A great deal more failure is the result of an excess of caution than of bold experimentation with new ideas. The frontiers of the kingdom of God were never advanced by men and women of caution.
- J. Oswald Sanders

I am a risk taker, perhaps more than most. Some may say that I have faith, and some may see it as borderline insanity, I’d say both are correct. I am a church planter, which by definition means that I lack a great deal of sense and invite a great deal of pain into my life…and I love it. Its what consumes my mind and heart. This idea of taking great leaps of faith and stepping boldly into unknown situations is a wonderfully terrifying feeling that everyone should experience at least once. Its like a bungee jump that never stops, on the up bounce I catch my breath, but before any real comfort sets in I’m plunging head first back into the thick of it and, like I said, I love it.

Not everyone is built like I am, just the idea of bungee jumping makes some people cringe, and I can appreciate that. I don’t think that everyone is built to take the same kinds of risks, but I am convinced that every follower of Jesus is called to take significant risks. Think about the different risks that His followers took during His ministry on earth.

• Matthew just stood up and walked out of his job (Mark 2:13-17).
• Mary washed Jesus feet in front of a gawking crowd (John 12:1-8).
• Andrew and Peter walked away from their largest asset (a boat) that allowed them to make their living (Luke 5:2-11).
• The woman at the treasury followed Him by giving two pennies (Mark 12:41-44), while the rich young man was asked to risk a fortune (Matthew 19:16-30), each amounting to all they had.

Each person in a different walk of life was called on to risk something significant in order to further Jesus’ mission, and I’m convinced that He asks no less of us.

This is a scary idea, risking our lifestyle, or very standard of living for the sake of Jesus’ plan. But, ultimately a choice will be made, though it might not be made consciously. The choice each of us must make is to simply answer this question: “What is more important, my comfort or Jesus’ plan for the world?” My answer to this simple question radically changes the way I live my life and makes me excited to take risks in order to accomplish great things. Your answer to this question will change you and your family. If you haven’t answered this in your own heart yet, I pray that you wrestle with it and that ultimately you choose the path of great risk that leads to great reward.

Here is where the problem lies, businesses are about me because they want something from me, money. And lately, money is something that I don’t like to part with, mostly because of how little I have. So my choice is simple really, continue to consume at an unhealthy rate and go into debt, or confess my compulsion to consume and enjoy what I already have (which is a lot).

I confess:

• To wanting a new MacBook Pro because it’s cool, even though I have a 3 year old Dell that works perfectly fine for my present needs.
• To wanting an iPhone even though my current cell phone does absolutely everything that I need and more.
• To wanting a new pair of shoes even though I have at least 10 pairs in my closet that do nothing but take up space.
• To wanting to buy more books, even though I haven’t read the ones that I already have and should read.
• To wanting a new camera, even though the one we have works great.
• To wanting a new Tivo that records 2 channels at once because the one that records just one channel is lame (even though it works great, and I don’t need to watch any more TV anyway).
• To wanting a new guitar, even though I can’t play the one I have.
• To wanting more things than I can afford, for absolutely no reason at all.

It’s pathetic, I know.

This is where I am, and I am unwilling to be a pathetic, weak willed consumer drone that buys everything that I don’t need any more. Instead I choose to save money, pay off debt, and be free of selfish consumerism. I am convinced that even though this will not give me the immediate gratification that society tells me I need, in the end I will be far better off and much happier.

But, after thinking through all of this, here is the question that really haunts my mind. If I have been so consumer driven in my every day life, how consumer driven have I been in my spiritual life? I guess that’s a question to ponder….

If you don’t know who Mike Yaconelli is, you are missing out. Check out this video. Watching this really gets me motivated and reminds me what following Jesus should be like.

Break through thought for me from the book. A simple question.

“Sherry, have I done anything to make you feel unloved?”

Underlying every conflict are hints of unlove and disrespect. I will not even attempt to do a book review but I will say that if you are married or want to be, you may should give this book or book on CD a go. I do not agree with every thing and I wish that the last section was the first section, but overall, I like it and it has helped my marriage.

Forgiveness is necessary because in every relationship, big and small, there are annoyances, wrongs, and frustrations that must be over come. Merely overlooking these issues will only get you by in the short run. To maintain a relationship that has longevity and depth, there must be forgiveness. Real forgiveness.

If you are like me, you understand this because you need it. We all need it. Forgiveness is a grace afforded us that we have not earned but can appreciate as a gift. We must seek that forgiveness when we are wrong, and we must be intentional about giving forgiveness to those who wrong us.

Lets imagine a relationship that doesn’t involve what I call “intentional forgiveness”. You have known this person for years. For the first few months of your friendship everything was going well and it seemed like you might have found a great friend. Then, over the course of time that person’s selfishness started showing through. Rather than possibly offending your new friend, you decided to shrug it off. The problem is, every time this selfishness shows through now, it’s harder to shrug off. Eventually you find yourself avoiding your friend, after all, they are only interested in themselves and don’t really care about you anyway.

Because you chose to avoid the discomfort of forgiveness, you forfeited what looked to be a promising friendship. Intentional forgiveness isn’t easy, it’s not comfortable or convenient, sometimes it requires that we have difficult conversations, but this type of forgiveness is the key to deep community among friends.

In a real relationship, where there is a deep level of community, there are always uncomfortable encounters of intentional forgiveness. I’m not saying this is easy. Relationships are hard. Developing community within a relationship is even harder. There’s no fast track to deep relationships, intimacy (community) only comes after working through something difficult together. Intentional forgiveness, for you, or from you, is one of those difficult processes that must happen in the development of real community.

This, of course, is just one component of what it takes to build real, deep community. More thoughts on this are coming…

What are your thoughts?

Begin sarcasm…

1. Keep conversations short.
   You are busy, you have a lot to deal with in your life, if you talk to someone you might get close to them and that takes time and energy that you don’t have. Just keep it short and sweet, don’t bother talking about anything more than the weather. If you don’t know a person is hurting, then you don’t have to do anything about it.
2. Always sit in your “assigned” seat
   By always sitting in the same seat you always sit around the same people. These folks know the deal, and stick to the appropriate 30 second conversations: weather, sports, how the new preacher is doing, etc. Also, this keeps you from having to venture out, meet new people, and possibly sit next to someone you aren’t familiar with.
3. Avoid new people
   It’s one thing to deal with all the people that you already know at church, but it’s another to actually meet new people. Seriously, you aren’t good with names, you don’t have the time, or the energy, so just walk right past anyone you don’t know. After all, they won’t notice that you totally avoided them.
4. Come in late
   Don’t overlook the beauty of this one. By coming in late you totally avoid even the 30 second conversations. And (bonus), you avoid the new people! It just makes life easier.
5. Leave immediately after the service (or early)
   This has the same benefits as coming in late, with the added benefit of getting on the road more quickly to beat those other churches to eat. This way you get out of that crowded church building so that you can go sit with your people and eat a meal. If you add this method with the coming in late method you could go to a church for years and never meet anyone.
6. Be physically present but mentally absent
   When talking to someone, pretend to listen by nodding your head and saying “uh huh” while you are really thinking about what show comes on TV later that night. Basically, just don’t engage anyone on any level. After all, you’re just there to put in your “time” and then get on with your life.
7. Don’t share a meal
   If you goal is to avoid community, this step is of the utmost importance, don’t ask people to lunch! Sharing a meal is an intimate thing that creates deeper relationships. So, when someone asks you to lunch fake a stomach ulcer or something, just get out of it.
8. Stay very, very busy
   The busier you are, especially on a Sunday, the less time you have to “deal” with people. In fact, attempt to be so busy that when speaking to someone you never even stop walking past them as you say hello.
9. Make your default response “everything is great”
   People will always ask how you are doing. Make sure that you have your “default” answer ready so that when they ask you are ready to say, “everything is great!” This must be your default response, otherwise you might actually let on that your life is not perfect, or worse, that you are struggling. This colossal mistake could lead to deeper conversation and deeper relationship. If you are going to really avoid community while in church, this is probably your best weapon.
10. Don’t show up
    This is definitively your best method of avoiding community overall because there is no community where there are no people.

Seriously…

Sadly, I see much of myself in these 10 things. As a minister I tend to fall into many of these habits because I am busy and because I feel like I need to talk to everyone. I also see this happen in the church every week.

How about you? Is there anything that you would add to this list?

The biggest thing I learned this year, probably getting to the summit is only half way…

Tim got within about seventy yards of the summit, only to have to turn back because he knew he didn’t have the strength to get up their and back down in one piece (keep in mind that seventy yards on Everest is more exertion than you or I typically do in one day). So Tim’s quote is coming from a man that understands, in terms of life and death, that the summit of the climb is only the half way mark. This way of thinking seems very foreign to me. My thinking is typically more short term and focused on immediate gratification, so in that situation I would probably say, “Oh, I’m only 70 yards from the top, I can do this” only to get to there, appreciate the view, and die. But, I think his way of thinking is better, realizing the glory of the top of the mountain while appreciating the difficulty of coming down from it.

I am reminded of when Moses went up Mt. Sinai. He had struggled through [tag]hardship[/tag], but had faithfully led his people out of slavery. Now Moses goes up on the mountain into the very presence of God and spends more than a month with Him (Exodus 24:15-18). I don’t think there can be a more powerful mountain top experience than that. But, at the end of that glorious experience what did Moses come back to? A people that had turned away from the one true God to follow a golden calf made by the hands of his own brother (Exodus 32:4). He came off the mountain of glory and stepped into gut wrenching reality of sin. Moses fought hardship getting up the mountain, and he fought hardship coming off the mountain, until the day he died.

Now that sounds a little depressing until we look at the bigger picture. If we zoom out and remember what happened after Moses’ death, we remember that his people were ultimately delivered into the promise land and we remember that Moses led them most of the way. We also realize that Moses helped his people survive which included the line of Abraham, the bloodline of Christ. He set the stage for the gospel by bringing the law to the world, which served to expose sin, showing the people their need for a Savior (Romans 7:7-12). He led an absolutely amazing life that had eternal value.

So…what does this mean for us? Life tends to be a series of climbing up the slope and coming off the mountain with very little time to stop and enjoy the view from the summit. But, that’s ok, because the short time at the summit does two things for us; it makes the hardship of coming up the slope worthwhile, and it prepares us for the task God has for us, which is always an adventure but is rarely easy.

Climbing is a hard, but glorious task; I pray that we climb well.

At Passion ’07 I learned of a great ministry called OneVerse. Please take a look at this site. I will write more on this and what we are doing at my church to take part in this great ministry. My heart and desire has been captured by the people of the world that do not yet have the gospel in a language they can read. Please, check this ministry out and pray about taking part in the great commission in a different way than you normally think.

A long, long time ago I can still remember how that music used to make me smile and I knew if I had my chance that I could make those people dance and maybe they’d be happy for a while but February made me shiver with every paper I delivered, bad news on the door step, I couldn’t take one more step, I can’t remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride but something touched me deep inside, the day, the music, died.

In 1971 Don McLean’s American Pie bent America’s ear and captured her heart. It is mostly about the loss of better days as McLean recounts the hardships of the 60′s. The song begins with, and pivots on, the death of Buddy Holly in 1959. Buddy Holly’s music, simple and optimistic, symbolized an easier time in American culture for many people, including McLean.

America has come a long way since then and we have dealt with more tragedy and cultural shift than 1971 could have imagined. So, I think I can understand some of what McLean was lamenting.

The day the music died was the day that Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper all died in a plane crash. The tragedy of such a day is that all we have left of these great musicians is the music they left behind. They can never produce anything new; they have nothing more to contribute to our lives.

Unfortunately I think many Christians look at Jesus in the same way. The day the music died might have been the end of Buddy Holly’s contribution to society, but the day the Savior died does not mark the end of His involvement in our lives; in fact it was only the beginning.

This is, of course, the foundation of the Christian faith and what the life of every Christian should be centered on:

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time…
1 Corinthians 15:3-6 (ESV)

We serve a living Savior, not a dead religion. We live for, and under the authority of, Jesus who loves us and continually speaks into our lives. Jesus didn’t defeat death so that He could go home to Heaven and get away from His creation, but so that He could sit at the right hand of God and actively intercede for us (Hebrews 7:25), praying for us and impacting our lives here and now.

I have no doubt that God has a plan for every life He purchased through the sacrifice of His son (1 Corinthians 6:20). And, as a part of that plan, God wants to guide and direct us. He wants to interact with us. He wants us to know Him and love Him in a deep and intimate way. God is here, now (Psalm 14:5). Jesus is praying for us, now. The Holy Spirit is guiding us, now (John 16:13). We would all do well to listen carefully and follow eagerly in whatever direction He takes us.

This is our church’s first week without a pastor. As I think about that I am sad in some ways, missing members of our family, but I am also excited to see what God has in store for us. I am reminded that we may be missing our pastor, but we are still under the guidance and direction of our Senior Pastor, Jesus. My prayer is that our church will continue to follow Him, listening for His direction to guide our path.

P.S. I realize that the truth that I am speaking of here is something that every Christian knows already. But, I felt compelled to write this because even though we know this is true, we usually live like it is not. My prayer for my family and for you, the reader, is that we will embrace the simple truth that Jesus is alive and desires to be an active part of our lives. And, I pray that this truth will set us free to live for Him with every ounce of our being.

What I am not saying.

Let me start out on the defence; I am not saying that Jesus is not my first and most favorite hero. I am also not saying that many biblical men and women of the bible are not great examples for us today. I am not even saying that Spurgeon(pictured above), Pink, Tozer, Sproul, Edwards, Bunyan, Grudem, Calvin, Elliot, Tyndale, Driscoll, D. Montgomery and other great men of God are not important to me as a learner.

What I am saying.

We live in a world full of men and women that are afraid to speak the Word of God to each other and the lost world. We are seeing a growing complacency where the Church is happy just to get fat on pharisitical Fajitas- rules and morals that are to be consumed for the sake of religion and good public standing. Why are we so caught up in cheep grace theology and what ever works pragmatism? Where are the men and women that will speak up and teach God’s Word, regardless of the sufferings it may bring.

I want to encourage you that there are many modern day heros in a world of wimps that are indeed standing on God’s Word as they trust in the Holy Spirt to use them to teach. One of my personal modern day heros is John Piper. I first read a book by Piper when I was in college, it was about 1996 or 97 and Future Grace gave me a sharper view of my God and His Glory. I try to read every book that Piper puts out because I believe that God is using Him to show us that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him”. God is using Piper to encourage pastors all over the states and missionaries all over the world along with young men and women in the professional fields. He is fireing up college students and rekindling the flame for retirees as they are brought face to face with the truths of Scripture.
I am tired of hearing so many preachers on tv and the radio saying “Oh, it’s not about us, or me, it’s all about Him”, only to speak for the rest of the sermon about everything but God. Are you taking in a good dose of biblical Christ exalting preaching? Be deliberate about listening to the Word of God being preached by men who are not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. Don’t be content with placebo sermon perscriptions that leave you unchanged and unchallenged in your condition.

Who are some of your modern day heros in a world of wimps?

Resource:
I am excited to let you know that you can now watch Piper’s sermons for free. They start in August