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Archive for the ‘Missions’ Category

Planned Spontaneity

Posted in Formation, Missions on November 18, 2009| Leave a Comment »

As I was taking Bryson to school today (our youngest) we were talking about the day and the fact that he is participating in the UIL competition this afternoon.  His event is “Impromptu.”  I know what the word means but I am not sure what all is involved in this competition but I am sure it has something to do with not knowing what is coming.

At any rate, as we were driving I asked him this question, “What time is your Impromptu?”  After I said it, the comedy of the question hit me.  If you know what time it happens, is it still impromptu?  Bryson and I had a good laugh about it.

But it got me to thinking (man I say that a lot don’t I).  All of us need a routine, some more than others, but if our schedule does not allow for impromptu meetings, or prompting by the Spirit of God to get involved in someone else’s day, then I don’t believe we are leaving much room for God to work.

So here is your challenge today – be spontaneous.  Now stop laughing – I realize I am asking you to plan to be spontaneous and in and of itself, that makes no sense.  What I am asking you to do is to be open to the idea that God just might prompt you to pick up the phone and call someone you haven’t talked to in a while.  Or you may be led to go beyond the cordial greetings with the checkout person at the store and ask how they are really doing today.

Just be open to God’s movement today and everyday.  I would love to hear what God does in and through you today!

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Prayer in a Taxi

Posted in Community, Grace, Missions on November 10, 2009| 1 Comment »

It was a short 10 minute taxi ride from the hotel to the San Diego airport on Sunday.  It was early and I was more than ready to be home.  But I felt compelled to get to know the driver.  So I asked him how long he had been in the beautiful city of San Diego, to which he replied, “Five years.”  So I asked the next sensical question, “Where were you before that?”  He told me that he grew up in Africa and had been in the US for only five years.  He asked if I had ever been to Africa and I told him I had not but it is one of the places I want to visit some day.  He asked what I do for a living and so I told him that I am a minister in a church.

He began a conversation about Christianity and his Muslim faith of Islam.  I asked if he was able to practice his religion here and he explained that it is hard to be faithful when the strict practice requires all men to attend the mosque five times per day to pray.  I explained that Christians believe that we should pray regularly throughout the day as well but that we can do it anywhere.  We discussed the similarities in our heritage and in the difficulty of being faithful to our beliefs.

As we pulled onto the airport property, I knew our time together was drawing to an end so I asked his name.  As we parked, I asked him if it would offend him if I prayed for him.  He said it wouldn’t, so we sat in the car near the curb at the Southwest check-in and I prayed for my driver, Mohammed.  It was a very brief prayer, but when I raised my head to look at him, he was smiling.

That was it, I retrieved my bags from his trunk, shook his hand and paid the fare.  I am not so pious to think that my effort and concern made a huge impact in Mohammed’s life – maybe it did.  But I can tell you that my eyes and heart were opened to the fact that we are all human beings with similar desires and interests – with real convictions and beliefs.  Now please understand, I do not subscribe to the doctrine of Islam and I certainly don’t condone the actions of the extremists.  But I do believe that Jesus calls us to love everyone – no matter who they are or what they believe.

Is there room in your heart to love someone who doesn’t see things as you do today?

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A Triangle Has Three Sides

Posted in Church, Community, Formation, Missions on November 4, 2009| Leave a Comment »

I just finished Brian McLaren’s book, Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the  Ancient Practices.  I have read other works by McLaren and have never been disappointed in what he says or the impact of what his words have on my spiritual walk.  I encourage you to look into his books.

This particular book is one in a series published by Thomas Nelson covering spiritual practices.  I have mentioned spiritual practices or disciplines here before.  While the thought may be foreign to some of us, the use of different spiritual practices to draw us closer to God is as old as Christianity itself.  At any rate, in this book, McLaren focuses on three categories of practices that he suggests (and I agree) are inseparable – using a diagram of a triangle to illustrate the connection.  On one corner of the triangle we find the contemplative elements (meditation, prayer, etc.).  On another corner we find communal elements (worship, communion, fellowship, etc.).  And on the third corner we find the missional elements (service, outward focus, etc.).  The point that McLaren makes is that we cannot be complete without all three areas.

The tendency for most Christians is to strive in one or two areas to the detriment of the others.  We have to be balanced.  Contemplative elements without missional elements becomes pharisaical introversion but missional elements without the contemplative and communal elements become secular socialism.

God called each of us to a relationship with God.  The result of that growing relationship will have dramatic effects on everyone around us.  McLaren says that if we don’t have all three elements, we are incomplete and “sub-Christian.”

I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be sub-Christian.  I want my devotional, contemplative life to flow into my communal life in relating to and serving along side other believers.  These two elements should then naturally flow into service or missional efforts in the world around me.

Just remember – God did not call us out of boredom – God has a plan.  God expects us to seek to grow spiritually, grow closer to other followers of the way and to be light in a dark world.  It all goes together.

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Keep It Simple

Posted in Grace, Hope, Missions on October 30, 2009| Leave a Comment »

One of the quotes I have pinned to my bulletin board caught my eye yesterday.  It is a quote from a jazz legend named Charles Mingus.  Here is what he said, “Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.”

Reading this quote has had me thinking off and on since.  I have had this question rolling around in my head since yesterday, “Have I made the simple message of the Gospel complicated?”

I think one of the downfalls of the church is the sad truth that we have taken a simple message of love and forgiveness and made it immensely complicated.  Instead of focusing on a relationship, we have made it about religion.  Instead of concentrating on freedom, we have made it about rules.

God loves you and wants to have a relationship with you – that’s it in a nutshell.

It really is that simple!  Have you made it more complicated?

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How Will They Ever Hear?

Posted in Church, Community, Formation, Missions on October 9, 2009| 1 Comment »

I have been working through the book of Romans for quite some time during my prayer time.  I have been camping out in chapter 10 for weeks.  I think God is trying to tell me something.  Maybe God will use this to tell you something as well.

Romans 10:14 is a very logical illustration of how God’s plan to spread the Good News should work.  You can look at it here.

Paul, in the previous verse, has explained that anyone who cries out to God will be rescued.  Then Paul moves into a very logically explanation of what this should look like by asking some questions.  People can’t cry out to someone they don’t believe in or trust.  And they certainly can’t trust in someone of whom they have never heard.  And they will never hear about God’s love and trustworthiness if no one tells them about God.

All very logical.  We know this is true – but what do we do about it?  How does this verse, this logical explanation of God’s plan, play out in your life everyday?

God could have chosen to redeem the world in any number of ways, but this is the plan chosen.  Be the hands, feet and voice of God today.

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Eternity Is A Mighty Long Time

Posted in Community, Hope, Missions, Uncategorized on September 24, 2009| Leave a Comment »

I did a lot of driving yesterday, about 8 hours in the car.  But somewhere between Waco and Levelland I saw a billboard that said, “Eternity is a long time.”  As I drove, I thought a lot about that statement.  Of course, on the surface it is somewhat comical in the sense that, of course it is a long time – eternity means forever.

But I began to the think about the meaning behind the statement – the idea that eternity is forever, so we better make sure we know where we are going to spend it.  I also began to think about the assumption that this statement puts out there.  We tend to think of eternity as a place, or at least period that begins after we die.  Honestly, when you hear the question, “Where are you going to spend eternity?”  what is the first thing you think of?  For me, my mind automatically jumps to where I will go when I die.

But here is something I want to challenge you with:  as Jesus followers, eternity has already begun (in all honesty, eternity has already begun for all others as well).  So maybe we need to think more along the lines that what we are doing today is part of that eternity.

More concretely, think of it this way:  we don’t need to think of a separation between this life and the next – we simply change addresses when we die.  When we choose to follow Jesus and bend our will to his, we have already begun our eternity.  And what we do here and now not only carries with us, it also affects the eternity of others.

So since you are already living in eternity, what are you going to do today to live like you will live forever?

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God Can’t Be Contained in the Temple

Posted in Formation, Hope, Missions, Motivational on September 18, 2009| Leave a Comment »

I was listening to a sermon by Rob Bell the other day and he got me to thinking.  When Jesus gave up and breathed his last, Matthew 27:50-51 says the curtain in the temple was ripped from top to bottom – why not bottom to top?  To prove it was God breaking into our reality.

For generations, the mentality of the people had been that the Temple was the center of their spiritual world.  It was the home of God – so much so that only one person could enter in to that place and only once per year.  Even then, the priest would have a rope tied to his ankle in the case that their sacrifice was not pleasing and God decided to strike the priest dead – they could then pull out the body.

When Jesus came, he broke into humanity – came and lived among us – experienced life just as we do.

When Jesus died, the curtain separating “God” from the world was torn from top to bottom.

What did this mean?  For starters, it meant that no longer was coming into God’s presence limited to one person a year.  No longer would man be hindered from coming to God.  No longer would man be kept out of God’s presence.

But here is another aspect to this event.  Not only was man no longer kept out of God’s presence, God was no longer kept in that place.  No longer should the temple be seen as the sacred dwelling place of God.

We know that the building is not the church, the people are the church.  We state that there is nothing particularly holy about the church building.  But do we understand that God is all around us?  Do we gather on Sundays in order to find God?  Do we expect to come into God’s presence?

Or is the point of gathering to listen and learn how to find God everywhere else?

This change in focus has the power to change everything!  God is not limited to a building.

Our lives should not be compartmentalized – we should not have our church life, our work life, our play life – etc.  Jesus should be in all parts of our lives.

Do you see Christ in everything?  Do you look for him in everyone?  Remember, Jesus said, “In as much as you have done it to the least of these, you have done it to me.”

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An Unlikely Meeting

Posted in Church, Community, Grace, Missions on August 26, 2009| Leave a Comment »

I had a great conversation yesterday with a gentleman about change – change in the lives of people, change in our community and change in our churches.  The cool thing about it was that the conversation was not between two people who would normally interact on this level.  We have known each other for years but really never had a deep conversation until yesterday.  How did it come about you may ask?  Twitter.  Yep, we connected over the topic of change through Twitter.  A dialogue began there and moved to a face to face meeting.  So here two guys sat, one from the Church of Christ denomination and one from the Baptist denomination, having a conversation about change in peoples’ lives and the need for a fresh movement of God’s Spirit here in our town.

Now for you who may be reading this not familiar with denominational life in a rural town, it has not been too long ago that a meeting like this would not have happened.  But the tone of the conversation and the desire in both hearts were to work together to further God’s kingdom.  It was an amazing thing.

Here’s the deal – followers of Jesus (yes, all of us) are called to take the message of love and hope to a desperate world.  But in case you haven’t noticed, its a big honkin’ world.  We are going to have to work together to accomplish God’s mission.  Walls must come down (more on that subject tomorrow).

Now before you get all flustered, no, I am not a bleeding heart that thinks we should throw away our traditions and beliefs.  Those traditions and beliefs add color and beauty to our world.  I love being a Baptist.  The doctrine I choose to follow is more in line with the Baptist belief system than others, but I do not think for a minute that I have this stuff figured out.  That is why the grace that covers me, and also covers you, is so important.

What I am saying is that there is much to do in order to further the kingdom of God and it is going to take all of us working together to see the changes in lives that only the love of God can bring.

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Hands and Feet

Posted in Church, Missions on July 7, 2009| Leave a Comment »

There is an over-used, catchy saying that goes like this:  “People don’t care how much you know if they don’t know how much you care.”  In other words, we can try and share the awesome news of Jesus’ love and freedom all we want with people but it won’t mean much if what we say is not reflected in what we do and how we live everyday.

I am really proud of our youth this week.  They have already been to El Paso on a mission trip in June and now this week they are bringing it home.  They have set aside this week as local missions week.  Yesterday they cleaned up around a lady’s home who could not have done the work herself.  Today they will do a little more of the same and also begin working on her carport (that is falling down).  This lady is not a member of our church.  She is a lady in our community who needs help.

We must never fail to share the message of Jesus with folks – we are called to make disciples (read about that here) but we must earn the right to share that message by being the hands and feet and face of Jesus.  Our students are doing that this week.

How about you?  How can you be the hands and feet and face of Jesus today?

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Using What We Have

Posted in Missions on June 30, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Finished Product

I am still recovering from a week in the El Paso sun and heat.  We had a great week doing sports camp and building a home for the Padilla family.  It did not come without its challenges.  The plumbing had to be moved (which means breaking out concrete – thanks Mark and Nathan for your work to get that done!).  The slab was less than square (that is an understatement similar to saying that the Grand Canyon is hole in the ground).  But everyone pitched in and did their part!  It truly was a blessing to see how God worked in and through our team.

On the last day, we prayed with the family and handed over the keys.  We said our good-bye’s, especially to the kids, and it was in that moment that I realized more clearly than at any point during the week, the impact we had in the life of that family – an impact of showing God’s love and compassion.  We may never see all that will come from last week this side of heaven – but really, when you think about it, God does not ask us to do anything more than to be faithful with what we have.  God has blessed us with talents and resources and all we have to do is find ways to use them for God’s glory and in God’s service.  God will take care of the rest.

Be blessed today!

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