Social Experiment

I was on a retreat a few weeks ago and decided I needed to take a survey of the Southern Baptist Pastors and Wives in attendance. I asked what do you need to teach a new believe? It always came back to two things, How to read your Bible and How to Pray.

As I look at these things I can't help but think that what we really need is to learn how to communicate with the Father. How to look at His love for us and respond with thoughtful response to Him. So what do we need to do?

Read your Bible and Pray every day.

I have to admit that with my Busyness at times I miss my time to read and pray. My desire to wake in the morning read God's word and then pray asking Him to bless my day. What about you? Do you remember to Read and Pray every day?

It is my desire to relearn these techniques to be able to communicate them to my friends who are new believers and encourage them to know the Father in more intimate ways.

Mondays and Ministry

As I sit here sipping a halfway decent cup of coffee listening to the gossip at the next table and enjoying watching the college students flirt their way through their shift at the bagel shop I realize that most people don't know what I am going through. It is Monday morning, yesterday I was exhausted as I stepped in the pulpit, I cried after the service as a friend declared he didn't know if God was really God, I ate lunch with good friends trying to avoid the awkwardness of the pain we have both felt this past week, took a too long nap and then taught the most horrendous lesson on adultery I have ever heard because of the immaturity of the young believers and their "off color" comments. Today it is Monday, I am desperate to see God move on behalf of the young believers, to transform their minds and draw them closer to Him.

I am struggling to understand the movement of God from week to week, to know how He will move and what to prepare for. In a couple hours I will go to work, do some ministry and play with my family. What will God do? I don't know, but I am loving every minute of it. A new friend commented Saturday night that a called pastor is reluctant, because He knows it will hurt, but God has called and so the pastor acts.

It is Monday, it hurts, but it is time to act. My 10am meeting is here, I act, Lord don't let it hurt too much.

Long Time Coming

It is Friday afternoon and there is so much going on I don't know when my next break will be... October 1, maybe, or later... This brings me to the question, how much can you bear? For a long time I thought I was an all-star at bearing under what God would have me do. As I think now, that was wrong... I was a poor performer because I did not share the load with those that God placed around me. When I did not share the burden with Christ I limited who could bear the load to myself. When I turn the load over to Jesus, He shares it with me and those He chooses that can assist in work at hand, mainly the church. What are you doing to support your Pastor? What about the Elders? Or Deacons? Or Ministry Leaders? Or the Ushers or the person wiping your kids nose while you are enjoying the service?

Each one of us has a load to bear from our calling, our life and dealing with sin, our own and others'. Are you willing to give that load to Christ? What about helping with someone else's load are you willing to share if Christ calls?

I am getting better at sharing, but I always need a few more trustworthy friends to bear the load with... Will you be one?

Faith and a Job hunt

How does one balance looking for a Job and the reliance of God's provision. Every step we have taken to start a church in Superior has been bathed in prayer. Well Lord you have called us, prepared us and brought us to your town for your glory. We stand in the midst of the need for Your provision and I can't help but wonder what You have planned. Lord in the midst of this trial I cannot help but have faith in You to provide the right job at the right time for Your glory.

Lord move or move me.

New Calvinists

10 years ago, in the midst of college I realized I held Calvinistic beliefs. I was excited to finally have a label on what I believed. In the intervening years I waffled, Seminary and the desire for better grades will do that to a person. More recently I have noted my lack of deep theological understanding is affecting the way that I preach and the way I work in the church. To rectify this problem I have decided to explore, as Time Magazine has so aptly stated, New Calvinism.

The problem I have is that New Calvinism is not really all that new and different. The new is referring to the age of the adherents, mostly 20-40 year-olds. So I am left with studying the theology of the Reformers and Puritans, and then looking at the pet projects of the new leaders like Piper, Sproul, Mahaney and Driscoll. Berkhof is on the list as well, but I really want to see a repository of thought with reviews of materials so I that I don't have to spend hours reading texts that agree with one another.

God as I reaffirm my belief in you, help me to establish it based on who you are rather than on what I understand.

Pioneer Church Planting

I have often contemplated the direction of my church planting efforts there are a few things that I will die for in planting a church.

1. Following Jesus
My colleagues claim it is a calling, a word from God, or a vision of the future that God has revealed. I have never had a direct vision from God, God has not spoken to me, or even called to me verbally. No quite the opposite is true, God's word specifically states that we should Love God and our Love for Him calls us to share His love with others. The best way I can describe it is God's call is for all believers to use the giftings He has given us for His glory.

2. Indigenous Planting
We plant churches to reach the community for Jesus. The people who grew up in the neighborhood need to know Jesus, they desperately need to know Him. It is those who grew up here that will turn their lives over to Him and cause others in the community to know Him as well.

3. Proclaiming Christ and Him Crucified
The only way people can know the truth of who God is is through the proclamation of Jesus' sacrifice and His grace given to all of humanity.

4. Local Support, Global Attitude
The local church must be willing to launch and assist the planter in starting this new work. The support must be generous and exceptional. The local church must see the need for a new expression of faith and be willing to sacrifice to launch the ministry. Not only in the local area but also through the whole world.

Loving God to Love Others

I am constantly drawn back to the truths of God's word. Especially when it comes to my relationship with the Father. I turn to His word for direction, now more than ever.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (HCSB)
4"Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One. 5Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

Leviticus 19:18 (HCSB)
Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.

Mark 12:28-31 (HCSB)
28One of the scribes approached. When he heard them debating and saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked Him, "Which commandment is the most important of all?"29"This is the most important," Jesus answered: Listen, Israel! The Lord our God, The Lord is One. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.31"The second is: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these."

As a child my third grade Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Merry shared the Love of Jesus through practical care and grace. To a rowdy class of boys and girls she blessed us with an unfailing love that engaged us, challenging us to awaken spiritually making the Bible, for the first time, God's love letter to us. Rev. Brewer taught us the life of Joseph emphasizing God's omniscience and omnipresence while revealing God's foreknowledge for all of life. This established a firm foundational relationship with Jesus that could not be shaken.

But is could be swayed. Jesus remained the same, but the need to Jesus transformed.... To knowledge, life skills, thought processes and tasks. Even more so in college, then again in the first years of ministry my relationship with Jesus was based on performance rather than Love.

In establishing relationality with the Father I found myself once again drawn back to the foundational truths taught by Mrs. Merry, Rev. Brewer and my Grandfather. Love God, Love Others, and whether you are Brilliant or Dumb it is God that Leads, it is all about God.

Here I am Lord use my Love for You to reveal Your Love for others, for that is what my Love for You leads me to.

Love the Lord, Love others, Led by the Lord.