In September of 2007 I went from working 70 to 80 hours a week to about that same amount every month.  It has gotten even worse since then.  Back when I was so busy I barely had enough time to read some news, check television schedules and pay my bills while online.  I had heard of bulletin boards, forums, blogs, and other forms of communication on the internet but had never read or participated in them.  When the work schedule changed so drastically, I started reading more but I also started stumbling across blogs and forums and such.  Sometimes I wish I had not.

One of the first things I stumbled across was a site where a lot of ministers in my own denomination hung out.  It was also right before the General Assembly which is when the Church of God votes on change of leadership and other important issues.  I learned way too much.  I read a lot of things that ministers were saying and are saying and it makes me just want to run.  I want out of my denomination, out of my church and sometimes wish I was even out of the Kingdom.  If it truly could just be about me and Jesus, all would be fine.  But it can’t.  It is about relationship, community and the mission.

What I see coming from most Christians though is that it is about them.  Or for some, it is about their denomination.  If I hear another minister say how great a man of God someone is because they have did so much for the Church of God denomination instead of for the Lord of all the Church, I think I may explode.  I love the COG, it has done so much for me, how can you not love this grand old institution; these are a few of the many types of things some, and sadly they are usually the older ministers, say to anyone that questions the corruption that is so evident from the facts.  The corruption I am speaking about is the corruption of the mission.  But there is obviously even more.

I just finished reading Forgotten Ways, The: Reactivating the Missional Church by Alan Hirsch.  He wrote the following statement in it.

“In catering to the religious needs of some (largely the insiders) it has as a consequence failed to respond to the wider spiritual hunger of not-yet-Christians.”

He is referring to the institutional church; the denominations, the buildings, the hierarchy, the dogma, and the self-righteousness of our religion in conservative American Christianity.  We do not seem to want to do much more than token mission anymore.  We do enough to feel good about ourselves and even then, we ask those that need us to come to us instead of us going to them.  My own denominations problems seem to bear Hirsch’s thoughts out exactly.  The leaders at a certain level seem to only care about themselves and the continuance of the institution that caters to their aggrandizement.

This book has opened my eyes to a lot of things that I was already seeing and feeling.  I was just too busy to notice it until about the last year and a half.  The book is about becoming missional again.  The early church was missional but some of the older people in the COG seem to think this is some new spiritual fad or something and that we just need to get back to the old ways.  They don’t know how wrong and how right they are.  They are wrong about missional being a fad and right about needing to get back to the old ways.  But the old ways are much older than they think.  They are pre-Contantinian.  The early, persecuted church had it right.  So that is pretty old ways.

I think all ministers should be required to read this book and see if it does not check their spirit.  It has my own and I am nothing but a layman.  I am just so tired of seeing the people of God the same way I saw them when I was an atheist.  And I am not forgetting that I am one of them now.  I am going to figure out a way to be the person God needs me to be in His Kingdom today.  If it means changes are in store, then that is what will happen.  I wish more would join me in this endeavor to become what God meant for us to be.

One of the first things that I wish would be gotten rid of is this almost idolatrous view of “my” church, “my” denomination, “my” leaders, “my” ministry, and anything else we are so proud of because we see it as “ours”.  All of these things belong to Jesus, if they should really even exist.

I am sorry if anyone takes offense at anything I have written.  I know there may even be repercussions if I keep on saying some of the things I am saying.  But I am more concerned with the eternal repercussions if I keep quiet.

We do seem to have forgotten that it is not about us.  It is not about our comfort, our contentedness, or even our happiness.  Church is not an institution.  Church is a living, breathing, organism that is gasping for the breath of life because that breath, the Holy Spirit, seems to be slowly being pushed away by our inward instead of an outward focus.

Get the book.  Read it.  Come back and let me know if it woke anything in you.  It certainly has in me.  And not everyone will like it.

Love you all

Tags: America, atheist, Blogs, Christian, Christians, Church, Church of God, Conservative, denomination, forum, God, Holy Spirit, Kingdom, Leadership, ministry, mission, Righteousness, Self, spiritual hunger, War

We have it made.

I mean, sure economic times are not that great but we have a Sovereign God that not only has everything under control, He is using all this to increase and add to His own Glory.  Nothing happens outside of His will, so rejoice and praise Him that He caused all of this to happen.

There is a lot of evil being perpetuated in this world also.  That should really give us reason to praise Him.  It might seem weird to us that He would use something as vile as a mother murdering her own child to increase our awareness of His control, but who are we to question His mysterious ways.  Since He fore-saw and fore-ordained all that is or is to come, we just have to trust that He knows something we don’t.

Our president is already making great strides towards taking us down a path as a nation that we will not even recognize but it is for the best.  God placed Obama in that position so again, why question it.  Or Him.  He knows what He is doing.  Hallelujah.

We have it made.

Sure, our kids may not be doing what we perceive to be right or good for them or society, but remember, none of this can happen outside of His great will.  God is in control.  He is on the throne.  And for all of those that don’t believe it, then tough.  They don’t believe it because He does not want them to believe it.

We may not be seeing much growth in the churches we attend but really, does that matter.  At least we are there.  The seats are comfortable, we all like a few people and maybe even love one or two, the temperatures are comfortable, the messages are generic and not convicting or challenging like they used to be, and the worship is just the way we like it or we can fire somebody and get it that way.  Even if the growth is stalled, we can at least be sure that we are right with God because we are there.

Again, we have it made and we don’t have much left to do.

We have it made because God has it all the way He wants it.  Our seeming self-centeredness is actually God-centeredness.  What else could it be because we can be assured that His purposes, His plans, His will can never be thwarted.  And since everyone, either in or out of church, is just doing as He foreordained, how much can we really have left to do.

RIGHT?

Love you all

Tags: Believe, Church, economic times, Evil, hallelujah, Murder, Obama, Self, self centeredness, Sin, sovereign god, Trust, War

I have been praying and thinking a lot lately.  There are a few decisions that have to be made soon concerning life in general and my placement in the ranks of the army of God.  I have not written very much because I am very concerned about being a stumbling block or an instrument of offense.  Some seem to think I have been the instigator of division in the Body already.  So I have waited, prayed, and pondered.

I thought that I wanted to see my church grow.  I was wrong. What I really want to see is transformed lives.  My true desire is not just to see more people in church, not just to add more to the number of inwardly focused bodies sitting on pews, but to see instead a radical group of servant-soldiers interested in what God is interested in.  And willing to fight for it.

I want to see the arms of the Body of Christ reach out to grab, hug, hold and comfort a dying world.  I want to see the legs of the Body of Christ start running to get to the place where those trapped in service to our enemy are, wherever that may be.  I want to see the eyes of the Body of Christ constantly gazing beyond the walls surrounding our assembly to seek those desperately in need of a new Lord.  I want to see the lips of the Body of Christ speaking the words of love and acceptance that the lost and lonely want and need to hear.  I want to see the heart of the Body of Christ beating passionately for the mission that is being sidetracked by selfishness.  I want to see the tears of the Body of Christ that should flow from our current inability to effect change in the community around us.

I want to see the atheist become a believer, the sinner become a saint, the unchurched become attendees, and the disillusioned become enlightened.  But what I want the most is to see the self-centered become sacrificially concerned with the harvest of souls all around us.  We must stop being so concerned with our own comfort and desire and turn those concerns towards the ones that Jesus is concerned about.

When ‘church growth’ is mentioned anymore it is usually about figuring out how to get people to switch from church A to church B or how to get more people like ourselves in the pews.  We have become a double minded and apathetic church.  Double minded in our wonderful but empty words about growth and apathetic in our solicitude towards the lost.

I feel that I have not been effective in my service to the Kingdom.  As a teacher I believe that there should be a lot more evidence of transformation in the lives of those that have been entrusted to me than I have seen.  I believe it is time for me to re-evaluate my position in the Body to make sure I have not failed too badly and am in the right place.  I hope and pray that I have not caused irreparable damage.  I have no one to blame and am not looking for consoling words.  This is a struggle in me to determine what steps I may need to take next.

I am writing this to let all of you who do care know some of what is going on.  I am saddened but still at peace.  I struggle for answers but I rejoice in God’s grace.  Serving Christ is always sweet but I have to say, it is also sometimes bittersweet.

Pray with me.

Love you all

Tags: army of god, atheist, Body of Christ, Church, Grace, Hope, jesus, Kingdom, mission, Self, Selfishness, Servant, Service, Sinner, Trust, War

My pastor is retiring at the end of this month.  This saddens me because he is not only a great man of God; he is the only pastor I have had.  No one really enjoys change much but the leader of a church leaving can raise concerns and even cause some arguments and dissension in a local body of believers.  There have been some questions raised because of a new young adult fellowship that has been initiated.  I have also played a part in the establishment of this group.  And I am assuring anyone that reads this that we are not doing or saying anything to cause division.  Wayne, one of this group put it exactly the way all should see it.  He said The Bridge (our group) is an addition, not a subtraction.  We want to help each other and the unchurched in these age ranges in our community.

The church has started the process of determining who will take up the mantle of our pastor and move this congregation forward.  We all seem to have different ideas about what we think we want in a pastor but the question should be what do we need.  Every church is different and has different ministry opportunities and finds itself in the middle of different communities.  No two will need the same things.  But I want to ask a few questions here today for discussion.  A lot of my commentators go to my church but not all.  And I know there are other readers.  I ask that all respond.  These questions are not just about my church.

What role does age play into your choice?

Do you think a couple with children living at home would be a positive or a negative choice?  Why?

How important is “style” to you?  This is meant in relation to their preaching.

Would you want someone you have known previously to be your pastor?

How much education should the pastor have?

Would you want a single pastor?  Why or why not?

Should someone in your local assembly (church) have the first shot?

Do you have any special requirements you are looking for?

These are just a few that I am wondering about for now.  If the comments come I may add more as they warrant.  I am not looking for the things we should all be in agreement about already.  We all know we need someone with integrity and anointing, someone that is a student of the bible, and someone that is filled with the Spirit and operates in His gifts.  These and other such things are not what I am looking for.  I am looking for practical things that you are interested in.

This is not for comments that are meant to demean anyone.  Jesus is monitoring this discussion with me.

Love you all

Tags: Bible, Church, congregation, Discussion, dissension, Fellowship, Love, man of god, ministry, pastor, style, town hall, War