Buy My House!

Well, if you didn't catch it in my last post I did pass my real estate exam on Thursday. I am now officially a real estate agent for a company call Butler Mohr GMAC. Thanks for all of you who have been praying for me during this time of classes and tests. A special thanks to Lori for this wonderful picture you found of me and sent me. Some of you who visit Dawn's blog know that I have begun trying to get listings of which I will officially get my first one tomorrow and the next one next week. We just have to get the paperwork done. The company I work for is actually part of the GM family thus I get some of the benefits that GM employees get like car discounts. Also, if any of you are looking for a home anywhere let me know and I can refer you to an agent in the area you are going in and I will get a "referral" fee when you buy that house. It doesn't cost you anything and I pretty much get free money from it. Just a little sales pitch for ya. I think I'm gonna start using this picture on all my advertising. How could anyone resist this?

Well, I'm (we're) one step closer to wherever God is leading us. I'm enjoying the ride, most days, and am excited for what's in store. God continues to provide! Hope you all have a Christmas filled with awe of what our God has done!

Blessings

WHAT GOD HAS BEEN UP TOO

Two weeks ago, on Friday I was looking at the bills and seeing that the money needed to cover them wasn't coming in nearly as fast or as much as I would like to have seen. To be honest I was totally stressing about it. I brought it up to Dawn and told her that I thought that on Monday I should head out and get some sort of job to help out. Now, that sounds like a normal thing to do, but I have really felt that I wasn't supposed to "look" for work, but trust that God would provide our needs through this time in our lives. Well, the next day I get a call from a guy who is part of the small group that I lead and he proceeds to tell me that a job that he's going to be working on on Monday needs an extra person and would I be interested in helping out. Of course I said yes and I spent Monday and Tuesday forming and pouring three concrete slabs. After we're done the guy that hired the two of us (the friend from the group is a independent contractor that does home improvment stuff) asks me what I do, if I was laid off or something and asked me if I'd be interested in working more for them when they needed help. I of course once again said sure. Well, my friend calls me up and says he needs help on one of his projects for this week so I helped him out again on Monday and Tuesday. I could have helped him out on Wednesday but on Friday last week I received confirmation about taking my state real estate license exams so I set the test date for Thursday and needed to study. I took the tests and passed them both! So, now I have my temporary Real Estate License for Ohio. I'll get the "official" one in about 30 days. Let's jump back now to that first Satuday again. I receive a call to preach at a lock-in that a neighboring community group of churches are putting together which happened last night. That Sunday or Monday, I receive a call from a pastor to see if I could do pulpit supply on the 31st of the month. I also have scheduled to speak at a young adult retreat that weekend. Finally, to top it all off a sweet widow lady in our church decides out of the blue to write me a $25 check.

All that to say, I am so unworthy to serve our God. I am amazed as how he cares for us and how he provides our "daily bread". I've often said that "I don't need to get rich, but just need to get by. " But, that is so much harder than it sounds. I'm glad God doesn't hold my lack of faith against me sometimes. I'm so thankful for the reassurances that it'll be alright.

Thanks all of you who continue to pray for us. Your prayers are not going unanswered!

The Will of God

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him." 1 John 5:14-15

I've been struggling with these two verses today as I came accross them during my devotions. I'm struggling with them because I'm desperately trying to discover or realize what God's will is so that I can pray accordingly. I long to pray according to his will so that I can do what He wants of me. If we can know that God hears us when we pray according to His will then that is the prayer that I want to pray. Unfortunately, at this exact moment, I have no idea what His will is. It's a frustrating place to be. Have we(I) made God's "will" so hard to discern? Is his will simply to love him and others? Does his will expand beyond that into what we do, where we go etc.? I tend to believe it does. I believe that it matters where we go, what we do and who we minister to. I think those all fall within God's will for our lives, but what do we do when we don't know God's will in those areas of our lives. I have heard from several of you readers who feel the same. We know that God has called us to more, but what is that "more" that He's called us to? Is it more love, more prayer, more service, more worship etc.? We can all live with the guilt of "I could do more" in each of those areas, as well as, in most aspects of our lives. "I should exercise more, watch less tv, etc", but when do we get to a place of, dare I say, contentment, of doing what God has called us to? Contentment has become a bad word, but if we use it in the realm of content in Christ, secure in His prescence, centered in His will, then I think it's ok. I want to be content in knowing that I'm following God's will with my life. Not content that I've done enough, but content knowing that I'm doing what He wants. Phillipians 4:11-12 mentions contentment and that Paul has learned to be content in all situations. Paul, I think discovered that contentment of doing God's will with His life in all his situations. I think it had to do with his purpose. I guess that's what I'm trying to figure out today. What is my purpose today and how does that relate to God's will for my life. How can I find that place of rest, knowing that I'm doing what God wants me to do. Well, if you think about it today, be praying for me(us) as we continue to try and discover God's will for our lives. We'll try and do the same for you.
Blessings!

FEELING BETTER

Obviously, I didn't post yesterday but we are definitely on the mend. Dawn and the kids were feeling better by last night, but I have just been feeling kinda nausious still today. I guess that's still better than them since they couldn't keep anything down while I never did loose my lunch. Strange, but true. Maybe my turn is still coming.

Now, on to a subject that makes my stomach turn just about as much...Church.

I mentioned in the last post about the transition that our church is in right now with voting to continue meeting on Sunday mornings in the gymnasium for worship services rather than the sanctuary. Here's a short background. Our sanctuary is typical in shape, long and narrow with pews and stage in front. It holds, if every seat is filled, shoulder to shoulder, around 185. We have been averaging in attendance around 185 including kids thus the sanctuary is probably 85-90% full on a Sunday with the only seats really open are a few scattered and the front pews. During Easter season we had a children's program which we held in the gym on Palm Sunday then Easter the next Sunday. We had around 250 for the kid's program then over 300 for Easter. The board decided to keep the services in the gym for 6 months to "try it out" to provide room for growth and to possibly make the sanctuary into a designated children's area. (We are running over 100 kids on Wednesday nights) Anyway, 6 months now and the board decided to allow the church to vote on it rather than just doing it (which they could have done). After allowing the members and board members of the church to voice their comments at an open mic meeting, the vote passed, but not quite at two-thirds majority which the pastor thought we would need to do, however, majority is all that I thought was needed and since it wasn't laid out prior to the vote, I questioned it because I thought it passed. He called the DS who called KC and I was right. So, now we have people ranting and raving that the pastor manipulated the vote. Some are leaving and at least one called the DS and said "there's a group of us who are going to withold our tithes" if you allow this. Yada, Yada, Yada.

Anyway, there's the background, but what really irritates me was the reasons that some of the people mentioned who were against the move. They mentioned things like, "Where you gonna have my funeral?" or "We built this for wedding receptions" or "we built this for the kids" or "it's too big and we can't get to know everyone". What???? You've got to be kidding me. Personally, I don't care where my funeral will be, I just hope someone cares enough to show up and really that won't bother me then will it. Wedding receptions??? I, personally know no one who has come to the Lord because of a wedding or a reception held at my church. (not saying it doesn't happen, but it's definitely not the premiere method of evangelism. It's for the kids??? We're gonna try and dedicate an entire area of the church for them to use all the time plus they will still get to use the gym whenever they really want since we dismantle the church after each Sunday morning service. We can't get to know everyone??? You don't know everyone now, but that's why we encourage people to be involved in a small group ministry. One other one was it's a lot of work, so why don't we go to 2 services? I've done two services before. That's just as much or more work.

Anyway, I guess this all goes back to one of my questions several weeks ago, would anyone outside of our church care if we closed the doors today? Probably not, we're pretty self absorbed. I don't think we're much different than many other churches, sadly, as I almost daily hear of churches splitting or people leaving their churches for simular reasons. (which is, if we're totally honest, the majority of our attenders came from) Would we, in North America, survive as a church if we weren't allowed to meet publically, or were not allowed to purchase buildings? I know the answer is yes because I believe in the message of Christ, but who would that be made up of? Are these people not Christian because they don't want change? Am I saying they are not Christian? No I'm not, but I wonder what makes us as humans hold onto things like this so tightly. Does it really matter where we meet or if we sit on pews or seats or where we have our weddings or funerals? No it doesn't. What really matters is that if someone who wants or needs to hear the Gospel has a chance to hear it or a seat to sit in if they want to join a group to worship with. Many of you who read this blog know and have experienced with me the opportunity to worship in big, in small, in termite infested, in nice and in run down, in-doors and out, in gyms and in basements and we have been able to be in the presence of the almighty in all those settings. I'm so glad that God decided to leave the temple in Jerusalem and decided to enter into our hearts as we carry Him with us. I've ranted long enough but I leave you with this simple prayer.

God help us to get beyond our pettiness, help us to realize you are not in the place but the person, show us how ugly our selfishness is, help us in this journey you called us to by directing our paths and help us to accept the disipline you administer when we stray. Help us to see the larger picture and remove the blinders that tend to create short-sightedness. And, may your grace be ever true as you know we truly need it.

Blessings

UPDATE

It's been a while since I updated this thing so, I thought I'd spend a few moments today. First of all we started out the night with the flu. Reagan had a bad bad night and then it continued this morning with Dawn, then Connor and back to Reagan again. I'm holding down the fort right now and anything I've eaten today, but not sure how much longer that will last. As for other life issues nothing really new. We finished the house we were working on a couple of weeks ago and are praying for it to sell soon. We're heading down south to see my family for Thanksgiving and are really looking forward to that. On the church front, our church decided to start having our services permanently in the gym and to convert the sanctuary into a childrens area. The attitudes of some of the people have been pretty ugly thoughout all of this. I'll discuss this later when I'm feeling better. I've finished my Real Estate classes and have sent in my application to the state so that I can take the state test for licensure. It will probably be a couple of weeks before I know when I can take it.

That's it for now, but I'll try to update tomorrow more if I'm up to it.

Blessings

Nazbo Rap

All you Nazarenes out there need to check this out.

Here's an article I just came across at Youth Specialties talking a lot about what I call the Bait and Switch in my previous post. Here

Bait and Switch

This is the second post for me today, but I wanted to address a concept that I have been writing and talking about for some time now and it has come up in a recent discussion that I'm having with some friends. I thought that the rest of you might want to hear this as well.

Over the past 17 years of being involved in youth ministry (yeah, I'm old) I have watched, literally hundreds of teenagers graduate from the ministries that I have been involved with. It is from this experience and from watching many fellow youth leaders and their groups that I am writing this from. It's the concept that many children and youth are presented the Gospel of Christ one way then when they get to a certain age that experience or understanding of God/Christ seems to be no longer valid. I will specifically speak from the youth pastor's position to help clarify myself here. As a youth leader, we would offer a fun place for teenagers to come, hang out, participate in activities, hear the Gospel and have opportunites to follow Christ. We would have outings (bowling, canoeing, miniature golf, etc.) we would have games, ie. Wednesday nights, we would participate in summer camps, weekend retreats, and mission trips. It was in this "ministry" that many teenagers came to a better understanding of who God is and what He expects from us as people. There were great strides made in their journeys toward God. They lived, experienced and understood God in a specific way that was very much tied to how they had come to Him.

Then it happens, they graduate. They head off to school, work or whatever and they begin trying to intergrate themselves into "adult" church and it is nothing like what they know God to be. While they were in the youth group they would worship with the adults during Sunday mornings, but received most of their spiritual food from the youth groups time of worship, lessons, etc. Thus, now that rug has been pulled from their feet and they are left with only what the adult church offers for spiritual growth. The problem is that the adult church is often void of many of the things that drew them to Christ in the first place. It often lacks excitement, fun, music they grew up on, camps, mission trips, miniature golf and a slew of other things. Their options now are much more limited in that they can join a small group discussion, go to Wednesday night prayer service, or stay for a potluck on some Sunday afternoon. They soon discover that what they thought God life was, fun, exciting, life relevant, deep, connecting, etc. is not the god life that many of the adults are living. Instead he's dull, boring and something they do once or twice a week. The result is obvious and well documented that a vast majority of these teenagers/young adults leave the church and never return, or if they do return it's because they now have children and want them in church to enjoy some of the same things they enjoyed when they were young, or they are looking for a safe place for them to grow up. In any case, the now young adult/parent is now stuck in a pew living out the life that he/she left the church for in the first place.

Now, some obvious questions: 1)Am I advocating that church ministries such as the children's and youth, should not entertain in order to bring them into the church?
No! In fact, I'm advocating almost the opposite. Not only should the children's and youth ministries entertain to draw people, but so should the adult ministries of the church. They should create opportunities for the parents and the kids to be involved in. It should be exciting, it should be fun, it should be something that they would not even have to think about telling a friend about. Rather it should be, "hey, we're doing something this week and you ought to join us", or "let me tell you about what we did this weekend".

2) Am I saying we should not do summer camps, retreats, mission projects, small group discipleship etc.? No! Instead we ought to be offering the same things to the adults that are more "user-friendly" to who they are. (parents, workers, coaches etc). In all the years of my professional ministry the only adult mission trips offered were ones that went over seas (including Hawii) and cost thousands of dollars and were not designed for them to bring their kids if they wanted to or had any. I've only seen two retreats one for a church board (not their spouses or kids) and the other was for only the women in the church. I've seen the senior adults and the singles do a few outings in their groups respectively. Other than that, mostly I've seen the church's main thrust for fellowship was some sort of dinner (potluck) after church.

3) Am I saying that "adult" church should change their style of worship to entertain those in attendance? No, but what I am saying is that "adult" church would look different if it included those of younger generations in the decision processes and implementaion of worship experiences in those services. In doing so, the children and youth would then have a better "transition" into adult church since it would resemble more of who they already are. In reality, they wouldn't even have to transition since they would already be a part of it.

4) Am I advocating experience over history, tradition, ritual or even discipleship? No, instead those things should be embraced and, dare I say it, experienced. Instead of routine or monotony there should be awe, wonder, excitement, intrigue and desire for more of what God wants for us in and through those instruments.

So, what do we do with this? Over these years, I would simply estimate (guestimate) that about 30% of those involved in my ministry or involved in ministries that I know of, stayed active in church life after their graduation. Who's to blame? I believe a part of it is me, part of it them, part of it their family and part of it the church. Could I have done a better job leading them and discipling them ? I'm certain of it. But, what would that have looked like if the whole local church structure would have lent itself to a more "family-friendly" discipleship experience? If the churches would have active ministries for all that were designed to enhance and include the family throughout their spiritual life growth process then their transition into adulthood and it's spiritual practices and experiences would be more of a maturing process than a total lifestyle change. My suggestion would be that as we find creative ways to reach out to the youth/children of our communities that we also find creative ways to reach their family units as well. It's been well documented that the likelihood of a person in pursuing their faith into and beyond their teenage years is directly related to the amount of spiritual involvement their parents have. I believe it's our responsibility to attempt to try and recapture our historical roots of making our faith communities truly communities again where individuals are valued as integral parts of the body of Christ rather than segmented individuals.

Well, that's enough for now. I'm sure I've created a ton more questions than what I answered, but it's a good start.

OUR CHOICE

I had a call on Tuesday night from one of my former teenagers from my group here in Defiance. He put me on speaker phone so that a friend he was talking to could ask me a questiont hat the two of them were trying to figure out. Here's the question, "If heaven is perfect, then how did Satan get kicked out for messing up?" It caught me off guard a little at first because I had never been asked that question before, but gave this answer. A perfect heaven does not mean that we are without choices, instead it may mean that we do have choices. This is just like it is on earth, the perfection that we are called to has a direct corralation to the choices that we make. If the freedom we have to make choices were to be removed from us then we would not be able to love perfectly. Computers can't love, Robots can't love and neither can people who can't choose not to.

It's definitely a difficult position that God put himself into. He created a people who have the choice to love him or not and many times we choose not to. He seems to have set himself up for disappointment. On the other hand though, he set himself up to receive love since many people choose that option as well. I think that the payoff is great for him. I can relate to that. At times in my life there has been people who have chosen not to like me, let alone love me yet that was/is outweighed so much by those who have chosen to love me. I am extremely greatful that we have a God that allows us to choose him and choose to love him. It's often those things in life that I didn't choose that I tend to have the hardest time living with.

...AND THE VERDICT IS...

After three days of listening to testimony and lawyers fight it out, we finally got to deliberate over the evidence on Friday afternoon. The trial was about an auto accident where one driver had pulled in front of the other and in doing so injured his back and foot. The one driver had already been found to be at fault and our job was to determine the monetary damages that were due to the one injured. We came to the conclusion that the defense did a terrible job and that the injuries were the result of the accident. We were now stuck with how do we put a dollar amount on a persons life. How do you put a dollar amount on a person's hobbies and free time that he can no longer do like he did? How much money is pain worth? Well, after two and a half hours of deliberations we settled on...Get this...$300,000. Yeah, you read that right. The lawyers were asking for $375,000, but I and a few others couldn't go that high. It sounds like a lot, which it is, but once you remove the lawyers 30%+ - (around $100,000) the medical bills ($125,000) that leaves only about $75,000 for all the injuries that will last the rest of his life. It's a crazy process that, at times, was extremly boring, but it was pretty cool to be a part of. That's it for now, I just thought I'd catch you up.

OK, OK, OK!

I've been selected to be on the jury for a trial today. It's the first time that I've ever been on a jury and so far, I'm not real impressed. It's soooooooo boring. I can't really talk about it much, but maybe after it's done I can tell more about it. They say that It'll probably last until Friday. Hopefully, that's all since it's taking me away from working on the house I bought a week ago Thursday.

On another note: I have recently received news about a youth pastor that I know that has resigned from his postition because of a couple of different reasons. The first is because of the direction that God is calling him and his family and the exciting new ministry opportunities that are before them and second because the finances of the church have crashed over the summer due to several different reasons including but not limited to the huge mortgage they have on the gym they built several years ago. I bring this up, not to embarass him, but to relate this story to some of my previous posts about how money rules the church. God has truly moved in this situation for this friend of mine, but this example is played out over and over throughout North America every year as churches get caught up in this mentality of what's important, buildings or ministries and the casualties just add up. I'm truly thankful for is new opportunity for my friend as I believe this is God's timing for him, but I wonder how many times it's not God's timing though.

St. Louis

Well, I've spent the night trying to catch up on all the blogs and comments that have been made this past week. I took a trip to St. Louis on Sunday and stayed there until Wednesday. NYI was putting on what they call DLC (District Leadership Conference) there and as the CO-District President for NYI I was able to attend with some other leaders from around the district here. They had it in ol St. Louis because that is where NYC is happening next year and we were toured around a little and updated about what is happening for that week. It was a good trip, but I didn't get to go up into the arch this year. Last year we did that as we met there. I did, however, get to go to the City Museum and play there a little. That is one of the most incredible places in the world to play. The place is absolutely amazing. There are tunnels, caves and all kinds of crazy stuff including a 5 STORY SLIDE! Everything is made out of things from other building and recycled stuff. It's just nuts!

Anyway, that's where I've been lately and I catch up a little more this weekend if I have time.

Rob Bell Question Follow-up

Per the question that I posed in the earlier posts, I have had some good response. Joyce summed up most of the discussion:

"Just a thought...does the community need to be upset if the church doors close. What if their needs are still being met by the people who were meeting their needs...the church doors were not what was important to them. "

And, I would have to agree with this sentiment. However, the questions that this begs are 1) Are the needs being met through the people in the church? and 2) If we are, then why do we need the church? Now, I think the answer to #2 is an obvious answer. Ben mentioned some of the reasons in his response, but question #1 is a little more difficult to decipher. First, we must begin to understand what the church is. Is the church the building that we associate ourselves with? Is the church the body of believers that we associate ourselves with? Or, is it the Body of Christ? If we try and answer Rob's question with any of these questions then we are in a position of defending those postions. If I say that the church is the building down on Main St. then what impact is that building having on the community? If I say that the church is the body of believer's who meet together at the building on Main St. then what impact is that group having on the community? If the church is the Body of Christ in general, then what impact is the Body of Christ having in the community? Next, the delimma. We, I believe, are called first of all to The Body of Christ throughout the world. As a part of that body, we are are typically called to a local body of belivers, who in turn meet together, usually in a building and call themselves a church. It's the Church Universal and the local church. So, the question breaks down into three levels of "Your Church". If "Your Church" were to close down, what impact would it have on your community? If the church building truly has a representation of the Body of Believers and thus the Body of Christ, then if it were to close it's doors, I think there should be an outcry. Not that the building is all that important, but simply because it should be an extention of the other two. It's really a catch-22. If the church were to close it's doors, that could likely mean that the people are not meeting the needs. If the people are not meeting the needs then the doors could possibly close. The difference, however, is that most likely the church (building) would not close it's doors because those who are attending it will support it. They do this because they typically want to keep it open so that they can come and they can do that even if they don't meet anybody else's needs in the community. I know that I may have gotten a little deep here but, in my mind, the question still stands. If your church were to close it's doors would those outside of those attending be upset? I asked my pastor this question and he said about our church "No, I don't think there's a church in town that people would be upset about closing down." He backed down and recanted a little bit, but still felt pretty strong about his statement. I said I agreed. How sad............ :(

The Church of Money

I want to continue with the direction I started in the previous two posts so here are some thoughts I recently have had.

One of the greatest challenges that the church faces on a daily basis is what to do with the money it gets. How is it used and to what extent is it used for ministry purposes? I think of the “rich young ruler” who approached Jesus and asked what seemed a simple question of what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responded and told him to follow the commandments. The man replied and said he has done that since he was a child, then Jesus’ response drove him away. You lack one thing, he said, go and sell all you have and give it to the poor. It’s a message that has haunted the church for hundreds of years now. What must we do to inherit eternal life Jesus? I believe he’s let go of what you have and give it to the poor, the oppressed, the widow and the orphan. It’s a message that has been lost in the desire for bigger and better. We spend millions on buildings, salaries and utilities while we spend only pennies on those who are in need. Our programs are even drained of their finances to feed the monsters that we have created. We often tell those who are attending our services each and every week that they need to be good stewards of the resources that God has given them, yet our churches are rarely good stewards with what is given. Each and every year around Christmas we are reminded to check out those institutions that are clamoring for our donations to determine how much of our money is actually going into the lives of those of whom it is designed to touch. We are skeptical of institutions that spend more than fifty percent of the donations on salaries and overhead expenses. Yet, if we were to take a close look at the percentage of the money spent at our local church we would be appalled at the amount of money that is consumed by the mortgage, utilities, denominational budgets, and salaries in comparison to how much is spent in the different ministry arms of the church which is directly impacting lives. I would venture to guess that it is far less than twenty-five percent of the total income for the vast majority of churches. If we didn’t feel obligated to bring our tithe and our offerings to the church, I doubt we could in good conscious give to such a cause. I am not saying that we should not tithe or give offerings, nor am I saying that buildings and salaries are wrong, but what I am suggesting is that we begin to change the percentages of what is staying “in-house” and what is going out. I, personally, would not have a problem with seventy-five percent of the tithes and offerings that I give to go to those areas and people of whom we are trying to meet with the reality of Christ, and twenty-five percent paying for overhead. I enjoy and depend upon our pastoral staff and the buildings we have to execute our ministry through and understand the necessity for them. Several problems arise, however, when we are so dependent upon the finances to pay the “bills” per se. First, the pastor is limited by what is said or done in the name of Christ. If, for instance, the pastor has felt directed to preach a certain direction or deal with certain issues in the church, but knows that in doing so, some people will withhold their offerings or leave, the pastor may be reluctant to head that direction, because the bills will need to be paid. I cannot count how little, we've in the church, have done to keep people accountable for things that should not be happening because we knew in the back of our minds how that would affect the church financially. (God forgive me) Another problem arises when a ministry needs funds to operate yet finds itself closed off to those funds because to fund that program or ministry would jeopardize the fiscal responsibilities that have been committed to set bills. While on staff at my last church all ministry branches were on a spending freeze for the past two years so we could pay the bills. A third problem that tends to arise out of this scenario is the body’s dependence upon the paid staff to be the spiritual ones in the church who are responsible for the care of the whole body rather than being one part of many in the body. I don't know how often I heard people upset because the pastor didn't make it to the hospital to see someone before their surgery or something like that. The people failed to realize that neither did anyone else in the church. (God forgive us all)

Now critics would argue that the buildings and the bills are a part of the ministry, in which they would have a valid point, but with only limited validity. As I eluded to above, I believe that we enable our pastors to “minister” to the people because they are paid through our tithes and offerings. This is how I made my living for the past 10 years or so and I am very thankful that I was allowed to minister to those of whom I was responsible for more freely because of my weekly paycheck. I also believe the resources that are at the disposal of those trying to minister, ie buildings, books etc. help create new avenues for people to grow in Christ. However, much of what is done in the name of ministry in both of these scenarios could also be done through other means. An example that I personally know of is a local church that is in the process of raising funds to build an extension. The extension would be a gymnasium, classrooms and storage. The have raised $300,000 in cash and pledges, but the project will cost $500,000 to $600,000. Across the yard and directly behind the parsonage is a building that has been offered to the church for $200,000 which includes the land that goes with it. The large building is in terrific shape and could easily be converted into a gymnasium, classrooms and whatever else they could dream of. And have it all paid for. But, they are going to build anyway because they don’t want to have to walk or drive the distance between the buildings. In doing so, they will have to take out loans and account for overruns. I guess my thought is if they really wanted to take out an additional $200,000 for something worthwhile they could really create a great food pantry, shelter home, or senior’s center. Think how many meals could be served with that kind of money and in the little town that this church is in, it could probably eradicate the hunger problem there for the next few years. Instead they want to make a $2,000 payment each month for the next 30 years. Even that would be $24,000 a year toward a worthwhile ministry. What youth ministry couldn’t use that kind of budget?(If you haven’t added that up yet, that equals $720,000 over the life of the loan compared to the original $200,000 that was taken out)

Anyway, my argument is simple; money rules the church when Christ should. It dictates almost every aspect of the church. We may want to believe something different, but our church treasurers can tell us differently. If you don’t believe me, how long would your church survive if your attendance dropped in half if that represented half the finances and what would be cut from the annual budget first, the mortgage, the electricity, the pastor’s salary, the denominational budgets or the ministry to the people? I know the answer. Do you?

Rob Bell 2

This question about whether or not our church would be missed is one, like Joyce said, continues to haunt me. (See previous post) It haunts me because I find myself having to try and find that one person that it would affect. This is not a question about those people who have come to our churches, but rather one about those who will never enter our churches. Would they miss us if we were gone? I find it disturbing that the concept that many people have in our churches today (remember this is blog, thus many gereralities will occur) that unless there is a payoff (someone will come to our church or Christ) that we shouldn't do some things. I've been in enough church board meetings over the years to hear the discussions about cutting out a program, because it's not bringing anyone to our church. I don't think that's what Jesus had in mind when he demonstrated love. Yeah, of course he wanted people to believe in him, but he knew that many wouldn't yet he demonstrated love for them anyway. This question goes all the way back to the garden when God made man and women in His image. We are to love people simply because they are made in God's image. Period. We are not to love them so they will attend our church or more harshly, so they will know Christ (though that would be great) The question goes to that heart of what are we doing in our communities to simply say that we love mankind and we want to alleviate some of the pain and suffering that people are dealing with. Would my community miss our church? I would say no except a few parents of some kids that are brought in on the vans each week. Do I negate those, by no means, but shouldn't there be an outcry by our communites that we left. If a large employer were to leave there would be because that employer pays the salaries of those who live here. If they leave the people suffer. If our church leaves, do the people suffer? I don't think they do any more than they already do simply because we are not in the practice of alleviating that suffering for the community. Because we are not in it. We tend to be more concerned with our needs in our church community than those needs outside of it. On the other side there are some churches in this community that would be greatly missed by others. A couple of them serve several thousand meals a year to people who cannot afford them for one reason or another. One has a clothes closet to help meet the needs of those who need some sort of clothing and I'm sure that there are a few others out there doing things that I don't know of. Unfortunately, many churches are so caught up in this mentality of do something to get something or do nothing because we need to take care of ourselves that they forget everyone else. Some day I would love to see some church decide to take all the money they would raise for their new building and instead use it to pay for people's gas bill one winter, or make sure their kids have enough to eat or help out the struggling single parents or you name it and not expect them to come to their church because of it. I guess my feeling is that the church needs to begin to dispurse grace as much as it counts on it. The gospel that Jesus preached/preaches is one that is fairly straight forward. We are to love God and love others. Jesus confirmed this as our message. What does that love look like? Love by definition is not selfish nor self seeking it's other's focused. Is that the definition that our churches are taking? I think that if it were then we would see a lot more of that love being poured out on the people in our communites that they would be devistated that we closed our doors. On a side note: we now have three churches for sale in town and not a peep has been heard from two of them and the other one decided to publish an article in the paper about it, but I have yet to hear anyone who doesn't attend upset. God help us!

Rob Bell Question

Here's a question that Rob Bell posed in a recent interview (it's not a direct quote).

Who, outside of those attending your church, in your community would be upset if your church closed it's doors today. Would anyone in your community be affected and would it make any difference in their lives if your church no longer existed?

Mull over that and respond if you want. I have some thoughts that I'll share in my next post.

Update

It's been a while since I last updated this blog, so I thought that today would be a good day to catch you all up on some of the things going on in my life. As for my previous post about being "called to preach", I have preached the last 3 Sunday's in a row at different churches and I'm preaching again this Sunday. I have a wedding that I'm officiating over this weekend too and I've been asked to preach at least one time next month so far. I've agreed to lead a new small group for our church for the young married group. I'm kinda excited to lead this group as it will open up good opportunities of conversation and friendship. Which you know I've been praying for. I've decided to go ahead and take the final two classes to get my Real Estate license. So, I'll take them starting next month. I've been struggling to figure out how God wants me to be involved in His work and haven't gotten too far in that process. I'm still certain that He called me out of my youth ministry position, but it's been 7 months now of searching for His direction. It's been a good period in our lives, however, as we've experienced tremendous growth spiritually. The bad part, however, is that Dawn has had to pick up a lot more hours at the hospital instead of being home with the kids. I'm extremely greatful for her willingness to sacrifice for our family. I'm hoping that the real estate will help alleviate that pressure on her in the near future. Reagan and Connor will start back to school in a couple of weeks. they can hardly wait. I can't believe that Reagan is already heading into the 3rd grade and Connor will be in Kindergarten this year. Time just moves along doesn't it? I guess that's a little picture of what's been happening here. I'm thankful that God has deemed us worthy to call us his children and that we can cling on to Him during this time in our lives! Blessings to ya.

SAM HORNISH JR. DAY

You may not know it, but Sam Hornish Jr., this year's winner of the Indianapolis 500, was from this little town of Defiance, Ohio. So, we celebrated his victory today with his official day with a parade in his honor. Here's some picts from the parade.

I'VE BEEN CALLED TO PREACH

For most of you the title of this post is no real suprise. I've been preaching at some of you for a long time now. (yeah, I meant it to sound that way). In fact, I've been been in youth ministry and preaching for over 15 years now. I'm an ordained elder in the church even. Well, all that to say it has taken a VBS to remind me that I have been called to preach. This week, as I have for the past three years, I have been preaching to a group of 4th-8th grade students at a Nazarene church in a neighboring community. Last night's lesson was about how God shines in our lives brightest when we obey him. (the theme they choose was "shine" from the Newsboys). I choose the two stories Adam and Eve and Johah to try and explain to them how God wants us to obey him when he asks us to do or not do things blah, blah, blah. Well, I got to the part in the lesson that I stated that at the age of 12 God began to speak to me and call me to be a preacher. For two whole weeks I told him "NO". I had better plans for my life and I was too young to be a preacher. The last night that I "heard" God speaking to me about it all, I specifically remember him stating, "If you turn me down tonight, I am done speaking to you!" My curt response was "Fine, I'll do it, but I don't want to!" I felt his love and his reassurance that I was only 12 and he just wanted to see if I'd be willing. Well, as I reminenced about that part of my life with the kids last night, I was reminded that, Yeah, I have been called to be a preacher. But, I've actually been running away from that call for quite some time now. Not that I've not been preaching or not that I haven't been fulfilling that role to some degree, but I've avoided the title or the position of preacher. Being a "youth pastor" was/is different from being a preacher in my eyes. The picture of a preacher that I've had and don't want any part of is the one who has to know it all and do it all in a church. Everything from preaching, to the finances, to the hospital calls and everything in between. That's not what I think that a preacher should do nor do I want it. I want to preach the Gospel of Jesus and Him Crucified, but I don't ever want to get to a place that I have to do it alone. I don't think it's the pastor's responsibility to do all that stuff mentioned above, instead it's the body's responsibility as we are on this journey together. I'm in no place in my life to even think that I've got all the answers nor do I ever want to think I do. I do have some insights, I do have the ability to lead, but I do need others around me who are willing to be on the journey with me.

Anyway after the lesson and I started heading home, the reality of God speaking to me was running though my head. Is he calling me to start a church? Am I supposed to be a preacher? etc etc etc. Then all of the sudden a White dove flys up from the side of the road and crosses in front of my car and I kill it. No I don't kill it, but it's just like you would see in the movies of what the Holy Spirit would look like when portrayed as a dove. I've never seen one out of captivity before. Was this confirmation? I'm not positive, but it's what I thought when I saw it. So, I'm called to preach and this is the beginning of a not so new journey for me. God may I preach as if they are your very words.

3 POSTS 7 DAYS!

Don't drop over in excitement, but I'm on a roll for me with all these posts. Anyway, tonights post comes in the form of a question that I have that was spurred on while reading a book. Here it is:

What would it mean to be a spiritual church?

give me your thoughts!
Blessings

AIRPLANES AND THE CHURCH

I jotted these thoughts down 41,000 feet above the earth as I was returning with Reagan and Connor from my parent's home down south.

I'm sitting on an airplane on my way home from getting the kids from their extended stay with my parents. I couldn't help but notice all the little rivots that are holding the wing together outside my window. They seem so small and insignificant, but in truth they are vital to our survival in this flight. What would happen if one or several, for that matter, decided that they weren't all that important and decided to not do what they were made to do? The obvious would happen, they would let go and the plane would crash. Or, what if one little spring or gizmo (technical term) in the engine felt under appreciated or decided not to do whatever it was supposed to do today? The results would be devistating.

The body of Christ functions much in the same way. We are all supposed to be doing something that our designer made us for. It may be something that, to us, seems trivial or seemingly meaningless. Some were designed like the jet engine made to propell us. Others like the rudder (I think that's what it's called) to guide us. But, often the plane never gets off the ground because too many of us parts don't show up for work. Instead we downplay our importance. We think we're not important or someone else will fill in. Just as bad are the other parts who think their more valuable than the others. So, the church, instead of soaring above the clouds is stuck in the repair garage, always broken, always trying to get beyond that insult, that injury that thing which has convinced the body it is powerless and destined to just be idle.

Jesus never intended for the body, the church, to be like that. In fact, he took some the most broken people, some of the smallest and some of the most insignificant people in the world and called them disciples. He took the lame, the blind, the lepers, the prostitutes and "sinners" and told those who thought they were the most important that they were the least while this ragtag group were what or who the church would be built upon. Jesus even said the kingdom of heaven was made up of people like little children and we would have to be like them if we ever thought we'd have a chance to make it there. I've watched Reagan and Connor during this, their first airplane ride, and I see their wide-eyed exhuberance and anticipation of what's next and I'm envious of this sort of expectation. They were even excited about how "cool" the seatbelts were and couldn't wait to clip them together. Seatbelts? Can you believe that? They couldn't wait because they knew that was their little part in making the plane fly today. The rest of us thought it was just something that was irrevelant to whether or not we flew. Reagan and Connor believed, however, that the tray table had to be in it's upright position and that my headphones had to be turned off or we wouldn't, no couldn't fly. And, you know what, they were right. Had I demanded that I kept my tray down, I would have been escorted off the plane and they would have not flown today.

Jesus expects so much more from us than what we often give. He doesn't expect us to do more than what we were designed for. Much like the rivot isn't supposed to propel the plane, but he does expect us to live up to our role as the rivot. No more, but no less! It's our responsibility to take whatever we are and use it to carry others to our final destination. Without all the body parts working in unison, we are nothing more than a few loose nuts lying around on the floor. Well, I'm for flying so sit back and enjoy the ride and thanks for choosing this airline.
Blessings

Gutsy Faith

I finished reading Jeff Edmonson's book Gutsy Faith the other day, and I have to say that I rather enjoyed it. I don't know what I really expected from it, but I know that I've enjoyed reading what he has said in the past and this time he reminded me of how much prayer has to do with things. He also challenged my understanding about how and why God answers our prayers. The book is laid out so that you can go through it with a small group, which is nice if you want to do that. I sometimes think that publishers think that all books have to have questions for a small group, but I think that sometimes they just get in the way or are just forced questions. Don't know if that's what happened here, but just my two cents. Anyway, outside of that little rant I think the book would be worth your while to read. Jeff, if you take the time to read this, Congratulations on a good book!
Blessings All!

We're back and have NO KIDS

Dawn and I returned home last night from visiting my parents and sister in Mississippi. It was a good trip but it was a long 14 hours. I got to go fishing a few times there, but didn't really catch much. I think the heat was too much for the fish to bite. We hit the mid 90's every day. We've both returned with head colds that we got down there from who knows where and Reagan and Connor are spending the next couple of weeks with my mom and dad. They really enjoy spending time with my parents as they are good at spoiling them. I'm extremely thankful that Reagan and Connor get the opportunity to know them. Grandparents are truly a blessing from God!

On another note, I was offerered a position down there by my parent's pastor. I was pretty much given cart blanche to do whatever I felt like God wanted me to do and they would give me a salary. It sounds good, but I'm gonna spend some time praying about it for a while. If I'm honest, I don't really feel led there at this time, but who knows maybe I will soon.

I did discover while there that once again people are not really understanding what it is we are going through or doing. Just so you know, we are not mad at the church or are we hurt by it. We just feel like God is directing us into new waters, so to speak. He is shaping us for what He has planned and we are trying to be obedient to that call. Continue to pray for us as we will continue to pray for you during this journey. I am excited that some of you are getting more excited about what it is that God is calling you to. Continue to seek him and he will be faithful.

Blessings!

REVOLUTIONARY?

It's late, so I might ramble a little as I write this, but hopefully I will communicate what I'm trying to say in tonight's post. Here goes. I was having a discussion the other day with Dawn and we were talking about the "church" and what it's really all about. Now, if you haven't been in our discussions in the past then you might get caught off guard with some of this. We were talking about how much the church in today's society looks very much like the church during Christ's time on earth. It seems that much of what is happening in church is the result of what has always been done and not necessarily of what needs to be done. Now, don't get me wrong here, there are some God-fearing followers of Jesus in the church, but as we have considered attending other churches in our area we have realized that they are all the same. Yeah, they may have some different types of music or they may have skits or dancers or a different "flavor" but really their offering the same food. They worship through song, they pray once or twice, they take up an offering and then someone preaches. The people leave and they come back to do it all again maybe on Wednesday or again on Sunday. It's just following the rules and avoiding the "bad" that's what christianity seems to limited itself too. And you know what? That's sad. I'm sure that God can't be happy with that. Whatever happened to the church being people instead of a place we go? When did we get to the place that we stopped knowing how to minister to people who didn't come inside our buildings? When did we stop going out and being among the people and ministering to them on their turf? I don't know when it happened, but it stopped long before I was born and unfortunately, I was taught to do the right program and the people will come to us. Sorry, wrong answer, but that is really the mindset of many who call themselves christians in North America. I really think that we are heading toward another shift in how we "do" church in our country. I think there will be someone like Luther who will once again begin a new revolution and shake up the church. Maybe he or she is already standing out in the desert leading the path, maybe it will be more than one, but I believe it will soon happen. A realization that I've had is that even our prayer life and scripture reading are a result of this type of programming mindset that we've all been taught to follow. Both are just one of the steps that we must add in the mix if we want it to be "successful". We even have charity prayers in church once or twice per week. We've lost the understanding that prayer is vital to who we are in Christ. It's more of a thing we check off our list each day rather than the thing we depend upon to make it through the day. And, not just to make it through, but to be able to hear and do what God is calling us to do on a moment by moment basis. I can't say I've ever really experienced that, but I've read about it in the Bible. How else would the Apostles be able to know when and who to heal? How could they even have that kind of belief or faith if they didn't trust that God was leading them in that moment? I'm rambling like I said I would, sorry. The church of Christ was supposed to be the body of Christ. It's supposed to be an organism not an organization. It's supposed to move and stretch, reach out and pull close. It's supposed to be more than a place to gather, rather it's supposed to be Christ to a world who is desperately seeking something or someone that will save them. I've been asking myfelf lately, What's it going to take to shake the church up again? Who's going to be brave enough to step out and fight for what we're supposed to be doing? Who's going to have the guts to step outside of the four walls of their church building and instead of inviting someone to church will become the church to someone who needs Jesus? I'm praying that I am. I'm praying that I will find myself going to do that. But, truthfully, it can't be done alone. It can only happen when we all begin to get to the place that we are truly wanting more from our experience with God than routine and security. We've retreated within our four walls because they are safe, but unfortuneately, they are dull and lack life. Jesus, on the other hand, knew that the life that he promised us was among the people. That's were the party was, that's where the challenges were, that's when the miracles happened. So, I guess my question to you the reader of this long post is: Are any of you ready to step out of the building and get into the Body? Are you willing to join me and more importantly Christ in this? My prayer for you is that you are.
May you consider all that God is offering you today.
Blessings.

New Exciting Things

I am excited to post this week as I have been watching God work in tremendous ways in and through our lives. I get the honor of presiding over another couple who were in my youth group who are getting married today. They are a sweet couple that I have been blessed to have participated in their lives over the past 6 years. I have been blessed to see how God has been working in Ben and Lori's life in the past few months. It's great to know that God is in control. As for news around here, our neice has decided to move back home with her mom. I am very greatful that she has, according to her, thought through some of the issues she had and is trying to work them out with her parents. As for us, we're doing great1 for a guy who is unemployed, I seem to have a job land in my lap almost weekly and have rarely had a week since I resigned that I didn't get some sort of paycheck. We have been able to see how God is directing our path closer and closer to our ministry goals and are excited about what He has planned for us.
On another note I bet you can't guess who's turning 36 this weekend. Ok, I'll give you a hint. She's my wife, and the mother of my children. No...not her. It's Dawn you silly! If you get a chance drop her a note and tell her Happy Birthday on June 4th. On top of all that good stuff, out of the blue yesterday, someone put a contract on the house that I am selling and should close at the end of the month.
Well, for all of you of whom I haven't posted on your blogs lately, Ihaven't forgotten you, in fact I have been reading your stuff, but just haven't spent the time to write. I am praying for you and am excited that many of you are now done for the year with school and are finding jobs and ministries that you can be involved in this year. May God bless you all.

Happy Anniversary

On Thursday of this past week Dawn and I got to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. I have been blessed with one of the most precious gifts that God could have given me. Dawn is my helpmate and my best friend. I am so greatful that God directed her path to cross mine and that somehow I suckered her into marrying me. You'll have to ask her what I got her for our big day. I want to thank all those who have prayed for us over the years and those who have modeled what it means to have a loving relationship. We are truly blessed by you. Thank you Dawn for loving me!
I LOVE YOU!,
~me

Long Time No Post

Hey sorry for not responding to any posts as of late. I haven't spent any time on the computer lately as I've been working a ton. I am working on a house to sell, I just finished taking two real estate classes at the community college and I'm preaching at a church this month. Yada, yada, yada. In addition to all of that we've had a new edition at our home. No, you didn't miss the birth of a new child, but our niece moved in with us a couple of weeks ago. Needless to say, I haven't had much free time. Who would have ever thought that I'd be this busy being "unemployed". On the other front, a man that I attend church with, who also is my carpet supplier, offered to hire me for some delivery work and he's someone of whom I look up to and he was very interested in our ministry vision and wants to talk with me about helping out in it financially. I'll follow up with that in the future and continue to allow God to open the doors that He wants us to walk through. Sorry no real deep thoughts, but haven't had a lot of time to really think lately.
God bless

The Smell of Money

We got the house we've been trying to buy yesterday and today I spent the day trying to get the carpet out. Which, by the way, was no easy task. The main section of the house is a manufactured home and when they make manufactured homes they make the floor then lay all the carpet then build the walls on top of that. It makes it easier and quicker to lay the carpet that way. Unfortunately, that makes it extremely difficult to get the carpet out since you have to cut it all out along the edges. If that weren't difficult enough in two of the bedrooms there is a shelving unit that goes all the way down to about 6 inches above the floor. In order to cut that edge of the carpet I had to lay on my stomach and reach under there with a blade. Oh, did I mention that the previous owners owned at least one dog and most likely several and I'm not real sure they were potty trained real well. Yeah, that's how my day went. The carpet guy that I had come out said that "was the smell of money" since a house like that was ripe for a rehab to make money on because not too many people will buy a house that smells like that because they can't get beyond the smell to see the true value of the house. With a little clean up, paint, new carpet and lots of bleach to get rid of the smell a house like that will begin to shine and sell for thousands more than we paid for it. This all got me thinking tonight that isn't that what it's like for many people in our world. They smell bad, they look bad, they are beat up and because of it, many many people pass them by because they can't see the true value in those people. If we could only take the time to help people who are in these situations then we could truly see the value that God places on them. It's amazing what a little paint can do for a house, but that's nothing for what a little love can do for a person.
Blessings

Be Still and Know That I Am God

I haven't posted in a while simply because I didn't have any "theological" thoughts as of late. I told Dawn that and she said she didn't realize I had a standard of which to write about. I didn't realize it either until the other day and felt like I was only telling about my life. I guess I do though. I'm not sure that this post is all that theological either, but I felt I could write something today. My life has truly been flexible as of late. I've stayed busy, but have had lots of time to sit back and reflect on God. My attitude has ebbed and flowed with the changing days and weather. One moment I'm resting in God's prescence, the next I'm anxious about what He's leading me to and when He's going to do it. I fight the tendency to feel inadequate as a provider for my family and have to be reminded that I'm trying to follow God's call and that He's been, and is, our provider. I received a call from my mom last night that kind of spurred some new thoughts for me to bounce around in this space between my ears. She simply asked if we were alright and if we were doing what God wanted for us. (not exactly, but in that line). I had to reassure her that we were absolutely confident that we were doing what God wanted for us to do at this moment in our lives. We feel very secure in His prescence and His guidance. What we are doing doesn't look anything like what the current church model looks like and I know that it makes a lot of people who love us worry. One of the greatest concerns is that we have "left the church" to pursue money, jobs or whatever and are we being faithful to our (my) "Call". I told mom that I didn't ever believe that my call was to be a "preacher" in the typical sense nor do I believe that my call is specifically to teenagers anymore, but rather than to something different and possibly unexplainable. Something that isn't typical nor comfortable, but rather to a participation with Christ in His workings with mankind. I find it difficult to describe to others in the church what it is that we are doing, because it's not what they are used to. Yet, we feel compelled to move forward in this endevor. Is everything moving the way that I thought it would, not even close, but what I'm realizing is that God is moving exactly the way He wants and I'm ok with that. I titled this post what I did simply because that is what I need to do. I need to continue to realize who He is and know he is who he says he is. Isn't that enough? I'm still learning, but I belive that it is. His faithfulness continues to carry us, as well as, your prayers for us. Please continue to pray for us as we will continue them for you.

The Emergency is Over

I thought it would be good if I caught you all up a little with what's been going on in our lives as of late. First of all, we are doing great. The Lord has truly been helping us through all of this transition in our lives and has provided very well for our needs. Unfortunately, Dawn has had to pick up more hours at work, but that has been a real blessing as she has been offered different financial "perks" for many of the hours she has worked. To fill you in, we (primarily I) had been leaning toward moving to Nashville to begin a ministry there, but over a period of time and through some doors closing and some opening we have decided that we will stay here in Defiance for a while. See, when I resigned we sort of hit an emergency mode of "ok God, I've resigned now what and where". We've finally settled down a little and began to realize that God is providing and things will be ok and if He wants us to leave then he'll tell us when and where.
So, here's a little picture of what we're gonna do. I've recently gone to a needs center here in town that several different social agencies are located and began asking what need in the community is currently not being met or is in greatest demand. I discovered that short term housing and utility assistance are some of the greatest needs. Short term housing is housing for a day or a couple weeks when someone is either evicted from their apartment or they have recently been ill thus lost their place or maybe they just got out of jail and have nowhere to stay. This area of need was quite surprising to me and ironically fit within the scope of the other aspect of my ministry plans. As you know, I've been rehabbing houses for a few years now and one of the things that I am going to do now is to set up a realestate company that buys, sells, fixes, rents etc. property with the sole purpose of it to finance the ministry. I will be taking all the profits of the company to support the ministry. This business, thus fits very well with the need in our community as I should be able to get some properties that I could use specifically for the need of temporary housing. Out of the ministry, hopefully, we will then birth a community of faith that brings people closer to Christ. It may consist of worship services, teachings and the such, but that will be determined on how the relationships go since that will be the main part of it all. That's the super-short version of what we're doing, but hopefully you get the idea. So, I just signed up for two classes at the local community college to begin my journey toward getting a realestate license. I need four classes and the next two are not offered until the fall. I've also just got a contract on a fixer-upper house that we should be able to turn around for some money and I'm looking at a house with 4 units in it on Friday to possibly buy. We're both pretty excited about what God has for us and possibly some of you. This is an invitation for you to join us in prayer for this ministry and business, as well as, how you might be able to join us. Thanks for all your love and support. If you want further details about all this then you will probably need to call me to get a better understanding.
God Bless!

As many of you know, these two "kids" came and stayed the weekend with us here in the big city. It was great having them stay and catch up some with what's been happening in their lives. We spent a ton of time talking about what God has been doing in our lives as of late and I'm sure we just about wore them out with our story, but I'm glad they were gracious enough to listen. We went bowling on Saturday afternoon and Reagan beat Scott and they were both using the bumpers. (Sorry Scott) Reagan's big for an 8 year old though :) If any of you would ever want to travel to the big resort city of Defiance, don't hesitate to let us know and we'd gladly put you up for a while. There's lot's to do, like bowling and... well, you could hang with us. Thanks Scott and Amy for visiting we really loved it!

Use Me

Have you ever prayed the prayer of "God just use me" at anytime in your life? I have, lots of times. I've prayed it as a simple prayer of devotion and I've said it when I've been in a situation that I believed that God could or should intervene and I wanted to be available. It usually is the heart cry of many believers to be used by God in whatever way that He would see fit, but do we really know the implications of that prayer? I don't think that we do. I've been saying that prayer a lot these days and I believe that God has been using us during this time, but something that I didn't expect happened during all of this. It's the feeling of being used. Yeah, you know that feeling. It's the one that you feel like you've put yourself out there for something and you walk away feeling like you've been left holding the bag or foolish. When we pray God "Use me" we/I tend to think of all the ways that God can be glorified and how we can feel good about the situation, but I don't think we realize the full extent of God's call upon us. I think of Paul praying for God to use him in incredible ways and then feeling used when he was being beaten or imprisioned. Look at John the Baptist as he's in prision and he's sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he's really the One. I think, maybe, he was feeling used and being left in prison. I can imagine John asking, "Why, if Jesus could do all the miracles and set people free from their problems, can't he set me free?" This line of thinking aligns itself directly with the path that Jesus himself had to take. Did he feel "used" by God when he was being abused and subsequently crucified? I believe he did. He even cried out to God, "Why have you forsaken me?" It's almost as if he's saying something like "I did all this for you and now you've left me here to die".
I really don't have a good handle on why our trials come nor why we have to go through them other to say that through them we gain strength and others gain victories. It just seems that this is one more mystery that my mind cannot seem to get a grasp on in this journey we call the Christian life. It truly is my prayer for God to use me and I guess I'm beginning to get a little better understanding of what that is really a call to. God may you use me however you see fit!

The Community of Faith

Happy Birthday 6.5 billionth person!

I didn't realize how long it has been since I last posted. Sorry to you, all my faithful fans out there who check this thing every hour. (you know who you are Angie and Scott). At least I don't move my blog as much as Ben does. Warning, This is a long post

Anyway, I was asked to preach at a church in a nearby community this past weekend and I preached a sermon that I had done a few weeks prior to leaving our church. (By the way I'm using it again tomorrow at another church since he called me tonight to preach there tomorrow) Besides it just being easier to preach the same sermon over, it's also one that I find myself really trying to live out right now in my life. Here's it is:

The Community of Faith

What is a Community of Faith?
What does worship look like in a community of faith?
What are we?

What is a community of Faith? What it isn’t

It’s not Self-Sufficient

Gen 3:1-6 Self Sufficiency led to first sin
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' " 4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
What happens when we become self-sufficient?
1) We begin passing judgment on others who are not like us
2) We can’t trust God or others
3) Reluctant to expose our true selves, our thoughts and emotions

Self-sufficiency or autonomy tells us the lack of love in a church is someone else’s problem not mine

Community is Dependent on others

We were not meant to take care of ourselves. We were created to be dependent on God and on one another. John 14:16

16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever
Matthew 22:37-40
37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'[a] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[b] 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
We weren’t meant to be alone Gen 2:18

18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

When we attempt to do things alone we end up Lonely, tired and struggling

*Instead we need each other.

Gal 5:13 13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature[a]; rather, serve one another in love.–

The Message: 13It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows

Community is serving one another.

*We exist for other people

*We are to serve one another and compliment one another gifts for the common purpose of representing Christ to our world. We are to be participants not spectators in His family

Acts 2:42-47

42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved

Look at Ecc 4:9-12
9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: 10 If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! 11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

True service within community only happens out of true love

Eph 4:2 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love

*Love Not tolerate, I can tolerate without loving

*We tend to gravitate to people who are like us. Look like us, talk like us, make about the same amount of money as us, believe as us, enjoy the same entertainment as us. Is that community? No! That’s affinity. “We’re alike so we can be friends” That’s almost a type of self-worship we surround ourselves with ourselves, but with different names and faces.

*I need to get to know people who are different than me. I have to get beyond what I believe are their annoying habits and see their hearts we all have habits that are annoying to somebody!

John 14:21
21Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

John 3:16
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life
.
**Does the love you have for God’s family look like the love Jesus has for You?

John 15:13 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Community is Filled with Humility and Honesty

Community is messy!

*What would happen if someone fount out I’m struggling with sin that I’m not living a victorious Christian Life? Would I be judged? Would I be looked down on? Would be kept out of the loop?

*Why aren’t we vulnerable to those around us? It’s because weakness in one’s character is often attacked.

*In community we have to realize that none of us have life figured out and that we are on this journey together.

*We are supposed to be brothers and sisters in Christ and we need to begin to be honest with each other and humble ourselves by admitting our failures and celebrating our successes.

I have heard it said that Isolation is the garden of the devil. When we try to make it by ourselves or cause others to be alone we are inviting failure. When we pretend to have it all figured out and act like we don’t sometimes struggle and put on this perfect face then we hurt those around us because they don’t see an honest picture of who we are.

Kids are honest (Kids chat) “My son Zachary, 4, came screaming out of the bathroom to tell me he'd dropped his toothbrush in the toilet. So I fished it out and threw it in the garbage. Zachary stood there thinking for a moment, then ran to my bathroom and came out with my toothbrush. He held it up and said with a charming little smile, "We better throw this one out too then, 'cause it fell in the toilet a few days ago.”
A woman was trying hard to get the ketchup to come out of the jar. During her struggle the phone rang so she asked her 4-year-old daughter to answer the phone. "It's the minister, Mommy," the child said to her mother. Then she added, "Mommy can't come to the phone to talk to you right now. She's hitting the bottle."
A little boy opened the big family bible. He was fascinated as he fingered through the old pages. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible. He picked up the object and looked at it. What he saw was an old leaf that had been pressed in between the pages. "Mama, look what I found", the boy called out." What have you got there, dear?" With astonishment in the young boy's voice, he answered, "I think it's Adam's underwear!"

*There is no room for pretending in the spiritual life! Pretending is the grease of modern non-relationships. It prevents us from being honest and humbled. It creates an unhealthy sense of pride in our self that we have it all together.

It’s this pretending that gets us in trouble. Look at Gen 3 again in the garden and see how they had it all figured out.
It gets us in trouble with practical things like Some Examples:
1) Our finances—We pretend we have it all together and we buy things that we shouldn’t and thus overextend ourselves and then cannot give like we should to those around us who are in need
2) Our Families—Our kids see us pretend everything is ok in our lives at church, but then we get home and it’s not and they see this hypocritical picture of what it means to be Christian
3) Our church—we pretend that we’re all together and everything is perfect thus we don’t humble ourselves and admit we need God to work in our lives thus he can’t.
4) Worship—

It’s this pride that prevents us from helping people around us. It becomes an attitude of “if those people would just get a job, then they wouldn’t need my help” if those people would just get their act together then that kind of thing wouldn’t happen.

We should know right off the bat when we say “those people” we’re in trouble already. We are those people! Look at the people around you! We are those people. We are just pretending we’re not.

I am one of “those people” I’m a mess.

Community is filled with Forgiveness

In community we often have to ask people to forgive us because we haven’t served and loved them.

In community we have to forgive those who don’t serve or love us.

Matthew 18 How many times? 70 x 7

Col. 3:13
13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

*Forgive as the Lord has forgiven you

*So what do we do to create community like God intended for us to have?
1) Begin to let down the walls of self-sufficiency. Let yourself out of that prison and begin to be a part of the community. Gal 5:13 “You were called to be free”
2) Realize that we are truly dependent upon God and others
3) Begin to serve one another, begin to serve those around you (ravens, food stamps etc)
4) Learn to love- Go beyond yourself, go beyond your church
5) Start being honest with yourselves and with those around you and admit you’re not perfect and allow others to grow from that.
6) Be willing to ask for forgiveness and be willing to accept it

What God is Leading us to

Well, I told you that I would start sharing with you all what I believe that God has been leading us to in this process that we have been going through so, I have decided to share a little today. I believe that the first thing that God has led us to during this stretch of time that has spanned a couple of years now is the overwhelming desire for community. It has been a yearning of our hearts to come together with a group of people in community and minister within that context. It is this direction that we believe that God is leading us to now. Over a year ago I felt that God was leading me to write a letter to a specific group of people and describe to them the direction that God was leading me to. That letter was sent to that group because I believe that God led me to those people specifically for this journey. Since then, I believe that God has led us to others who are part of it. Anyway, since our resignation from the church God has confirmed in us many times over that we are to be gathering in community and in doing so create a type of ministry that would more resemble the church than what the current institutional church looks like. It would in essence be a ministry “hub” or “center” that would go in a community and begin meeting the needs of that particular community. Out of that would birth a “church” in, what I believe, a more pure form. It would be a community that does more than just gather together a few times a week and hear the Word and sing, but rather it would be a community that gathers together in order to celebrate what God has done in us and through us throughout the week. We would gather to worship the God of all creation for the mercy that He demonstrated in our lives that week and gather together to encourage those among us that were facing trials. It would be a more honest community that would understand that all is not perfect and that we do struggle, but in those struggles we become stronger. The ministry that would take place would be very active ministry that would be totally determined by those involved and the will of God working in and through us. What that ministry looks like, I cannot really describe because it is dependent upon what God is calling others to do and how He has designed them to minister. I believe it is my place to create an environment that supports those in the ministry and allows them to do all that God has planned for them. So, the next question really is, Where? I have a place that I believe that God is leading us to, but the place is not nearly as important as the community. For, you see, community is not dependent upon location so much as it is upon the people. I believe that community is what God has intended for us from the beginning, and somewhere over time we began to believe that, we as followers of Christ, could be independents who gathered together in our social clubs a couple of times a week. As we look over the scriptures we see how the believers gathered together and invested themselves in each other’s lives. It is to that end, together with ministering to a hurting people that I believe He is calling us to. This seems to be just the tip of the proverbial “iceberg” of where I believe God is leading us, but it’s a start and I’ll share more at a later date.
Blessings

Coffee Shop

I'm currently sitting in our local coffee shop and thought I'd drop a post. I don't drink coffee, as many of you know, but they have a great cup of hot chocolate. and some of the biggest cinnamon rolls you've ever seen. Anyway, it's amazing how God can use you in the strangest places. Our, across the street neighbor, works here and she is currently trying to sell her home. They have only been in there for 6months. I happened to ask her why she was moving and for the next 15 minutes she began to open her life up to me and share how she felt that the move here was against where God wanted her and her family to be and they should have never left Montana. Anyway, I've only talked to this woman a few times prior to this, but I was able to share with her and be a listening ear to her during this trying time. It's amazing how many people desire someone, anyone, to listen to them; to pour their heart out to. I'm glad that I came here today as I've been able to, for just a little while, be Jesus to someone who needs Him today. She even asked me to pray for them. I'm honored and I will. My prayer for each of you today is that you can be Jesus to someone today too.

The Holy Land Experience

It's amazing how much that christianity has become a money making machine. Last night I was flipping channels and the news program was highlighting the new theme park in Orlando called The Holy Land Experience. (www.theholylandexperience.com) I guess it's a theme park that resembles Israel and the surrounding areas. It's filled with drama and storylines about Jesus and the such. I'm sure it's just like being there. Look how friendly that Roman soldier is. Today, again flipping channels (I obviously watch too much tv) I saw a group of women on one of our "religious" channels selling her treatments that helped everyone from the kids to the seniors. One set of 4 things ran $115! Pat Robertson is in the middle of building a $50 million visitors center/theme park next to the sea. It really bugs me that we, the church, spend so much money on the trivial. I'm just as guilty as the next guy, but it seems to bother me more and more each and every day especially when we see almost daily how poor people are around us and around this world. I'm not gonna name the band, but we here on our church district tried to get a band here for a district concert thingy, but we couldn't afford their $40,000 price tag just to show up. We would also have to supply room/board the facilities etc. etc. Don't get me wrong, I know it costs money to do things, but when to we make enough? At what point do we make a living and start living LARGE? I'm not pointing my finger so much at others as I am at myself and am trying to figure out where it is that God wants me and my family. Anyway, we're making progress in this adventure and God is soooo faithful. Continue to pray for us as we will continue to pray for you.

Good is Good!

First of all, the house closed without a hitch today. Praise the Lord! That's just one more thing that God has taken care of for us during this process. We had prayed that God would send someone to buy the house that would totally fall in love with it. Well, the people who bought it were planning to sleep on the floor there tonight and move there stuff in this weekend. Another prayer answered. We were given a food and card "pounding" on Sunday by the people in the church to help support us during this time. We received a ton of food and some money. We are very humbled by their love.

Is Picasso "Good"?

Now, regarding the title of this post. We went out to an Italian restaurant last night with some people from the church and my meal was real good. I won't go into the details of what it was, but I know you wish you could have been there. Anyway, I've eaten at some restaurants and the food wasn't any good at all. A lot of people have a hard time with things that aren't "Christian", especially music. I remember hearing some people when I was younger claim that the music was "devil" music if it were anything other than the hyms in the church. They even included the upcoming Christian contemporary music at the time. It's funny, If I were to hold to the same logic as the music logic then I probably couldn't ever go back to that Italian restaurant because I'm not real sure if the food was "Christian" or not. I didn't ask it nor did I ask the chef or the waiter. See, we can take that logic across the board to my bed. Is it good or not? How about my computer? What about a good book or poetry? The list is endless. If we read in Genesis we see that when God created He said they were "good". He didn't call them the "Christian" plants, animals, waters, sky etc. He just said they are good. Things that are good come from God and God alone. Satan cannot make good. It's not who he is. Can Satan distort good? Sure, but that doesn't negate that there is some good in it. Think of it this way. I know some songs out there that are not good in the lyrics (don't promote godliness), but the music is good. I know just the opposite as well. I guess what I'm trying to say is good is good. I don't know if I explained this with the eloquence that it deserves, but I hope you get the point. Maybe this post is not so good.?.

Last Day as a YP

Well, I'm done! I'm no longer the youth pastor at Defiance Church of the Nazarene. In fact after close to 15 years of being involved in youth ministry I may be done with youth ministry as a "profession". It's a good day, but one that I really didn't know would ever come. I had always thought that I'd be a "lifer" in youth ministry. I guess at my age, almost 36, that is a lifer to some. I have only a few regrets over that period of time and it has to do with my efforts, but thankfully God is very gracious and has blessed me with more "jewels" than regrets over that time. Many of you reading this are some of those jewels. (Those in the picture are just some. I look constipated in this picture) As I reflect back over the years, I'm even more excited about my future as I can see how God used me in some of my worst moments to help him reach some of his lost children. It gives me hope for my future as I'm a little farther down that road now. (Implying that I may not make some of the same mistakes) I'm excited about this next chapter of my life. If the next 15 years are anything like the past 15, I would be blessed beyond words. If, however, they are bigger than the past 15 then only heaven will be able to contain what is to come. Father God, thank you for where I've been, but help me not to dwell on my past but to anticipate where you're leading me now.

Busy Week

Sorry for the long delay in my posting to the blog, but had a lot of stuff going on around here. First of all, it seems, at this moment, that all is going well with the sale of the house. We are still trying to sell it by the 1st of February. Sunday was my last Sunday night with the teenagers. I still have tomorrow with them for Wednesday nights, but after that then Sunday is my last day on staff. Sunday night went really well. I've been trying to create transition with the youth and the adult leaders and they have begun to really step up and do some things that I wish they could have been doing a couple of years back, but maybe that's another reason for God pulling us out now. I'm looking forward to Sunday, kinda, as it will be our last day, but the pastor made a point of telling everyone in the church to "pour out their love for us" through cards, cash and groceries. It makes me a little uneasy and humbled, but I guess it's another answer to prayer. As for answers to prayer, the church has also decided to pay for our insurance for the next 3 months as well. That's a real blessing. My parents were here last week (part of the delay in posting) and my dad, unfortunately, got sick. I think it was the flu. I had to pick up Connor from school today because he was vomitting and tonight Dawn is. Thanks Dad. Anyway Reagan and I are next and we can hardly wait. Thanks Evan! (http://evanandjulia.blogspot.com/)
On the other front, God is beginning to direct me in some specific ways and we are getting more and more excited every day. I won't post them right now, but I will in the future as He directs me to more specifics. He is definitely a great God!