men's Group with his buddies.
    "We're trying to find where the Bible talks about buffalo wings," he says. •

And, in case you didn't know, I found it on Lark News, which is a Christian satire site. They try to make points about how ridiculous we can be through satire, which is usually lost on most people.  I don't approve of everything there, but they usually make pretty good points that get me to think about things in a different way.