Moralism says “I must be bad to be suffering,” but under the guilt there is anger towards God. Why? Because you have been so moral, you feel you don’t really deserve suffering.

Relavism/Pragmatism says that suffering should be avoided at all costs…lying, cheating, and broken promises. But if suffering comes, fault is again attributed to God, because He must be either unjust or impotent.

The Cross says…

that God redeemed us through suffering. That he suffered not that we might not suffer (emphasis added), but that in our suffering we could become like him.

John 9:3

Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

Ok…here we go. Focus. Speed. I am speed.

For any endeavour there is the need for focus. Even Lightning McQueen got that! A clear vision with leadership. A willingness to slough off the unnecessary but attractive. A determination that outlasts even the most severe critic.

So it goes with church planting. The question continually before us is simple: what is essential? Yet I wonder if the question will ever fully be answered…We are asking the question almost daily. Others that are a few steps further down the path are still asking the question. Some who have journeyed so far that they don’t even remember not being established still ask the same question. In one sense perhaps the  essential is asking the essential question about what is essential…hmmm.

A couple of things were passed along to me and are worth the 2 minutes they take to read. First is a blog post about the need to define the essentials (here). The author points to Acts 2:42-47 as the bare bones of what a church is. Great job! The second is a code, or values, of a church (here). I absolutely love the language used!! One of the statements caught my eye, particularly the tag line:

We will do anything short of sin to reach people who don’t know Christ.
To reach people no one is reaching, we’ll have to do things no one is doing.

I identify with the tag line as we are in the beginning stages of launching a church. There are things/behaviors/appearances/whatever that will not look like many established churches. This is not our attempt to degrade other churches or movements. It is simply that we don’t want to empty the seats of one church to fill another (ours). We want to reach the peeps that are not in these other churches! To accomplish this, there are many churchy things that we will “slough off.” Please don’t be offended

…an Achiever.

…a Persister.

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
–  Oscar Wilde

The fire crackled softly as it fought off the chill in the air, the sunlight shining fully through the large windows to the great room. Five guys sat in cracked and faded leather chairs, worn from years upon years of use, enjoying the rustic feel of the historic inn restored for use. The setting was comfy, the fire inviting, and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee invigorating.

The day was set aside to know each other. To understand how each of us is wired and motivated in order to build up the team.

For you created my inmost being;
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
– Psalm 139:13-14

We celebrated each other, encouraged each other, and affirmed each other. It is not just about skills and experience, it is about the unique way God has wired each of us and the blessing that each one is to the team. And we celebrated God. He made each of us, gifted us, and brought us together as a team to serve the Church. It is nearly a week later and the team still feels valued, loved, and affirmed in who each of us is.

If you know someone well enough, affirm them today in who God made them…it does wonders for the spirit!! For some fun, take a guess at what my dominant lens is from the three listed: harmonizer, achiever, persister. These are representative of our group, though the secondary lenses not listed add much more variety

You are the salt of the earth…you are the light of the world…therefore go and make disciples of all nations…
They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship…every day they continued to gather together…

Soooo…what is the focus of the church? Are we to draw in and encourage, instruct, and grow each other? Or, are we to push out and be light and salt? Both-and. From the very beginning, God chose a people to be set apart unto Himself, that they might be testimony-givers to the world through their lives and a channel of blessing. Yet, what was the rebuke that Israel received from her God??

I have fond memories of you, how devoted you were to me in your early years. I remember how you loved me like a new bride; you followed me through the wilderness, through a land that had never been planted. Israel was set apart to the Lord; there were like the first fruits of a harvest to him.
-Jer 2

The rebuke is continued in the gospels when Jesus condemns the religious leaders of the day, not only for their hypocrisy, but for excluding the Gentiles from the blessings of God. In addition, though, the New Testament is full of instruction on gathering together for teaching and spiritual growth. Believers too are holy and chosen, set apart from the world through the blood of Jesus Christ.

The challenge, then, is to always be on mission and grow as family. If the focus is too heavy on family…which tends to be the norm for most…then we become exclusive and are not gospel-proclaimers to the world. But likewise, if the focus is too heavy on mission, then we become anemic and fail to be good gospel-proclaimers to the community of faith. Both are dangers, so we acknowledge the tension, press into it and intentionally engage and build family while also pushing each other out to be on mission…together!

What can you do this week to engage and build church family while also engaging on mission?

Check out this rebuke when Samuel laid into Saul:

Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.
– 1 Sam 15:22-3 

Now, what would the Lord have against sacrifices and burnt offerings?? Weren’t these required for the Israelites? Seems that Saul was being righteous in doing these…except that prior to this rebuke, Samuel delivered these instructions to Saul from the Lord:

Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.
– 1 Sam 15:3

So what went wrong?

But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them.
–  1 Sam 15:9a

Saul’s response? “Hey, I did the mission given me, but the people took some of that stuff that should have been destroyed. But it’s okay, we’re gonna sacrifice it to the Lord “

Do you ever find yourself “obeying” the Lord, at least the parts of His instruction that you want to do, then making some “righteous” effort to hide the rest? I do. And you know what, this is still DISOBEDIENCE…even when it looks quite righteous!

O Lord, in your mercy and grace, transform our hearts to carry out fully your instructions.

Yes, that’s right. Though still in the US, we are living cross-culturally for now. Clearly we’re not in Texas anymore!!

I find it adventurous to recognize the differences in culture of a new place! Here are some of the ones we have noticed:

> prime parking spaces are no longer judged by the proximity to an entrance…they are judged by the amount of shade cover provided

> when parking a car, one is very much aware of east-west orientation, and drivers in Phoenix actually use sun visors

> there are approximately 3,165 shades of brown

> those watery (assumedly) topological forms smaller than rivers are called washes, not creeks

> there are roundabouts here…yes!!

> ooops…can’t take this one Phoenix! There is nothing close to Texan friendly

The Cross

Wow!!! Isn’t it wonderful to know that God moves according to His plan and not ours?! Isn’t it amazing that redemption is found whenever and wherever the Spirit is active, not limited only to our times of evangelism?! Check out this story of redemption that came during one of our church’s planning & training meetings. Our God is amazing!

Read Todd’s story.

 Fresh, hot, black, & bold. Don’t ruin it with creamer and sweetner (unless of course you are icing it). Keep it pure, now! The bolder the better!

We have been on a bit of a break lately. The relationship fell on troubled times during seminary. Coffee became a functional necessity in the morning, in the afternoon, at any hour really, especially to stay awake for those long nights of studying and paper writing. So with the conclusion of seminary, we talked and decided to take some time apart. Sure, I had the occasional cup-o-joe, but only on a limited basis. It was tough. I can’t lie. I missed coffee.

No worries though…it was only a temporary break!! Tonight, at 7:30 (yes that late in the evening!) we reunited. It was a beautiful cup of french press… I can now re-appreciate, if you will, the wonderful goodness of a pure cup of freshly ground, freshly brewed java! o sweet juice of the gods!

So, what is your favourite brew??

I remember struggling in my first preaching course because DTS requires that the sermon ends with an application point that challenging the listeners to do something and showing them how to do it. It seemed corny to require people to “list 5 areas on a notecard,” or “carry this pebble in your pocket during the week and think about…,” or “go home and write down 3 things…” But, it challenged me to think about action applications that give people something to start doing that they can then build on. We are lazy…even mature Christians, some seminary trained, can hear a message and do absolutely nothing with it. When the preacher says “do this,” then we may actually do it. But if no direction is given, few people take the initiative to change. And, those things that I thought were corny, really aren’t that bad, because there is a good chance that no one has ever asked the listeners to do something before!

I especially like these statements:

Never settle for messages that educate people. Instead, teach the application of Scripture and you will transform the lives of many. 

Preaching & teaching the Word of God is not about education for the sake of mere knowledge. Being a detail-oriented person, I really, really want to back up the dump truck of all the details of my studies of a passage…I mean it is fascinating stuff!!! By far it is easier to focus on learning the timeline of Paul’s missionary journeys, the order of churches he visited, the chronological order of NT books…BUT my goal is to teach TRUTH so that our lives are changed by the power of the Holy Spirit! It is still good to have the background of authors, books, and settings…but let’s make sure we are proclaiming the Truth and assisting the listeners (and ourselves) in conforming our lives.

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