The End

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot." Ecc 3:1-2

After four years and 303 posts it's time to say goodbye to the blog. It started as one of my New Year' Resolutions for 2007 and its ending as one of my New Year's Resolutions for 2011. The first was about forcing myself to do more writing and having a way to share ideas that didn't fit neatly into other forums. The latter is about simplifying.

It's been fun, burdensome, enjoyable, controversial, interesting and quiet. I'll keep the old posts up for a while but won't be adding anything new. Thanks for reading.

A Crazy Idea

A couple of months ago I added an item to the agenda of our shepherd's meeting titled "crazy idea." As usual, I emailed the agenda to everyone ahead of time and I have to give credit to our shepherds. Not a one of them called for an explanation in advance! I love a church that welcomes "crazy ideas."

At the meeting I laid out the specifics of the idea and sought approval. I wanted to close out the Holy Spirit series with a rather unique message. Instead of asking people to listen to another sermon I wanted to challenge them to be the sermon. The idea was to contact the Family Center (a local non-profit that serves needy families) and ask them for a list of items they needed. Then we'd organize the lists and have them ready for Sunday. I would stand up at the normal time of the sermon, give a few instructions, pass out the lists and then we'd dismiss church. The challenge to our families was to take the lists and go shopping right then! Don't eat lunch. Don't fellowship in the hallways. Go be the sermon! We would then arrange three drop-off locations around Columbia, take collections until 12:30 pm and take everything over to the Family Center. So far, so good. I love a church that gives "crazy ideas" a fair hearing.

Of course, all that sounded cool but it wasn't crazy. Here's the crazy part. I proposed that we forgo the contribution on Sunday and explain that whatever they planned to give to church that morning was to be their "budget" for the shopping trip. Have you ever been to a church where the preacher said, "We're not taking up a collection today?"Our giving had exceeded budget in 2010 so this was good way to share the blessing with our community. Plus, it would really raise the stakes in terms of our purchasing power. Our average contribution is around $12,000 a week so ideally we'd be able to unleash a major blessing on the Family Center. The shepherd's unanimously approved the idea. I love a church that approves "crazy ideas."

So we arranged all the details with the Family Center and set a date. We kept it all a big secret outside of notifying a few volunteers to man the trucks. Everyone else showed up expecting a normal Sunday. As the message got closer, I started to get nervous. How would they respond? Would they like this idea? Would they participate? The answer was a resounding "Yes!" From the moment I started explaining the idea there was an immediate spark in the room. I could sense excitement and there was even a little cheering in both services. Within 5 minutes the Worship Center was empty and there was a line of cars trying to get out of the parking lot. I love a church that gets excited about "crazy ideas."

Still, one big worry remained. Would we fill the trucks? I had a feeling that it could be big and I explained to Lolly Watson, the director of the Family Center, that were were talking about a lot of people here but I just didn't know. Would everyone participate? Would they really give their entire contribution to the Family Center? Would we fully embrace the idea? Again, the answer was "Yes!" By the time the second service started I was already hearing stories from around town. Sav-a-lot had to open two more check-out lines. A cashier at Dollar General asked "who are all these people coming in with shopping lists?" Someone said there were so many Maury Hills people in Wal-Mart that all we had to do was start a hymn and we'd had church. The manager at Big Lots said he'd work out a donation for us if we do it again. Then after second service dismissed I went out to check on the trucks. Jim Webb parked his SUV at Sav-a-lot and it was already full. He'd called in a second truck and they were loading it. I stopped by Wal-Mart and was absolutely floored. We had one of those huge box trucks and it was already 75% full. As I stood there, families would come up with 2-3 buggies filled to rim and by 12:30 the truck was completely stuffed from top to bottom. Way more than I expected! I love a church that implements "crazy ideas."

Finally, we headed over to the Family Center to put everything up. Lolly Watson had several six foot tables laid out in a small room to organize the goods. The first two trucks arrived and it filled up all the tables. She said thanks and they replied, "Oh no, this is just the start of it. There's much more on the way!" When we pulled in with the box trucks and threw open the doors the response was amazing. Speechless. She started calling in staff and board members to help them get everything sorted. We quickly overwhelmed the sorting room and starting stacking items in the hallway and another room. The coolest thing was that we didn't ask for volunteers to unload because we didn't know what to expect, but 25-30 members showed up unannounced and started unloading. I love a church that not only implements "crazy ideas" but embraces them.

That's about it. It was a great Sunday and I'm glad to have been a part of it. Thanks to our leaders for having the boldness, our ministry staff for having the skills to organize and make it happen, our volunteers for having the heart of a servant and our congregation for agreeing to do something "crazy." Here's to more in the future!

Game Changer

Last Sunday we explored the words of Jesus in John 14:15-27 where he promises his disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says that he's preparing to leave them but when he does the Father will send "another Counselor" to be with them forever--the Holy Spirit. There are two key truths in this passage. One, the Spirit is God. We're not talking about God Jr. here or some lessor representation of God. The Spirit IS God!! Two, the Spirit "lives with you and will be in you." This means that the God of the universe doesn't live in some far off place. Instead, he lives in you. Let that sink in a minute.

It's not an easy concept to get your head around. We're so used to the idea of "God living in heaven looking down on us from afar" that it's hard to transition to the idea that "God is much closer than you think!" So close, in face, that he actually lives in your life. That's tough to comprehend. I mean I get the Old Testament concept of God dwelling in a building (tabernacle/temple) and the Gospel concept of God dwelling in a man (Jesus), but now through the Holy Spirit, God chooses to dwell in the hearts of every believer. Wow! The all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving holy God has taken up residence in your life! I don’t know about you, but that’s a game-changer.

To hear the rest of the message, visit my podcast page.

Ask and It Will Be Given?

Luke 11:9-10 reads "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." (NIV)

This passage has always been a little troublesome for me. I love the promise. Ask and you will receive! That's powerful. I'm just not sure it's true. Because I’ve been there, done that and it didn’t work. In other words, I prayed for really hard for something and didn't get the answer I wanted. I doubt I'm alone in that. How many of you have ever prayed really hard for something and didn’t get it? A job, a relationship, a healing, freedom from a particular sin? You asked but didn't receive, sought but didn't find, knocked but the door never opened. So how do you reconcile the promise of this passage with the reality of life?

Keep reading! Jesus continues in v. 11-13…"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (NIV)

Notice those two words in bold. When Jesus says "ask and you'll receive" what's he talking about? How much more will your Father in heaven give you what? The Holy Spirit! Ah-ha!! This promise of answered prayer isn't a generic one, it's a specific one. If you ask for the Holy Spirit, you will receive him. Perhaps the reason I've struggled to understand this passage is I've been asking for the wrong things. I've been asking for more of God's presents rather than more of God's presence.

So I'm working on changing up my prayer life. Instead of asking for more health, safety, wealth, blessings, success, etc. I'm starting with asking for more of God's presence. I'm asking for more of the Holy Spirit in my life. More of God. Less of me. And that's a prayer he's always going to answer!

The full sermon is here.

Not-So-Scary Time

Since we're ramping up promotion for our annual Not-S0-Scary Halloween Party I thought it might be a good time to revisit this post. This is why we do the way we do it...Not-S0-Scary Thoughts.