I have been passionate about discipleship for years. It is crux of the church and makes the difference between being a people that impact the world and being a people that only impact each other. It is also the most neglected and belittled component (or worse, program) in most churches, which makes me sad. But we have to ask, why has discipleship suffered so greatly in America when it should be at the very foundation of who we are as followers of Jesus? I think the answer is found in the greatest American Idol (not the TV show, the idol), which is consumerism.

We can’t seem to make disciples based on a commercial approach to the faith. We plainly cannot consume our way into discipleship. All of us must become much more active in the equation of becoming lifelong followers of Jesus. Consumption is detrimental to discipleship.
-Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways

I love that last line, consumption is detrimental to discipleship. I have heard too many people say they are leaving one church and going to another because they can “learn better” at the new one, or because the new one “suits their tastes” better, and honestly, I want to yell at those people. If you are going to leave one church for another it better be for a good reason like feeling that you are better able to serve at the new church, or even perhaps because God is moving you there so that He can use you, not be consumed by you.

All the worship wars, teaching wars, and preference issues are moot; what matters is that we are in churches of all types, shapes, and sizes where we are able to serve and make disciples. I think somehow Americans have bought into the lie that church is actually about them, its not. The Church is the bride of Christ and as His bride it lives for and loves Him above all else, even above individual preference.

Once the Church finally has that “light bulb moment”, realizing that its just not about us, then, and only then, can we begin to fulfill the calling to make disciples. Once we get over ourselves and are willing to sit next to the dude that smells like booze and smoke and once we are able to approach the gay couple and ask them into our home for lunch, maybe then we are taking our first steps toward the type of radical living and disciple making that Jesus practiced.

Its interesting, this woman lay there so that friends and family could pay their last respects, but instead of a moment of love and reflection it became a moment of anger. Why? What could cause a response so contrary to what was appropriate in that moment? Lots of words spring to mind; selfishness, resentment, anger, frustration, justice, but the word that sticks in my mind is broken.

This was a family with broken relationships.

And now, more than ever, I find myself convinced and convicted of how fragile relationships really are. I’m sure this family didn’t start with such poor relationships, they probably just deteriorated over time and there was little attempt at restoration. Relationships are alive, and when they are abused, neglected, or just taken for granted, they suffer just like anything else.

And so, I find myself more committed to intentionally building my relationships rather than neglecting them. I will:

• make more phone calls and try to really listen to and empathize with the person on the other end.
• be more intentional about planning to have face time with the people I care about.
• pray for my friends and family more and for myself less.
• seek unusual ways to notice the needs of others and attempt to encourage and help them.
• take every relationship seriously and treat it like the precious thing it is.
• I will remember that in all relationships my needs come third (after Jesus and the other person)

I’m sure there are several things I have missed in this list, is there anything you want to add?

Robert was a Ninja, as in the real deal. His obituary said this:

Robert Veal was a real-life ninja, a yondan, a fourth-degree black belt in the Japanese martial art of Bujinkan ninjutsu.

He was so accomplished that he had been teaching self-defense to airline flight crews since he was 17.

Mr. Veal, who had been home-schooled, was disciplined, focused and thrived on learning, his sister said. Just as he studied Bujinkan ninjutsu with a grand master in Japan, he traveled to Brazil to practice capoeria, the Brazilian martial art that is part dance and part game.

Being a Ninja meant that he was a warrior and held the values of a warrior, like the Bushido code or the code of Chivalry. Robert also loved Jesus and followed the Bible, making him a paradox; a warrior and a saint. As a warrior he was a defender of the weak, a force against those who prey on them, and as a saint he was a lover of the weak, often the first to offer assistance and service.

This has gotten me thinking, should all Christians be warriors? Shouldn’t we actively seek to defend the weak? Shouldn’t we seek out those with ill intent, expose them and engage them in battle? Shouldn’t we be trained and prepared to defend ourselves philosophically, theologically, methodologically, Biblically, and even perhaps physically (in certain contexts)?

Which also brings to mind another question: Why are Christians typically passive while the nature of God is to actively engage the enemy?

I’m still struggling through some of these thoughts, so please leave comments with your thoughts and maybe we can think through this one together. Any help here is appreciated.

Every Monday and/or Tuesday I wait with anticipation on hearing what the dollar amount of our Sunday offering is. Very often my demeanor and peace of mind is directly impacted based on whether or not our offering is deemed acceptable or not. If we have a “good” offering I will be full of joy and in a good mood or if we have a “bad” offering I may be a little down or solemn. Of course if the offering is “good” it is because our people are “getting” it and if the offering is “bad” we simply have to be dependent on God for more.

We are 10 months into this church planting adventure and you would think by now that I would be learning to trust God more on things of this nature. Shouldn’t I completely trust God daily, weekly and every moment that He knows what is best for me, our staff and CATG? Why do we question God’s faithfulness when we have a “bad” offering and rejoice in His faithfulness when we have a “good” offering?

I have a few friends that have taken the leap into the church planting world and they are writing their ministry plans and considering budgets. They will get bent out of shape sometimes about where the money will come from for their new church. I tell them with utmost confidence not to worry about it because God is in control! “He will provide for every need that you have.” I tell them. “Simply focus on people, share the vision with as many people as possible, and God will provide!” I will even give them a scripture to drive home my point.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

HA! HA! Sounds great doesn’t it! I am such a hypocrite! I can preach it! I can shout it, but to tell you the truth, I am scared to death each and every week and often count our success according to our own performance and those that journey with us.

The truth is:

• God is faithful each and every moment regardless of our offering and regardless of our circumstances.
• God’s goodness and faithfulness should never be measured according to OUR standards.
• My response should be to depend on Him and trust Him in such a way that transcends my circumstances and the circumstances of our church plant.
• I can trust Him and can COUNT ON HIM!

Whether it is a church planting adventure, a business, your children, your marriage, your soberness, your health, your faith, your salvation or your sanity, what or WHOM are you counting on?

This is a sad idea.

The other day I stumbled upon Habakkuk 2:20 which says “But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” This verse hit me in the face when I read it and has continued to beat on my consciousness ever since. I am struggling with questions like: what does it mean to “keep silence before Him”? Do I ever have silence in my life? Do I embrace silence or run from it? Is silence before God an integral part of my relationship with Him or something that I drown out with continuous noise? Why am I afraid of the silence?

It seems to me that silence is a necessity in our daily walk with Jesus, and yet, we avoid it like the plague. Silence allows for and encourages reflection, which is scary. When submerged into total silence we are left with only our thoughts and the Holy Spirit’s whisper, inevitably bringing us to some degree of conviction followed by God’s leading. Both of these make us uncomfortable and push us to change, which we tend to resist.

Think about it, we live in a world that embraces “self” over all other things. One of the keys to embracing “self” is to feel good about your own selfishness. The best way to do that is to drown out all opposing voices, like our conscience and the Holy Spirit. And so, since our world embraces “self” it also embraces noise because that helps to maintain selfish thinking.

By living in a constant state of noise we never have the time or ability to reflect on our lives, the good and the bad. We are never really able to asses where we are as individuals and determine how we can improve. We simply live our lives so narrowly focused on keeping forward motion, that we never realize the wheels we are riding on are wobbling around about to pop off. Then, we suddenly find ourselves bottomed out and asking why.

Maybe it’s time for some self assessment. Maybe it’s time for conviction, growth, and leading. Maybe it’s time for silence before a Holy God that not only deserves our reverent, silent respect, but also asks it of us.

Maybe it’s time for the Church to gather together to keep silence.

Please share your thoughts and ideas, this is a tough one…

I got the call on Easter afternoon. The principal wanted me there at 8:30 the next morning to counsel with teachers and students. So, with no real counseling experience, I went, but I didn’t go alone. I was counting on the Holy Spirit to give me the words that I needed, and He did.

I spoke to three homerooms, including the home room of the girl that was killed. I tried to encourage them to think about the good things that their friend had taught them and to live out those things in honor of her. Then, I counseled a group of eight students that were having a rough time.

I have to say, yesterday might have been the hardest day I have ever had in ministry. I’m still drained. It’s hard to offer real comfort without being able to talk about the redemption that is found in Christ, but I had to walk that line between church and state carefully.

I guess I’m writing all of this to point out a few things:

• Being involved in the local community is crucial if you want to be able to offer support and encouragement during times of need.
• Counseling is less about formal training and more about listening to the Holy Spirit (not that formal training is bad).
• Sometimes to honor Jesus and serve our community we have to walk into places and situations that are not comfortable.
• Sometimes we ask why, but there is no good answer.
• Sometimes life sucks.
• We must press on.

Here’s the link:

http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=37774

My good friend d10 talked about the list of people that have stopped coming to church:

it seems a list would be unnecessary if relationships were critically central in a church. people wouldn’t slip through cracks like they often do. there’s very little that’s ever done for a person on a list that will engage that person in relationship.

My new friend (met through blogging) Bruce pointed out that maybe I should be asking why people are leaving church rather than focusing on whether or not we should use time and resources to get them back. He ended his comments by saying;

Why do people go to Church? The music? The preaching? The denomination? The doctrine? Perhaps. What most people are looking for is community. Relationship. And that is where we fail I am afraid.

This has gotten me thinking a lot about community within the Church. And I agree, we are failing. It pains me to say this, but most relationships within the church are superficial.

If you don’t believe me just think about someone within your church that you talk to every Sunday but never interact with throughout the rest of the week (except for Wednesday…maybe). Now that you have that person in your mind ask these questions, “what is (insert name here)’s dream?”, “what is God doing in their life?”, “what are they struggling with?” You can’t do it can you? The reason you can’t do it is because your relationship with this person isn’t deep.

And that is the crux of our problem, we create many relationships within the church, 98% of which are shallow relationships that only exist within the walls of a building. This is not community. I have a lot of thoughts on this that I will explore in future posts. But, for now, I would like to hear from you on this.

Why do you think that the natural relationships that develop within the church tend to be shallow and superficial?

However, one thing I can be certain of is the place where we find unity, at the foot of the [tag]cross[/tag]. It is only when we are kneeling down before the cross of Christ, the very cross we deserve to hang on, that we are all equal as we humble ourselves before our magnificent Creator. It is in this moment when we look on Him with awe and on our sin in disgust that we understand our true condition and remember how small we are compared to the magnitude of His glory.

Last night my family and I had the privilege of being in our church’s cottage [tag]prayer[/tag] meeting. We had twenty seven people gathered in a home for the sole purpose of going before God as a body of believers. One of my students led a short Bible study (which was excellent) and then we got to the serious business of prayer. Words can’t describe how powerful it is to listen to God’s people genuinely pouring their hearts out to Him. Listening to the prayers of those saints was humbling and uplifting. When the time of prayer was finished I could sense a unity among the group that I have rarely felt. It felt like family. It felt like one body unified with purpose. It felt like we were living out Acts 2:42-47; communing with Christ and each other in Bible study and fellowship; in the breaking of bread and prayer. This is what being the body of Christ is all about, finding unity and purpose at the foot of the cross.

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may [tag]believe[/tag] that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
-John 20:30-31 (ESV)

But, what if we already believe? Does that mean that we should no longer read John and move on to a book written for another purpose? Of course not. It means that we should continue to read John’s gospel, continue to consume it’s truth in order to make it a part of who we are and strengthen our belief.

I have been thinking about [tag]belief[/tag] for the last few days and I am just now starting to realize how big it can be. I think we all know that there are varying degrees of belief in Christ. There are those people that say they believe in word and deny it with their actions. There are those that say they believe and live it out (at least as far as the outside observer sees). And, of course there are those believe and actually allow that belief to shape the course of their lives.

All of this is obvious even to the casual observer, but I have been trying to think of this on a deeper level. [tag]Abram[/tag] “believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as [tag]righteousness[/tag]” (Genesis 15:6, ESV). That’s a significant statement. Imagine the depth of Abram’s belief, it was life changing; but more than that, it was spirit changing and even future changing. It influenced his thinking, his living, his family, his household, the course of his life and the courses of the lives of his offspring even to present day.

I think most of the time we think of believing God as something that we do once (when we come to know Jesus) and then we are finished, but I don’t think that is God’s intention. Our belief must grow. It must penetrate the deepest part of who we are and still dig deeper. We must become consumed by our belief and allow it to change us from the inside out. We must never be satisfied with where we are but strive for deeper relationship and more life changing belief. After all, we just need the faith of a mustard seed to move mountains (Matthew 17:20). The last time I looked, all the mountains were still located where they have always been…so I guess we all have a long way to go.