progress to all

We Are Not All The Same

2009-11-11T06:52:00.004-05:00

Over the years I have experienced a lot of heartache from others and I have caused a lot of heartache in people through a particular sin called division.

What I am about to name are things I have personally been guilty of and/or have seen others be guilty of. I have seen and sometimes been an accomplice to judging and condemning every church, ministry organization and Christian because they were "not like me" or didn't believe exactly the same thing.

I have seen and sometimes been an accomplice to judging every church besides my church because after all, those other churches do not have true doctrine or are "off" in some area.

I have seen and sometimes been an accomplice to a less extreme form of the above example but nonetheless still a perpetrator of sin by judging those who left the church I attended for reasons that I did not like and tried desperately to find some reason from the bible on why they should have not left.

And lastly, I have seen and sometimes been an accomplice to taking such a lax approach that it did not matter where people attended church just as long as they were happy and believed they were doing the right thing.

These four approaches and perhaps more I did not mention are all ways we sin against one another. I do not know if these sins are big business overseas, but in the West it is huge. And it is disgusting.

Jesus spoke to this very divisive sin with his disciples because they brought up a good teaching opportunity to do so. They said, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us."

We hear similar things to this everyday. We are so accustomed to it that most of us do not even recognize it. It comes in the form of, "That church is way to big for their own good" or "that house church will die in a few months because they are ineffective" or "they believe that crazy doctrine and God will judge them for it" or "they don't teach the bible like we do" or whatever you want to call it. There are too many examples to name, but nonetheless very similar to what the disciples said to Jesus. It's ironic because they thought they were bringing good news to Jesus as heresy hunters or sin-sniffers. There are a lot of sin-sniffers around these days who sniff out every one's sin but their own. Nothing has changed in 2,000 years.

How would Jesus respond? Would he compliment them for their keen insight? Would have pat them on the back for helping God out? Not in the least. Jesus said, "Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us."

Jesus was communicating a very simplistic truth. If you are for Jesus, you are for Jesus. Pretty simple, huh? Elsewhere we read that Jesus knows who are his. Also, we read that His Spirit is the guarantee of our salvation. His Spirit cries out within each of God's children for more of God. How do you know you follow Jesus? Because everything within your bones cries out for more of God. If that is not the case, you are not one of His.

So why do we make a big deal over how each Christian follows Jesus like the disciples did? We love to argue. Over the years I have seen so many pointless arguments it makes me sick. As early Christians we all sat around arguing with one another ignorantly. As we get older, we do the same thing. We speak of things we know not as Jesus said years ago. And the long term affects of this sin is devastating because after these arguments ensue, we break ties with brothers and sisters "because they cast out demons but were not following us." How sad!

Lord Help Your People Take Your Advice

2009-11-07T23:00:00.002-05:00

"Lord, how long the wait, cause this is a long debate
Neither side wants to prolong the hate
They say we reach the church and they reach the streets... Read More
But can't find an in or out of season to preach
And there's only two, but you kept the charge the same
The harvest is ready, but the workers lame
I say we reach the church and we reach the streets
And some don't believe and I'll catch the heat
But we'll take the lash, word bond
But they'd be surpised if they know who was ringng the horn
But ain't no beef, 'cause we all still fam
I'm gonna shut my teeth and not give the enemy a chance
But just know this, this our only main stance
Trust the wisdom of God and not the stratz of man" -cm

John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.

[And now for the advice...]

But Jesus said, "Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us.

The Influences Of 2009.2

2009-10-27T09:22:00.002-04:00

My son will be turning two years old on November 21. I am amazed at all the ways he has influenced me to learn more about the Gospel of Jesus and the ways our relationship together parallels my relationship with my Father in heaven. Here is the list of ways he has influenced me:

1] He is not worried about a thing. There have been many times this year where mommy and daddy were worried and anxious about certain life issues and our son never worried or fretted. He was calm and collective and just wanted to enjoy life. I have brought this up to my wife several times in our worrying state as an example as how God wants us to be so we would repent and change.

2] He enjoys the simplicity of the life God has given. Our son is a very happy child. He loves to play, eat, drink, read, sit in mommy and daddy's arms, and hang out outdoors. If we can teach him to have a grateful heart to God he would be a great Christian hedonist!

3] He imitates every move I make. Although this is sometimes a bad thing, the point remains that he loves to be like daddy. If daddy does it, then he wants to also. This would be a good example to all Christians that if our Father is doing it, then so should we!

4] He prays with fervency. He bows his head, gives the occasional "uh, huh," and shouts "Amen" at the end. He never minds to pray and rather enjoys it quite well.

5] He is excited to learn. He loves to read with mommy and daddy. He could read book after book after book. He loves flash cards. He loves to call out animals names and make animal noises. He loves to say the alphabet. I pray as followers of Jesus we would redeem the time like the little ones around us and use the mind and bodies God has given to us for his glory.

The Influences Of 2009

2009-10-24T07:28:00.002-04:00

Each year I write a series of posts revealing who has influenced me that year. Here we go again. The first up [and in no particular order] would be Casey Luttrull, another man who is apart of our church plant in Northern Kentucky.

1] His faith in God is great. He moved here to join those of us who had started church planting without even knowing us because God had told him too! He moved his family across country to do so!

2] His zeal to preach Jesus among the unsaved is passionate. He is always talking about bringing people to Jesus. He is a very personable man who is always up to meeting someone in his neighborhood.

3] His accountability his helped me walk uprightly. During a three to four week period this year I went through one of the darkest times of temptation I had gone through in years. Casey helped me through this with daily calls, emails, and get together's. He had an awesome listening ear and truth speaking tongue.

4] His desire to grow in godliness is contagious. I have seen Casey hear truth and immediately repent and demand change of himself. And not only of himself, but of his family as he learns of family error.

5] His commitment to the Gospel, the church, and mission is one of a kind. Casey is easy to talk to and one thing I almost always hear him talking about is these three things: Gospel, church and mission. I am convinced this is of utmost importance and it's great to be around someone else who does too.

What Paint Should I Buy?

2009-10-23T21:35:00.000-04:00

Click here to find out!

Reflecting The Year: Spending Time With My Son

2009-10-14T07:58:00.004-04:00

My son is a wild man. I love observing all the new things he does everyday. He builds Lego's and then tears them down. He terrorizes my 80lb Labrador which I highly approve of. He says, "teats" and runs to the treat cabinet to give the dog a bone. He grabs a whole handful of treats gives the dog all but one of them and then runs around laughing hysterically while the dog chases him for the last treat.

If we say, "Do you want to go outside?" he drops whatever he is doing and runs to the door as fast as he can and says, "Bye, bye." He loves the outdoors. When he wants a drink he says at mach ten speed, "Dink, dink, dink, dink, dink, dink, dink..." until he gets one. When we tell him to be patient and wait a minute he stops immediately and just watches us while he waits for a drink.

When I chase him he runs to the couch laughing and hides his face in the cushions thinking I don't see him. But I grab him and squeeze him and he laughs and laughs. He imitates everything we do to the minutest detail. As parents, for some reason we are always shocked when he repeats our actions. When he is around other kids we tell him to be gentle and most times he is very nice. When he is angry or disobedient we spank him and sit him down and discuss his behaviour with him. We teach him to honor God and the authorities in his life. We explain the scriptures to him. Though he is not understanding much these days besides "Bye, Bye" we are preparing him for the day when he will understand in hopes that he will have been preconditioned to receive correction, instruction and training from God's Word.

All in all, I could have never imagined the joy of having a child. My son is a great source of happiness and joy to my wife and I. We love him dearly and hope to honor the Gospel of Jesus in our relationship with him.

Reflecting The Year - Being A Missionary

2009-10-11T07:10:00.004-04:00

Living the life of a missionary in Northern KY and Cincinnati and teaching others to do so is one of the most challenging things in my life. The American pursuits of life, liberty and the happiness constantly combat our Apostle Peter's declaration that we are pilgrims passing through this life to another world.

I am constantly convicted in my conscience by the Holy Spirit to grow and change and repent to love those who don't follow Jesus. My belief is that it is difficult to be a pacesetter in this area because of several contributing factors. Most followers of Jesus in our area treat life like a vacation and not a mission. We spend too much time "catching up" with our believing friends "because we don't want to hurt any one's feelings" or "I have not seen them in forever" or "we couldn't miss their birthday party." We are comfortable in our homes, with our money, and full stomachs so we don't want to step out on a limb and love someone. And finally, most churches are not visiting the theme of loving those in the world in their times of teaching to equip the saints. In addition to the prevalent false teaching that not everyone is called to be a missionary, in the last 11 years I can hardly think of a time where direct teaching was given on being a missionary. It's been this fact that has led me to spend at least 1/3 of all teaching given to Jesus' command to love others and in particular those who don't follow him. The other 2/3's are for loving Him and loving his church.

So in reflecting the year, we have seen one person believe in Jesus as a church, but we don't want to be content there or be deceived into thinking our job is done with millions dying around us. I want to keep teaching and encouraging others to be missionaries. It's time to repent again. It's time to love again.

Should I Paint Or Hire Someone In Cincinnati?

2009-10-10T22:36:00.001-04:00

Ever wondered if you should paint the room yourself or hire someone? Many have and here's some helpful advice.

Reflecting The Year - Learning To Deal With Division

2009-10-09T08:03:00.005-04:00

This year has been marked by much difficulty in the way of divisive and sinfully argumentative people. From dealing with people in the church, people in the work place, and business people as I start a business, I have had to learn to be a peacemaker. I have had many sinful temptations to spite people, hurt people, ruin people, and fight people. I have resisted all of them and if anything, I have learned the wickedness and proclivity of my heart toward sin.

I have felt much like King David did thousands of years ago when his life was hunted by the King of Israel [Saul] and his 3,000 elite armed forces. I have had to learn to hold my tongue and suppress my rash actions through the warnings of Abigals in my life. God has provided many Abigals for me who have helped caution and warn me to honor God through my dealings with others. There were needless attacks from many who would have better off to keep their mouths shut and whose predictions were false and uninformed.

Humility has been a big learning process for me through all this. Jesus kept his mouth shut and it is pretty difficult to model him when the reviling and false attacks come. Some of the Abigals in my life who have helped me keep my mouth shut were my wife, my church, and some older pastors who I have sought much counsel from. It's ironic because the very thing people accused me of which was that I was an anti-authority guy and this has proven to be the furthest thing from the truth. It has been the submitting to Abigals in my life that has kept me from imitating their foolishness and folly.

My strongest and biggest encouragement that has helped me personally that I would recommend to all is to keep your heart seeking Gospel transformation. In everything I do I try to ask myself, how would the Gospel of Jesus Christ guide my actions right now? If I am believing the Gospel, how would I act toward this person or that person? I tell you, it is HARD. I am not going to lie. Many times I have started to do the wrong thing and quickly turned back realizing my error.

James said, "Be swift to hear and slow to speak" and also "be a doer of the word and not a hearer only." It's been the story of my year and I hope that never changes. Much praise to God for being my strength and much thanks to those who have walked with me with a rod to my back.

Replacing Rotted Wood In Cincinnati

2009-10-09T07:51:00.001-04:00

Do you have rotted wood? Click here.

Reflecting The Year - Enjoying Family

2009-10-03T05:47:00.002-04:00

One of the constant warnings given to me by older people much wiser than I over the years has been, "Never neglect your family for the sake of the ministry." It's definitely got a traditional ring to it though by now I would consider myself far from traditional; however it's still true and wise today as it ever has been.

I know some would argue with the phrase, but I am not here to debate the validity of it. Many men have come and gone who have gotten caught up in the glory of the glitz and glamour of Big-Time Western Christianity [which for the record isn't even cool] all to leave their wife and children behind.

This year was a triple testing for me because not only did a group of people along with my family plant a church, but I also finished my basement and started a painting business [not all at the same time even though it was in the same year]. The church is an ongoing organism, but we did not have all the time-killing administrative things to start up because of our belief that church is not a business but a living organism. The basement took about four months. And a few months after the basement I started a business, which did have all the administrative stuff to deal with and was difficult [thank God the church is not like that]!! The business took less than two months to be up and running.

But after all this and looking back on the year, one thing I did not do was neglect to be with my wife and son and it was well worth it. We still spend several hours together almost everyday of the week. We are really enjoying the fall weather right now outside doing various things like playing in the backyard, going to the ferry on the river, or to a park. My wife and I just got back from a weekend away without our son which was bittersweet. Bitter because we missed our son but very sweet for the two of us to revel in one another's presence.

One area that I am lacking is getting my wife's To-Do List completed. I guess I better start that soon!

My recommendation to all is at all costs DO NOT leave your family in the dust while you follow all your vain ambitions. Make your family your ambition. Teach THEM the Gospel first and live the Gospel WITH them before the world.

Reflecting The Year - Teaching Gender Distinctions, Ensuring Male Leadership, And Equipping The Saints

2009-09-26T07:41:00.002-04:00

One of the others themes of the year [that I have taken more seriously as of late] is teaching biblically consistent gender distinctions, ensuring male leadership is being appropriated in our church, and equipping the saints for the works of ministry to this world.

Gender distinctions are more blurred now than at anytime in history that I have previously studied. I suppose there could be another time worse than now, but I am not aware of it. Without going into a major thesis for why this is, let me say in short that we are combating it very seriously. Men are passive and/or abusive, and women are unsubmissive and/or authoritarians. We wholeheartedly reject these notions and teach others to do so. Rather, we seek for our men to be leaders, initiators, lovers, providers, and protectors of our women. For our women, we seek humble, submissive, and hearts given to the authority God gave man in the created order. With a young crowd [in their twenties and thirties] as we have, much headway has been made in this area. It has been hard. There has been disagreement. But nothing God's grace has not met us with so far.

From the get-go of church planting, I wanted to raise up leaders and in return have those leaders raise up other leaders. One of my frustrations with a lot of churches has been the negligence of this very thing. Either churches neglect raising leaders up from within by hiring leaders from without, or they altogether have the one, two, three, four or ten-man show. We wholeheartedly reject this and have fervently sought for the men to step up to the plate as leaders and initiators as well as all the saints using their gifts for the edification of the church. I have told our church repeatedly that if they rely on my gifts, talents, and life alone [or any man for that matter] then we are doomed to fail!!! So far, this has really taken to their hearts and everyone has stepped up to the plate to do their part. I am thankful they do not treat me like their savior. As for the men, I am working with them calling them to grow and change. Much of our issues lie directly in our relationship with our women and simply not treating them in a loving fashion. I do not want them OR MYSELF to stay where we are today. There have been many long and difficult conversations and teachings to be had along the way, but well worth it.

And lastly, [and I kind of dealt with it already in the previous paragraph] we are seeking to equip ALL the saints for the works of ministry. There is not one unuseful. There is not one lost cause. Everyone has a part. We have beat this horse senseless. I can hardly preach it enough. In a day where 20% do all the work and 80% watch, I have decided to combat this evil head first. I have seen this with other young church plants and with "established" churches [whatever "established" means].

It has been a good year. Much progress still needs to be made. We are presently in a series of teachings for equipping the saints where we are looking at Gospel Manhood and Womanhood. It's going well, but I am convinced that everyone of us will buck up against God's created order with man and woman at some point. I know I have already in my own studies. It is hard to accept some of the teachings of the Bible, but well worth the obedience to Jesus. He is rewarding to follow.

Reflecting The Year - The Blessing Of The Church

2009-09-24T17:50:00.003-04:00

I suppose it's too early to begin reflecting the year, but I have a lot of things I want to write about and not a lot of time. So I hope over the next few months to sit down here and there to reflect a dozen or so items on my heart.

One of the overwhelming themes of the year has been the blessing of the church plant I am apart of in Northern KY. And a small warning, before I go through this list of blessings, remember some blessings don't appear to be blessings until you see the hand of God upon them.

My family and I have received a tremendous amount of love and affection from those whom we are church planting with. They have poured out their lives to hear us, cry with us, laugh with us, serve with us, support us, and meet some very practical needs of ours. They have helped us finish our basement, watched our son, joined hands with us to serve non-Christians, prayed with us, rebuked us, shared hard truth with us, cleaned our home countless times, talked hours on end with us, helped me start a business and more.

They have been the community and family we saw in the New Testament because of the grace of God at work in their hearts. Each of them bring very unique gifts to the table and they actually use them. It's a mix-match group of people, all from different backgrounds yet very united with one purpose and that is to glorify God and to make His name known to others. We have imitated the Old Testament Jews in having "festivals" or "vacations" together several times a year and that has been even more rewarding than I had imagined.

There are a lot of great churches in our area, but none have grabbed the affections of my heart as much as these people. I believe through the heartaches and pain much growth has occurred. In order to not broadcast people's sins and struggles across the NET I must keep things disclosed, but I have not seen such sin-laden lives and circumstances both within our group and touching our group from without through other people. I have not seen such misery and struggle in this life in the last ten years of my life as I have over this last year. There has been much heaviness of heart and prayers to God to intervene. And through it, we have grown closer to one another and God.

The passion to bring Jesus to the people of Northern KY has been something we have sought after from the beginning of our days living life together. We have prayed, strategized, preached, and grieved together. We have seen one person come to believe in Jesus from these efforts and have discipled a handful of new believers who came to Christ a few years ago. We have suffered persecution. We have visited those in prison and learned to have joy in these less than pragmatic good works.

Looking ahead, I believe the struggles with sin will only continue on though maturity will take place. I believe we will better learn what it means to love Jesus and others; even though our God does not change, we do and so does our culture. We are seeking to further pierce the darkness with the light of the Gospel. The church has been a blessing indeed.

Where has your church been a blessing in your life?

When is the best time to paint a home in Cincinnati?

2009-09-17T06:32:00.001-04:00

Check here.

Church Planting 101: Great Friends And Great Enemies

2009-08-10T05:00:00.004-04:00

Tim Keller in his Church Planting Manual discusses five missionary methods of our Apostle Paul. They are:

1. Preaching "synagogue" evangelism
2. Contact "market square" evangelism
3. Friendship "household" evangelism
4. Dialogue "lecture hall" evangelism
5. Apologetic "Mars Hill" evangelism

In each of these methods there are great friends and great enemies to be won. For example, over the years I have been apart of the "market square" evangelism in malls, festivals, fairs, skateparks, and deep in the urban city. There are those who in gracious desperation thank, thank, thank us for telling them the truth. And there are others who threatened us and have been great enemies to us. I remember one guy in the back of a crowd of people whom I was preaching to say, "I am going to pound his head in...I am going to do it!" He would not be an example of being a great friend.

All these methods are incredibly important and recently as a church we discussed how we would go about living like Paul in this world. But we did agree that the friendship "household" evangelism by far was what we exceed at the most. The home has become a huge part of our missionary efforts in this world. We have befriended dozens of people already and made friends, even with those who do not desire God. At the same time, in all the kindness we bestow on others in this model, you do not normally think of making great enemies in your home. It's not very natural that you feed somebody your food, hear their story, offer them a place to stay, offer them a ride to work, offer them money, counsel them in the crazy circumstances non-Christians always seem to find themselves in, and then in return for this love of God suffer great cursing and hatred.

This is exactly what happened this week in our church. We loved a non-Christian couple as a church for about a month in many, many ways. And they turned on us to become great enemies. There was much said to us in the way of hate, but in particular it started with these words, "Fuck da Church Group {besides Mark and His Wife and Casey and his Baby.} but no hard feelins Thanks 4 yall 4 da help (Stephanie Told me 2 say da last part)." Am I baffled? Well, of course. But at the same time, Jesus did say, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

Jesus also reveals some important things about our enemies, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth..."

Jesus does well at instructing his saints in how to handle the persecutors, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you...For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? " Much thanks should be given to two ladies in our church who reminded us so well of Jesus' words after the reviling began.

As a church, great friends and enemies will be born, but being like God demands a passion for love. Mother Teresa said, "We can do no great things, just small things with great love. It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into doing it."

Church Planting 101: Gathering In Non-Christians Homes

2009-08-09T14:21:00.002-04:00

As a church, we have an incredible amount of hospitable saints. Most people are week in and week out inviting one another over into each others homes and serving them through some form of food, drink, or entertainment. When we gather to study the Scriptures and pray, there is always several people volunteering to use their home for the Lord's purposes. I personally am really excited about these things and do understand the great sacrifice that occurs in opening your home. The Proverbs declare, "Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean..." [14:4] and so we have a lot of unclean homes, dirty dishes, consumed food and drink, and money spent.

Despite all the joy we have of using our homes, we are still nonetheless seeking to gather as much as possible in the homes of non-Christians whether that is to study and pray or just eat and drink. It is an incredible witness of the love of Jesus when the joy of the Lord comes into the homes of darkness bringing the Gospel of Jesus, good food and drink, and perhaps gifts like flowers or even something as simple as leaving unused paper/plastic products behind. Usually non-Christians settle for so much less in life and we seek to bless them with abundance in many different ways as much as depends upon us. We also seek to clean up and leave the place better than when we came because we know we can make a big mess as the Proverbs have already told us.

Jesus said all people would know we are his disciples by the love we have for one another so we are attempting to place our lives right before where all people are living and what better place to do that than their own homes. The Gospel calls us to die to ourselves and put others before ourselves and sometimes that means not using our very own homes so we can gather in the home of an unbeliever to bless them with the Gospel of Jesus and the good things of this life. The Gospel calls us to lay down our preferences and intentionally place our lives before a non-believing world even though that is uncomfortable and sacrificing many times. This past week we even had to suffer the heat and mosquitoes to gather in the home of a non-believer. But it is totally worth it. It makes our gatherings a little more distracting, informal, and organic but I wouldn't trade that for anything in order to save a soul. Much praise to the Church of Jesus Christ around the world who sacrifices the comforts of this life in order to live lives before an unbelieving and watching world.

Books I Have Read This Year And Am Reading

2009-08-08T21:38:00.007-04:00

The following is a list of the books I have read this year:Total Church By Steve Timmis and Tim Chester
Organic Church By Neil Cole
Organic Leadership By Neil Cole
Going to Church In The First Century By Robert Banks
Paul's Idea On Community By Robert Banks
Searching for God Knows What By Donald Miller
Church Without Walls By Jim Petersen
Pilgrims Progress By John Bunyan
The Magician's Nephew By C.S. Lewis
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe By C.S. Lewis
The Horse and His Boy By C.S. Lewis
Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia By C.S. Lewis
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader By C.S. Lewis
The Silver Chair By C.S. Lewis
The Last Battle By C.S. Lewis
The Holy Bible By God

I am presently reading:
Desiring God by John Piper
Intimacy Ignited by Linda Dillow and Lorraine Pintus
Life Together By Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood By John Piper and Wayne Grudem
Jesus For President By Shane Claiborne
Irresistible Revolution By Shane Claiborne
The Five Love Languages By Gary Chapman

Are there any other good books you recommend?

Church Planting 101: The Gospel Unprograms Us

2009-08-08T13:01:00.005-04:00

Tim Keller said, Evaluated experience is the best teacher" [as opposed to "experience is the best teacher."] As I serve God [through blogging] I desire to revisit our efforts and fruit through church planting so that some God-honoring lessons might be gleaned for future generations. I am not just living for now, I am living to lead a legacy for future generations.

For today's post, I wanted to share something from Tim Chester that sums up what we as a church in Northern KY have sought to be from the beginning:

"Our meetings are not great by any normal standards. They are not great performances – and we’re happy with it that way. We always tell people that they’ll be disappointed if they come to visit us. All they’ll see is ordinary people sharing ordinary life plus some very ordinary meetings. What makes the difference (on a good day) is the gospel intentionality running through that ordinary life and shared life. But what you see is all very ordinary! The point is not what we do when we meet together – you can work that out for yourself and you’ll probably do a better job than we do. The point is a shared life in the context of ordinary with gospel intentionality."

When we gather as a church, you merely see ordinary people living ordinary lives with gospel intentionality. People are thrilled about it too. It's not easy. It's definitely not a walk in the park. There are heartaches and trials and sins committed from everyone in the body. We are not exempt from these common plagues of the human race. But there is a willingness and desire to help one another follow Christ. Therefore, sometimes each of us have to be "called out" by another brother or sister to repent and change." And people don't leave when this occurs to find another church because everyone has an understanding that we cannot bail out on each other; we are family. Family [normally] does not disown one another. The Gospel actually [though brutal to our fleshly desires] empowers us to stick together and be unified and all that before a watching world [there are several non-Christians who are living life with our church at present]. A dynamic and entertaining preacher does not hold us together. An off the charts band does not keep us together. Ministries to fit each demographic are not the life-changing key to our efforts. It's the Gospel that breathes life into us.

When I say that we are living lives together with Gospel intentionality that means we are seeking to encourage one another daily as we see the Day of the Lord approaching so that we are not led astray by the deceitfulness of sin. It's not a program that we get together everyday because we don't necessarily do that week in and week out with every member. There is not a set schedule like "Be at church five out of seven days a week." The Gospel unprograms us. The Gospel says, "Encourage one another daily." So in a week's time you will see different people interacting with one another through surprise visits [or scheduled], phone calls, FB, and the like. There is much praise to be given to the saints who live such holy lives in like manner before the Lord.

Fatherhood: Joy In Hearing My Son

2009-08-08T12:39:00.002-04:00

My son is learning very quickly how to speak and communicate. He is twenty-one months old at present. He is learning numbers, short phrases, animals and their sounds. My favorite is at night when I put him to bed. We go through a series of phrases every time that causes my heart to well up with the greatest of joy. I say, "Night, night" and he repeats. I say, "Bye, bye" and he does the same. I say, "I love you" and he says, "luv, luv." I say, "Daddy" and he says "Da, da."

I never knew being a father would bring so much joy to my life. When I come home from work he yells "Da, da." And he smiles at me. I cannot help but think about my heavenly Father who absolutely loves to hear me. If my level of joy is so high at the voice of my son and God created emotion, then I cannot even begin to fathom how God loves to hear the voice of his children.

On the other hand, I do not take delight in the voices of other children, namely because they are not my own. There are no affections for them. It is true that not all people are children of God, but merely creations of God. This is why it is so important that all men everywhere repent, turn to Jesus, and follow Him. It is in doing this that we find ourselves to become a child of God. God adopts us into his family and then the joy that I have described above in hearing my voice is magnified ten times over in Father God's delight in hearing from you his child.

"Even so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:10

Tim Keller and John Stott on Mission

2009-07-25T20:12:00.001-04:00

In regards to our edification for mission as a church, Tim Keller said,

"Paul is more flexible than most ministries or churches. He has a very broad array of different approaches, and he tried them all. Generally, churches or ministries settle on one approach. Now that is good, in that most of us are not as multi-gifted as Paul, and we cannot do them all. We should concentrate on what we can do with our skill-set. But on the other hand, most ministries and churches tend to see their method as the only one, the best one. We are so uncreative that we look at the city through unconscious "screens" and mental filters, so we see only the opportunities for our pet methods, or we see only the people who can be reached with our methods. We need to be far more creative and multi-dimensional. In our city, we should find people who can do them all."

John Stott said,

"When we contrast much contemporary evangelism with Paul's, its shallowness is immediately shown up. Our evangelism tends to be too ecclesiastical [inviting people to church] whereas Paul also took the gospel out into the secular world; too emotional [appeals for decision without an adequate base of understanding], whereas Paul taught, reasoned and tried to persuade; and too superficial [making brief encounters and expecting quick results], whereas Paul stayed in Corinth and Ephesus for five years, faithfully sowing gospel seed and in due time reaping a harvest."

What do you think?

The Necessity of Mission for Small Groups

2009-07-25T07:56:00.000-04:00

Check out this article.

Here is an excerpt:
1. Small Groups as Bible Studies are the easiest to form but the most dangerous.
2. Small Groups that deal with Support of one-another inevitably become exclusive and accommodating.
3. Missional groups without a Community Centered on the Gospel can not last.

Great Blog Post On Walking Your Talk

2009-07-18T23:05:00.002-04:00

Check out this awesome blog post [below is an excerpt]:

That said, and taking my tongue out of my cheek—I guess I have always been geared toward a practical understanding of Scripture, and the practical application of it, both in myself and in others. I am academic by nature, so I think I’d do well enough in seminary; but at the same time, I have always believed that God intended the Scriptures for all of us, and I am very skeptical of scholarly types who make others feel like they are unable to “get” the Bible without their special assistance. (I guess that’s why I tend to dislike too many “-ology” words, because they tend to place knowledge out of reach.)

Truth is, I’m not as impressed by how much someone knows about the Bible as I am whether someone is living out what they know. I’ve known too many people who can spout platitudes and dissect Scripture, but can’t love their kids. And so I’m a pragmatist in these matters—I’m interested in a working knowledge of the Scriptures, and I’m always looking for what works.

The Doctrine Of "Being Sent Out" Part 5

2009-07-09T05:05:00.001-04:00

My Story

First, I want to nail my colors to the mast. I am greatly committed to the local church. I believe a failure to do so is a failure to understand the Gospel because God is saving a people [which of course includes individuals] for himself. So to live an individualistic lifestyle [apart from the people of God] is to be in grave sin. Church and community lead me to make decisions with regard to the people of God, to give up my life for the sake of his people, to serve them when a need arises, to walk in my gifts before them for their edification, and to rearrange my life for their convenience. I am Jesus’ servant and he told me to love his bride.

You have already heard the first three years of my Christan life above, so I’ll continue where that left off. The home church stopped, everyone went to the places they attended on Sunday mornings during the life of the house church. I got heavily entrenched in the Christian bubble doing mostly administrative stuff and very little relational stuff. At the same time, after being at that church for seven years, the elders agreed that God had indeed called me to pastor for the rest of my life and they very informally assessed me, layed hands on me, and anointed me to the work of pastor which took about a year long process; in particular, to serve as an assistant to the senior pastor. I say assessed informally because it was basically living life before them for seven years that made them decide to affirm me as pastor. I did not have to read books or fill out paperwork or write doctrinal essays, which would have been far more formal.

After about a year and half after becoming an elder and pastor, I left that church. There were no hard feelings, but I had been feeling like leaving for around four years, but stayed and served out of a desire to do nothing in haste and got affirmed as pastor. The past two years I went to another church, but God began a great work of sanctification in my life which caused me to question what a biblical church is. I realized that church was much more than I had ever imagined and much less than I was presently experiencing. In fact, I feel now that for the last two years I have not been committed to the local church, which I never would have imagined would happen to me and that I do regret. There have been many negative effects from not being committed to a local church over the last few years all the while thinking that I was.

I tried to plant a church after a year and a half of being at that new church, but it flopped because no one would join that mission. Then, I was about to leave that church to help another guy plant a church that he had started three years earlier, only to find that he had thrown in the towel. This left me in a hard place because I knew my life was so radically changing and I could not stay where I was; I would dry up spiritually because the structure was faulty and did not allow for community and mission on a large scale.

At this point, I decided to plant a church. Wonder of wonders, people stuck around. People loved the idea. People loved the Gospel and longed for its daily application into life. People longed for community, much more than traditional evangelicalism allows for. And people wanted real mission, far more than traditional evangelicalism allows for.

This whole process has made me take a very close look at the Scriptures to see what God says about elders, pastoring, assessment, being sent out, the nature of church and more. Above are my discoveries. The sum total is that God cannot be put into a box and most of our present day formulas do not fit in line with the Bible nor history. Once someone finds thee formula that they’ll die by, there are ten other scriptural examples to contradict that one. Be biblical for sure, but forsake being extra biblical.

We started with no building, no money, and not being sent out from a local congregation to plant; though I had been sent out as a pastor and elder. We believe the Gospel, are a spiritual family, and are on mission; and that is success. If we know Jesus, love his bride and seek to bring others into the kingdom of God, this is success. People may accuse that it’s too simple, but when you read the New Testament, you find the exact same goal in the early church. They wanted to know Jesus and him crucified; they wanted to be a true spiritual family and community. And they wanted the mission of God to go forth to the nations. Oftentimes, in our very churches these three simple successes are missing for extra biblical misnomers. Well, at this point I am belaboring my point. I hope this is a benefit to you. Thanks for reading.

The Doctrine Of "Being Sent Out" Part 4

2009-07-08T04:30:00.001-04:00

The Kingdom Expands In Several Ways

How does the kingdom expand if it is not only through the sending out from the local church? Chester and Timmis say,

“…church is at the heart of the New Testament view of mission and mission is at the heart of the New Testament view of church.”

And they go on,

“…church planting takes place apart from an existing local congregation and those in which one congregation gives birth to another. This categorization broadly equates to the two models found in the New Testament.”

I want to highlight a couple points from the Scriptures and these are vague at best and on purpose:

• The kingdom grows through laborers sent out by God, not man [although God can and does sometimes use man to “confirm” a man being sent. "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest" [Matthew 9:37-38]. Church starts, or is planted, when God saves. We can go out to sow seed and be apart of an existing church, but God has to save new souls. So we can send a group of highly trained individuals as a team to a new area who are of elder quality, but unless God saves, all you have is a group of highly trained individuals as a team sent to a new area who are of elder quality. In fact, nowhere in the NT is a group of trained elders sent to an area to plant a church, but that is the language we use today in the church to describe sending people out to church plant. A grave misnomer indeed. It’s not wrong to go this route, but it surely is not the only way or the best way.

• A plurality of elders, a local church, or single apostles/leaders have been known to send people out on mission in addition to God sending them out of his own accord. All the above NT scriptures contain examples of being sent out.

• People may leave the local church of their own accord as we see in the example of persecution in Jerusalem but should take into consideration their community’s well-being and desires as well. This would not be the route I recommend, but there is surely nothing sinful across the board with this method.

• It is possible to have a church with no elders for a season as in the case of the churches surrounding Crete. Also, in Acts 14, after the two apostles, Paul and Barnabas, preached the Gospel in Derbe, they returned to several cities appointing elders in all the existing churches. Time had elapsed in these churches and there were no elders. Surely this is not the ideal because a church needs to be governed by a plurality of elders. They have gifts that should be used for the edification of the church. Why did Paul not appoint elders immediately as people were harvested? Because he understood church can function without all its ducks in a row for a time. He trusted the Grower. Roland Allen's and Neil Cole's words come to mind here.

• When people are sent out, they normally do not pick where they want to go for the sake of the Gospel. They are told where to go, usually from an apostle or God himself. The very people who stick firmly to particular models of being sent out are usually the same ones who are seeking to go where they want to serve the Lord.

We definitely need to begin defining church biblically. There are a lot of small groups, bible studies, missional communities, home groups, parachurches, college ministries, etc. that function just like a biblical church, but we refuse to call it that for many bad reasons. Then there are "large churches" that are not even close to functioning as a biblical church, but we still call it church. We've muddied the waters and most don't even know what biblical church is.

The main point here is we cannot be dogmatic about a particular model of sending people out. There is nothing prescriptive. In fact, all the above Scriptures were never to be taken as the "only" model and if one supposes they were, they fail to realize that most of them directly contradict the other. For example, Paul's command to Titus to appoint elders at several different churches by himself [and he probably did not know all those churches relationally] is a far different cry from Paul's reference to Timothy being raised up from a plurality of elders in Ephesus from one local church. Also, the new converts in Samaria were ministered too by two apostles sent out of Jerusalem for an unknown period of time and the new converts in Antioch were ministered to by one apostle sent out of Jerusalem for a period of time until he left to find Paul in another city to help him out; no plurality of leadership in the latter. Moreover, in Acts 14:23 apostles appointed elders in multiple churches, in Ephesus the elders of the local church appointed Timothy as another elder [1 Timothy 4:14]; two quite different ways to raise elders up. In Acts 13 God himself spoke to the church to send out two of their own while in other cases church leaders sent two of their own out [see chapter fifteen with Judas and Silas; the point is in one scenario God sent two out, Paul and Barnabas; in another, the local church sent out two, Judas and Silas.] In Antioch and Samaria, the church started apart from any official elders being sent out to start it from another local congregation and this directly contradicts the way most churches are started today. Who’s right and wrong? In a lot of cases, probably no one, but everyone freaks out [i.e. judges and condemns his brother] when it is not done their way.

On the subject of what constitutes a church and what does not, Grudem has a great chapter in Systematic Theology, The Purity and Unity of the Church, where he deals with true churches and false churches. He draws one line and on one side is the true and the other the false. All churches fall on this line somewhere as more pure or less pure. But it is still a church. The churches in Crete had some undone work that Titus needed to place in order and elders needed to be appointed so they might have fallen on the line on the less pure side, but a church nonetheless. In order to become more and more pure, we need to start getting our "ducks in a row." This takes time.

Perhaps, this feels like a lot of words that are not saying much. I feel the same way. I have spent hours and hours of study seeking a biblical prescription/model to follow on what it means to be sent out from a local church. It's speculative at best, dangerous to be dogmatic at worst. All the "models" we have "contradict" one another and go figure, that's why we have so much sharp disagreement today over which church government model is "right." But God left things this way because he would not be put into a box. Many ways of sending, planting, and governing exist within the Body. What is clear is what needs to be clear, what the church is [a body of believers], how it is formed [God grows and gives faith] and what it's supposed to be doing [bringing in the harvest of who God's calling into the kingdom].

The Doctrine Of "Being Sent Out" Part 3

2009-07-07T04:24:00.001-04:00

Testimonies Of Laborers "Going"

Now I want to take a minute to discuss real life scenarios so we can see how the subject of a particular model for being sent out from a local church is not as clear as we attempt to make it just like we saw the Scriptures declare in similar fashion. First, I have a friend who has longed to go overseas to take Jesus to the nations for probably the last ten years. Of God's own stirring in his heart he has come to this conclusion. No local church made that decision for him. This is kind of like Philip when God sent him out as a lone-ranger to Gaza without the support of any local church. My friend sought out his training within a Bible institute and has visited his final destination several times. There is not a local church sending him out as of the last ten years or preparing to go, whether that be right or wrong. In fact, he does not have any particular local church picked out as of yet overseas, but is committed to life overseas for the sake of the harvest and God's kingdom. But, he will find a local church and submit to their authority upon arrival, if not before. Is he wrong? Is it unbiblical? Should he have gone through the local church training of some church before leaving? Does Scripture really teach that?

Another friend who pastored up in a northern state as an assistant for nearly a decade, decided one day to leave after much prayer and theological conviction. He uprooted his family and moved down south without the "sending" of his local church and not to be apart of any particular church though he began looking for a community of believers once he moved. Is he wrong? Should he have waited to be sent out? Does Scripture really teach that?

Wide-spread persecution plagued the early Christians in Jerusalem in the first century. They left town immediately. They went everywhere and anywhere. They were not sent out. They did not consult any local church. Should they have stayed and died if necessary only to not be accused of leaving the leadership of the apostolic church in Jerusalem? Should they have received a two-year training on the dangers of falling away or how to stand strong under the weight persecution from the very apostles themselves? Does Scripture really teach that? Clearly in this instance, man did not have his hands in the churches business, God did. And God said, “Go!” [through the persecution]. O may we be persecuted for the cross of Christ. Perhaps that would destroy our models, assessments, and structures so the church would be sent out. I would love to talk with the creators of these assessments about this very issue of persecution.

Or what about the countless numbers of those who leave local churches to fellowship with another part of the body over doctrinal differences, or church practice differences or sin issues within the leadership that perhaps may not be being dealt with? Even the proponents of being sent out from a local church have been the biggest perpetrators of leaving their local churches before being sent out. In fact, one pastor I know who is adamant about being sent out from a local church suggested I leave his church without being sent out by the elders to join another church who’s elders planted their church without being sent out so that eventually I could get sent out from that church. Does Scripture really teach that?

Or what about one very dear to all of us, one who actually left the present local church of his day over a doctrinal disagreement and started what we know as The Reformation? This local church called him to recant his teachings and excommunicated him from the church when he did not. He might have even been accused of sheep stealing. Should he have "just stuck it out" and hoped for the best? Should he have not been counted in the number with the rebels? Should he have preserved that good name by which he was originally called? Does Scripture really teach that?

Time would fail to continue on this track of examples of history who did not fit the present-day status quo of those who believe in the necessity of a particular model of "being sent out" from the local church. The reasons are innumerable, but not always sinful. Yes, people don't understand authority or community and that's probably the biggest reason people leave a local church for another; that's why "church shopping/hopping" is big business right now. I admit that! Also, there's the excuse to leave over which church has the "best thing going" at the present time. Who has the largest church or most amount of ministries? Who has the best children's ministry or youth program? All of these and more fill the reasons why people are not being sent out of local churches before leaving. But I think the Scriptures allow for the expansion of the kingdom of God through the sowing of seeds. I think it expands through souls being saved; God doing a new work and new leaders are being raised up even apart from the local church in the area. Recalling the former days as a new Christian, the group of a dozen people that God saved were not connected in relationship together before becoming a Christian and were not saved by the effort of any particular church. We were ministered to by individuals or a small group of believers, believed in Christ, and then God sovereignly brought us all together to be the church; very unconventional indeed. Not one church formed us!! Should it have been a local church who had brought in that harvest in the late 90’s? Should we have been plugged into a local church instead of meeting as a new church plant? I think the answer to both questions is, “No.”