I didn't know quite what to expect as Cliff and I walked up to St. Giles Presbyterian Church in Richmond. We knew we were coming for a prayer meeting, but "prayer meeting" means different things to different people in different places ... would the emphasis be on "prayer" or "meeting"? So, my stereotypes were in place ... this was an ecumenical meeting (which sometimes equals liberal), at an old traditional looking church. I love it when God blows my stereotypes. As we entered and got our name tags on I began to observe ... people of different colors, different ages, different genders ... but one purpose ... calling out to God in prayer.
People were sharing prayer requests about obtaining more resources to expand ministries, about racial reconciliation, for God to use them to glorify His name. And I knew I was in the right place when the prayer began and there was a chorus of "yes Lords" and "hallelujahs." It turned out to be one of the most powerful prayer meetings I've been to in a long time.
One of the most powerful moments was when we split into small groups to continue prayer, and three strong, authoritative black men invited little ole me to join them in prayer. Mr Don was first to pray ... he poured out his heart to God asking Him to bless me and my family and Movement Church. Mr Otis followed suit, and before it was over three men who didn't know me from anyone had passionately prayed ... for me. I was so honored and humbled.
Other highlights included: Mrs Rosa's powerful prayer (which included clapping and shouting), spontaneous singing during prayer, and a great breakfast and fellowship that followed. This is one monthly event that we won't miss. Praise God for leading us to this incredible meeting.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
You've Just Made An Outrageous Claim
That's what he told me. We were sitting there in the Applebee's in Wake Forest... 2 for 20 was the deal, I think I had the chicken. Anyway, Eddie told me ... oh, Eddie McCabe, he's a guy who works at BBandT; I met him there and asked him if he'd like to have lunch and talk about religion ... so, Eddie told me I had made an outrageous claim. And I had. I just didn't realize how outrageous it was until I saw Eddie's reaction as we discussed the Gospel. Here's how it started: I had asked Eddie whether it was accurate to assert that all religion really dealt with these two questions: what is the problem with the world? ... and how can it be fixed? This led inevitably to a discussion about the problem of sin and God's answer for this problem.
I told him that God had come to earth to redeem humanity and provide a way back into a relationship with Him. (I Peter 3:18 says "For Christ died for sins, once for all, the just for the unjust, to bring you to God." It was at this point, as I referenced the pre-Fall world and the intimacy that Adam and Eve had with God, that the outrageous claim was made. I told Eddie that God had made a way through Christ for us to experience intimacy with Him once again. That's when he asked me if I meant the same kind of relationship Adam and Eve had before sin. And I said, "yes, spiritually that is." "That's a pretty outrageous claim" was his response. And I realized ... it was.
Then he asked me what my source was. Oh how I wanted to give a simple answer, "the Bible." For a minute I was on my heels ... had I gotten so used to the "outrageous claims" of the Gospel that I wasn't able to point to the specific places in God's Word that articulated its truths? So I went to Colossians 1:19-22, "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Christ), and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation."
I paid for our lunch, we parted, and planned to do it again sometime. Later I sent him an email with more Scripture. But I'll never forget how I felt when I realized just how outrageous the claim of the Gospel is ... that we can be reconciled to God and enjoy pre-Fall fellowship with Him because of what Christ has done on our behalf.
I told him that God had come to earth to redeem humanity and provide a way back into a relationship with Him. (I Peter 3:18 says "For Christ died for sins, once for all, the just for the unjust, to bring you to God." It was at this point, as I referenced the pre-Fall world and the intimacy that Adam and Eve had with God, that the outrageous claim was made. I told Eddie that God had made a way through Christ for us to experience intimacy with Him once again. That's when he asked me if I meant the same kind of relationship Adam and Eve had before sin. And I said, "yes, spiritually that is." "That's a pretty outrageous claim" was his response. And I realized ... it was.
Then he asked me what my source was. Oh how I wanted to give a simple answer, "the Bible." For a minute I was on my heels ... had I gotten so used to the "outrageous claims" of the Gospel that I wasn't able to point to the specific places in God's Word that articulated its truths? So I went to Colossians 1:19-22, "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Christ), and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation."
I paid for our lunch, we parted, and planned to do it again sometime. Later I sent him an email with more Scripture. But I'll never forget how I felt when I realized just how outrageous the claim of the Gospel is ... that we can be reconciled to God and enjoy pre-Fall fellowship with Him because of what Christ has done on our behalf.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
A Happy Mother's Day
... is usually had by more than just the mother ... it's the kids who are often very happy on this day as they count their blessings and recognize God's goodness to them in the gift of a mother who has loved them and raised them well ... at least that's my experience today. So ... a Happy Mother's Day to me, because of the mother I've been given! And a Happy Mother's Day to her ... because she deserves it as much as anyone I know (of course, "deserve" can take on different connotations depending on how much you know about us, the children ... ha, ha).
The thing I think my mom would probably appreciate the most is a few pictures of Trey. A couple of these were from today a really cute place called Hill Ridge Farms where Trey got to feed goats and catfish and play in a huge pile of dried corn! Enjoy Mom ... we love you so much!
The thing I think my mom would probably appreciate the most is a few pictures of Trey. A couple of these were from today a really cute place called Hill Ridge Farms where Trey got to feed goats and catfish and play in a huge pile of dried corn! Enjoy Mom ... we love you so much!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
So, About Missional ...
We desire Movement Church to be a missional community. In the last blog I put down some brief thoughts about community, so what about missional? What does that mean? Did I make that up? Am I in a cult? No ... and no. The word missional is used in some church leadership circles today to describe a certain type of church. A church that is more outward focused than inward focused, a church that is more about people than programs, a church that would sooner attend an event in the community than ask the community to attend one of their events, a church that would rather bring the church to the people than expect the people to come to church.
The term is sometimes put up against the term "attractional." In an attractional model, your church seeks to attract the lost in the community to come to you; in a missional model, your church goes to the lost in the community and brings the message to them. Let me say that I don't think it is wrong to be attractive to your community, in fact, a loving body of believers practicing the one anothers should be attractive. I just think the attraction should be genuine relationships, not cutting edge programs.
So, as a missional church we desire to be involved in the events and culture of our city and to have a presence in our community on the common man's turf. To be there, and to be intentional about connecting with people, loving people, and, in loving them, sharing the truth of the Gospel with them. This is the mission we are on. This is a snapshot of what it means to be missional.
The term is sometimes put up against the term "attractional." In an attractional model, your church seeks to attract the lost in the community to come to you; in a missional model, your church goes to the lost in the community and brings the message to them. Let me say that I don't think it is wrong to be attractive to your community, in fact, a loving body of believers practicing the one anothers should be attractive. I just think the attraction should be genuine relationships, not cutting edge programs.
So, as a missional church we desire to be involved in the events and culture of our city and to have a presence in our community on the common man's turf. To be there, and to be intentional about connecting with people, loving people, and, in loving them, sharing the truth of the Gospel with them. This is the mission we are on. This is a snapshot of what it means to be missional.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
On the Edge ... Movement Church
Joanna and Trey and I will be moving to Richmond VA this summer to do something crazy ... start a church. We will be joining Cliff Jordan and his family in this faith-stretching strategic venture for God's glory. I want to do some quick blogs over the next several weeks and work through some of our vision for what will be Movement Church. (For a more thorough discussion see www.moverichmond.org)
That's me ... and Cliff, Cliff Jordan. We were on a huge rock on the edge of a cliff (different cliff) that dropped down to the Arkansas River. And as we sat there and looked out ... and down, I realized my situation was similar to what it will be when we move to Richmond this summer to plant a church ... on the edge. The edge of what? Lots of things I think ... but mostly I'm praying we're on the edge of a glorious move of God to make His name and character known in the City of Richmond. And that's a church, that's the church we hope to start.
Here's a brief thought about our heart for Movement Church:
* A missional community - when I say community I mean a group of people that value Relational Depth. Valuing Relational Depth will be demonstrated by genuinely caring about people, and cultivating mutual accountability and encouragement. That means ... when someone in our church is sick, celebrating, hurting, happy, or living in patterns of addiction or sin ... we're there, we're there to bear their burdens (Gal. 6:1,2), to celebrate their sanctification, to cry their tears, and to join their joy.
There's some thoughts on community ... check back in, more on missional later.
That's me ... and Cliff, Cliff Jordan. We were on a huge rock on the edge of a cliff (different cliff) that dropped down to the Arkansas River. And as we sat there and looked out ... and down, I realized my situation was similar to what it will be when we move to Richmond this summer to plant a church ... on the edge. The edge of what? Lots of things I think ... but mostly I'm praying we're on the edge of a glorious move of God to make His name and character known in the City of Richmond. And that's a church, that's the church we hope to start.Here's a brief thought about our heart for Movement Church:
* A missional community - when I say community I mean a group of people that value Relational Depth. Valuing Relational Depth will be demonstrated by genuinely caring about people, and cultivating mutual accountability and encouragement. That means ... when someone in our church is sick, celebrating, hurting, happy, or living in patterns of addiction or sin ... we're there, we're there to bear their burdens (Gal. 6:1,2), to celebrate their sanctification, to cry their tears, and to join their joy.
There's some thoughts on community ... check back in, more on missional later.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Resonation With Reconciliation
That may sound weird, but I'm pretty sure there's a huge part of our heart that resonates with the concept, the value, the principle, the picture ... of reconciliation, that beautiful thing that takes place when two hearts return to one another.
So, here's what happened ... we had our friends, Spencer and Jana, over to hang out, eat spaghetti, watch a movie, and eat brownies and ice cream - classic Saturday night. We were discussing which movie to watch ... the potentials were: Elizabethtown, First Knight, Hitch, Knight's Tale ... all good options, but then a movie was starting on TV ... Just Like Heaven. (Reese Witherspoon and that guy from 13 Going on Thirty ... not that I've seen 13 Going on Thirty, but I heard he was in it ... anyway) We decided to just watch that.
Well, like any good movie it had us wrapped up pretty good about halfway through as we were starting to really wonder whether the two main characters were gonna get together. And it really had us wrapped up right at the end when one of them decides to do something crazy in the name of love. But sure enough, at the least opportune time a basic commercial break turns into a 10 minute break due to tornado warning updates from the weather guy ...
We were considerably less than happy about this (I know, very insensitive) and the four of us sat there, waiting, wondering ... what was happening in the movie (which at this point had gone from fiction to reality in our story driven minds), how much longer is this guy gonna be, will they pause the movie or will it continue and we miss the most crucial part of the whole thing? I could just picture the weather guy saying "we now return you to your originally scheduled program" ... only to have the screen change to a picture of our lovers kissing in the sunset and us having no idea how the conflict was resolved! And it was killing us!
Just when we thought we couldn't take it anymore, the movie comes back on ... and our worst fears were realized ... no, the tornado wasn't headed our way ... the story had gone on without us, we got dumped back in having missed the most crucial aspect of any narrative - the conflict resolution! We quickly turned the channel while expressing our true brokenness over not knowing how things got worked out ... not to fear, we live in the age of the internet ... within minutes we've pulled the movie up on Youtube and are finding where we left off ... sweet relief ... as you may suspect, the story ended with the kiss of two lovers ... together again ... ahh, sweet reconciliation ... the heartbeat of human longing.
What in the name of narrative was going on in our hearts that made us so set on finishing the story, knowing what happened, and HOW?! What were our hearts communicating to us about how we're wired? Why were we so irritated with the poor meteorologist who was keeping us from the narrative our hearts had connected to and needed to return to? Ok, I get it, tornado warnings are important, lives are at stake ... but in our hearts something else big was at stake ... reconciliation ... and not just reconciliation, the means of reconciliation. We're hard wired for story, relationship, and purpose ... and in a broken world, reconciliation is a key part of any of those. Our hearts demand several things ... to be part of a story, to know that it works out in the end, AND to know HOW and WHY it works out in the end! Why wasn't it enough to just see them kissing at the end and be happy knowing they got together? We had to know how, and this isn't just some culturally conditioned movie madness ... the desires we experienced open a little window to our hearts ... and to our design.
I believe every human heart understands that we live in a broken world, and they long to know that it's going to work out, but as much as they want reconciliation, they also want to know how it can be. As Christians, we value Genesis 3 because it lets us know why the world is broken, we value the Revelation because it lets us know that it's going to work out for good in the end, God wins. BUT ... Revelation wouldn't be near as satisfying without ... the Gospels ... the MEANS of reconciliation. We long to know it's going to be ok, but we also long to know how it is possible that it's going to be ok ... and for Christians, there's only one answer ... the cross ... our means of reconciliation.
May my heart beat as passionately for a deeper understanding of the beauty of the cross as is did to finish the movie tonight.
So, here's what happened ... we had our friends, Spencer and Jana, over to hang out, eat spaghetti, watch a movie, and eat brownies and ice cream - classic Saturday night. We were discussing which movie to watch ... the potentials were: Elizabethtown, First Knight, Hitch, Knight's Tale ... all good options, but then a movie was starting on TV ... Just Like Heaven. (Reese Witherspoon and that guy from 13 Going on Thirty ... not that I've seen 13 Going on Thirty, but I heard he was in it ... anyway) We decided to just watch that.
Well, like any good movie it had us wrapped up pretty good about halfway through as we were starting to really wonder whether the two main characters were gonna get together. And it really had us wrapped up right at the end when one of them decides to do something crazy in the name of love. But sure enough, at the least opportune time a basic commercial break turns into a 10 minute break due to tornado warning updates from the weather guy ...We were considerably less than happy about this (I know, very insensitive) and the four of us sat there, waiting, wondering ... what was happening in the movie (which at this point had gone from fiction to reality in our story driven minds), how much longer is this guy gonna be, will they pause the movie or will it continue and we miss the most crucial part of the whole thing? I could just picture the weather guy saying "we now return you to your originally scheduled program" ... only to have the screen change to a picture of our lovers kissing in the sunset and us having no idea how the conflict was resolved! And it was killing us!
Just when we thought we couldn't take it anymore, the movie comes back on ... and our worst fears were realized ... no, the tornado wasn't headed our way ... the story had gone on without us, we got dumped back in having missed the most crucial aspect of any narrative - the conflict resolution! We quickly turned the channel while expressing our true brokenness over not knowing how things got worked out ... not to fear, we live in the age of the internet ... within minutes we've pulled the movie up on Youtube and are finding where we left off ... sweet relief ... as you may suspect, the story ended with the kiss of two lovers ... together again ... ahh, sweet reconciliation ... the heartbeat of human longing.
What in the name of narrative was going on in our hearts that made us so set on finishing the story, knowing what happened, and HOW?! What were our hearts communicating to us about how we're wired? Why were we so irritated with the poor meteorologist who was keeping us from the narrative our hearts had connected to and needed to return to? Ok, I get it, tornado warnings are important, lives are at stake ... but in our hearts something else big was at stake ... reconciliation ... and not just reconciliation, the means of reconciliation. We're hard wired for story, relationship, and purpose ... and in a broken world, reconciliation is a key part of any of those. Our hearts demand several things ... to be part of a story, to know that it works out in the end, AND to know HOW and WHY it works out in the end! Why wasn't it enough to just see them kissing at the end and be happy knowing they got together? We had to know how, and this isn't just some culturally conditioned movie madness ... the desires we experienced open a little window to our hearts ... and to our design.
I believe every human heart understands that we live in a broken world, and they long to know that it's going to work out, but as much as they want reconciliation, they also want to know how it can be. As Christians, we value Genesis 3 because it lets us know why the world is broken, we value the Revelation because it lets us know that it's going to work out for good in the end, God wins. BUT ... Revelation wouldn't be near as satisfying without ... the Gospels ... the MEANS of reconciliation. We long to know it's going to be ok, but we also long to know how it is possible that it's going to be ok ... and for Christians, there's only one answer ... the cross ... our means of reconciliation.
May my heart beat as passionately for a deeper understanding of the beauty of the cross as is did to finish the movie tonight.
Friday, March 6, 2009
This Could Be My End
That's what I was thinking as I sprinted through the woods ... angry barking dog at my heels. I had been walking in the woods for some fellowship with the Creator. A beautiful day, a babbling brook, cool breeze, and some great time to breathe deep, focus on the goodness of God, and remember why I exist. And as much as I enjoyed the time it was time to head home. I was walking through someone's backyard for just a sec, headed back into the woods to take a shortcut home ... still in a meditative peaceful mode ... when I heard the sound of a ferocious man eating dog barking and charging me. I went immediately into a dead sprint, dodging trees and hoping for the best. But at one point I was quite certain this dog would indeed catch up with me, tackle me from behind, and proceed to eat my flesh. At that point I decided I wasn't goin' out like that, so I stopped, turned around and proceeded to yell at the dog. Amazingly it stopped (which I thought at the time was due to an invisible fence but ... people don't bury invisible dog fences in the woods ... he was intimidated by me), but he continued to snarl and bark and desire me for his next meal. So I took off again and he didn't follow, but I heard its owner calling him. I thought that it was a call to come back home and leave the poor innocent pedestrian alone, but when I got out of the loud rustle of leaves and was on the road I heard quite the opposite: "good boy, get him ..." What kinda nut? Anyway ... It's funny how quickly I went from peaceful communion with God to running for my life. Sounds a lot like walking out the front door of a church after a service. I think my ferocious dog anecdote paints a good picture of the reality of the world at war that we live in. Whether we stay aware of it or not, the world is not a friendly place to those who are in Christ. And as important as it is to have those times of peaceful communion with God, it is just as important to stay alert as we re-enter the world at war. I Peter 5:8 puts it like this, "Be self controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." Lion, dog, whatever, the point is - the enemy is real, and just like the owner displayed no pity on the poor shmuck running for his life through the woods ... our adversary shows no pity. So it is extremely important to seek and enjoy those intimate times with God, but always be alert and re-enter this world ready to fight (or run in my case ... maybe that's where the analogy breaks down?) ... remembering Jesus' words: "In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world." John 16:33.
Some of you are wondering how I managed to get a picture of the killer dog ... let's just say sacrifices were made to enhance the effect of this post. Dedicated bloggers press on.
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