Messing Up Church

I've always wanted to "do" church right- to make sure that all our forms and strategies were proper and relevant. My heart has been in the right place, to be sure, but I've consistently thought that if we could have all the right elements as a part of our worship, if we could "just do it right" like the latest book said or the seminar speaker told us, then we could achieve the proper results. Most of the time, if I failed to see results, I would just try harder, thinking that with more intensity and fervor I would be successful.

The problem is that the formula changes every other week. There are literally hundreds of voices in the contemporary church marketplace which are telling us the hottest, newest way to do it. We all move like a herd of cattle going for the next green spot of grass in the pasture or the next watering hole which will satisfy our need. Since we're never quite satisfied at home with what is happening we are ripe for the newest eight week "how to" series from the iconic megachurch pastor.

However, like I once heard, "Doing church differently is like rearranging chairs on the Titanic." Matt Smay says that slight tweaks, new music, creative lighting, wearing hula shirts, shorts, and flip-flops won't make doing church more attractive. Church must not be the goal of the gospel anymore. Church should not be the focus of our efforts or the banner we hold up to explain what we're about. Church should be what ends up happening as a natural response to people wanting to follow us, be with us, and be like us as we are following the way of Christ.

Change is brutal. No seminar or training will give us the answers and it's hard to plan for the future because the future is constantly changing. Perhaps our only solace is that everyone is feeling it.

I believe our only real hope is to bring the message of the transforming Christ into every situation. He brings new life into old forms. He is messing up church programs and traditions. He wants us to trim down our Christian experience to His essentials. What would He remove in your life? What would be stripped down? And what would be left?

Perhaps what you and I need to do is let Jesus knock us out of our comfortable pew to follow the mission of Jesus to transform our communities.

Can People Really Change?

     Modern psychology has given us "disorders."  Over the last one hundred years behavioral scientists have told us that all of society is sick, dysfunctional, and psychologically out of tune.  I don't doubt it.  The more I interact with humanity, I'm convinced that something is very wrong.

     Frankly, it's been going on for a long time.  Just read the popular literature of the past two centuries and you will see what I mean.  Robert Lewis Stevenson wrote The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  It set off a firestorm of psychiatric debate.  Edgar Allen Poe wrote about personality disorders.  Hollywood has certainly presented us with a trail of movies which have delved into the dark, frightening world of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and millions of people have been scared out of their wits just watching them.

     Really, I guess to be fair, this stuff goes back farther than modern history.  Just look at the stories in the Bible and you'll find instances of people who succumbed to personality disorders.  Our friend Samson, for example, was flipping the switch from one extreme to another, and in doing so, displayed shameful degrees of immorality.  But God never designed life to be that way.  Neither Jekyll or Samson's stories is how God planned it.  They went from good to bad.  God designed man to be regenerated, to go from bad to good.

     The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was meant to bring men and women from death to life, from darkness to His marvelous light.  Easter means "new life."  I've been asking in a rather old fashioned and simplistic way, can people really change?  With all our disorders and dysfunctionality, is regeneration possible?  I love the way Ron Walters puts it:

     *  Mary Magdalene was a pitiful, demon- possessed woman.  But once she met the Savior she was

         set free and transformed into a follower of Christ.

     *  Zacchaeus was a hated, money-grubbing robber.  But one dinner with the Truth transformed this 

         little man into a benevolent philanthropist.

     *  The sinful woman at the well had one quick conversation with Jesus and was transformed into a

         Samaritan evangelist.

     *  Saul of Tarsus made a career change on the road to Damascus; from a bounty hunter tracking

         down Christians, to the greatest missionary of the first century.

     *  Augustine was a rising star in a politically-corrupt world.  But politics couldn't rid his guilt and

         shame.  Only the Lord could set him free.  And He did.

     *  John Newton's miserable life included failed suicide attempts and slave trafficking on the high

         seas.  But once he discovered God's amazing grace, he set a new course to proclaim Christ and

         abolish slavery.

     *  C.S. Lewis was a confused, young atheist and "angry with God for not existing!"  But when he

         reluctantly surrendered to the Savior, he was Surprised by Joy.

     Do we have disorders?  You bet!  Big time.  We are steeped in human behavioral mess, but unlike any message the world has ever known, the message of Christ stands alone in its power to reverse the human curse and miraculously transform sinful creatures into the sons and daughters of the Most High God.

Down in the human heart crushed by the tempter

Feelings lie buried that Grace can restore.

Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness

Chords that were broken will vibrate once more.

Fanny Crosby

     Can people really change?  Yeah!  They really can.

         

How's Your Life's Blog Coming?

     Whether you know it or not, you're blogging today.  You are writing your life's story.  Most of us don't think of it like that, but it's true.  Your blog will either be a positive or negative recounting of that story.  Think about it--the power of Story!  People are looking at you.  They see what you do, what you say and how you live your life.  We used to say, "Your life is an open book."  Perhaps now we would say, "Your blog is showing."

    I'm pretty convinced that in order to have a meaningful life there are some necessary ingredients.  As you look at those early Christians in the Book of Acts, their lives were powerful and purposeful.  The reason  for such positive meaning was the coming of the Holy Spirit into their lives on the Day of Pentecost (Acts, Chapter 2).  Far more than just a meaningful ingredient, the Holy Spirit was the all-consuming Dynamic.  He was the core of their lives and all that they did.

    They were writing their Story.  In our language today, they were blogging and it was a blog worth reading.  They were blitzing Jerusalem with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Everywhere they went they were turning things upside down.  Healings were taking place.  Compassionate outreach was happening as offerings were taken to help others.  They were constantly testifying to people everywhere about the power of this revolutionary Jesus whose death and resurrection had brought them from darkness to light.  As a result, scores of people were being added to the church, even though there was persecution.  The story they were writing was to impact human history for all time.  

    How's your life's blog coming?  What kind of a story are you writing?  Is it a story you want the rest of the world to read?  If you are filled with the Holy Spirit, your blog will make an impact on someone's life.  Your story will be a connection point to Jesus Christ.  It will be fresh, not phony.  It will resonate authenticity and goodness.  Others will be drawn to you and to Jesus because your life will be like a beautiful flower with a winsome fragrance.  

    I'm eager to read your life's blog.  And when I do, I know it will point me in the right direction.  Happy blogging!  In the power of the Spirit.  

Boyhood Heroes

and Lessons on Faithfulness

As a boy raised in a subculture of American Evangelicalism, I had my heroes.  In many ways, we were somewhat insulated from the world at large so most of our icons came from the preachers and singers who we heard in church or campmeetings and whose LP records we listened to.  Since I loved music, my ears were tuned to the different genres of Christian music and at the top of my list was a gospel music group called The Couriers.  My buddy Leo Knapp introduced me to them and I soon started buying every record I could find.  That was long before the days of cassettes and CDs, so I brought the big vinyl records.  The album covers showed a clean cut trio of guys who began as students at Central Bible College in Springfield, Missouri.  Following college they moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and sang gospel music in an area where it wasn't widely known, but they became household names in the Christian community.  Their sound was distinctive and pure.  My friends and I were hooked.

Leo and I formed a quartet with friends Clair Sams and Fred Simmons.  We would huddle in Leo's college dorm room and listen to Neil Enloe, Dave Kyllonen and Duane Nicholson.  Leo could sound just like Neil and Freddie played the piano like him also.  The songs we loved were the ones that Neil wrote so we were the "little Couriers."

After college, we each married and went our separate ways into ministry and business, but the Couriers kept on singing.  They have now been singing for 57 years all over the U.S., Canada and 60 other countries around the world.  They recorded dozens of albums.  They are now grandfathers and great grandfathers.  Now each one is in his mid 70s and THEY'RE STILL SINGING.

Today, I listened as these golden musical ambassadors brought an auditorium full of people to their feet.  It was magical for me to listen to my boyhood heroes 46 years after I first listened to that unique Courier sound.  I sat there and drank it in.  Yep, I could still hear detect those unmistakable tones.  Duane's tenor was still the same.  When they sang Neil's signature hit, "Statue of Liberty" which he wrote 36 years ago, it was as though I heard it for the first time.

Greater than the music and the sentimentalism which swept over me was the fact of faithfulness.  57 years is a long time to stay together singing every night and slogging all over the world.  They're still standing together on the stage, seemingly enjoying each other's company.  Each of them has been married to his wife for over 45 years and most of all, they are still in love with Jesus.  

I walked out of the concert hall with a new appreciation for the faithfulness of God.  I love the music and I enjoyed swapping old stories with the guys.  It was fun remembering the places where we had crossed paths, but to see men growing old together, loving each other, having fun singing their songs and loving God was HUGE.  

I still want to be like The Couriers when I grow up.

Is God Still Creating?

I love to read Genesis chapter 1, because it is the story of creation.  Verse 3 says that, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  Can you imagine what is must have been like for God to step out into formlessness and void and say, "Let there be light?" Our creator God flipped on the light switch of the universe and brought the world into being.

A legitimate question can be asked, "Is God still creating today?" Or was He like an absentee landlord who brought it all into being and walked away leaving it up to humans to fend for themselves?  Can the miracle of re-creation happen in a very dark world?  Can anything new take place on a planet gone mad?  There are a multitude of theories relating to the earth's creation, but as biblical Christians, we take the Genesis account seriously.

The fact is, the same God of Genesis who brought this world into being is still creating today.  Isaiah 43 says that God wants to do a NEW thing.  "For I am about to do a brand-new thing.  See, I have already begun!  Do you not see it?  I will make a pathway through the wilderness for my people to come home.  I will create rivers for them in the desert! (Isaiah 43: 18 & 19, NLT)."  In Psalm 40 He gives a NEW song. In Psalm 51, He gives David a clean heart and puts a NEW and right spirit in him.  In Romans 7:6, Paul says that we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the NEW way of the Spirit.  And I love 1 Corinthians 5:17 which says that if any person is in Christ, he or she is a "NEW creation; the old has gone, the NEW has come."

The word "creation" may be old, but it is also ever new.  God is RE:CREATING.  There is a fresh wind blowing.  It is the Wind of the Spirit.  He is continuing to give new life.  He is firing up old ministries and making them new.  He is developing new forms of worship.  Our recreating God wants to give us a fresh new touch with new attitudes, new outreaches and new opportunities.  That's our God.  Hear His voice and submit to Him.

If you are living in the past or if you are plagued by doubt, I invite you to get on board with what God is doing.  I challenge you to let the Wind of the Spirit do a NEW work in your heart.  You'll be amazed at what will happen.  Freshness will invade your life.  Hope will begin to eclipse despair.  By letting God create a new you, the best is yet to come!  You will have a new future which won't be defined by your past.  

Go for it!  He really is still creating.

Your Life in 2012 is Significant

     It's just the beginning of a new year.  The book is starting to open today.  This month.  This New Year.  It's a book with blank pages.  So much yet unwritten.  So much to be told.  It's a book with lots of blank pages.  You and I are the human instruments that God is using to write bold accomplishments.

     You probably feel as I do when such an enormous truth begins to dawn on you:  "What can I do?  It's too much for me.  Wait, this is scary."

     Hold on!  Remember, the power is HIS.  He is the Publisher.  He's simply looking for writers; for people who will trust the power of His Holy Spirit to work in the common, ordinary affairs of their daily lives--family, business, relationships, schoolwork, difficulties, ministry opportunities.

     It's because these mundane details of life are the decisive, history-making points of life, we teach as we do.  Your life is significant.  Your ministry is powerfully significant.  Wonderfully, frighteningly significant.

     As we enter 2012 God offers to you and me a blank book of possibilities, and now He asks what we are going to write.  Let's write wisdom, and let's write it in BIG letters.

 “Merry Christmas to you!”

LaWanda and I are so blessed to be a part of your lives, 

our wonderful family and friends.

This has truly been a year filled with events and activities that have taken us to so many different places to fellowship with God's forever family.

LaWanda has ministered in Spain and Kenya, bringing encouragement and hope from God’s Word to women who are living in harsh situations.  It was a special treat for her to have Brittian go with her to Spain. She and I have spoken in The Philippines to pastors and spouses as well as to our European leaders in Madrid.  We've gotten to share with friends in Louisiana, Alabama, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Arizona.  We were privileged to watch several years worth of planning come to a climax as we participated in the Free Methodist General Conference and Women's Ministries International General Sessions in Rochester, New York.

    

It's been the thrill of our lives to continue to help lead the gracious folks at Cornerstone Community Church in St. Petersburg, Florida.  After nine and a half years, they are still the greatest people in all the world and our Cornerstone leadership team is just the best. We are especially thankful for their consistent, faithful prayers. We are blessed indeed!

Leadership Conference, Butuan-Bancasi, the Philippines

But of course, to be parents and grandparents is what we love most.  To watch our kids and their families attain goals and grow is so wonderful.  Jonathan is advancing with his career in Southern California. Sherilyn and Allan have continued to advance and have added new achievements. (A special ‘Congratulations!’ to Allan for achieving Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do!)  Brittian and Kristi found God’s Grace and each other; it's beautiful to see God at work in their lives.  Gordon-almost 10, Canon-8, Ransom-6 ½, Judah-5, and now little Maxine-8 months, totally capture our hearts.  Geri Sue and Aaron, LaWanda’s niece and husband and their four children, Zach-14, Bret-10, Sarah-8 and Rachel-3, also occupy a very special, close place in our family.

Throughout the year we keep the bond strong with visits by air, phone, email, FaceBook, Twitter and now FaceTime which we LOVE! In a few days, we're looking forward to gathering around the Christmas tree and making it "the most wonderful time of the year."  Just to be together is the best gift of all, sharing food, games and sweet fellowship.  LaWanda’s started baking and has made our family’s traditional fabulous fruit cake, with a little help from me J

We would love to spend some time with you and hear what is happening in your life. Thanks for sharing your cards and updates.  Even though we may not get to be with you, we pray that you have warm, meaningful days with those you love.  We're hoping you will take a second look at the manger and God's irrational introduction to all mankind.  His indescribable gift.  His lavish love.  We pray, too, that you will take a second look at each other--witnesses of love personified. Take time to tell others how much you appreciate them and show them how much you care.  Let’s BE the message we need to be and want to be this year!

LaWanda and I pray that the void brought by loss and disappointment, this season, "will only bring a smile", as God's great sovereignty renews our strength and faith.

We pray for you His joy and laughter and a hard drive full of terrific memories!  May 2012 bring you many blessings and much fruit in this life and for eternity!

Jonathan

With our love,

Rex and LaWanda

Jonathan

Sherilyn, Allan, Gordon, Canon

Brittian, Krisit, Ransom, Judah, Maxine