Randy's Ruminating

How Do You Look At God?

2008-07-03T09:21:00.003-05:00

The radio was on one morning, as I walked through the kitchen, to a program with Alistair Begg. It's interesting how a couple sentences can linger with you for several days. That happened that day. I don't even know who he was talking about. But Alistair said: "He started to look at God through his circumstances, rather than looking at his circumstances through God."

It happens so easily when we are going through a difficult time. Our circumstances begin to define God. Our first thought is: "how could God let this happen?" The next one is: "what kind of God would let this happen?" On downhill it goes. Soon we are understanding who God is by our difficulties. This seems to be our default mode. Only discipline/discipleship can change that.

It takes 21 days to change a habit on average. Uprooting deeply rooted attitudes and thinking has to be a work of the Holy Spirit. It is corrected not by self effort but by dependence on God.

There is no question that the Bible teaches that God is first and foremost a God who is uniquely described as "love." 1 John 4:16 is as direct as it gets when it says: "God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them." With God so basically defined as totally love, that will never change no matter what our circumstances. God will always be love. If God's love colors the glasses with which we look at our circumstances, those circumstances will have a different look to them. No matter what happens to us, God still loves us.

What is your focus? Are you looking at God through your circumstances, or are you looking at your circumstances through a God who is always and forever loving?

Flooding Updates

2008-06-19T09:56:00.009-05:00

Many of us are saddened about the flooding and how it is affecting our local farmers and many parts of the Midwest. Here is a personal view we saw on a prayer e-mail from Iowa from some college friends of ours.

“Red Rock Lake is on every side of town (Knoxville Iowa-where we live). We are in town but mostly dry (some bubbling up from the water table). The water will start to go down soon. A small town five miles south, Attica Iowa was pretty well blown off the map-by tornado and there is other tornado damage around our town. Pray for all Iowa people as there are 20,000 affected by floods in just the Waterloo area+ Parkersburg was literally blown off the map (tornado). We have friends in many of the affected towns. Many small towns like Harvey, and Tracy, Eddyville, Fremont, etc near us are never mentioned but they have water up to their roof tops. Burlington, and Fort Morgan and Keokuk are waiting for the river full of water to inundate their communities. A lot of clean-up work is ahead. We feel like we have moved to a boat in the middle of Lake Michigan or something. Our American Baptist disaster team will probably start clean-up efforts in the upper part of the state and follow the river as it begins to go back in its banks.”

Tom and Nancy Wheeler
Knoxville, Iowa

Dr. J. Dwight Stinnett, Executive Minister of American Baptist Churches of the Great Rivers Region, writes this to keep us informed of what is being done, and to offer ways we can help.

Friends
Like many of you I have watched with alarm the rising waters of the “great” rivers all around us. While very few of our churches have been directly affected (at least as has been reported to me), there are communities all along the waterways that are in desperate circumstances.
I do not claim to know all the details of every need, but I do know that Quincy has issued a general request for volunteers to help with sandbagging. I urge you to give that some serious thought. The thought should include: (1) contact officials BEFORE you go—don’t just show up unprepared, you may create more problems than you solve, (2) do an honest assessment of your physical condition—this is hard, potentially dangerous, work; have you had tetanus and hepatitis immunizations?
The ABMen Disaster Team is on alert, but they are usually not called into action until after floodwaters have receded in order to help with clean-up and recovery. I fully expect that their important efforts will be needed.
At this point in time, there has not been a request for One Great Hour of Sharing funds. However, I believe that will be likely and I will share information as soon as I can.
Certainly, this should be a matter of prayer at your prayer meetings as well as Sunday.

Dwight Stinnett
ABC Great Rivers Region

One Great Hour of Sharing offering that we are receiving this month, goes to help people in disasters such as these as well as those around the world in China and Myanmar. Pray for these people who are suffering so much. And perhaps God will call you to give or go to help.

Pastor Randy

Our Church Can't Help But Be Who We Are

2008-05-21T14:47:00.015-05:00

Part of our Core Values or DNA, we discovered in recent discussions to formulate our Strategic Plan, is that we want to make a mission impact. That's who we are. We could almost say, we can't help ourselves when it comes to making a mission impact.

Our core values could not be restrained when I spoke last Sunday about strengthening our families gratitude and compassion, by developing active concern for the poor and disadvantaged. In each of our worship services our 4th and 5th grade Sunday School class told their exciting story of trying to raise $590 for preschool lunches in Thailand and seeds to be planted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help the poor. As of this past Sunday they had blown the lid off their goal and surpassed $900!

Among other options last Sunday, we offered World Vision's gift catalog, to purchase gifts for the poor, such as animals to provide food. I ordered 60 catalogs. Only two left at the end of the day.

Someone told me Sunday, that when asked by her children what she wants for her birthday, she always tells them she wants a goat from World Vision to give to the poor. She also reminded me of a fun game you can play on the Internet at www.freerice.com. It's a word game. Find definitions of difficult words. It's fun. Each "win" buys 20 grains of rice for those who experience hunger on a daily basis. In a couple minutes you can “win” 100 grains of rice for someone with so little.

Then an anonymous donor dropped off a gift for a laptop computer and asked me to
pass it on to Chris Swiney, member of this church. He and his family, and a team from InterVarsity, are going to Malawi, Africa, this summer to minister among the poorest of the poor. I mentioned, this past Sunday, that the local Staff in Malawi needs laptop computers to help them in their ministry with the local people. Now part of that need is met.

When making a mission impact is in your DNA, this is what happens.

Missional: Preservation or Persevering?

2008-04-25T07:53:00.006-05:00

Recently I read several quotes from Church leaders about the lukewarm Church in America. I received these quotes on a page from a local ministry to the poor - Empty Tomb, a ministry that has put beliefs into action. One of the quotes on that page caught my eye because I have been thinking a lot recently about what it means for our church to be missional. Here is the quote that stopped my reading down the page.

"Presbyterian (USA) pastor and organizer Robert Linthicum observed, 'The church has always talked about mission, but we organize ourselves for preservation, not mission.' Jerry Van Marter, 'Giving It All Away'; Presbyterian News Service; posted 1/17/07; ; pp1-3 of 8/4/07 5:06 PM printout."

That is a Cliff's Notes version of what it is to avoid being missional: organizing ourselves for preservation, not mission. Mission is risky. We may not survive. But if we risk being missional, we may live like we have never lived before. We may reproduce that new life in others. It seems like I have read that before. Jesus said: "I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24).

So to be missional must be the reverse of that - to organize ourselves around mission rather than merely preserving ourselves. To be willing to die to live is to be missional. To be missional is to persevere with the mission Jesus gave us: to go into all the world and make disciples.

Jesus also said "those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it" (Luke 9:24). Save their life sounds a lot like preserving their life to me. What it means to be missional is getting clearer. It is to lose your life for Jesus' sake. To be missional is to persevere in losing, for Jesus' sake.

An Interest Based or Missional Church?

2008-04-03T10:47:00.007-05:00

Leaders of our church have been discussing the difference between an interest-based church or a missional, or mission-focused, church. The catalyst for these conversations was our recent Focus Groups and a book that many of our leaders have read, called Transforming Church, by Kevin Ford. (It is available in our Church Library). I am leaning on Kevin Ford’s descriptions and definitions presented to us in his assessment of our church, as I ruminate on this question: What is the difference between an interest-based church and a missional church?

A mission-focused church is trying to accomplish something. An interest-based church is trying to provide something. Both exist on behalf of a constituency. But the constituency of a mission-focused church is always outside the church. The constituency of an interest-based church is almost always inside the church. Interest-based churches create a culture where people feel entitled to ministry or programs based on their individual interests or agendas. The goal becomes satisfying people. An expectation can develop that every program will meet every need; every program will have a board or committee, a budget line item, a staff person who will champion their cause.

Being an interest-based church can be life-threatening. In the attempt to accommodate every need, provide committee, staff and budget support for the growing needs, the church could implode from its own growth! An interest-based church may also become irrelevant because so much is invested in trying to be all things to all people, that the church is unable to do a few things well. A danger also lurks for people to have ministry fatigue from doing so many things.

A mission-focused church, on the other hand, in trying to accomplish something, is looking for a clear result or outcome, and therefore has a laser sharp focus. It eliminates ministries that pull it off focus so the church can be effective in their agreed-upon mission. Mission-focused churches measure success by their achievements. They do a few things really well. Every ministry is aligned to do those few things well. The governing structure supports this focus. Staffing is more specialized than general. Specific strategies drive the ministries of a mission-focused church. The budget supports those strategies. Staff is re-aligned to support those strategies. Everything focuses on those strategies.

An interested-based church, rather than trying to produce a result is trying to produce a benefit, such as resources, fellowship groups, Bible studies, Sunday School classes, youth ministries, senior-citizen ministries, small groups and children’s ministries. Will a mission-focused church not have these ministries? It is likely that a mission-focused church may have the same ministries, but they will be aligned to accomplish the goal.

The difference between mission-focused and interest-based is subtle, but distinct. The issue that Kevin Ford raised with us after he listened to our Focus Groups, is that most churches assume they should be mission-focused, but function as an interest-based church. The danger is saying we are one thing, but actually functioning in another way.

Kevin ford suggests that both models can work from an organizational perspective. But there is one sobering motivator: Jesus gave us a very clear mission - to make disciples who become his witnesses in the world! If we drift from those clear mission objectives, we drift from our Leader’s mission orders. That seems to me to leave us with no alternative than to become more focused, more intentional, on our Lord Jesus’ orders than we currently are.

I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist

2008-03-12T15:51:00.009-05:00

March 9, I concluded a series: "I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist." The title was taken from the book by that title, written by Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek, published by Crossway books. Their material was a primary resource in developing this series and, appropriately, they were cited numerous times. You can listen to the series at www.fbc-cs.org; click on sermons.

The preparation/study for this series was a faith-renewing experience for me too. One parishioner said to me: "It really does take more faith not to believe than to believe." Yes, it does. Evidence is abundant. The Easter message is credible. As Geisler and Turek challenge their readers: Those who choose to deny the resurrection must come up with first-century sources that support their theories to explain away the resurrection (Geisler-Turek, pp 313-314). That would be a difficult assignment.

As I shared this series I was struck in a greater and greater way, by how important it is for us to visit the credibility issue. Christian faith is under attack. One would think listening to some popular media that you would have to turn your brain completely off to even consider Christian faith. We've had the attacks of the Davinci Code, Dan Brown's book published by Anchor; The Gospel of Judas by Bart D. Ehrman, Rodolphe Kasser, Marvin Meyer, Gregor Wurst, and published by National Geographic; and the supposed discovery of the lost tomb of Jesus in a book written by by Simcha Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino and published by HarperOne, just to name recent attacks. I recall the cover of a major news magazine that announced I believe it was the Gospel of Judas, like it was a major new find - a front page story. It was laughable. Did they really think these "discoveries" were new? I wondered about the credibility of the magazine itself. When the news of the so-called "lost tomb of Jesus" broke it was as if someone had found something that would unravel Christianity. The secular press deleted it from relevant news almost instantly.

We need never fear careful investigation of our faith. It has solid, intellectual believability. If you would like to investigate further, I recommend the following resources . . .
1. I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be An Atheist, by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek, published by Crossway Books.
2. Is the Bible TRUE?: How Modern Debates and Discoveries Affirm the Essence of the Scriptures, by Jeffery L. Sheler, published by HarperSanFrancisco/Zondervan.
3. The New Testament Documents: are they reliable?, by F. F. Bruce, published by Inter-Varsity Press.
4. Record of Revelation : The Bible, by Wilford J. Harrington, O. P. published by The Priority press.

I often think about our brothers and sisters in the early church. They were under constant attack. The church was born with challenges to their message on every side. In case you haven't noticed, the church survived. Attacks on Christian faith are not new. After all, we follow Jesus Christ who was put on a cross because of who he claimed to be. But you know the rest of that story.

Turn About - A New Day for Evangelicals?

2008-01-26T19:32:00.001-06:00

It was a stimulating way to spend a day off. I had looked forward to it. I was in Rockford to attend a retreat for the Judson University Board of Trustees. The morning was to be spent with two top evangelical leaders: Larry Eskridge, Associate Director of The Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals; and Mark Galli, Senior Managing Editor of Christianity Today magazine. I was not disappointed.
It was Mark Galli who particularly grabbed my attention. He talked about the place evangelicals now have at the table of discussion in America today. 'Wait,' I thought. 'Are not Christians being written off today, accused of being tuned to a frequency not located on planet earth?' Not so, said Galli. In the last five years, centrist evangelicals have a place at the table, he reported. Evangelicals are no longer clamoring for a place at the table. They are at the table.
Two to three times a month, Galli reported, he receives calls from such places as Time magazine, wanting to know what Christians are thinking and saying about an issue. We have a social presence in America today, he said. Galli said Rick Warren is the new Billy Graham. Warren identifies himself with our culture. He is very active in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Last year, a group of evangelicals was invited to the White House to dialogue with Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Evangelicals are now the voice of Christianity in America and the world, Galli thinks.
Who was Galli talking about when he used the term evangelical? Galli listed four defining characteristics. 1) Those who place Christ and the crucifixion at the center. They have a keen sense of our need to be changed, and it cannot happen on our own. We need redemption. 2) The importance of conversion. It is not just being better people. It is being turned around through relationship with Jesus Christ. 3) Those who are Biblically based. 4) Those who have an activist faith expressed in their daily living. They live the faith. They have a social conscience.
Galli reported that evangelicals are present in nearly every sphere of American life. To reinforce his point, Mark Galli recommended D. Michael Lindsay’s book Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite.
How should we respond to this open door? Is it possible that we could misuse this opportunity? Galli thinks that is a possibility. Of utmost importance for evangelicals today is to be faithful stewards of this new attention. Pray for those who have occasions to speak to people in power at this favorable time. For those of us who are evangelicals, we must be conscious that we represent mainstream Christianity today if Galli is right. Our words matter. Our lifestyles make a difference. Above all, we represent Christ in a world often confused by our staggering contemporary issues. May God, who has trusted us with this moment in history, find that we have been faithful.

Chosen!

2007-12-20T11:30:00.000-06:00

It would have been a quiet Sunday afternoon. But we were on a mission to change our lives.

We had gotten the wild idea that we should get another dog. Because I have severe allergies, someone told us dachshunds were a low allergy trigger. Whether or not there is any truth in that, we were on our way to look at a dachshund. A show-dog. A testicle had not dropped for him, so the owner could not show him. She wanted to give him to a loving home - papers and all if we would have him neutered. That had been our plan. So we were on our way to Gilman, IL. We were to meet at McDonald's . . . in the parking lot.

Let the dog choose you, we had heard. We were used to getting dogs from a Shelter. One of our dogs came from a parishioner who lived on a farm. I stopped by their home. The little beagle stole my heart. He joined the family.

This trip would be different. We would let this dog make the decision. Strange.

We arrived at McDonald's and saw the owner’s vehicle. The time had come. Would we go home empty handed? Would we be suddenly struck with the responsibility of being dog parents and run? She got the little miniature dachshund out of the vehicle and put him on the ground. He was so cute! We were falling in love. But that caution. Would he choose us?

A dachshund’s nose is 100 times stronger than ours. There were a zillion things he could have sought with his nose, especially at McDonald's. He slowly walked toward me. Oh, no. He was choosing us. Now we had to decide. It was emotional. Would we choose him?

We did. He’s family now. It’s a challenge to have a pet. But we are glad we chose him. The story could be different if he had not chosen us.

Because he chose us, we wanted to choose him.

God chose us. That’s what Christmas means. He walked toward us. It was a long walk. Out of eternity, across the universe to a little, insignificant town. Bethlehem was a little like that McDonald's parking lot, where we met our Zep. Bethlehem is where we found out that God chose us. Now we must decide if we will chose him.

First Thanksgiving - Prayer Not Food

2007-11-19T23:07:00.000-06:00

What image comes to mind when you think of the first Thanksgiving? A turkey cooked over an open fire, or in a wood burning stove? People gathered around a table eating more food than they need? Those are common images that gave inspiration to our American holiday.

I was reading some material on sermomillustrations.com recently and welcomed my own sense of history being corrected. Taken from Today in the Word, July 1990, p. 22, here is the record of a first official time of thanksgiving. Subsequently, I saw this story elsewhere.

"The first American Thanksgiving didn't occur in 1621 when a group of Pilgrims shared a feast with a group of friendly Indians. The first recorded thanksgiving took place in Virginia more than 11 years earlier, and it wasn't a feast. The winter of 1610 at Jamestown had reduced a group of 409 settlers to 60. The survivors prayed for help, without knowing when or how it might come. When help arrived, in the form of a ship filled with food and supplies from England, a prayer meeting was held to give thanks to God."

That was the first Thanksgiving.

What Excites You?

2007-11-07T15:36:00.000-06:00

Reading early this morning in Dale Burke's book, How To Lead and Still Have a Life, I stumbled upon a sentence that halted my reading. It was this: "When your memories are more exciting than your dreams, you've begun to die" (page 115).

Memories are precious. I just reminded a family of that this week during a funeral. I'm grateful for memories of my dad and my wife's mother, who each passed away in recent years. I'm grateful for more distant memories of my wife's dad. But grateful describes my reaction to those memories, not exciting.

What if your most exciting thoughts are about what has already happened? What if life becomes all about preserving the past? How can one live in hope if we are always focused on what has already happened? What of God's promise to Israel in Jeremiah's prophecy: "I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11)? God's people lived for centuries in hope of the coming Messiah. The Christian life is a life of expectation. Adoniram Judson's famous words pulsate with hope: "The future is as bright as the promises of God." We miss the hope of God's coming blessings and challenges when we do not look expectantly to the future.

Certainly our past is foundational. Some people remember great pain in their past. Some look back and see that things were easier, simpler. But the key word is "exciting." Do we want comfort and to be problem free? Or do we want things that excite us, challenge us and cause us to grow?

I think Burke may be right. When memories excite us more than dreams, we may indeed have begun to die.

Hearing the Hard Stuff

2007-11-05T16:51:00.001-06:00

Preaching a brief series on Amos was both exhilarating and enlightening. I thought often of Steve Brown's comment that he nearly emptied the church preaching through Amos. It is a hard message. It pokes painfully at our culture of "turning our backs on the poor." Of course, we feel the pokes.

What amazed me, and encouraged me, was the near silence in the congregation as I preached those messages. Sometimes when I share a moving story or a heavy thought, movement and noise grind to a halt. During that series quiet seemed to be a steady mode. I was heartened. I was "proud" of our congregation. We were getting it.

What will come of it? Only time will tell. My hope is that we (individually and as a church) can truly turn around (repent)and set new agendas. I chatted briefly with the Chairman of our Mission Board recently. I suggested that we find ways for our affluent congregation to connect with the poor. He resonated with that. In America, what congregation is not affluent? Really now. We are so blessed. That blessing need not be the formula for guilt. Guilt only freezes us. But in our abundance we can choose to be generous.

So, let's utter those words first offered as a prayer by Bob pierce, founder of World Vision. He saw appalling suffering in South Korea in the early 50s. War loomed. And from his lips fell these simple words: "Break my heart with the things that break the heart of God."

First Baptist Church - 2012

2007-10-18T21:11:00.000-05:00

Recently, members of one of our committees were asked to pen a “picture” of what we would like our church to be five years from now. It could, perhaps, be cast in the form of an invitation to a friend. So, dream along with me. Here is how I would describe our church to someone . . . five years from now.

At First Baptist Church you will find people eager to experience a transforming relationship with Jesus Christ. You will quickly pick-up that people are moving along a discipleship path. Rooted in a relationship with Jesus Christ, people want to Reach UP to connect with God, Reach IN to connect with Christ in them and with others, and they want to Reach OUT to the community and the world. We are known for our vibrant children’s and youth ministry, but our seniors find First Baptist Church a place where they are important too. We see people launch a relationship with Christ almost weekly. Our church has numerous ministries with the poor. We have a sister relationship with the new church in Honduras. You will enjoy our inviting gathering place called the Fishing Dock, where you can make friends, pray with someone and, on occasion, participate in a helpful workshop. Our church has three worship services and a vibrant Sunday School. You will want to get involved in one of our life-together groups to really get to know people. There are 40 groups like that. Our church has about 800 people in our worship services. We are really excited now because we are launching our second satellite church. The coffee pot is always on. Know you are always welcome.

Let's dream dreams, and offer them to God. Who knows what God may do.

Keep It Simple

2007-09-16T23:21:00.000-05:00

Recently my wife and I watched "The Last Sin Eater." The movie was done by Fox Faith, a division of 20th Century Fox. Many movies have hidden faith applications. This film is straightforward.
The film is based on a practice of Welsh immigrants in 1850 Appalachia. When someone died they looked for The Sin Eater. They believed The Sin Eater would eat that person’s sins. Great fear was associated with The Sin Eater. No one was ever to look him in the eyes. I will not spoil the plot and outcome for those who would like to see the movie (it’s no longer in theaters, but can be rented at your local video store). I recommend it.
It’s interesting how we can get part of the truth. They knew something had to be done about their sins. Someone has to atone for our sins. The Welsh immigrants in Appalachia just got the how wrong. People in 1850 were hurt by this twisted belief. Some people’s lives were utterly destroyed. Religious misinformation can be so damaging.
People today are not looking for The Sin Eater. But equally weird ways are pursued to cover sin. Work it off with religious activity. Beat yourself up in hopes that intense guilt will somehow destroy what caused the guilt. Eat it away. Ignore it . . . and God. Sleep it away. Drink it away. Justify it; everyone is doing it. But guilt can be stubborn.
The message of the early Church was quite simple. Their first affirmation was clear: Christ died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3). Believe that liberating truth in simple faith. There is no need to completely understand it. Just believe it. Rest will come to your troubled mind.

Mother Theresa and Authentic Faith

2007-08-26T16:02:00.000-05:00

I was half listening to the evening news while eating dinner, when I heard a story on Mother Theresa’s struggles with doubt. At times it sounded like a “gotch-ya now” story, as if they were poking a whole in a spiritual giant. Interested, I listened carefully. Then, this weekend I read Time magazine’s cover story on the same subject. According to that story, Mother Theresa did have extensive struggles with times when she did not feel God’s presence. I was struck by her statement that at times "I accept not in my feelings - but with my will, the will of God - I accept His will” ("The Secret Life of Mother Theresa," Time, September 3, 2007, page 42). Time quoted some atheists who jumped on the “see I told you so” band-wagon.
Not so fast.
The Time article led me to wonder if Mother Theresa may, at times, have had a greater sense of her need to love Jesus than the even greater, amazing reality that Jesus loved her. She did exhibit the true nature of belief. Doubt is part of the pathway, the struggle to understand and believe. It seemed that, in both the aired and written stories, there may have been a lack of understanding that doubt often accompanies true belief. They seemed not to understand that the good news in Christ is good news in CHRIST. The truth and reality of Jesus Christ is not found in how strongly people hold on to him or feel his presence. Jesus Christ is truth and reality . . . period.
As I reflected on this story on the evening news, I thought of John the Baptist. He sent some of his disciples to Jesus at a dark moment in his life. Having announced the arrival of Jesus as the Messiah-Christ, he told them now to ask Jesus: “Are you the Messiah, we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?” (Luke 7:19). Jesus told them to tell John what they have seen. “The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor” - all signs of the Messiah. Then he added: “And tell him, ‘God blesses those who do not turn away because of me.'" Sometimes we have to plow through doubt, holding on to what we know to be true whether we feel it or not, or whether we understand it or not. God does bless those who do not turn away.
Mother Theresa never turned away. She ministered in incredible darkness, in places where her spirit must have cried out: “why is this so?” But she never turned away.
The Bible tells us we have this treasure of Jesus Christ in clay pots (2 Corinthians 4:7). Why? So it is clear that God is the power source, not us. The good news in Christ lives in our frail human bodies, and our weak, vulnerable emotions. We are fragile. Brokenness is so close all the time. We need a Savior. It seems that those who wrote and reported about Mother Theresa’ struggles may not have understood that. It seems that they thought that the good news was in the one they could see, that little woman who labored . . . but doubted. But her doubt was the struggle to believe. And that is authentic faith.

What others are writing about these "new revelations" about Mother Theresa . . .
Christianity Today on Mother Thesesa
Dwight Stinnett on Mother Thesesa
Internetmonk on Mother Theresa

A Profound Witness

2006-10-09T20:37:00.000-05:00

A genuine witness to the transforming power of Christ can come in a variety of ways. Now and then, a witness is offered that is truly profound. It stands alone. It is clearly a God thing. I heard such a witness recently. It was during the evening news. As I heard it, tears filled my eyes and I choked up.

It was the Amish response to the tragic murder of their children while they innocently attended school. One man said quietly, "We have to forgive, or else Jesus will not forgive us." What an echo of someone who takes seriously the words of The Lord's Prayer - "Forgive us our debts AS WE FORGIVE (caps mine) our debtors."

That would have been enough. Then a day or so later that humble Amish community, where that tradegy unfolded, set up a fund to help the children of the murderer. They went to the murderer's home to visit his wife and children.

Jesus said "Go into all the world and preach the gospel." That can be done in creative ways. We have computer technology at our disposal, Power Point, pod casting and the like. But rarely have I heard the gospel preached as powerfully as it was from a community that declines all those advances. Nothing is more effective than living the good news, in quietness and confidence.

I Don't Want To Forget

2006-08-08T14:00:00.000-05:00

My eyes riveted on the little child in this picture. The text with the photo explains that it was a Pulitzer prize winning photo, taken by Kevin Carter, in the 1994 Sudan famine. The famine stricken child is crawling towards a United Nations camp located a kilometer away. The vulture is waiting for the child to die, so it can eat the child. No one knows what happened to the child.

An overwhelming sadness gripped me. How does this happen in a civilized world? I was staring at the little boy in this picture. Please look at this photo. Let it soak in. This picture shocked the world when it was released.

Tragically, the photographer, Kevin Carter, overcome by depression, committed suicide three months later. His journal was later found. In it, he wrote: "Dear God, I promise I will never waste my food no matter how bad it can taste and how full I may be. I pray that He will protect this little boy, guide and deliver him away from his misery. I pray that we will be more sensitive towards the world around us and not be blinded by our own selfish nature and interests. I hope this picture will always serve as a reminder to us that how fortunate we are and that we must never ever take things for granted. . . ."

A couple days later I looked at it again. I forwarded it to our daughters’ families. One wrote back: “That is incredible! It nearly took my breath away.” It is beyond any question one of the saddest most moving photographs I have ever seen. That night as I got into bed, the picture of that boy haunted me. I lay on my pillow thinking: What can I do? How can I make a difference?
I thought of Bob Pierce’s famous prayer as he looked at a similar scene: “Oh God, break my heart with the things that break your heart.” Yes, God. I want to work on your agenda.

A woman in a former church I served as pastor sent us the photo. My wife, Mary, was so moved by the photo too. I said to her as we talked about the photo, “Don’t delete that. I don’t want to forget it.”

I don’t know the full answer to the question “What can I do?” But I must wrestle with it. Jesus wants me to wrestle with. It is the terrible imbalance of wealth in our world. The haves and the have-nots grow wider apart. It is our comfort in America. Well stocked grocery store shelves numb us to pictures like this. Our too often exclamation that “I ate too much” is part of a culture that doesn’t remember children like this one.

I know where the answers begin. It starts with a heart broken by the things that break God’s heart. It is motivated by Jesus’ words: “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” I feel a tinge of hope as I think of Rick Warren’s bold, new vision. If churches around the world will work together, we can wipe out poverty and hunger. I think that’s true.

Don’t delete that from your mind. I don’t want you to forget either.

Money and the Church

2006-03-30T08:56:00.000-06:00

Every church at some time has asked: "What if everyone in our church practiced biblical tithing?" If we were good stewards with that money, it could be a powerful tool for a purpose driven church. God's kingdom would be advanced. Only through money? Absolutely not. Without the Holy Spirit's presence and power, the church will do nothing that ultimately matters, even with abundant financial resources. Money is a tool, but only a tool.
I heard a stagering statistic related to this thought. Here's what could happen if the everyone in the church practiced biblical tithing. Ponder this: "If members of historically Christian congregations in the US had given at the 10% level in 2003, an additional $156 billion would have been available for mission." Yes, that is billion with a "b."
I have heard people say that one of the reasons people do not want to give a worthy portion of their money to the church, is that they don't want to unleash such power in the church. Whether or not that is true, the church would be able to better compete with the world with greater financial resources. Think about it. Are we holding back ALL that the church could do by holding back in our giving?
My wife and I began tithing when it made no sense, if you know what I mean. We were just starting out. Our income was meager. But we had this conviction that we should give 10% of all our income to the Lord. It was not well thought out. I did not have a theology of giving. I could not cite biblical texts to support our convictions. But we have practiced biblical giving for 39 years. And we are glad about that. It is true that God will bless you for giving, but not necessarily financially. If fact you may not be able to do some things you wanted to do because you gave away some of your resources. It's all about where your heart is.
We are trying to stretch our giving further. 10% is only a biblical starting point. If we give according to our blessings, we will want to move beyond the norm of tithing.

Who Creates Distortions of Jesus?

2006-02-25T12:34:00.000-06:00

They pulled it. NBC, that is. Their new show, "The Book of Daniel" that stirred no small controversy, was canceled after only three weeks. Our local paper, The News-Gazette, carried a story about it on Friday (Feb 24, 2006, C-2), written by AP Religion Writer, Richard N. Ostling.

I had read about the show in e-mail blurbs floating around. But here it was in print. Some of the chatter that appeared on a couple of Websites was sadly interesting. "It was as if the character of Christ was there for comic relief. . . . It's all a gospel of self-help." Or, "Jesus, 'acts like a wacky Dr. Phil.'" Or, "Nothing about Jesus bearing our pain, shame, sin." Another: "I was amazed at the lack of respect or reverence for the holy Son of God. He is portrayed as if he were an old college pal. . . . To portray Jesus in this comedy as unable to heal, and tolerant to sin, is wrong." Sounds like blasphemy. Nothing short of it.

There is a pressing question, however. Where do people get these distortions of Jesus? Part of it is sloppy research, as stated in The News-Gazette article. "Apparently, television exerts little effort on religious accuracy." Obviously.

But here's what troubles me. What about the in-your-face living-out of who Jesus is by those who follow him? You and me. It's hard to deny the truth in someone who is living in a compelling relationship with Jesus Christ. A transformed Christ follower is the best persuasion for following Jesus Christ.

I am as angry as any Christ-follower about this show even being thought-up, much less aired. The best response, however, may not be to hop on the bandwagon to go beat up NBC. Sure; protest. Put your name on a list that says, I oppose this. But the best response may be to look in the mirror. Ponder. Reflect. What kind of Jesus do I portray to others? Do I distort who he is? When I do remind myself that I am always in need of a Savior by my shortcomings and sin, do I make it clear that I am the sinner and Jesus is the Savior?

Imagine it. Christians across our community, in our state, all over our country, living in such a way that it is crystal clear that we follow a loving, forgiving, holy, powerfully transforming Jesus Christ. At the very least it would make it more difficult for people - be they your neighbor, or a Hollywood producer - to get distortions of Jesus.

Who Does Resentment Really Hurt?

2006-02-02T20:55:00.000-06:00

I was eating dinner Thursday evening and watching a taped Oprah Show with my wife. Actress Susan St. James was Oprah's guest that day. She, her husband and their boys shared their family's experience of dealing with the death of another son in a plane crash. Her husband explained that his wife, Susan, had "shut the door" on bitterness over their son's death. She did not want to go there, and would not let the family go there. She explained that she had long believed that 'being resentful is like taking poison, then hoping the other person dies.' That is one of the best descriptions of what resentment and bitterness does to us that I have ever heard. Resentment focuses on the person or situation over which we are resentful or bitter. But we are the person who is really being hurt. Resentment is a self-inflicted wound. Most of us, of course, do not decide we are going to be resentful. We find oursleves being resentful. It creeps up on us. But knowing we may be the actual victim of the poison we are trying to give someone else, is a motivator to ask God to help us unload it. Grace and peace.

When We Pray for Protection . . . .

2006-01-27T22:05:00.000-06:00

Mary & I went to see the movie, End of the Spear, Friday evening. I had seen it before, but Mary had not. We were both inspired by this amazing story of faith and obedience. It was one of those movies that left us with a heaviness.
Later that evening I drove by my study at church to get a book that had been part of my library for a long time. It was Elizabeth Elliott's book, The Savage Are My Kinsman (published by Harper & Brothers, New York). Elizabeth's husband, Jim, was one of the missionaries who was murdered by the Aucas.
Cornell Capa wrote the forward for that book. He had been asked by Life magazine in 1956 to fly to Ecuador and find out what happened to the five missionaries who lost their lives there. In his Forward there is a telling conversation with Elizabeth Elliott that put me in reflection mode. It redefines protection. Cornell Capa wrote: "I wondered how Betty could reconcile Jim's death at the hands of the Aucas and the Lord's apparent failure to protect him from them. Her answer came back without hesitation: 'I prayed for the protection of Jim, that is, physical protection. The answer the Lord gave transcended what I had in mind. He gave protection from disobedience and through Jim's death accomplished results the magnitude of which only Eternity can show'" (page 13-14).
How many times have you prayed for protection for you or someone else, and thought of being protected from disobeying God? It doesn't take much reflection to realize that praying for protection from disobedience is a far higher priority than praying for protection from physical harm. It is one more way to transform our thinking to interpret life's events with Eternity's values in mind.

The Worse Thing That Can Happen

2006-01-26T21:25:00.000-06:00

I was re-reading our Christmas cards again tonight to be sure I hadn't missed one. There was the letter from our friends, Richard and Becky. Becky passed away from brain cancer on November 28. Richard called us on New Year's Day. Then he stopped through and spent a night with us about ten days ago. It was so good to share this time of sorrow with him, and our joy in Christ. As I looked over Richard's Christmas letter again, one sentence caught my eye. Richard wrote about Becky: "She has consistently shared, ‘living without Christ as Lord is worse than having terminal cancer!'” What a powerful statement! The worse thing that can happen is living without Christ as Lord. Yes! Unless a person knows Christ, nothing else ultimately matters.

End of the Spear

2006-01-25T08:10:00.000-06:00

Have you seen End of the Spear released this past weekend? I had an opportunity to see the film in October while attending a conference in Chicago. It was an uncut version, not the one released this weekend. I was deeply moved. What happens when someone lies about someone else? How do we deal with the potent force of anger? Is it possible to forgive someone who murdered a loved one? Would a close relationship with that person ever be possible? This powerful story needs to be told. And it is told very well. End of the Spear has come to the big screen on the 50th anniversary of the murder of five American missionaries in Ecuador.

Recently I received material from the companies who put this story on the screen: Every Tribe Entertainment (everytribe.com) and Bearing Fruit Communications (bearingfruit.org). Looking over their materials, I was drawn to their Websites. I was so excited about their vision, I could hardly get to sleep that night. Unfortunately, it was Saturday, only a sunrise from Sunday.

Their vision is simple: our culture needs better stories. Ponder, for example, this quote from the brochure by Bearing Fruit: “The destiny of the world is determined less by the battles that are lost and won than by the stories it loves and believes in” - Harold Goddard. Or, consider the moral mudslide in our county alongside this thought: “A people are as healthy and confident as the stories they tell themselves. Sick storytellers can make nations sick” - Ben Okri.

What could happen if a film making company like this succeeds? Let your mind imagine the impact by considering another couple sentences from that same brochure: “We don’t believe audiences are deliberately looking for ways to lower their moral sensitivity. Rather, we think they have a natural desire for story experiences, and would choose stories with biblical virtues if they were just as entertaining as those without them.”

Of course, Jesus was a master storyteller. He was way ahead of the game. Put it in your plans. See End of the Spear.

Stepping to the Plate

2006-01-24T11:48:00.000-06:00

Well, it’s time to step to the plate and take a swing at a 21st century mode of communication. Our staff has been reminding me (i.e., bugging, nagging me) to get started. Write a blog (a Web log), they say. So what’s the problem? Writer’s block? Ideas going subzero? Nothing catching my attention? No. One more thing to do? Maybe. Then I saw this cartoon in the current issue of Leadership magazine (Winter, 2006, Vol. XXVII Number 1, page 11), and I knew immediately what had happened to me.

Jesus changed his methodology so he spoke where people were listening (or reading). And Jesus is my awesome model. So, here goes.

Stop by now and then. I’ll do some ruminating here. Join in the dialogue if you like. And by the way, what is the big deal about blogging? It reminds me a lot of the title of a column Joe Bayly used to write for Eternity magazine. He called his column Out of My Mind. Of course you can read that a couple ways. Yeah, and both ways could describe blogging.

Cautions for the Church in Transition

2005-08-29T10:11:00.000-05:00

The Church across America is in transition. There are so many ideas of what makes an effective church. It makes you dizzy. In a given day, two people may share a thought with me about how we could really make our church what it should be. It‘s not uncommon for those thoughts to be diametrically opposed. My eyes and ears are open to people who speak out of a Biblical world view, are Spirit directed, but also recognize that the culture has changed. Therefore, the way we do ministry must stay fresh, and will need to be altered. But yellow lights should flash for us when we travel down that road. As more and more is thrown our way, leaders must navigate the pulls in all directions. How do we effectively balance transitions, and find the Spirit’s direction?

Recently I caught some thoughts from Wayne Cordiero, from New Hope Community Church in Hawaii. Those thoughts appeared on the "Currents" page (page 11) of the Summer 2005 issue of Leadership magazine, published by Christianity Today. Wayne Cordiero’s thoughts capture the careful balances so needed in our run-to-a-new-idea culture, that has slipped into the Church.

Leadership called them "A Leader’s Oxymorons".
>> To stay current, stay ancient.
>> To move forward, remain anchored.
>> To serve more people, get alone more.
>> To accomplish more, do less.
>> To be more fruitful, prune.

Now, that’s helpful.