Life Journeys

One Prayer

2008-05-15T08:43:00.001-04:00

This summer at Southview, we're going to do something we've never done before. Starting June 8, we will be partnering with over 800 churches in 18 countries around the world in a simultaneous series called "One Prayer." The premise of the series is, "If God would answer one prayer for the church at large, what would you pray?"

Initiated by Craig Groeschel and LifeChurch.tv, a church that God is using mightily in Oklahoma and around the country, this series will unite Kingdom churches in a way that has never happened. We will be fasting, praying, and seeking God in concert with tens of thousands of other Christ-followers - what an amazing thing! I am really looking forward to this series.

We'll do this on Sunday nights in June, beginning June 8 and running through June 29, at 6 p.m. each night. We will have a full time of worship, corporate prayer, and teaching. You will not want to miss this - trust me! Childcare will be provided for kids (infants through age 5).

Mark your calendars and plan to be here as churches in the Kingdom of God do a "new thing" together!

Alistair Begg on Walking with Christ

2008-05-15T07:02:00.001-04:00

"You can't be walking with Christ and not want to walk with the people who love Christ."

This is in line with what Calvin said - that a true Christ follower will worship with other believers in a local church if at all possible.

If one says they are a Christian, but they do not attend church and do life with other believers in the context of the local church, are they truly walking with Christ?

Alistair Begg on preaching today

2008-05-14T07:09:00.000-04:00

"The reason most preaching is ignored today is that it deserves to be."

Whiteboard Conference and Luncheon

2008-05-13T08:09:00.003-04:00

I am really looking forward to this conference! It's May 22 in Reston - if you haven't registered to attend the Whiteboard conference, I understand that it's filling fast - you can register here. If you're interested in attending a bloggers lunch that Terrace Crawford is putting together at Uno's, you can get the details for that here (only 50 spaces total for lunch and going FAST!).

Alistair Begg on the call to preach

2008-05-13T08:00:00.001-04:00

"The pulpit calls those anointed to it as the sea calls its sailors, and like the sea it batters and bruises and does not rest. To preach, to really preach, is to die naked a little at a time, and to know each time you do it that you must do it again."

I think there's much truth here. What do you think?

Quotes from Alistair Begg

2008-05-12T21:03:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite pastors to listen to is Alistair Begg. This week I'll share some quotes from Begg that have challenged me and informed me as I learn how to be a pastor who pleases God.

From Alistair's book On Being a Pastor:

“I remain fascinated by the variety of approaches that preachers take in preparing their sermons. In our preparation, as well as in our delivery we must ‘to our own selves be true.’ When I am asked to summarise my method of preparation, I mention the following points, which I learned from the late Leith Samuel….

1. Think yourself empty. As strange as it may sound, we must be careful to ensure that we do not avoid sound thinking. The temptation to respond emotionally to a passage (this is how this makes me feel) is not unique to our listeners. If we are to have ‘thinking’ congregations it is incumbant upon us to be ‘thinking’ pastors’! We do not want to be uncertain by the time our study ends, but it is surely right and proper to begin with the perspective, ‘I must know what this says, and I must learn what this means.’

2. Read yourself full.

3. Write yourself clear. Aside from the essential empowering of the Holy Spirit, if there is one single aspect of sermon preparation that I would want to emphasise, it is this. Freedom of delivery in the pulpit depends upon careful organisation in the study. We may believe that we have a grasp of the text, only to stand up and discover that somewhere between our thinking and our speaking things have gone badly awry. The missing link can usually be traced back to the absence of putting our thoughts down clearly.

4. Pray yourself hot. There is no chance of fire in the pews if there is an iceberg in the pulpit! Without prayer and communion with God during the preparation stages, the pulpit will be cold. In 1752 John Shaw reminded the incumbent pastor beginning his charge in Cambridge, Massachusetts: ‘All will be in vain, to no saving purpose, until God is pleased to give the increase. And in order to do this, God looks for prayers to come up to His ears. A praying minister is always the way to have a succesful ministry.”

5. Be yourself, but don’t preach yourself. A good teacher, like John the Baptist, clears the way, declares the way, and then gets out of the way.”

Catching up

2008-05-12T20:54:00.000-04:00

Lots going on these days with the Attaways - here's a few updates:

- Allison is now 1 year old! Here's a pic from her birthday party last weekend

- Erin completed her first swim class at the local community center and is now in another one - she's becoming more and more comfortable with it, and we're happy about that.

- Things at Southview are going really well - lots of new families visiting with us, more baptisms coming the next few weeks, and lots of projects in the pipeline that I'm excited about.

- Charlotte is doing incredibly well with her weight loss - she's down 27 pounds! I'm down 29 and 1/2 - we're both still truckin' along.

- REALLY enjoying this sermon series on Haggai that I started on May 4 - and I'm getting some good feedback. I LOVE the "minor" prophets! So much there for us to learn from.

Quote of the Week

2008-05-08T15:13:00.001-04:00

“To reach people no one else is reaching, we must do things no one else is doing.”

--Craig Groeschel

Session 11 - James MacDonald

2008-05-06T07:45:00.001-04:00

Notes from this session (expositional sermon on Acts 12):

God is in control

1. Even when I suffer (Acts 12:1-5)
- Sincerity is not an exemption from suffering
- Service to God does not mean exemption from suffering
- 16 soldiers guarding 1 guy
- Stature is not an exemption from suffering
- God allows it - He will use it - He is in control

2. Even when it's midnight (v. 6-11)
- At midnight means I can't think of a way this can get fixed
- After this it will be totally in your hands
- Peter is sleeping - not stressed - Peter knew that God was in control and he trusted Him
- Just because it's down to the wire and past the point of no return, doesn't mean that God is not going to act
- We try to put God on our program, and what we need to do is get on His program

3. Even when my faith is weak (v. 12-19)
- They thought it was his angel (i.e. that he was dead) - they were praying but really were thinking that it was over. Their faith was very weak - yet God answered.
- Faith is important, but sovereignty supersedes faith. God is bigger.

4. Even when the wicked seem to prosper (v. 20-25)
- The crowd could have shouted "this just isn't right - do something God! Why don't you act?"
- Don't think that God's silence about something means that He doesn't see or care or know.
- That's what I think about that!
- He struck him down because he did not give God the glory - God will not share His glory with another
- God is in control when the wicked "seem" to prosper

But the Word of God continued to increase and spread.

Session 10 - Robert Smith - "Hybrid Homiletics"

2008-05-05T18:45:00.002-04:00

Robert Smith is the professor of preaching at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama.

Notes from this session:

- We live in a time of inspired intellectualism (from the neck up - big headed) and empty emotionalism (neck down - beheaded). This is an either / or thing that produces incomplete congregations and incomplete preachers.

- The Spirit never operates without or is separated from the Word and vice versa.

- The Spirit repeats, reaffirms, and reemphasizes what Jesus said.

- Both head and heart are absolutely necessary.

- We need to be like honeybees who gather from different flowers to produce their own honey - assimilation, not imitation or parroting

- We all stand on someone's shoulders - we take the best and mix it up in our own beehives.

- The preacher who brings the same form of sermon every time is like one who dusts plastic flowers instead of cultivating a garden - no surprises, no suspense

- Both John the Baptizer's message to Antipas and Nathan's message to David are appropriate and authentic - one is deductive and one is inductive - use both

- Fred Craddock "our preaching is not wrong, just too small - it doesn't cover enough ground. Head and heart need to be converted together."

- We want truth thought to be married to truth felt and then expressed in truth done.

- Our approach to preaching needs to be versatile and needs to vacillate.

- Didache is content oriented - designed for information; kerygma is intent oriented - designed for transformation

- Brooks "Find the place where truth touches down on life. Not just "what" but "so what" and "now what"

- What difference does this word mean on Monday?

- Exegetical escort - takes what is in the text out, and ushers people into God's promises - I cannot change them - only God can - like the Law - not intended to change us - couldn't - we needed a Messiah - the Law just showed us our mess

- We are exegetical escorts by the Spirit, and dancing is the metaphor

- Doxological dancer - my presentation is like John the Baptizer - I am just the voice, pointing to the one - as I lead them, I dance, I point in a way empowered by the Spirit

- E. K. Bailey - "exegetical preaching is a message taken from a portion of Scripture in order to render the precise meaning of a text through the power of the Holy Spirit."

- The message is taken from Scripture, not my presuppositions or self-interests - let the text say what it says - don't misuse or sanitize the text

- Allow the Holy Spirit to first apply the text to your life and then to those who listen to you

- The Old and New Testaments are a seamless robe - they speak with one voice

- "If I'm going to bleed Mon-Sat, the folks will not be spared on Sunday morning"

- Our job is to help people see what they cannot see in Scripture - we must open the text with such faithfulness to the text and such sensitivity to the people

- You cannot be prophetic without being pastoral

- Greidanus' 10 steps from text to sermon:
1. Take and give a text based on congregational spiritual needs (not felt needs)
2. Read and reread the text in its literary setting - read it 50 times - all five senses are clothed with the text (John 18:18 and 21:9 - charcoal fire - Peter was under conviction before Jesus asked him a question) - then you will see things you did not see before
3. Outline the structure of the text
4. Interpret the text in its literary context
5. Formulate the text's theme and goal - what does it want to accomplish? (Could be proclamation to initiate people into the faith - salvation, instruction of others about the faith - discipleship, etc) Theme - what is it all about?
6. Understand the text in its canonical and redemptive history - how does this look in light of the whole Bible?
7. Formulate the theme and goal of the sermon
8. Outline the structure of the sermon
9. Select a suitable form for the sermon
10. Write the sermon in oral style

- Prepare your sermon deductively - preach it inductively

- Don't have a Mercedes Benz title for a VW sermon

I'm exhausted

2008-04-28T20:39:00.003-04:00

I can't remember when my energy reserves felt this low. I'd sure appreciate your prayers. The last six weeks have been very full, and I'm really feeling it today. Please pray for restful sleep and energy, not just for me but for Charlotte too. She's as tired or more than I am. Thanks y'all.

Session 9 - James MacDonald

2008-04-23T21:43:00.003-04:00

James MacDonald is the founding and Senior Pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Wheaton, IL, and is the Radio Bible Teacher on the program Walk in the Word.

Notes from this session:

4 Pillars of my ministry:

1) Preaching God's Word without apology
2) Lifting high the name of Christ in worship
3) A firm belief in the power of prayer
4) A commitment to sharing the gospel with boldness

25 things I didn't learn about pastoring in seminary:

1) Preaching has to flow out of your relationship with the Lord - NOTHING will substitute for that in preaching (James 4:8)

2) Your preaching reflects who you are - authenticity (2 Cor. 4:2) - preaching is truth coming through your personality - we must be authentic to ourselves - be who God made us

3) You must be in God's Word everyday for yourself (not preparing for a message)

4) Don't preach if you're not right with others

5) Read broadly - secular biographies, interesting subjects

6) Preach the authority of the Word of God without apology - bedrock confidence behind what we say is God's Word - thus says the Lord - people want to have heard from God - we must say the things God has said - just tell me God's heart on the matter - Speak for God

7) Truth by definition is intolerant - it will come across that way. People don't come to church to hear what you're thinking about - they come to hear from God.

8) Just do your job, man. - 2 Tim 4:2 - preach the Word - not a suggestion - a command

9) What you preach determines who comes to your church, not how many people - you can reach thousands - many want to hear the Word of God - many do not. If people hear from God, something will happen and they will bring others to hear.

10) The power of preaching is in the balance of grace and truth (John 1:14)

11) Sermon preparation happens in stages. James plans a preaching calendar a year out - topics and passages - then a month out, he breaks it down - maps the series. Week of - Tues, read the passage and outline; Wed - continue the same; Thurs - outline or die day (for the bulletin); Fri - get it finished. John MacArthur - "The key to a great sermon? Keep your butt in the chair until the work is done."

12) Preparation is hard work.

13) If you get stuck, move on (it must get resolved!)

14) Craft your message notes (cardstock half page double sided)

15) Finish what you start - prepare and preach what you prepare

16) Develop the discipline of observing life. If you listen closely, illustrations will come up and shake your hand. Canned illustrations are not compelling. Write stuff down.

17) Learn to see the humor in things.

18) Personal illustrations are good. Illustrations that make you look good are bad. Make yourself look human and real, because you are.

19) Develop the ability to read people. Learn to keep people's attention - read them while you preach.

20) Insert commercials in your preaching. James preaches for 50-55 minutes, with 8-10 "commercials" per message. Commercials can be points of humor, charts, maps, skits, pictures, something in the bulletin, etc. Remember - no stories will substitute for the message capturing you. Audience interaction, role plays, verbal directions...

21) Get the big idea from the passage. Try to stick to 1 paragraph.

22) Do your homework, but don't preach your homework. Don't be a Bible fathead. Don't preach interpretation and theological choices.

23) Bring application. Apply the text - "we must believe, we must do, we must choose" - text "it says", illustration "it looks like", application "it goes like" - cycle over and over - don't make them wait till the end.

24) Preaching has different voices and confronts different kinds of needs:

Teachers - appeal to the mind - attacks ignorance
Shepherds - appeal to the emotions - attacks discouragement
Prophets - think you already know the truth - appeals to the will - attacks rebellion

You must do all three to be a powerful communicator. Train yourself to do what you don't do naturally. The progression of persuasion is always mind, emotions, will.

25) Do not bore people with the Bible - that's the greatest sin in ministry.

My takeaways (still processing...)

1) #24 is really convicting. I think I operate clearly in the teaching mode - I've got to work on the other two.

2) #1-3 are so important. I need to post them on the back of my eyelids.

3) #6-7 are significant to me - I needed to hear this and I need to apply it every week in what I do and how I do it.

Session 8 - Robert Smith

2008-04-21T13:35:00.000-04:00

Dr. Robert Smith is the professor of preaching at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama (my hometown). He is without a doubt the most outstanding preacher of God's Word that I have ever heard. May his tribe increase. He preached out of Isaiah 37:14-20, 36-38 - "The God Who Reads."

Notes from this session:

- We must not perpetuate a proclamation of isolation and compromise. We must need go through Samaria.

- We must perpetuate a proclamation of prophetic transformation.

- It's possible to get a good lesson from a bad example

- "He is God all by Himself and He don't need nobody else!"

- We are not bargainers - we are ambassadors - it is His way or no way - He is the only way and we don't back down from that at all

- We are not after cash and crowns - how big the church, the building, or the budget - the question is - Is Christ Lord? Or is it just a Sunday club?

- Joshua and the captain of the host - he asked him "are you with us or against us?" The captain replied "Neither - I'm here to take over"

- God reigns - malek - He succeeds Himself because there is no one to succeed Him

- Hezekiah went to the prophet - "is there any word from the Lord?"

- Our ultimate allegiance is not to Capitol Hill, but to a hill far away - not to a flag, but to the cross

- I am the I am - a noun with no adjectives or modifiers - a good noun needs no adjectives

- God never reacts to anything - He proacts to everything - He is never in panic mode - He knows the benediction before the invocation

- 37:14 - He brings it to the temple for God to read it

I'm still processing a lot from this one - the takeaways will come, but later.

More to follow...

Session 7 - Rick Warren

2008-04-20T14:35:00.000-04:00

Notes from this session:

- Rick spoke from Exodus 3 - God asks Moses "what is in your hand?"

- Staff - something that was dead comes alive

- God never does miracles to show off - every miracle is a parable of God's truth

- God never asks a question that He doesn't already know the answer to - it's not for His benefit

- The staff represented Moses' identity (he was a shepherd), his income (represented his wealth), and his influence (the staff was a tool to lead and move sheep)

- "If you will lay these three things down for me, I will make them come alive - I will do things you never thought possible, if you will just lay it down. But every time you pick it back up, it will die and become a lifeless piece of wood again."

- Never again in Scripture is it referred to as Moses' staff - it is always called the rod of God

- There was nothing magical about it - but it became God's

- What happens when you say yes to God? What is in your hand?

- Every time I give, it breaks the grip of materialism in my life

- The purpose of influence is to speak up for those who have none

- There are 149 million orphans in the world

- This year, 210,000 people will die in California; 2.4 million will die in America; and 73 million will die in the world - most of them will spend eternity separated from Christ in hell.

My takeaways from this session (still processing...)

1. What is God calling me to do for Him today? What is in my hand? What has He given me to use for Him?

2. Will I be content to pay it safe and stay a shepherd in the wilderness, or will I be willing to follow where God leads, into difficult days, incredible challenges, but an amazing life? Yes, yes, yes - I want to follow - I want to go - and I want Southview to go and follow God where He leads. Let's quit playing it safe and go for broke - what is in our hand? What is God saying? LET'S DO THAT!!

Session 6 - William Willimon (Workshop breakout)

2008-04-19T18:00:00.000-04:00

Notes from this session:

- We are right to see the prophets of Israel as a model for us

- A prophet in the biblical tradition is somebody who has uncommon access to God's will and God's purpose that seem to remain hidden to other people, often during times of national crisis

- Their words are often out of sync with the local community during crisis

- The prophets dared to bring a living God to speech

- The prophets really believe that Israel can change, and they call them to do so

- No area of life is excluded from the purview of the prophet - they talk about justice, poverty, etc

- There is no separation between the sacred and the secular - God owns it all and has an opinion on everything

- The prophets tend to read history morally

- The community asks "does war work? Is it effective?" The prophets ask instead "is it right?"

- Prophetic preaching worries more about listening to and speaking for God than about what the listeners think - we must love God more than our congregations

- We have a God who refuses to recognize our boundaries

- The only reason a prophet speaks is because God speaks

- There is no reason to be preaching unless you are externally authorized to do so

- God is interested in and wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives - Willimon has a Jewish friend who says (referring to the Law) - "any God who doesn't tell you what to do with your pots, your pans, and your genitals is not worth worshipping."

- Everything is brought into the sphere of God's influence - there is no compartmentalization

My takeaways (still processing...)

1. Every time I speak for God (preach), is it because God has given me a word for His people? I pray this is always the case.

2. There is no part of our lives that God has no interest in. Every part, every aspect, every relationship, every word spoken and thought that passes through our mind is of interest to God. No compartmentalization allowed in the life of a disciple of Jesus.

3. Instead of asking "does it work" and "is it effective" alone, I must also look to God's Word and ask "is it right?"

4. Do I love God and speak His word boldly, despite what others think? Are my words His words to His people? Is He pleased with what I say?

Friday's Quote

2008-04-18T22:45:00.002-04:00

Thanks to Bob Hyatt for this week's Friday Quote...

“When we say, ‘I love Jesus, but I hate the Church,’ we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too. The challenge is to forgive the Church. This challenge is especially great because the Church seldom asks us for forgiveness.”

-Henri Nouwen

Session 5 - Charles Colson

2008-04-17T09:39:00.000-04:00

Charles Colson is the founder of Prison Fellowship and Speaker for Breakpoint radio.

Notes from this session:

- Spurgeon said "to preach the whole truth is an awful charge."

- Calvin said "you cannot be a Christian apart from the church."

- A healthy church will breed a healthy culture

- Today we've replaced truth with therapy.

- George Barna did a survey - he asked in this survey about 13 fundamentals of the faith (directly from the Nicene Creed - nothing wacky here) - only 1% agreed with all 13

- We are not teaching the fundamentals of the faith

- "We cannot defend our faith, nor can we live it, if we don't know what it is"

Takeaways (still processing...)

1. Wow. 1% agreed with all 13 - likely because they didn't understand what and why they believe. Scary. Definitely points to a need for systematic teaching of what we believe and why...

2. "To preach the whole truth is an awful charge." Indeed. A humbling, terrifying, privilege.

Session 4 - William Willimon

2008-04-16T09:02:00.000-04:00

William Willimon is the Bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

Notes from this session:

- The gospel has had friction and difficulty in every culture in which it has been preached.

- "Show me a religion that is personal and private... religion by nature makes cosmic claims, HUGE claims, like 'Jesus is Lord.' "

- "Today we say 'It's ok to be religious, but just don't let it get out of hand - be moderate.' "

- American notions of democracy and pluralism have crept into the church and weakened the Christian witness.

- After 9/11, we didn't reach out to the cross - we reached out to the flag.

- Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke out against the war in Vietnam - not because it was pragmatic, but because he believed God's Word and His principles.

- Jesus said for Peter to put away the sword - you live by the sword and you'll die by the sword

- We follow a Jesus who was tortured to death by the government of his day, was killed and was raised by God

- "I can't remember the last time I heard a really good prayer for Osama Bin Laden, as Jesus commanded us to pray for our enemies. Instead we are obsessed with our health needs."

- "The purpose of preaching is to allow the risen Christ to walk in the congregation." - Bonhoeffer

- We ask "how can it be that Jesus doesn't care about what I care about?"

- We live in one of the most violent places ever to exist.

- A lot of times, sermons are misunderstood - not because we didn't communicate well, but because of Jesus.

- Be relevant to the culture, but be careful. Don't allow the culture to coopt the message.

Takeaways (still processing...)

1. It does strike me as quite arrogant for us to be surprised when "Jesus doesn't care about what I care about." His priorities are laid out in Scripture, and when ours are not in line with those, they will not be the same.

2. Praying for Osama Bin Laden - ouch. That hits close to home. When is the last time you and I did that?

3. 'It's ok to be religious, but just don't let it get out of hand - be moderate.' This kind of thinking just makes me sick. I'm so tired of 'moderate' Christians. Either be sold out for Jesus and His Kingdom or do something else. Don't be lukewarm. God doesn't want that - He doesn't like that. Get serious or stop pretending and playing games.

4. 'American notions of democracy and pluralism have crept into the church and weakened the Christian witness.' Hoo boy. As I search the Scriptures, I do not see the idea of democracy. In fact, when the majority voted, typically it was against the leaders that were trying to follow God. Democracy is not a spiritual ideal - I don't find it in Scripture. That's not at all a popular thing to say, but that's what I see. Following God is our priority - whether it is supported by majority vote or not.

5. You live by the sword and you die by the sword... Jesus told Peter to put away his sword... does this have any ramifications at all for our views on the war in Iraq? When is it appropriate to go to war? Is it ever? (From a biblical perspective I mean)

More to come...

Session 3 - Mark Batterson

2008-04-15T10:23:00.000-04:00

Mark Batterson is the pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C. NCC is doing an amazing ministry downtown, impacting a community that desperately needs the light of Jesus Christ. This was one of the most challenging sessions of the whole conference - Mark is an incredible and inspired communicator. God truly spoke through him. (If you haven't read his book, In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day, go check it out - I promise it'll be worth your time.)

Notes I wrote down during this session:

- Mark preached from 2 Samuel 23:20-23 - you need to go read this right now before you go further

- We pray that God would keep the 500 lb. lions away. For Benaiah, this is not the wrong place at the wrong time - this is an opportunity for God to do something.

- Benaiah is eventually appointed commander in chief under Solomon. His geneology of success seems to trace back to a moment - will I run away or will I chase the lion?

- "Before you get out of the boat, you'd better be sure Jesus said come"

- Lions are scary. Average size is 500 lbs, they run approx. 35 MPH, their vision is 5x better than that of a human - every advantage is with the lion.

- "Faith is the willingness to look foolish."

- "Why have some of us never walked on water or killed a giant? We've never wanted to look foolish."

- "I don't want to see God do things through me that I am capable of. I want to see Him do things that I am in no way capable of - God things."

- "We are called to play offense." (Gates of Hell will not stand against us - gates are defensive by nature)

- "You can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right."

- "At the end of your life, your greatest regrets will be the lions you did not chase. The greatest regrets at the end of life are inactive regrets - things you didn't do. - where we are left wondering 'what if?'"

- "As long as there is one more person who doesn't know Jesus, I better be playing offense."

- "At NCC, we didn't launch a 4th location because we needed something else to do. We did it to reach more people for Jesus."

- "When you don't fear God, you have to fear everything else. When you fear God, you fear nothing else."

- "God wants to tell His story through you. He is the Author (Hebrews 4:12)."

- "When we don't have the guts to chase the lion, we rob God of the glory that is rightfully His."

My takeaways (still processing...)

1. Mark said "I don't want to see God do things through me that I am capable of. I want to see Him do things that I am in no way capable of - God things." That has become my new prayer to the Father. I never want to become the thing blocking what God wants to do - I don't want God's work at Southview limited because I'm in the way. I want to see God do God-things - things that neither I nor any of our team is capable of. I want to see God-things happen. That is my prayer.

2. There are a few 500 lb. lions I've been afraid to chase in my life. Reading about Benaiah and listening to Mark teach on this Scripture really challenges me to step it up - to kick the obstacles out of my way and chase the lion. If Jesus is calling me / us out, what are we still doing in the boat?

3. "Why have some of us never walked on water or killed a giant? We've never wanted to look foolish." Wow. Convicting. On so many levels. Who wants to look foolish? Not me. But faith calls us to be willing to, and to do so at times, as we follow God's path for us. I need to pray that I can get past this - that I will be willing to look foolish if God calls me to do something outside my comfort box.

4. "When we don't have the guts to chase the lion, we rob God of the glory that is rightfully His." My desire is to glorify God with all that I am. That means I've got to have the guts to chase the lions when He tells me to. No matter how difficult, how scary, how foolish looking - I want to glorify God more than I want to be comfortable.

Google's Quote of the Day

2008-04-14T20:55:00.001-04:00

Thought I'd share this... from Google's Quote of the Day...

"It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important." - Martin Luther King Jr.

Session 2 - A. R. Bernard

2008-04-14T09:23:00.000-04:00

A. R. Bernard is the pastor of the Christian Cultural Center, the largest church in New York City. Today CCC has 29,000 members and their ministry to the community is astounding.

Notes I wrote during this session:

- Beware of the sin of transposition - where the ministry becomes your mistress

- "I am not a product of culture or conditions, but of the creative mind of God."

- "My birth certificate doesn't tell me who I am - just when I checked in to this world. My death certificate tells when I check out."

- "I am an expression from the thought of Almighty God."

- "Before mom and dad met, He had a plan for my life."

My value is found in who I am in God - He values me not for what I do, what I say, what I accomplish - He values me for who I am - He created me and loves me despite knowing everything about me. What an astounding thing that is.

Quote from Richard Allen Farmer

2008-04-14T09:22:00.000-04:00

Richard Allen Farmer, who provided the worship music for us at the conference:

"It is a wonderful privilege to handle the holy."

I pray that you and I never forget that. No matter our role, whether as pastor, as a teacher, as a volunteer in any ministry, or as a Christ-follower - it is an incredible privilege to handle the holy, to be a part of God's plan for this world.

Pastors Panel

2008-04-13T18:13:00.000-04:00

After James Emery White's session, there was a panel discussion with four pastors regarding what White said. Some things that I wrote down from that discussion:

- Oliver Wendell Holmes said "I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity." Most people sit on the easy side - but we MUST wrestle with the culture and with issues - we must move to the far side, the difficult side

- Is the church a refuge meeting where we hide out till Jesus comes, or is it a rescue meeting where we function as an ER, helping as many people as we can find what we have?

- Churches must ask - will we be here for the next generation and reach people, or will the doors of this church close one day because we did not?

- We live in a culture filled with idols to an unknown God (Acts 17) that we can use as a bridge - we just have to look for them.

I think the 2nd and 3rd notes above made the greatest impact on me. I've seen churches close their doors, refusing to change their methods and ultimately losing the ability to share the message. What a terrible thing, to put our personal preferences (whatever they are) above sharing hope with people who are living far from God. What a warning to all of us. I pray that we will not forget this lesson - that we will remember our mission to be a church focused on rescue, not hiding out.

Walking on Broken Glass

2008-04-12T11:35:00.000-04:00

The following story was referenced by James Emery White at the conference. It can be found in Leonard Ravenhill's work Why Revival Tarries (quoted here):
"Charlie Peace was a criminal. Laws of God or man curbed him not. Finally the law caught up with him, and he was condemned to death. On the fatal morning in Armley Jail, Leeds, England, he was taken on the death-walk. Before him went the prison chaplain, routinely and sleepily reading some Bible verses. The criminal touched the preacher and asked what he was reading. "The Consolations of Religion," was the replay. Charlie Peace was shocked at the way he professionally read about hell. Could a man be so unmoved under the very shadow of the scaffold as to lead a fellow-human there and yet, dry-eyed, read of a pit that has no bottom into which this fellow must fall? Could this preacher believe the words that there is an eternal fire that never consumes its victims, and yet slide over the phrase with a tremor? Is a man human at all who can say with no tears, "You will be eternally dying and yet never know the relief that death brings"? All this was too much for Charlie Peace. So he preached. Listen to his on-the-eve-of-hell sermon:

"Sir," addressing the preacher, "if I believed what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need be, on hands and knees and think it worthwhile living, just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that!"

We are called to do what it takes to reach one more person for Jesus Christ. We want to save one more person from the eternal reality of hell. That's our mission, given to us by Jesus - that's why we exist. May we remember the words of this condemned prisoner named Charlie Peace, and may our lives reflect the reality of this truth.

James Emery White, Theological Fences, and Rescue Teams

2008-04-11T21:22:00.005-04:00

Our first session was with James Emery White, the pastor of Mecklenberg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is a prolific author, having written over a dozen books (several of which are now on my 'to read' list).

(I should mention that the theme of this conference was "Preaching and the Public Square: Where Do Pulpit & Culture Meet?")

Some of my notes from his session:

- Culture is economic, political, demographic, technological, racial, etc., but it cannot be reduced to just that - culture is everything. It is the comprehensive, penetrating context of our lives.

- Culture alters not only what is said, but what is heard.

- Culture can no more be ignored by a communicator than Tiger Woods can ignore the distance to the hole, the wind, etc.

- Today we deal not with philosophical atheism, but with functional atheism - we ignore God. We look not to the Scripture for morality, but to the Supreme Court; we look not to the family for the education of our kids, but to the secular educational system; we look not to the church for truth, but to the media.

- We see a world operating apart from God, and finding that it can't.

- Postmodernism is not so much the end of modernism as its exhaustion. It's a changing view of reality, a conviction that there is no truth, that all is perspective. Today we're seeing a swing back from the rational / natural to the spiritual - a rediscovering of the validity of faith.

4 vocational response from preachers in this new season:

1) Topics - Karl Barth said it well - "preachers should have a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other." Our preaching should bridge the chasm between the world of the Bible and the contemporary world. It should bring the truth of God's Word to bear on today's world and events. We must address the questions that are raised by Christianity and the culture. We must engage all issues, all things from God's perspective, defining truth as God has declared it.

2) Style - this is deeply personal. "Preaching is truth through personality." Stott said well that preaching must become more dialogical - less monologue and more communication. Oprah's success is because she is transparent, authentic, and conversational. There must be a sense of talking with, not talking to.

3) Method - The message cannot change, but the methods must. The gospel is addressed to human beings, and it must be clothed with symbols that are meaningful to them. There is a vast difference between tradition and traditionalism.

"We cannot build theological fences around our personal tastes and try to use Scripture to justify them."

We must be willing to use unconventional methods to engage people with the gospel. Historically, the camp meeting was very unconventional at the time, but the movement drew 3-4 million Americans to them (approx. 1/3 of the country at the time). Moody advertised in the amusement section of the newspaper. (!)

Transformation of the message must be avoided at all costs - that's called heresy. But translation of the message is essential. The visual has a major impact in our culture today (films, video, etc) - film is the stained glass of our day.

4) Strategy - what's behind the methodology. Method flows out of strategy.

White begs us to move from an Acts 2 model of preaching to an Acts 17 model of preaching.

Paul looked for a cultural bridge to walk on. The heart of an Acts 17 strategy – EXPLANATION

Fewer Easter messages that say “did Jesus rise from the dead” and instead “so what if He did?”

God will stop at NOTHING to connect, reach, and rescue – and neither should we.

Who cares if we connect with culture if it’s not to call them back to Christ??

My takeaways (still processing, but here's where I am so far):

1. Because culture alters both what is said and what is heard, I need to keep both of those in mind as I study, prepare, and communicate.

2. White's 4 suggested vocational responses will be quite helpful as I prepare to plan next year's preaching calendar of topics, series, etc.

3. I really resonate with the suggestion that preaching must become more dialogical. I really want to do some stuff with this - that one is DEFINITELY in the crock pot...

4. "We cannot build theological fences around our personal tastes and try to use Scripture to justify them." AMEN. I pray this truth will be known by so many in churches, denominations, etc.

5. God will stop at NOTHING to connect, reach, and rescue – and neither should we. This is my heartbeat these days - this is where I want to see Southview going. We MUST do all we can to rescue those who are dying apart from God and spending eternity in hell, separated from Him for all time. We must be faithful to the mission that we've been given by God - to proclaim His message of hope and truth. We are rescue teams, not "holy huddles."

More to come...