DURABLE DATA

NOC Day 3

2009-11-06T20:54:00.000-08:00

Who's Kevin Harney? A few weeks ago, his book Organic Evangelism for Ordinary People arrived at my office because I'd pre-registered for the National Outreach Convention so far in advance. Frankly, I shelved it (being mondo-busy helped).

This morning, I went to his workshop, kind of by default, and was blown away. Here's somebody who's really figured out how to weave evangelism into (a) everyday lives and (b) the way the church runs.

I want to save up this up for a bunch of future blogs, but basically he's figured out how to make evangelism a natural ("organic", an over-used word in my estimation) expression of our walk with God and how to bring it front and center to the life of the church, again, naturally.

Again, I always find workshops the best part of NOC, but Greg Surratt (Seacoast Church, South Carolina) and Dave Ferguson (Community Christian Church, Chicago) inspirational as well as late afternoon speakers Stacey Spencer (New Directions, Memphis) and Steve Furtick (Elevation Church, North Carolina).

A pleasant surprise was Kent Tucker of Hillside Community Church in Rancho Cuacamonga. Hillside is newly affilaited with Transformation Minstries and will be the site of the 2010 TransMin conference. Kent has updated the famous "bridge" in a nifty resource that teaches people how to share the gospel.

I'll unpack more on NOC over the next few weeks...

NOC Day 2

2009-11-05T20:46:00.000-08:00

Nelson Searcy, Bill Easum and Rick Richardson: systems guy, explosive church growth guy and a Wheaton College scholar. That plus a movie tonight ("To Save a Life") and a great message by Miles McPherson--that's been my day.

Nelson: on the mechanics of the Big Day, a strategy of breaking through growth barriers by "extra Easters". Got me thinking about the big series I'll be starting February 14, "From Stress to Rest." Hmm, let's set that as the first Big Day of 2010.

Bill: this guy is hardcore. At age 70, he's tough as nails when it comes to the theme of "explosive church growth." Head spinning, no-nonsense talk.

Rick: neat thoughts on conversion: closed set, open set, journey set? (It'd take too long to explain.)

Hey, more tomorrow...

NOC 2009: Day 1

2009-11-04T20:54:00.000-08:00

I'm in San Diego for the National Outreach Convention which you can watch live (at least the general sessions) here.

After attending a discussion on assimilation with my friend Nelson Searcy, the opening session was outstanding--great worship led by Lincoln Brewster and a fantastic message from Ed Stetzer (see photo, left) of LifeWay.

Here's my notes from Ed's message:

The Mandate of Evangelism

2 Timothy 4:1-5

"Do the work of an evangelist" (v. 5)

LABOR: "Do"

Outreach simply provides the opportunity to do evangelism; don't confuse the two.

There are three factors holding us back from real evangelism:

1. Universalism: nearly half of all people in evangelical churches don't believe that Jesus is the only way

2. Wholism: preach the whole gospel, but include the bloody cross and the empty tomb!

3. Invitationalism: we have trained people into believing that inviting people to church--a good thing--is the same as telling the good news of Jesus

We must BE, DO and TELL the good news!

LABOR: work! Paul is telling Timothy that this is his occupation. Pastors and church leaders must set the pace by action. "You cannot lead what you do not live."

FOCUS: on being an "evangelist." Even when settled, Timothy the pastor cannot cease being Timothy the missionary.

"Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter." Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

GREAT message, great start! I'll be updating at least once tomorrow; lucky if I get off one Friday, but I'll try to do a wrap-up no later than Saturday morning.

TransMin Wrap-Up

2009-10-23T23:05:00.000-07:00

After afternoon skills sessions, we assembled again to hear Leith Anderson wrap-up this year's Transforming Churches conference, and were not disappointed with his expostion of the two needed marks of the church: Biblical faithfulness and cultural relevance. On the second, he gave one of the finest succint expositions of a theology of Biblical cultural relevance I've ever heard.

Next year's conference will be at Hillside Community Church in Alta Loma, CA. Hillside is a mid-sized "mega" church which is newly affilitated with Transformation Ministries.

Salico on TransMin's Ongoing Vision

2009-10-23T11:26:00.000-07:00

After another fine message from Leith Anderson, TM delegates went into a business session. Minor changes in the bylaws were approved. We also received financial reports that were amazingly encouraging.

Exec Minister Dale Salico spoke on the challenging new vision of TransMin. We have weaknesses in growth and new church planting. This spurs us on to a new horizon.

Our urgency springs first and foremost from the reality of reaching lost people from eternal condemnation.

Here's the new vision statement:

"We envision a God-empowered movement of churches; every pastor growing; every church healthy; every community transformed for Christ."

Dale explained the Biblical foundations of the vision statement.

From this, Dale explained this Mission Statement which involves growing pastors, growing churches, and new church planting.

Dale explained some additions to our core values and core competencies.

Some 5 year goals include aggressive new pastoral recruitment, pastoral growth, a 1:15 baptism ratio for churches, numerical growth, a 3% church planting goal.

Dale warned that "mine flu"--the heresy of absolute church autonomy--has the capacityto derail the vision. The Bible is a book of the story of the teams--nations, tribes, churches--called by God to do His will.

More to come...

It's Good News, You Know

2009-10-23T09:07:00.000-07:00

Last night, Leith Anderson made the point in his evening message that 3,000 people around the world give their lives to Christ--each hour--'a Pentacost every hour', as he put it. He admonished Christian leaders to engage in this historic hour with full devotion, full character, solid mentors wisdom and for the long-haul.

Excellant worship, BTW, led by Aaron Porter of Vintage Church of Templeton, CA.

Leith is about to speak again,and later Dale Salico will about the direction of TransMin,

Transmin Day 1

2009-10-22T15:19:00.000-07:00

Leith Anderson, president of the National Assoc. of Evangelicals and long-time pastor of Woodale Church in Minnsota, spoke at an afternoon session for pastors on "Christ's Hope for Christian Leaders."

He offered five hope points:

1. Look at the Kingdom, not just your corner.
2. Look to Christ, not just circumstances.
3. Look at sucesses, not just problems
4. Look at reality, not just exceptions.
5. Look at your call, not your comfort.

The 1.5 Rule of Ministry

2009-10-22T07:07:00.000-07:00

I realized that in this series I'm currently doing on ministry that there's no good spot to bring up what I call the 1.5 rule of ministry. The thesis is that believers should aim for involvement in 1.5 ministries; less than that is not stretching enough, more makes it hard to have a balanced life.

Unlike most of my good ideas, this one is original with me, based on years of observation. But what do I mean by 1.5?

0.5 involvement is a following role in a ministry--for example, singing in a choir or praise team. Someone else leads, you follow.

1.0 is a lead role in a ministry--for example, you leading a Growth Group or the Missions Support Team or the Nursery or the Eldercare Ministry.

1.5 is leadership in a very demanding role, such as getting a new ministry like Celebrate Recovery off the ground.

So someone may sing on the praise team, serve on a committee and greet once a month. That's 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.5 = 1.5. You can do this, get and give the blessings and have a balanced life.

Or you can lead a growth group (1.0) and sing in the choir (0.5), and have the same balance (1.5).

You get the idea.

Hey, here's an idea: what's your ministry score? Are you over or under 1.5 rule? What adjustments should you make?

By the way, the Transforming Churches Conference is today and tomorrow. I'll be blogging on the conference the next couple of days.

Hold on There, Ellen, Arnold

2009-10-12T22:19:00.000-07:00

A member of my church (who works at JPL, but who swears she is NOT a rocket scientist) sent me an article on a Ellen Van Wolde, a "respected Old Testament scholar" who has announced that we've all been wrong for 3,000 plus years about Genesis saying God created the universe. God, apparently was just redecorating (see the story here.)

A good refutation of Dr. Wolde can be found here by a real rooten tooten Hebrew scholar. If you run across other good response to her, kindly send them along and I'll post the links.

By the way, the Gubenator broke the law today (Moday). In signing SB 54, which recognizes same-sex marriages done in other states, he stands in clear violation of Prop 8, passed last year by voters. See here for the news with commentary.

The Power of Connection

2009-10-08T08:47:00.000-07:00

This is a recent message (Sept. 13) on what happens when we connect with other believers for ministry and especially in small groups. Growth groups started this week. I strongly reccomend Activate by Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas as the best how-to guide for small groups.

The Power of Connection
Acts 11:19-26

Elton Trueblood, a great man of God of an earlier generation, said this:

As everyone knows, it is almost impossible to create a fire with one log, even if it is a sound one, while several poor logs may make an excellent fire if they stay together as they burn. The miracle of the early church was that of poor sticks making a grand conflagration. A good fire glories even its poorest fuel.[1]

The “poor logs” illustrate the power of connection. You can be a poor log, a common person, no great leader or anything that will show up in a history book, but bound together, you can create an excellent fire.

There were very few famous people on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, but the combined action of a bunch of poor logs burned down the Nazi empire.

There were very few famous people who stood up to the British at Lexington and Concord and Yorktown, but the combined will of free people gave birth to a nation conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the idea that we are all created equal, and freedom’s torch still burns bright.

And there were very few famous people who made up the early church. We have just a few dozen names of the early believers. Their names are lost to history, but known to God. These common people, people with family problems and aches and pains and really hard work schedules—these are the people who came together to worship and work and study and pray and care for the world that God cares for—for the people of the world—and together they were ignited by the Spirit of God and burned brightly and turned their world upside down.

We owe a lot to these people. We are all their children, in a sense. They were the ones whose faith was passed on, and on, and on, until it came to us, and here we are!

They understood that they were nothing standing on their own. They understood that they were “poor logs.” But they also understood that God was changing the world through them. They didn’t gather for worship so they could “cope” and limp by for another week; they gathered together with the conviction that their little fellowship was the point of the spear of God’s transformation of the whole world.

Not only that, they were convinced that their little fellowships, their little churches, meeting in homes and halls, is the hope of the world. God was not doing what He was doing through lone ranger teachers and prophets; the heart of His work was happening through these fellowships of transformation.

I want to share a story from the book of Acts that illustrates the power of connection. Then, I want to apply this to the call God has on each and every one of us to be connected, to stay connected and to enhance our connection to bundles of believers who make “excellent fires” for God and His work today.

I want to draw you attention to Acts 11:19-26. I want to start by reading vs. 19-21, which sets up the story:

19Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. 20Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

Acts 7-9 tells us about the first major outbreak of persecution of believers, against the church in Jerusalem and Judea. Here we’re told that some people did as people always do in times of persecution: they moved out, in this case north, to places like Cyprus and Phoenicia and Antioch, a major city in what’s today’s northwest Syria. And at Antioch, a major bridge event occurred: Jewish believers began to evangelize Greek-speaking Gentiles. The church at Antioch was on its way to becoming the first mostly Gentile church. We’re told that a “great number” believed.

We’re probably talking about thousands of brand-new Jesus followers who had no Jewish background. That meant that they didn’t know beans about the Bible (the Old Testament), they didn’t know who Abraham or Moses was, they didn’t know about the Ten Commandments, they didn’t know about the creation, they didn’t know about the 23rd Psalm—you get the picture. They didn’t know jack!

Two crucial things have to happen for a church like the one in Antioch to move forward: they had to have proper leadership and they have to have the right structures in place to instruct people, to nurture people and to mature people. Most of the apostles were still down south in Jerusalem, and that’s what they started to do—read Acts 11:22-24:

22News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

Barnabas had a number of things going for him. First, he was a proven leader. He was someone that they knew they could count on. Second, he was culturally the perfect guy: although he was Jewish, he’d been raised on Cyprus (Acts 4:36). He was a “cosmopolitan”: someone at home in a multi-cultural environment. He could speak great Greek and he was comfortable with Gentiles customs. Finally, he has the right personality characteristics. His real name was Joseph, but he’d picked up the nickname of Barnabas, which can be translated as Son of Encouragement. He was the kind of guy who always had a smile and made you feel like everything was going to turn out fine.

God blessed his work there in Antioch. He encouraged the believers. He strengthened them. The church kept on growing.

But—he knew something was missing.

He could sense it in his own life. Maybe he sensed it in the lives of the people there in Antioch. There was only so much he could do for them.

My suspicion is that Barnabas felt a little bit like the guy in the circus who does that trick with the spinning plates. You can keep them going, but boy, you have to keep moving! Because he was such a nice guy, such an encouraging guy, people were probably running to Barnabas with their problems 24/7. (If there was a Mrs. Barnabas, think how she felt!)

Here’s what I think Barnabas was thinking: I can’t do this all on my own. We need to build a team. I need somebody to help me here. Somebody who loves Jesus and who’s sold out for God, but somebody whose gifts and personality is way different from my own. And I know just the guy!

A few years before, Barnabas had befriended a new convert named Saul. (We know him better today as the Apostle Paul—they were big on nicknames back then.) Here was a guy who was driven, tough, no nonsense, a natural theologian and a gifted organizer, the kind of guy who was always thinking six moves ahead. Although he was sometimes criticized for his people skills (or lack thereof), he had actually had a huge heart for people. He would complement Barnabas perfectly. Let’s read Acts 11:25-26:

25Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

I can just imagine Barnabas; Tarsus was a fairly short boat ride from Antioch. He goes looking for him, and the way Saul/Paul makes waves, it probably wasn’t that hard to find him! I wonder—how hard it was to persuade him to come to Antioch?

The next line tells a whole story:

So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people.

I can just see Saul/Paul as he sets out to do the job in Antioch. He gets out a calendar and his desktop and sets up a schedule of teaching. Then he organizes leader training. He sets up small groups; he organizes the leaders and trains them. The man is a ball of lightening! He and Barnabas become team teachers for the church there and they start to train others as lead teachers. And the effect is so powerful that something happens at Antioch that would change the world:

The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

The transforming effect of the teaching of Saul and Barnabas is so strong that the people in Antioch began calling the believers by a new name: “Christians.” They would have understood this to mean, Christ-followers or, to belonging to the house of family of Christ.

I don’t think it’s stretching it to think that the citizens of Antioch started calling believers Christians because all these people could do was talk about the greatness and the love and the glory of this man, Jesus Christ. They were clearly “Christ’s people”, not Barnabas’ people or Saul’s people or Peter’s people. They belonged to Christ. And they were like Him to. One of the shades of meaning of Christianoi is “little Christs.” The character of Jesus was being reproduced in their lives.

How did this happen? Well, there are several factors—the work of the Holy Spirit, the power of the word of God, and faith of the believers and others. But I think a significant factor here is the power of connection. You can see that in two ways:

First, think of what Barnabas and Saul were able to do together. The team connection that they made, combining different gifts and different backgrounds and very different personalities came together to create something that was way more powerful than anything either of them would have done on their own.

It’s also clear that team building continued on there at Antioch. In Acts 12, the action shifts back to Jerusalem, so the story really continues on in Acts 13, and in the opening verses we’re told that the team had expanded on to five key players. Again, what these five could do together for the kingdom of God was way more than if each were operating independently. There we’re told that the power of combined action was so powerful that the Spirit launched a missionary movement out of Antioch that would take Barnabas and Saul away, leaving the church there in the hands of new leadership—three men named Simeon, Lucius and Manaen.

There’s another dimension of the power of combined action that’s hiding just under the surface here: how was it that in one year that the church could be so fully trained and new leaders raised up so that there was such a revolution that the believers began “doing business as” (that’s actually what the word “called” means in vs. 26) Christians?

If we think for a minute that all they had to do was have Saul and Barnabas give a lecture for an hour each week and everyone sat and took notes, well, that’s just a fantasy.

Years later, Paul gave his younger associate Timothy a glimpse of how this happens. The passage is 2 Timothy 2:2—think of it as 2T22!

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.

This was the secret of the way that the church at Antioch grew in maturity so much in just one year. Biblical truth and the very character of Jesus were being transmitted from person to person in the context of meaningful relationships.

We have this word, fellowship. A lot of churches have a room they call Fellowship Hall; I know the church where I was baptized—where Lynann and I were married—they had a Fellowship Hall. But fellowship isn’t something that happens while drinking over-sweet punch and eating underdone cookies. Fellowship is where life change occurs and I become more like Jesus Christ because I get together with other believers, study God’s word, pray for each other, apply God’s truth to my life and where we care for each other and nurture one another—and where we serve together and reach non-believers with God’s love. That’s real biblical fellowship.

Real fellowship requires authenticity, mutual support, sympathy and mercy. It also requires honesty, humility, courtesy, and frequency.

Jesus pioneered the system that would harness the power of connection when He enlisted 12 very ordinary men for the job of changing the world. Then the early church just copied Jesus. In Acts 2:42 and 46 we read,

42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer… 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts…

This is how they grew: the word (the apostles’ teaching) and the fellowship was experienced in two very different venues: the big group met in the temple courts (where there was room, if you needed it, for thousands of people) and they met in homes as well, in little groups of probably no more than 10-20 people.

Some people think the idea of “small groups” is some kind of fad. No way—it’s rooted in Jesus’ methods, it was copied by the early church, and in every era where the church is being effective, it springs up again.

I think one of the things that Saul/Paul was doing during that year in Antioch was training the home-to-home leaders, the small group leaders. You see, you need this experience of applying God’s word as well as the big group. I read recently about the idea of the four social spaces that we all need for healthy and authentic relationships. We need intimate space, personal space, social space and public space. Intimate space is like between a husband and wife or with a very close friend. Personal space is what you share with a small handful of close friends or relatives. Jump to public space—that’s like at a worship service or a ballgame. What most of us are most likely to lack is “social space”: the “buddies” that you “hang out” with.[2]

The apostles were the original “buddy group.” They weren’t all best friends, but they were friends who loved and supported and cared for one another. (Yes, they did have one huge drop-out named Judas, which tells you that small groups sure aren’t perfect!) We need the Lord’s imprint in our lives in all four of these social spaces—in our church, our small group, in our close circle of relationships and in our marriage.

You need to experience the power of connection if you want to maximize what God desires to do in your life. Connection can take the form of a Sunday school class or the form of a Growth Group, but you need to be connected. Saul/Paul didn’t experience the fullness of what had planned for his life until he joined the team there in Antioch. I’m convinced that the church in Antioch took off like a rocket in terms of their knowledge and Christ-like lifestyle only when they had trained leaders and everybody bound together in smaller groups. When poor logs get bound together, they sure can build an excellent fire!

Think of that image again: poor logs making an excellent fire. Let’s take that word FIRE and see four things that we can do to bring this power of connection alive in our lives.

F: Find a group to connect to.

Today we have a listing of all our classes and growth group opportunities in your worship folder. You’ve heard a testimony about the power of connection. Whatever you do, find a group to connect to. You can check the name (or names) of the class or group you’re interested in and that group leader will get back to you. Or you can go to the tent on the front lawn to ask questions and sign up there. We make it easy for you, and we’ll do the follow-up.

I: Invest the time needed to make it work.

“I don’t have time” is the number one reason people don’t connect. All I can say is, you get what you pay for. Barnabas got on a boat to build his team and the payoff was huge. You’ve heard about the impact being part of a group has had. The question is, isn’t the time worth it? If there’s power in connection, then it’s also true that there’s weakness in isolation. Invest the time and you’ll reap the dividends.

R: Resist the temptation to go it alone.

In the Old Testament, the Elijah went it alone and got so depressed he asked God to kill him! (You can read the story in 1 Kings 19.) God told him to get up and to reconnect with those who loved the Lord.

Listen: lone rangers are alone! They have no one to cry with, no one to challenge them to grow, and no one to celebrate with.[3] You’re not being “tough” when you go it alone—you’re being selfish and shortsighted. Make the connection investment.

E: Expect God to work in your life.

Expect the power of connection to make a difference in your life. Maybe it won’t be as dramatic as what we saw happen at Antioch. But for you, it will be just as real. Expect to find friends. Expect to find purpose. Expect to find answers. Expect to find God’s guidance. Expect to find God at work in your life, making you more and more like Jesus—more and more into a “Christ-person”, a Christian, like they were first called at Antioch!

[1] Cited in The Beautiful Fight by Gary Thomas (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), p. 218.
[2] Activate, Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas (Ventura: Regal, 2008), p. 19-27.
[3] See Tony Morgan and Tim Stevens, Simply Strategic Volunteers, p. 136-137 (Loveland, CO: Group, 2005).

Missions Electric!

2009-10-06T10:48:00.000-07:00

East African Man--Waiting to Hear
the Good News of Jesus!

So it's been July since I last posted...so shoot me! DD costs the same to you (free) whether I post a little or a lot.

Today, I'm confining my post to a brief report on last Sunday. We'd been talking up world missions since the second Sunday in September and made 10/4 the push day for world missions. Our goal was $6,000, which would be the highest WMO in years. To put that in context, two years ago I did four weeks on world missions and the WMO was about $5,500. Last year we had a guest missionary and received about $3,500. This year, in the midst of the worst recession in the history of the universe (oops, that's what they said on MSNBC; whether it's true or not, I'll let you judge, but I think that the '73-74 recession was worst, and then the stagflation of the late 70s and early 80s was worst, but I digress), we set the goal of $6,000.

Now, to be prefectly honest, it was RJ's idea. (That is Roosevelt Joshua, but every body calls him RJ). He took the world missions reins this year and I was afraid he was going to be disappointed.

O ye of little faith (that's me.)

Going into Sunday, we'd taken in about $2,300 leaving $3,700 in one day to make it happen. I preached a missions message like a fastball, high and inside, but I don't think that did it.

Final amount (yes, they'll be some dribble for a few weeks, but this is close to final): $6,463.

Lesson 1: don't underestimate God's people

Lesson 2: don't underestimate God.

Lesson 3: don't underestimate the power of a dedicated person.

When RJ said that he and Stacy were going to the pastor's conference in Kenya, one of the three beneficiaries of the WMO, it was attention-grabbing. Then when he said that they were testing a call from God to go to East Africa permanently, well that was electric!

By the way, I'm going to make an effort now to post twice weekly here at DD, probably on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so check back more often!

Porcupines and the Goal of Discipleship

2009-07-25T15:38:00.000-07:00

When I was in school, I would create numerous memory aids when preparing for a test. “The Thompson girls ate strawberry ice cream” might remind the answer to “What were the effects of the French revolution on the development of political thought in Europe in the 19th century?”

I have another memory aid for you: “Killing porcupines creates stinky carcasses.” Hmm…disgusting, huh? Well maybe not when you realize that this little ditty helps you remember the purpose of discipleship—the five areas of life that God would transform in a fully developed follower of Jesus. It stands for knowledge, perspective, conviction, skills and character.

A recent Barna study report found that 81% of self-identified Christians equated spiritual maturity with “trying hard to follow the rules described in the Bible.” (That sounds like drudgery to me!) They found that 50% of churchgoers were unable to guess at their church’s definition of a mature follower of Jesus. It’s not rules, it’s life development through the word of God, through the Holy Spirit of God and through the joy of fellowship-instruction. Here’s what it means to be a mature Jesus-follower:

1. Knowledge of Scripture and basic theology

Theme verse: “Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders.” (Psalm 119:27, NIV)

We start with basic knowledge about what our faith teaches. Of course, this is overwhelming knowledge of Scripture.

Example: Who wrote Romans? What is the Trinity? Where can I find the 10 commandments? How many gospels are there?

Unfortunately, many have assumed that if you pump enough knowledge into people, the rest will follow. Sadly, many of the most carnal Christians I’ve met have also been well-versed in Bible verses, but not well-versed in Bible living. Knowledge is essential, but it’s not enough.

2. Perspective on life solidly based on Scripture

Theme verse: “My mouth will speak words of wisdom; the utterance from my heart will give understanding.” (Psalm 49:3, NIV)

Next comes a transformed perspective. Knowledge must lead to a Biblical worldview, where we can see reality the same way God sees it. In the Bible, this is often called wisdom or understanding.

Example: How do I resist temptation? How does the Bible speak to the issue of same-sex marriage? How do I face the reality of death?

3. Conviction that secures passionate loyalty to God and His kingdom

Theme verse: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21, NIV)
Conviction is when knowledge and wisdom catches on fire. This is truth we really care about, that we would sacrifice for, and that we would defend. Knowledge sees the cross; perspective loves the cross; conviction carries the cross.

Example: I would die for my faith. I will give the tithe and beyond for the sake of the kingdom.
4. Skills which enable disciples to effectively serve

Theme passage: “And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.” (Psalm 78:72, NIV)

Disciples also develop specific discipleship related skills, usually as they get involved in ministry and discover the gifts and heart for ministry. Disciples then need to engage in a lifelong process of skill development in their area of life contribution, and they need to open themselves to new ministries and new skills as God develops them and as opportunities arise. Skills share the cross.

Example: I know how to study the Bible for myself. I know how to share my faith. I know how to serve joyfully in a specific ministry.

5. Character which reflects the character of Jesus Christ

Theme passage: “The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith.” (1 Timothy 1:5, NLT)

God wants us to become like Jesus. He wants above all else for His life to shine through our lives. This is the ultimate goal, one that won’t be finished this side of heaven, but one which we are to run after with all our effort. Character lives out the cross.

Example: I am growing in love for my church family and for lost people.

Think of these are five rungs on a short ladder. Which rung are you on? Have you mistaken that rung as the top step? Did you skip a set? Can you see a next reasonable growth step for you as a growing disciple?

"Instead of Fixing the Budget, Let's Gut Prop 8"

2009-07-09T06:36:00.000-07:00

From an email from Ron Prentice of Yes on 8:

As if the Legislature doesn’t have enough issues to deal with given the chronic $26 billion state budget deficit, some legislators are advancing a new bill in Sacramento designed to rip a huge hole in Proposition 8 and further undercut traditional marriage in California.

We need your help immediately to contact legislators and the Governor to oppose Senate Bill 54, which seeks to undermine Proposition 8, and further attempts to sneak this change by the people of California through a legislative maneuver known as the “gut and amend.”

Last week, Senator Mark Leno stripped out the contents of SB 54 – dealing with health care coverage -- and inserted language that would legalize gay marriages performed in other states and nations prior to the passage of Proposition 8. This proposal is in direct conflict with California’s constitution – as amended by the passage of Proposition 8 – that provides only marriage between a man and a woman will be valid or recognized in California. Further, it goes well beyond the California Supreme Court’s decision that allowed to remain valid a limited number of same-sex marriages performed in California last summer before Proposition 8 passed.It is simply wrong and undemocratic for liberal gay activists like Senator Mark Leno to attempt to circumvent the decision of voters and rewrite our constitution behind our backs with this sneaky “gut and amend” maneuver. That’s why we’re asking you to take action TODAY and urge the legislature, and if it gets to him, the Governor, to oppose this effort to undermine Proposition 8.

We’ve told you before about our new coalition, the Protect Marriage Action Fund, and opposing legislation like SB 54 is the kind of aggressive advocacy the Action Fund is undertaking to mount a wide-ranging defense of traditional marriage in our state.

Please become an active supporter by opposing SB 54.

And if you can, please consider making a donation to the Protect Marriage Action Fund by clicking here. Your contribution will be used to help bring on and train field organizers, fund communications with the public and the media and ensure that citizens learn more about the many benefits that traditional marriage has provided to our society.

We pledge to call on you to take action sparingly, only when your action can make a difference, and when there is a direct assault on marriage and Proposition 8. Senator Leno’s SB 54 is such a direct assault, and your action will make a difference.

SB 54 will be heard THURSDAY in the Assembly Judiciary Committee. While the odds of stopping the bill here are low, we think that applying pressure now will drive up more no votes on this bill, which helps increase the odds of the Governor vetoing the bill. If the bill makes it to his desk, we are ultimately looking at an effort designed to encourage Governor Schwarzenegger to veto this legislation.

But for now, the fight is in the State Assembly!

Write your state Assembly representative expressing your opposition to SB 54. Ask him or her to vote against SB 54 if it makes it to the Assembly floor.

In particular, if any of the following members of the Assembly Judiciary Committee represent your home area, please call or email them immediately to urge them to oppose SB 54. Your immediate action will send a clear message that Californians are watching and will not sit idly by while liberal legislators attempt to rip a huge hole in Proposition 8.

Sincerely,

Ron Prentice, Executive DirectorProtectMarriage.com

We Are Family

2009-06-14T17:08:00.000-07:00

This was my message for June 7. It's an example of a "balance" message. What I mean by that is that "church as family" isn't represented in any of the major series of the year. (Namely, the series of Wholeness earlier this year, the series "He Still Moves Stones" starting Easter Sunday and the fall anchor series, "The Team", which is about ministry. (Then of course a Christmas series, "Three Little Words: God with Us.") Three seasons of the year--January, May/June and September are good times to balance out what the major series don't cover.

The day became themed as "That 70s Sunday" in some of music (Matt Cooper rewrote the lyrics to "Your Love is Liftin' Me Higher" and we ended with the classic Sisters Sledge "We are Family" playing as people left.

We are Family

Ephesians 3:14-19

I have good news and I have bad news.

I know that’s an over-used opening, but, hey, it’s true.

Actually I’m a big fan of “good-news, bad-news” jokes. Here’s one:

Bad news: a guy falls out of an airplane at a thousand feet in the air. Good news: he had a parachute on. Bad news: the parachute didn’t open. Good news: there was a huge haystack on the ground right where he was heading. Bad news: there was a pitchfork lying in the middle of the haystack, tines up. Good news: he missed the haystack.

Well, I have good news and bad news about the church. The good news is that it’s like a family. The bad news is, is that it’s like a family!

When Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, he emphasized again and again that the church is a family—the forever family of God. For example, we read in Ephesians 2:19-20:

19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

Members of God’s household—“the family of God” like the old Gaither song puts it. Good news!

The family idea is just under the surface all throughout this letter. Same thing in Paul’s first letter to Timothy. In 1 Timothy 3:16, Paul calls the church “God’s household” and says that he wrote Timothy so we’d need to learn how to conduct ourselves as members of that household. Hmm…that implies that there are upsides and downsides of being God’s household—that we don’t automatically enjoy or appreciate or even behave right as members of God’s household. Yep, good news and bad news—the church really is like a family! All the good things that are part of the family, and sometimes the trying things as well.

But I’d still rather have the church than not! Go back to Ephesians, to 3:14-16 and read these words about the family of God. Here Paul writes:

14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Let’s look at this passage, and the idea of the church as God’s family, using the letters FAMILY as our outline:

F: the church is the Father’s family.

In Greek, the word for Father is Patera; the word for family is patria. So he’s using a play on words here: The patria (the family) gets its name from the Patera (the Father). The Father is the source of the family. God the Father is the source, the head and the beginning of the church family.

Look again: in Ephesians 3:15, he writes, about God’s “whole family in heaven and on earth.” God’s family is here on earth, and it’s also in heaven. That’s neat! They are the ones who have gone on ahead of us, from those Old Testament believers like Abraham to people like Peter and Paul as well as people that you know and love who are already in the presence of God. What holds us together as a family more than anything else is God’s love. We have a Father who loves us, and who puts His love in us. This is the starting place of the church as God’s family. The F in family stands for the Father as the source of the family.

A: we have a family attitude

Now look at Ephesians 3:16-71a:

16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
The love that holds us together also comes to live in us through the Spirit. Christ dwells in our hearts through faith.

In these words, Paul paints a simple word picture. The Father has a huge bank of riches. On earth, riches can be gold or silver or gems or good old cash. The Father’s riches are love and joy and peace of mind and forgiveness and acceptance. He transfers some of His glorious riches over to us to strengthen us. Now we have a store of love and joy and peace, transferred from God’s account into our account, and we can draw on that and share it with one another.

How we treat one another is the measure of the reality of our faith, and the depth of our connection to the Father. In Colossians 3, one of my favorite passages about the Jesus-following lifestyle, Paul wrote a kind of “church family constitution.” Here he‘s painfully realistic about the fact that church family life can be difficult (“the bad news”) and tells us how we have to guard it. Here’s the passage, vs. 5-14—let’s read it slowly, and let it speak with power in our lives:

5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
12Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

The F stand for the Father; the A for the loving family attitude.

M-there is a meal which unites us

Families who eat together, who take time to come and break bread together, are far more likely to be loving and enduring. Jesus knew this a long time ago, and created the Lord’s Supper as the place and time where the family would come together. Let’s pause right now and come to the table set for us by Jesus.

[LORD’S SUPPER HERE]

F stands for the Father’s family; A for the family attitude of love; M for the meal. What does the I in family stand for?

I-the family of God inspires me to look up.

Go back to Ephesians 3, and look again at vs. 17b-18:

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ…
In vs. 14, Paul said that this family is in heaven and on earth. The family comes from the Father. This family is the creation of His love, purchased by the blood of Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit.

This family connects me to eternity. That means I’m a brother of King David and of the apostle Paul, and that Ruth the Moabite is my sister as well as Mary the mother of Jesus. Our common Father is the Lord God of the universe. And it’s the love of Christ that inspires me and lifts me up. I am part of the work of the Almighty God of the Universe. This is where the action is!
Look at those words again. Rooted in God’s love, Paul prays that we’ll be able to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ…

Listen! The love of Christ is wide enough to reach the whole world.

The love of Christ is long enough to stretch from eternity to eternity.
The love of Christ is high enough to raise lost sinners to heavenly places.
The love of Christ is deep enough to reach and rescue people in the pit of rebellion and to break the grip of Satan.

The family of God inspires the best in me, and reminds me of the Father’s love. This family makes me look up in gratitude to God, to look to my brother and sister in Jesus in appreciation and to look my life, asking the question, what more can I do for these family members of mine as we walk the Jesus journey?

F stands for the Father; the church is His family. A stands for the attitude we must cultivate as children of God. M is for the meal where we gather. I is for the way this family inspires the best in us.

L: the family of God is bound together by love.

So much of this passage is about love: God’s love for us, our love for God, and the love we share with one another. Three times in these short verses, Paul mentions love: “rooted and established in love” (vs. 17), the love of Christ (vs. 18) and the prayer that we may know this love (vs. 19). Hey, isn’t it clear: you can no more have a church family without love than you can have life without a heartbeat!

Finally,

Y-the family of God makes me yearn for the fullness of God in my life, and in the whole family of God.

Finally, in Ephesians 3:19 we read,

19…and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Filled with love…to the measure of the fullness of God. The heart of God is that each of us would be filled with His loving presence in such a way that we would be heaven’s family on earth.
But it doesn’t come easy! How do we become more fully that family of God on earth? How does this yearning become reality? Let me suggest a few simple steps (I didn’t say easy, I said simple):

1. Get the focus right: God’s glory

“It’s not about you.” This is hard but essential. The church is about God and His glory. The church is about the crucified Lord. The church isn’t about how I feel. It isn’t about, “Hey that sister looked at me cross-eyed!” The family is about the Father. That leads to…

2. Get the pride out: serve one another

The way we really “activate” the church family experience is by serving one another. “Love one another”—Jesus’ command in John 15:12 comes alive as we serve one another. Galatians 5:13 commands us to “serve one another in love.”

We do that when we look to one another and say, “What can I do, really do, to bless that brother or sister in the family? To encourage them? To build them up? To meet a need? And also, what can I refrain from doing that would discourage them? Tear them down? Frustrate them?”

Finally,

3. Get your game on: pray for one another

Paul understood this. Think again of Ephesians 3:14:

14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

This passage started as Paul recounts who and what he prays for. There’s a reason.

You will pray for the people who matter to you. That’s why I pray for you all, daily. As a matter of fact, that’s how I’d like to end today’s message. There’s a mic up here which you can use, and I’m asking that two or three of you would step up to joyfully pray for this church family—that we might know the full extent of God’s love and presence, and that our hearts would be united in faith and in love for one another. Family of God, let’s pray!

Ralph Winter, Missiological Giant, Dies

2009-05-25T06:28:00.000-07:00

Republished with permission from ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: assistnews@aol.com Thursday, May 21, 2009. In June of 2007, I met Dr. Winter at the USCWM. He was one of the most utterly humble and dedicated men of God I'd ever met.

Prominent Missiologist Dr. Ralph Winter is with Jesus

By Mark EllisSenior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA (ANS) -- One of the most significant missiological thinkers of the twentieth century, Dr. Ralph Winter, passed away last night at his home in Pasadena from complications of cancer. He was 84.

Dr. Winter founded the U.S. Center for World Mission (USCWM) in 1976 and the William Carey International University a year later. His 1974 address to the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization created a seismic shift in mission strategy, with his call to evangelize people groups outside the focus of established mission efforts.

Family members and staff gathered at Dr. Winter’s bedside last night. “It was a bitter-sweet time, with three of his four daughters and Barb around the bed, singing to him,” said Greg Parsons, general director at the USCWM. As the word spread, more of his staff arrived to share stories and sing hymns.

“As they rolled his earthly tent in front of us out to the waiting car I came to these familiar verses,” said Parsons, “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death is your sting?"

As a young man, Winter’s keen intellect was honed by a degree in engineering from Cal Tech, an M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language from Columbia University, a PhD from Cornell in Structural Linguistics, with minors in Cultural Anthropology and Mathematical Statistics. Then he graduated from Princeton Seminary and was ordained in the Presbyterian Church.

“He was constantly thinking outside the box,” said Dr. Dale Kietzman, a professor at William Carey. “He did this to such an extent that you weren’t sure what the box was anymore.”

As a missionary to Guatemala with his wife Roberta from 1956-66, Winter became a key leader of the Theological Education by Extension (TEE) movement throughout Latin America. “Winter and senior missionary Jim Emery brainstormed on what could be done to get the training to those who needed it but couldn’t come to residential programs—the recognized pastors in rural areas,” Greg Parsons notes. Winters – along with others, promoted TEE concepts around the world and helped forge a network of extension educators.

At Fuller Theological Seminary’s School of World Mission, Winter taught mission history and leadership training. He treated his students more like research assistants than pupils, according to some. This enabled him to collect an enormous body of data on the state of the church worldwide.

In 1968, he and Roberta founded the William Carey Library, which has a primary emphasis on publishing missionary literature. A few years later, he helped launch the American Society of Missiology and the International Society of Frontier Missiology.

Many believe Dr. Winter’s address to the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in 1974 changed the face of missions. “His paper became a watershed,” Parsons says. Prior to his address, many believed churches could be encouraged to complete the Great Commission by reaching their own people.

Building on the work of Donald McGavran, Cameron Townsend, and others, Dr. Winter’s well-researched address awakened his audience to the thousands of people groups outside the reach of established churches and mission efforts. After this, the missions movement was never the same.

In 1976, Dr. Winter walked away from a tenured position at Fuller Seminary to found the USCWM and William Carey International University. He and his wife, Roberta, and their four daughters knew it was a step of faith. “They had no funding or backing to begin a ministry and purchase a college campus three miles away,” Parsons notes.

But they were carried along by a lofty and inspired goal: To raise awareness about global frontiers, and help establish Christian movements among unreached people groups. He was captivated by this question, according to Parsons: “How does the church go where it isn’t?”
His Perspectives Course -- first written at Fuller in 1973, was further developed at his new campus and proved a significant mobilization tool, with over 70,000 graduates today. Other ministries launched under his leadership include the Global Prayer Digest and Missions Frontiers magazine, as well as World Christian Foundations, a curriculum for field missionaries.
Wife Roberta was deeply involved in his activities. “I’ve never seen a couple who worked together so closely,” Parsons notes. “She was totally engaged in his work – even grading his papers.” Roberta passed away from cancer in 2001. Ralph recalled his wife as an “intelligent, vivacious and utterly honest person who was ready for anything.”

In September 2008 Dr. Winter received a Lifetime of Service Award from the North American Mission Leaders Conference in Denver. With his body weakened by cancer, Dr. Winter still used the occasion to present an 8,000-word paper titled “Three Mission Eras and the Loss and Recover of Kingdom Mission, 1800-2000.” His second wife, Barbara, was at his side at the conference.

“He died with his boots on,” Parsons says. “Even up to a few weeks ago, he was working on articles that would challenge people with God’s purposes,” he says. “He was always thinking about how to do something differently or better.”

“He continued to look for additional frontiers or problems to be solved—issues that block the spread of the gospel of the Glory of Christ to the world. To Winter, identifying the right problem to solve is the most important step in solving it,” Parsons noted.

According to Billy Graham, Winters “accelerated world evangelization.” Peter Wagner once said “history will record Winter as one of the half-dozen men who did most to affect world evangelism in the 20th century.”

Memorial services are tentatively scheduled for June 27th.

Hitchens, Dawkins Pal Says Bye to Atheism, Hello to Jesus

2009-05-14T15:21:00.000-07:00

The New Statesman from the UK reports that prominent atheist A. N. Wilson has converted to faith in Christ. You can read the full story here.

From his eNewsletter, Lee Strobel comments,

Believer-turned-atheist A.N. Wilson, a pal of best-selling atheists Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, made the stunning announcement last month that he has now returned to faith by becoming a follower of Jesus. (Wilson described a time when he was an atheist and was having dinner with Hitchens, who cross-examined him on his fidelity to spiritual skepticism. “‘So – absolutely no God?' ‘Nope,' I was able to say with Moonie-zeal. ‘No future life, nothing ‘out there'?' ‘No,' I obediently replied.”)

Why has Wilson now abandoned atheism to become a Christian? He concluded that “materialist ‘explanations' for our mysterious human existence simply won't do – on an intellectual level.

Never doubt it folks: the weight of evidence is with the faith of the Bible.

Fireproof Growth Group to be Offered This Summer

2009-04-28T14:04:00.000-07:00

Announcing...

A GROWTH GROUP for couples
FIREPROOF
Your Marriage

Based on the award-winning movie “Fireproof”
This innovative marriage building GROWTH GROUP for couples will meet Tuesdays starting June 2 through July 21. Register by calling (626) 286-3125 x 11 or by emailing glenn@templecitybaptist.org.

This includes 6 sessions of study plus a movie night and a practical service experience.

NEVER LEAVE YOUR PARTNER BEHIND

Dim Bulbs?

2009-04-23T20:03:00.001-07:00

Every now and then, something like this crosses my email desk. With apologies to almost everybody,

CHANGING A LIGHT BULB THE CHRISTIAN WAY:

How many Christians does it take to change a light bulb?

Charismatic: Only 1. Hands are already in the air.

Pentecostal: 10. One to change the bulb, and nine to pray against the spirit of darkness.

Presbyterians: None. Lights will go on and off at predestined times.

Roman Catholic: None - Candles only.

Baptists: At least 15. One to change the light bulb, and three committees to approve the change and decide who brings the potato salad and fried chicken.

Episcopalians: Three. One to call the electrician, one to mix the drinks and one to talk about how much better the old one was.

Mormons : Five. One man to change the bulb, and four wives to tell him how to do it.

Unitarians/New Agers: We choose not to make a statement either in favor of or against the need for a light bulb. However, if in your own journey you have found that light bulbs work for you, you are invited to write a poem or compose a modern dance about your light bulb for the next Sunday service, in which we will explore a number of light bulb traditions, including incandescent, fluorescent, 3-way, long-life and tinted, all of which are equally valid paths to luminescence.

Methodists: Unimportant. Whether your light is bright, dull, or completely out, you are loved. You can be a light bulb, turnip bulb, or tulip bulb. Bring a bulb of your choice to the Sunday lighting service and a covered dish to pass.

Nazarene: Six. One woman to replace the bulb while five men review church lighting policy.

Lutherans: None. Lutherans don't believe in change.

Amish: What's a light bulb?

For the record: my sister-in-law is a Lutheran, my nephew is a Methodist minister, my late Uncle Ira was a Nazarene and my dad was--his words--an apostate Episcopalian.

Almost Last Chance(s)

2009-04-21T21:07:00.001-07:00

For two events Thursday at FBC:

ACTIVATE SEMINAR with Kerrick Thomas, a seminar on small groups. This is simply the best training on small groups--and I'm a veteran of many. 9 AM-Noon, Pacesetter Room. Register here.

TOWN HALL FOR HOPE with Dave Ramsey (via webcast), 5 PM-6:30 PM, Sanctuary. For more info and registration, go here (though walk-ins are welcome).

We are up to 37 registered for this event.

Town Hall for Hope Draws Interest; Back from Arkansas; Activate Seminar

2009-04-20T16:42:00.000-07:00

FBC is a host location of the nationwide Town Hall for Hope with Dave Ramsey this Thursday 5 PM till 6:30 PM.

As of this writing, 29 people have registered to come to FBC via web sign-up.

My offer still stands: free dinner for the first 20 FBC-based registrants. Email me directly (glenn@templecitybaptist.org) to get on that list. (Dinner will follow at 6:30.)

-----

On a different subject, we're back in Temple City after a quick trip to Springdale, AR, for my neice's wedding. (She's now Mrs. Larry Brammel). On Sunday morning, we worshipped at FBC Springdale, a megachurch (15,000 attendance).

Good message. But do you know what? Even this megachurch had a microphone squeal of feedback and a misspelling on a slide.

----

A third topic: last call to register for the Activate Seminar this Thursday, 9 AM-Noon. Use this link.

If you would like to come but $49 is too much, email me directly; I MAY (not for sure!) be able to get you in gratis. (Right now it looks like a cozier group of 50 or so.)

See you soon!

---Pastor Glenn

Easter Surge!

2009-04-13T15:19:00.000-07:00

Sending out 14,000 cards to invite people to Easter? Are you crazy? Well, like a fox!

We had the biggest surge of first timers for Easter that I can remember in 10 years at FBC! Several of these cited the cards as the reason for being here. The "fields are white for harvest"--Sam Hodson and I just met to go over the data from the new guests. Emails have already gone out and snail mail will be zipping out of here like made! (Phone calls too!)

Hey church, keep all these new folks in your prayers!

And next Sunday, come back to hear "The Stone of Doubt" with Chris Watkins speaking. (I'll be in Arkansas for my neice's wedding.)

Journey to the Cross Sets Stage for Resurrection Celebration

2009-04-11T17:17:00.000-07:00

A tale of two gardens: this is the Garden of Gethsemene. This was set aside as a place for prayer. We had to add a lot of chairs to this area. There was also a Garden of Eden area.

Moving the mountain: Mt. Sinai arrives Thursday. The fabricated mountain was made by an associate of Worship Pastor Matt Cooper at Isolated Ground.

Welcoming worshippers was the prophet Isaiah, who turned 2,780 recently!

Jill Vago at the cross--covered with slips of paper with the words MY SIN. Participants nailed them to the cross.

Above: the Prophet's Room--a place to examine Messianic prophecies.

Here are some photos from the assembly and the experience THE JOURNEY TO THE CROSS last night at First Baptist. Special thanks to LUIS VASQUEZ, JOHN ERNEST, SCOTT LEAR, BOB RANDALL, BRENDON and KAREN FLANNIGAN, ROBIN GIAMMALVA, and especially DON BUCHANAN aka ISAIAH.

Chaplains "Excomminicated" for Mentioning God

2009-03-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

In the "this is just plain nuts" file, read this (from Urban Christian News):

US Chaplains in Florida Hospices Banned From Mentioning God

By UCN on March 23, 2009 10:41 AM

Chaplains working at a hospice home in the U.S. state of Florida are no longer allowed to say "God" in inspirational messages to staff members, as part of a wider trend in the United States, BosNewsLife learned Saturday, March 21.

Chaplains can still use the words "Almighty God" in private sessions with patients or families at Hospice by the Sea, said the institute's Chief Executive Officer Paula Alderson.

The move came after several police chaplains lost their jobs for praying "in Jesus name", in the U.S. state of Virginia.

Last month, the Virginia Senate Courts of Justice Committee voted along party lines to kill a pro-faith bill which would have restored the rights of Virginia State Police Chaplains to pray publicly "in Jesus name."

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine has his administration's decision support for the dismissal of Virginia State Police Chaplains because they prayed publicly "in Jesus' name."

STRICT POLICY

Police Superintendent Col. W. Steven Flaherty enforced a strict "non-sectarian" prayer policy at all public gatherings, censoring and excluding Christian prayers. He also accepted the resignation of five chaplains who refused watering down their prayers, saying that would violate their their conscience.

Former Navy Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt, who lost his job in 2006 for praying in "Jesus name" had delivered nearly 7,000 paper petitions and organized a rally of 1,000 citizens "to honor Jesus and the six chaplains" outside the Governor's mansion last fall.

In Florida, which now seems to copy the Virginia policy, hospice CEO Alderson denied she pressured staff members. She said the ban on religious reference applies only to inspirational messages delivered by chaplains in staff meetings.

"The hospice remains fully comfortable with ministers, priests and rabbis offering religious counsel to the dying and grieving. I was sensitive to the fact that we don't impose religion on our staff, and that it is not appropriate in the context of a staff meeting to use certain phrases or 'God' or 'Holy Father,' because some of our staff don't believe at all," Alderson said.
Reverend Mirta Signorelli, of Royal Palm Beach, said the policy has a chilling effect that goes beyond the monthly staff meetings. She added she had to watch her language "when leading prayer in the chapel, meeting patients in the public setting of a nursing home, and in weekly patient conferences with medical as well as social workers."

NO MENTIONING GOD

Signorelli stressed that that she and other chaplains were told to "cease and desist from using God in prayers."

"If you take God away from me," she said, "it's like taking a medical tool away from a nurse."

Signorelli is a devout Christian who acquired a master's degree in theology after a career as a psychologist, running a program for abused and neglected children. She said her supervisor recently singled her out for delivering a spiritual reflection in the chapel that included the word "Lord" and had "a Christian connotation."

"But that was the 23rd Psalm," Signorelli said -- not, strictly speaking, Christian, as it appears in the Old Testament.

"And I am well aware that there were people from the Jewish tradition in attendance. I didn't say Jesus or Allah or Jehovah. I used 'Lord' and 'God,' which I think are politically correct. I think that's as generic as you can get."

Reverend Mirta Signorelli has subsequently resigned.

"MINOR ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTIVE"

Alderson said she was surprised by Signorelli's reaction to what she called "a minor administrative directive" aimed solely at improving the decorum of monthly staff meetings, where the desired tone from a chaplain should be motivational, not religious.

She said it started after she asked a chaplain -- not Signorelli -- to say something "inspirational" and "thought-provoking" at a staff meeting. The remarks did not strike the secular tone she wanted, Alderson said. So, "I issued some guidelines."

Hospice by the Sea has been serving the community of Palm Beach and Broward counties since 1979, providing services to about 500 patients every day on an annual budget of $35 million, which it receives from public and private groups.

HealthCare Chaplaincy which is a multi-faith organization has guidelines that say chaplains should "reach across faith group boundaries and not proselytize". But they don't tell chaplains to refrain from speaking about God.

"I hope this is some sort of misunderstanding," said Rita Kaufman, spokeswoman for the Association of Professional Chaplains, based in Schaumburg, Ill.

Hospice of Palm Beach County has not barred "God," marketing director Karen Stearns said. It does direct chaplains to be sensitive to patients' religious sensibilities.

"BIZARRE" POLICY ANNOUNCED

A ban on the word "God" was new to Mathew Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, a religious-freedom organization based in Orlando."That seems quite bizarre, and a significant restriction on her freedom of speech," Staver said.

Yet the developments are music to the ears of Greg Epstein, a humanist chaplain at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, who building "a God-free model of community" that he hopes helps humanists increase in numbers and influence.

Epstein says an increasing number of people have no religion, an apparent reference to the latest American Religious Identification Survey, released last month, which claims 15 percent of respondents in 2008 said they had no religion, nearly twice the number of 1990.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

"There is a broader acceptance of those with no faith, as indicated by President Barack Obama's mention of non-believers in his inaugural address," Epstein told reporters.

Epstein wants to plant local humanist centers nationwide that perform many of the community-building functions of a church."There are so many millions of people out there who basically share our views, that we've got room for everybody," Epstein said. "What we're doing here has got to grow even more."

His movement says it combines reason, human experience, Jewish culture and ethical insights from Jewish tradition. While many humanists reject anything that hints at organized religion, Epstein is freely borrowing from it -- from the "small group" format familiar in evangelical churches to calling his group a "congregation".

Epstein said, "There are so many millions of people out there who basically share our views, that we've got room for everybody. What we're doing here [at Harvard University] has got to grow even more."

By the way, it's even crazier when you consider the definition of a "chaplain":

1. A member of the clergy attached to a chapel.
2. a. A member of the clergy who conducts religious services for an institution, such as a prison or hospital.
b. A member of the clergy who is connected with a royal court or an aristocratic household.
3. A member of the clergy attached to a branch of the armed forces.

It seems that that word "clergy" keeps popping up. That's uh, kind of a religious thing, right?

Welcome to Wacko World, folks.

Prepare for the Journey

2009-03-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

PRESS RELEASE
March 12, 2009
First Baptist Church, Temple City, CA

JOURNEY TO THE CROSS TO MARK GOOD FRIDAY

Good Friday will be observed in an unusual way at the First Baptist Church of Temple City. The church’s gym is being transformed into a journey through time, from the Garden of Eden to the Cross of Jesus.

Doors will open at 6:30 on Friday, April 10 and will remain open until 8:30 PM. The prophet Isaiah (played by Don Buchanan) will greet worshippers to this interactive worship experience.
“It’s a come and stay as long as you wish experience,” commented Pastor Glenn Layne. “They’ll be places to pray, to read Old Testament prophecies, and most importantly, to worshipfully consider the cross of Jesus. We’ll have our own Garden of Gethsemane as the focus of pray before people go on to the cross of Jesus and the Lord’s Supper.”

As part of the Journey to the Cross, the men’s group of the church is constructing a “Mt. Sinai” that is over ten feet high and will come complete with light and sound effects. Special lighting and sound will be used in several different sections of the experience.

The community is invited to come and be part of “The Journey to the Cross.” First Baptist is located at 6019 Baldwin Avenue, Temple City. For directions and more information, check the website, www.templecitybaptist.org.

"Same-sex marriage is history in California"

2009-03-12T06:41:00.001-07:00

That's the headline at the National Law Journel.

Also, you have have heard a misleading poll yesterday in the news that suggests that we're losing the battle of public opinion. Not so fast. Frank Schubert from Yes on 8 writes in an email:

“I was encouraged by the Field Poll. Since May of 2008 our opponents have made no progress in the percent of people (45%) who want to give gays marriage (as compared to civil unions or no legal recognition of their relationships). This is despite the Court ruling last May, the 18,000 marriages being performed, over $40 million spent in support of gay marriage, and then weeks of protests and demonstrations in the streets afterwards. I think it totally undercuts the idea that there is a rapid movement toward approval of gay marriage. There just isn’t. If anything, the Field data suggests they have lost steam. Looking at the question as to whether people would vote for gay marriage or have marriage only between a man and a woman, the numbers have moved in OUR direction, not theirs, since May 2008. People wanting to extend marriage to gays has dropped, and the percent wanting to reserve marriage only for heterosexual couples has increased. And, recall my oft-stated view that support for traditional marriage is always under reported in these polls because it is not a PC position. My conclusion is that we are in better position now than we were during the campaign. And we won by 600,000 votes then!”

Good news for traditional (Biblical) marriage!