Say It Ain't So ...

One of the books I am currently reading is "Comeback Churches" by Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson. A couple of sentences I read yesterday really made an impression. I have been rolling these sentences around in my head and heart and wondered what you thought of them.

"Churches will split over preferences - without either side caring about the lost. Comeback churches have decided that the 'sin of preferences' leads to the 'sin of a dying church'."

My experience tells me these are true statements, and I wish that the first sentence was not. Churches will divide over music, over chairs versus pews, over service times, over what a pastor wears, over sound systems and projectors, and they will even divide over the color of carpet in the worship center, but in all of this division they rarely spend more than a token amount of time considering those who are lost without Christ.

As I read the Bible, as I sense God's vision for my life and the church it seems to me that the lost should be at the front of our discussions and decisions. What comes to your mind first whenever the pastor, or leaders, at your church announcement a new ministry, new time, or new place for ministries what comes to your mind first? Is it how it will help reach more of the lost, or how it will impact you?

So, have you been guilty of the "sin of preferences" lately?

Truly Thankful ...

This Thanksgiving was a fun time of getting away and being with family. We gathered at my son's on Wednesday evening and headed back home on Friday evening. In between we enjoyed some things for which I am truly thankful. My wife and I went about 45 minutes past my son's to see my youngest daughter and son-in-law's to see them and our youngest grandchild for about an hour. You see they were going to his parent's for Thanksgiving so we decided we would catch an hour with them before they took off. Our grandson is crawling all over the place, pulling himself up on stuff and jabbering a lot.

When we got to my son and daughter-in-law's it was raining hard so I got soaked carrying everything inside. My grandson Zee (not his name, just a letter) greeted me and asked if I had my wallet. I told him I did at which point he went to his room and came back with his wallet and wanted to compare cash. I think he may have had more.

We got everything inside and then settled into spending time together. There was our son, daughter-in-law, our oldest daughter, and 4 grandkids. The kids showed us a few things and then my son and I headed off to a high school basketball with grandson Emm (who truth be told just went for the popcorn). We went to the game because it is Indiana and high school basketball in Indiana is awesome. I miss it. It was not a great game, but it was still great to experience.

Over the next couple of days we played several games, Rook, Hearts, Xbox, War and a lot of 4 square. My grandsons made the 4 square very interesting. Whoever made it to the serving square got to announce the rules by which we would play. I nearly always said "normal". But Bee and Zee had a long list of things allowed and not allowed. Such as twisters, bus stops, tiny tims, chicken feet, cherry bombs, black magic, double hits and around the worlds, just to name a few. We laughed a lot and discussed the various interpretations of the rules. A good time was had by all.

I made my mom's famous "butterhorn rolls", my wife even took a picture of the finished product and sent it to our youngest daughter who was at her in-laws where they had no butterhorn rolls. Our daughter was not amused, but we were. My daughter-in-law, daughter and wife worked hard on the rest of the meal and we enjoyed a delicious and large spread of food.

We played more games that night and the next day right up until we left. I was truly thankful for the opportunity to see all of our children and grandchildren (I count my daughter and son-in-law as our children). To see that all of them are doing well, that they love the Lord and are serving Him was especially encouraging. To play games is a necessity if you are around our family. To laugh is a requirement that is done in abundance whenever we all get together.

I am truly thankful for my family, for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for health, laughter, for friends and even for the opportunity to share all of that with you on this blog.

Here's hoping that I will be truly thankful each day. But there does seem to be something about a big meal that brings out the thankfulness in me.

Monday Morning Musings...

Yesterday was a very encouraging day. Our time of singing during worship was uplifting and moving. Our special in song was outstanding. My message was below par, I woke up at 3:30 this morning going over it in mind. I had the privilege of dedicating a child to the Lord during our worship. I love dedicating children, the joy on the congregation's faces as they watch is great. The nerves and pride all mixed together in the parents as they stand up front. The chance to remind all parents that our children are gifts from God that we have given, we are the stewards of these precious gifts. To challenge parents to live a life in front of their children that will lead them to a personal saving knowlege of Christ. Our attendance was the second highest of the year, on the Sunday after Thanksgiving! People hung around and talked for a really long time and I saw many people talking with visitors and newer people.

Then Sunday evening we did our annual time of decorating the church for the Christmas season. We had a lot of people here, they were working, they were talking, they were laughing and they were enjoying the time. The place looks really good. We have been cleaning the building up, repainting a lot of our children's areas. We have some really talented people. The kids have been really pumped about the new looks.

Yesterday was a great finish to a good weekend. Time with family over Thanksgiving was fun as always. There was a lot of food, there were a lot of games, there was great conversation and the joy of seeing that my kids all love the Lord and are serving Him.

Here's hoping you are thankful and looking forward to sharing the light of Christmas with those you work with, live with, live near, go to school with and in general whoever you meet.

Spiritual Handicaps ... what do you think?

Before I became a pastor I was a public school teacher. In fact I taught Special Education for 5 years, 2 years were with 7th, through 9th graders and 3 years with 9th through 12th graders. I loved teaching and coaching, I felt like I was making a real difference in the lives of my students and athletes. When I began to sense God calling me to full-time ministry I argued with God. Never mind, that isn't what this post is about, maybe I will do a post about that at a later time.

As a special education teacher I worked with students who had been labeled. In fact if they hadn't been labeled then they weren't in the special ed. program. At that time the labels included LD (learning disabled), MMH (mildly mentally handicapped) and EH (emotionally handicapped) to name a few. Those labels have changed since got out of teaching, but the idea is the same.

As I reflected on this recently it got me to wondering, is there such a thing as spiritual handicaps? Do some people spiritual learning disabilities? Do some have of you have an opinion? Let me know.

I am working on a follow-up on this question.

Monday Morning Musings ...

God is good all the time, all the time God is good. I was reminded of this yesterday. We had another very good day of worship (no thanks to my message). The spirit was good again as we worshipped. We celebrated communion as a part of the morning worship. There was a great spirit of awe and joy as we shared the elements of communion. It seems that many of our people are beginning to really express themselves as we sing during worship. I don't mean anything crazy, just that people are beginning to feel free to raise hands whenever the feel led to do that, to stand when they feel like it even if everyone else is sitting, to sit when they feel like having a private moment even if everyone else is standing and to come to the altar and pray even if that has not been mentioned from the leader. That is a huge turn toward authentic worship.

We had good attendance again and I am encouraged by how our people seem to be moving toward new people after worship services. We still have a ways to go, in my opinion, to really be connecting with new people after their first couple of Sundays but we are making progress. I am encouraged by the fact that it is becoming more the norm to have new people on a Sunday and a surprise when we don't.

Because we had a community Thanksgiving service Sunday evening, and I was not in charge of it, I got to take a short nap Sunday afternoon. I really enjoyed that, it had been a while since I felt like I had the time.

I am looking forward to being with some of our family this week as we celebrate Thanksgiving. Maybe ti is because I am getting older (insert your own joke here), or maybe it is because we have had a few scares physically in our family recently, but I am really focusing on what I have to be thankful for this year.

Here's hoping you have a meaningful Thanksgving.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow ...

As I drove to church early this morning, it was snowing! In case you didn't get the full impact of the first sentence, I wrote that on November 18, 2007 at 5:17 AM it was snowing. It was not sticking to anything, just fluttering to the ground, or whatever else it met first, and then melted upon contact. But it was still snowing. I know it is past the mid-point of November, but still it was snowing.

To enlighten those of you who do not know me well (though I must admit that I often assume that only those who know me well read this blog) I enjoy all four seasons of the year. Honestly, I even enjoy winter, at least parts of it. I always have mixed emotions when the first snow(s) makes it's appearance. I am excited that winter is on it's way, for the beauty of it and for the fact that it signals that basketball season has really arrived. The other emotion is one of dread as I wonder how long it will be before I have to shovel snow.

Now we are in that transition from Fall to Winter. Around here that means that just a few days ago it was 62 degrees and sunny. We may even have a few more days that hit the upper 50's before winter is fully engaged. I have already attended a basketball game, it was a junior high game, but still it was basketball (sort of).

So here is hoping you see some snow floating, fluttering or flying soon wherever you are residing. Here's hoping that none of the people inclined to attend church around here today use the sight of fluttering flakes as an excuse not to make it church. Here's praying that you have a great Lord's Day!

Lower level

My good friend Rob had a link on his blog so that you could submit your blogs to some group that evaluates what you have written and grade the intellect level needed to read your blog. So being the brave soul that I am I submitted my blog for evaluation. The result was that my blog is at the "elementary school level".

Now that is not as bad as it sounds, at least not to me. First, I have always strived to make sure that in my preaching I speak on a level that even grade schoolers would understand. My rationale is that if even a grade schooler can follow the message then it really can be understood by all who listen. I have even been known to ask some elementary children to listen to a sermon and take notes, if I use any word that they do not understand and if I fail to then explain that word, I pay them a set amount for each word. That keeps me on my toes, it gets them to listen carefully and hopefully leads me to preach messages that are understandable. Second, I want the messages to be able to be applied in people's lives. If they are not understood then how can they be applied?

So I am not offended at the grade my blog received, in fact I consider it a compliment. Besides I really can't write above my own level, now can I?

Monday Morning Musings ...

Yesterday was a very good day. The spirit in our worship service, even in the evening, was outstanding. Our time of singing in worship was wonderful. We changed up the order a bit. It was the first Sunday with our new lighting and I believe it really helped with the atmosphere. We had a very good attendance and had a family come back for the second week in a row. We also had a brand new family attend for the first time. I preached a message on a difficult passage from Romans 1. I dealt with the fact that the problems described with the people in this passage stemmed from the fact that they did not give God thanks and did not glorfigy Him. Stressing the importance in our giving God glory and thanks, because He is God and is worthy of the glory and thanks.

In our evening time, we have stuff going on all over the place with kids having a special session and youth in small groups in homes. The adults are with me and we have been studying "Conflict Theology", it has been a good study. We had some great worship again and then some wonderful testimonies. That was a good finish to a great day.

I have been a slacker with posting recently, I will try to get back in the swing of things this week.

Hope you have a great week. Here's hoping you will live thankfully this week.

Monday Morning Musings...

Another Monday morning, another chance for reflection and the most recent Sunday. Yesterday was a very good day in many ways. We had many who made decisions to totally surrender themselves to the Lord! We had at least one decision to accept Christ as personal savior! That is what it is all about. We had good times of worship and it was not our normal leadership. A young man in our church led worship with his Christian band. So it was just guitars and drums, and it was great. I really enjoyed it. There was a very good spirit in the service. Once again we had a major technical glitch. The person who was singing a special in song was unable to because though it worked perfectly in practice would not work during the service. Fortunately it did not kill the spirit as it has too many other times. We had good attendance with many regulars missing. We had a couple of families return for a second Sunday.

Sunday evening we a missionary from the Caribbean region. He did a nice job of giving us a picture of the work in part of his region and of letting us know how we can be involved in more than one way. He shared some amazing stories and facts about Haiti in particular.

After our morning service and hearing some of the missionary's stories it left me feeling somewhat frustrated. Frustrated with the fact that we moving so slowly in seeing lives changed in our community. Frustrated that we are begging to have people get involved in service. Frustrated that some many people who claim to be followers of Christ can be so casual about their relationship with Christ.

I don't know how much time I have left, or how much time any of the lost in our community have left and therefore I don't have time to waste. So what will we do? What will I do? What will you do?