Porcupines and the Goal of Discipleship

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"

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.

Assembly Member Mike Feuer (D – West LA, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood)http://us.mc337.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Assemblymember.feuer@assembly.ca.gov(310) 285-5490
Assembly Member Van Tran (R – Costa Mesa, Garden Grove)http://us.mc337.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Trish.zanella@asm.ca.gov(714) 668-2100
Assembly Member Julia Brownley (D - Calabasas, Oxnard)http://us.mc337.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Assemblymember.Brownley@assembly.ca.gov(818) 596-4141
Assembly Member Noreen Evans (D – Santa Rose, Napa)http://us.mc337.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Assemblymember.evans@assembly.ca.gov(707) 546-4500
Assembly Member Dave Jones (D – Sacramento)http://us.mc337.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Assemblymember.jones@assembly.ca.gov(916) 324-4676
Assembly Member Steve Knight (R – Palmdale, Victorville)http://us.mc337.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Assemblymember.knight@asm.ca.gov(661) 267-7636
Assembly Member Paul Krekorian (D – Burbank)http://us.mc337.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Assemblymember.krekorian@assembly.ca.gov(818) 558-3043
Assembly Member Ted Lieu (D – El Segundo)http://us.mc337.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Assemblymember.lieu@assembly.ca.gov(310) 615-3515Assembly Member William Monning (D – Santa Cruz, Monterey, Carmel)http://us.mc337.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Assemblymember.monning@assembly.ca.gov(831) 425-1503
Assemblyman Jim Nielsen (R – Redding, Yuba City)http://us.mc337.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Assemblymember.nielsen@assembly.ca.gov530-223-6300
Please take action today, and may God bless you and your family!

Sincerely,

Ron Prentice, Executive DirectorProtectMarriage.com

We Are Family

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!

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 is for the love that binds us together.

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

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

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

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?

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)

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

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!

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

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

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

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"

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!

Camellis Parade Outreach a Success

32 people from First Baptist came early to pick up over 1,000 bottles of water and placed themselves strategically at quarter-mile increments on both side of Las Tunas, the main east-west thoroughfare of Temple City earlier today along the parade route of the annual Camellia Festival Parade.

FBC has traditionally had a significant role in the Festival. Our parking lot is the terminus of the parade and our gym is the location of the Camellia Royalty Luncheon. In other years, we have had a game booth at the Festival.

This year we focused on a servant evangelism project on the parade route. Groups handed out water bottles with a colorful doorhanger tag with a lifesaver with a short but invitational message.

FBC people also had literature in Spanish and Chinese to give out to people on the parade route.

Numerous conversations were engendered along the parade route.

Thanks to all participants. Thanks to all of you who prayed for dry weather after so much rain. Keep praying that our loving touches will bear fruit for the glory of God.

From the West Wing to the Camellia Parade

Two items today:

I was asked in an email about responding to a letter that I recognized as a ripp-off from a (in)famous scene from the late TV show The West Wing. The fictional president tears into a Dr. Laura stand-in who is well-known for opposing homosexuality, besting her (so it would seem) on Biblical references. The upshot is that, hey, that Bible is one crazy book. So it says no to gay relationships? The same crazy book OKs slavery and tells you to do all kinds of nutty things. (You can find the clip on Youtube.)

Hank Hanegraaff (boy that name is a killer to spell) has a good response which you can read here.

Dan Kimball of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz once showed the clip in his 20-something church and then spent weeks responding to the issues that the fictional Pres. Bartlett raised. Dan is emerging (pardon the pun) as a true leader in what might be called the conservative emergent church movement.

Now to change the topic. Please pray for DRY WEATHER ON SATURDAY MORNING. Yesterday's long-range forecast was no rain, cloudy and 70 at the time of the Camellia Parade. We're planning to give out over 1000 water bottles with a invitational message to parade goers. Today's long-range now says scattered showers. Ask God to scatter them somewhere else, please!

I didn't announce this Sunday, but if you want to join me for prayer for the maximum spiritual impact of the outreach, I'm planning on praying with anyone who'll join me 7 PM Wednesday here at the church office. Send me an email at glenn@templecitybaptist.org if you'd like to join me.

Here's what I'm asking you to pray for: that God would move people who He's already at work in their hearts to come to the parade, get a water bottle, and recognize that as God's answer--that He wants to use FBC as the spiritual bridge for them to come to real faith in Jesus.

We're doing well getting ready for the outreach, but have room for you if you want to help, send me an email at the address above and I'll send you more info as well as a short Bible study on servant evangelism.

See you there!

Pastor Glenn

LESBIAN COUPLE WHO FORCED GAY MARRIAGE ON MASSACHUSETTS DIVORCE

This article was sent to me by one of my old friends from back East, David Runnion-Bareford of the Association for Church Renewal. David and I earned our D.Min. together at Gordon-Conwell. David is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and is a wonderful evangelical.

The case was known as "Goodridge vs. Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Filed by Hillary Goodridge, Funding Director for the Unitarian-Universalist Church and her partner Julie, the case opened the door for a nationwide assault on the sanctity of marriage. On May 17, 2004, the first day "same-sex marriage" was legal in Massachusetts the Goodridges were joined in a ceremony at the Unitarian-Universalist denominational headquarters in Boston by UUA President, William Sinkford.

By July, 2006 Hillary and Julie were separated. Last week they filed for divorce. Goodridge is a name they created for themselves, belonging to neither of them before coming together. They share custody of a 12 year old daughter.

The case which created the marriage crisis in California was brought by Rev. Troy Perry, founder of the Metropolitan Community Churches.

He Still Moves Stones

This is my column for the March-May edition of the church newsletter, The Tower.

It was November, 1999, and Lynann and I and the other members of our group were dashing across the old city of Jerusalem along the old Cardo, the main shopping street of the old city. Imagine all the sights and sounds of an Arab bazaar on a narrow, twisty street clogged with tourists from all over the world, and set down among the dwellers of the city selling the wares.

It may have been November, but the weather was warmer than November in Los Angeles, enough for beads of sweat to break out on the brow as we walked as fast as our legs could walk from south to north across the city. One last turn, a left, and a plaza opened up before the ornate Damascus gate, the gate on the north side of the walled city, easily the largest and most splendid gate of modern Jerusalem.

We crossed a busy street and walked up a quiet side street. Immediately the area seemed more modern. By “modern”, I don’t mean recent; the buildings were 19^th and early 20^th century; it’s just that compared to the Old City, were the newest structures are from the 14^th century, this area seemed modern.

We passed the city bus station to the right and up the street we came to a non-descript gate bearing a sign simply saying, THE GARDEN TOMB. We entered—our passes paid for as part of our tour, and joined in a group as an Englishman discussed the history of the Garden Tomb.

There was a time when the Garden Tomb was widely regarded as a more likely candidate for the real tomb of Jesus than the venerated tomb now encased in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Actually, the evidence is pretty strong that the Holy Sepulcher site is the right one; it’s just really hard to imagine the tomb as it was in Jesus’ day due to the fact that it’s been built over and almost grotesquely decorated over the centuries.

The Garden Tomb was set forth as an alternate resurrection site only in the 19^th century. It is almost certainly not the right place—the style of the tomb is more like that of the period of the kings of Israel than the tombs of the time of Jesus. It also has no pedigree, history of claim, as being the right place.

But is does have this: it feels right. The British curators, who no longer claim that this is the right tomb do indeed maintain the area much as it would have looked in Jesus’ time. In that way, it evokes the drama of the gospel account better than the traditional site does.

The door to the tomb is a craggy opening that has been hacked larger than it would have been in ancient times. In front of that door is a cut furrow in the stone pavement designed to allow a round stone cover to seal the tomb. That stone on this site has never been recovered; it was probably broken up at some point in the past to be made into smaller stones for other purposes.

It was with a sense of awe that we entered the tomb. Even though I had that little voice in my head reminding that this wasn’t likely to be the right place, the atmosphere is so evocative of the gospel story that it didn’t take much to be moved. It was as if we’d stepped from the last year of the 20^th century into the 1^st century AD, and that we could expect to see the Roman guards pass out, the angels speak to the women and to see Peter and John come running.

It’s not likely that you will pass through a door and find yourself in 30 AD. But it is very likely that what happened here, in this place that year can reach out and completely transform your world. That stone that sealed in Jesus was tossed aside by the power of God. And God still moves stones today: stones of fear, doubt, worry, anger and suffering.

We all have stones that weigh us down. They do not have to stay there. The resurrection of Jesus reminds us that the power of God that was seen in raising Jesus up from the dead it “at large” in the world today.

What’s the stone that has you down? It is some hurt, habit or hang-up that’s keeping down, in defeat, in pain, in self-hatred? Jesus can move that stone. Folks, never ever forget this: He still moves stones today! Bring your stone to Him and let Him roll it away today!

---Pastor Glenn

Want to know more? I highly recommend The Weekend That Changed the World: The Mystery of Jerusalem’s Empty Tomb by British Bible scholar Peter Walker. I actually bought my copy at the Garden Tomb Book Store, but you can get it at Amazon.com or Christianbooks.com.

God and the Big Game

Thought I'd pass this one on--Pastor Glenn.

From Yahoo Sports:


Faith mixes with football for the big game
By TIM DAHLBERG, AP Sports Columnist 5 hours, 36 minutes ago

TAMPA, Fla. (AP)—Arizona running back Tim Hightower had just finished a thoughtful explanation of his religious beliefs when one of the media types who found their way into the Super Bowl stadium Tuesday decided he needed more proof.

“Can you pray right now?” he asked.

“I can pray that whatever is going on in your life right now that you find God,” Hightower said.
Hightower handled the question with the same ease he handled would-be tacklers to score the winning touchdown that got his team into the Super Bowl, which by itself was somewhat surprising since he is a rookie on the biggest stage of his young life.

Even more surprising at this Super Bowl, though, is how so many players on both teams aren’t hesitating to invoke the name of God as they prepare to play a violent game where there will be no mercy shown on either side.

Usually that has writers setting down their pens and cameramen hitting the pause button until talk returns to the game itself.

But the depth of convictions from evangelical Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner to the Steelers who will do their best to plant him face-first into the ground on Sunday has put religion squarely in play this week. All of a sudden the G-word is in vogue.

“You just have to embrace it, whatever God does in your life and wherever he puts you,” Warner said in one of his many religious references since landing in Tampa. “If it means being a role model in this game, I’m happy to do that. You are excited about that opportunity because you get the chance to speak to millions of people and, hopefully, we’ll get an opportunity to impact some lives this week.”

Warner is the most vocal—and visible—Christian on the Cardinals, proclaiming his faith at every opportunity and underscoring it by carrying a Bible with him almost everywhere he goes. He had it with him at the postgame press conference after Arizona upset Philadelphia to reach the Super Bowl, and took time to credit his faith in God for the win before answering any other questions.

The 37-year-old Warner’s public display of faith has left an impression on his younger teammates, about 20 of whom join him in Bible studies after practice every Wednesday during the season.

“Our quarterback is a definite leader and devout Christian,” cornerback Roderick Hood said. “I think that has spearheaded our growth. Also, guys see the peace we have on the field and want to find that themselves.”

Hood says he prays before every game, after every game and during the game itself. Lest Pittsburgh fans get the wrong idea, though, he says he prays for everyone to be safe and not for any particular team to win.

The Steelers aren’t as public about their religious beliefs, but many consider themselves devout Christians and can sometimes be seen in locker rooms or on airplanes reading their Bibles.

Safety Troy Polamalu brings teammates to services at his Eastern Orthodox Christian church, while running back Willie Parker leaned on his faith to come back from injuries this season, praying that he would be 100 percent physically and able to produce.

Defensive lineman Aaron Smith found comfort in his beliefs when his young son was diagnosed with leukemia.

“It’s really through the Lord’s strength that I’ve been able to cope with this,” Smith said.
Compared to that, crediting God for helping on the field seems almost trite, though that doesn’t stop athletes from doing it all the time. Football players tend to do it more often than others, perhaps because they could be permanently injured on almost any play. But there are baseball players who point to the sky every time they touch home plate and golfers who believe that God gave them the peace within to win major championships.

A poll last summer by the Pew Research Center Forum on Religion and Public Life revealed that 92 percent of Americans believe in some form of God, while 78 percent identify themselves as Christians. And while they express some concern about the mixing of politics and religion, there has never been much outcry about players from both teams gathering after a football game to kneel together in prayer.

Expect plenty of those prayers before and after Sunday’s game from plenty of different players. Expect to see Warner with a Bible in hand as soon as he’s done throwing a football with it.

And don’t expect to hear him shout right away that he’s going to Disneyland if the Cardinals win.
Because he’s going to thank God first.