Anatomy of an Afterlife

My wife is hooked on "Grey's Anatomy," ABC's primetime soap opera that chronicles the life of surgical resident Merideth Grey and her life within (and occasionally outside) the walls of Seattle Grace Hospital. If you've never seen the show, think: Days of Our Lives meets ER and you'll be in the right ballpark. I'm not really in to the show, but I'm in to my wife who is in to the show, so I do my part and watch it alongside her so I have leverage when there is a basketball game on TV.

Tonight's episode was the third in a three-part series in which the lead character struggles with whether or not life is worth living, and ultimately falls off a pier during the rescue efforts from a tragic ferry accident, and finds herself in today's culture of the afterlife. In the afterlife, she is confronted by past characters on the show who died prematurely, and faced with the decision of whether or not to return to "real life."

Let me repeat: I'm not in to this show. But tonight's episode provided such profound insight into the mind of today's culture as it relates to the afterlife and spiritual things that I found myself glued to the TV. Here are a couple of observations about the anatomy of an afterlife, as preached by prime time television.

1. Everything you want is on earth, and the afterlife contains only moments of that thing.

On tonight's episode, Merideth met Denny - the deceased fiancee of one of her fellow residents. As she considered whether or not she wanted to return to earth where her own "true love" waited for her, Denny told her of his afterlife experience in which he is doomed to only experience moments of closeness with his fiancee. He feels her, and dreams that she can feel him, but warns Meredith that that's all there is to the afterlife - "passing moments."

If it is true that everything we want is on earth, and the afterlife contains only moments of that thing, where do we find hope? What is our source of confidence that justice will be served, mercy will be shown, and this life proven worthwhile? The Bible presents the exact opposite truth: Everything we want is in heaven, and the current life contains only glimpses of that thing. Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.

2. The afterlife is relative to the person who experiences it. Furthermore, the afterlife is an experience rather than a destination:

At one point in the drama tonight as Merideth attempts to determine whether she wants to return to earth, she asks Denny "Is this really happening." His reply sent chills down my spine. "I don't know," he said. "This is your afterlife, not mine."

Not only is this type of worldview contrary to what biblical Christianity teaches, again it doesn't provide any source of hope for the future. If each of us faces a different afterlife experience, we cannot be certain that the God of justice will reconcile the fact that right now bad things do happen to good people. There is no hope for justice, or any hope period.

The idea that the afterlife is an experience rather than a destination is appealing because experiences change. And from the human perspective we have control over what happens to us in our experiences - although they may be the result of our decisions, we have the ability to "un do" the decisions in order to change our experiences. We get a chance to rectify bad decisions and make things right - no matter what the decision is.

Again, that's a different perspective than what Christianity brings to the table. We have been given the gift of life by an Eternal God, and have been given the responsibility to do good in this life. Since we have all chosen at one time or another to do bad with this life, God offered us justice and mercy at the same time - by sending His Son to pay the price we owed for breaking God's law. And God offers us eternal life by faith, but He's clear that the terms of His gift are to be accepted in this life. Death isn't the doorway into a new transitory experience over which we have a great deal of control. Hebrews 9:27 says "it is given for man to die once, and then the judgment."

So What?
Many in today's culture would have no significant problem with the way the afterlife was presented on tonight's episode of Grey's Anatomy. They wouldn't die for the portrayal, but would probably say something like, "Their guess is as good as mine."

As Christians - those who believe in One who returned from the grave - we're staring directly into the eyes of a world that has no hope. Hope that is found in this messed up world is no hope at all. This world is a good place. I have much of what I want, need, and desire. I have a loving wife, a great job, some terrific friends, an outstanding family, and much to enjoy on this earth. But even with that, I'm weary from turning on the news and seeing injustice, war, hate, tragedy, and death.

As much as my world is a great place, the world is no place to hope at all.

I'm looking for a city, whose builder and maker is God. I'm looking for a time when there won't be injustice. I'm looking for a day when I won't have to worry about which of the bad candidates will be my ruler. I'm looking for a day when I won't get sick, won't see death, won't have sadness, or pain, or tragedy. And I'm not going to find it here.

There is hope, but it's not in the fleeting moments of good I see here. I have an eternal hope, and it's found in the God of the Bible.

Ask me to do something great...

There's an old story about Abraham Lincoln. I'm not sure whether or not it's true, but I love the story so much I hope it is.

It is said that Abraham Lincoln, during a particularly difficult time in the Civil War, snuck in the back door of the church that sits down the street from his residence so as to go unnoticed. He sat through the music, and the sermon, and waited until the entire church had cleared out before he trudged back home so as to not cause a distraction for others.

When Lincoln returned home from the church service that night, his wife met him in their private quarters and asked him about the service. "It was okay," Lincoln replied, obviously unimpressed.

"Did you not like the music?" Mrs. Lincoln asked.

"Oh, I did" replied the president. "It was sung beautifully, artfully, and lifted my spirits beyond what I ever could have imagined," he said.

"Oh, then you must not have enjoyed the pastor's sermon," Lincoln's wife answered.

"No, he was articulate, well-informed, and eloquent. He was humorous, but not too much so; sober, but not too much so. The sermon was researched and presented well. But ultimately, it failed miserably" replied the war-weary president.

"It failed? After all that? How could it have failed?" asked the president's wife.

"It failed, because in that well-informed hour, the pastor failed to call us to do anything truly great," said Lincoln.


If this story is true, it seems as though things haven't changed a great deal in the century and a half since Lincoln left his church disappointed.

This is preaching week in two of my preaching classes. For the first several weeks of class, the professors lecture on good preaching style, the development of a message's content, and the proper form of the good sermon. After the lectures are complete, it is our turn as students to step into the pulpit and show what we've learned.

The result so far? Many sermons that are stylistically flawless, well-informed, and with a three-point outline that would make Billy Graham green with envy. And yet, I almost always leave class disappointed.

It's not different in chapel, where we bring the "best of the best" to speak to what are supposed to be the best of the best tomorrow. I hear lots of great speeches, and lots of great sermons, but more often than not I go away without anyone having challenged me to do something truly great.

Yet, when I read the Scriptures, I see a different kind of sermon. They're always theologically precise. They're always well thought-out, well outlined, and use excellent illustrations. But they don't stop with style and presentation. They take the next step of asking the listener to do something truly great.

I think it's time we re-think the purpose of our sermons. Do we expect to merely transfer information? Do we hope to change someone's thinking? Or are we hoping through our sermons to pierce the life of the hearer with God-honoring truth, and to challenge them to respond in a way that is not passive listening, but active trust and obedience in response to an encounter with the God of the universe?

I'm tired of listening to (and preaching) sermons that simply give the hearer something to know. I'm ready for someone to ask me to do something truly great.

Smart things Andy Said...

Tony Morgan's blog is one of the forty or so blogs I read every day on bloglines. It's one of my favorites, because Tony posts regularly, creatively, and with some degree of wisdom - three things I fail to do with regular frequency.

Several months ago, Tony posted a series of live posts from the Drive conference at North Point Community Church entitled "Smart things Andy Said." "Andy," of course was Andy Stanley, the Senior Pastor of North Point.

Today, Andy was the featured speaker at a day-long conference here in Dallas that the adult team from Fellowship attended. I originally thought I'd post a "Smart things Andy Said" post like Tony's, but my I figured it would make me look like I was trying to be like Tony (Not that there's anything wrong with that...) But instead, I want to camp out on one of the smart things Andy said, and wax eloquently about it.

The topic was "When Less is More," a topic that Andy talks a lot more about in his book "The Next Generation Leader." As a part of that conversation, Stanley makes the point that great leaders should, "Within the context of your current [leadership] responsibilities and core competencies, only do what only you can do."

The illustration was perfect: "I can juggle 3 balls, but not 4. When I try to juggle 4 and bobble one, I drop them all - not just the one I added."

Pastors are notorious for trying to juggle too many balls at one time. And unfortunately, boards of Elders are notorious for adding more and more balls to the mix and then firing pastors when their preaching isn't like it used to be.

What is it about your particular sphere of influence that only you can do? Another way to say it might be to ask, "How has God uniquely gifted you to serve His specific purpose at this time and place in history?" What about your staff?

But the question of what only we can do is not the hard question to answer. The hard question is, "Am I currently occupying space in an area that God has created someone else to do more effectively?"

There is nothing more frustrating as a leader than knowing you have the capacity to lead, knowing what needs to be done, but seeing some other leader who has tremendous leadership capacity in a different area screwing up an area that was custom made for you. And yet, there's nothing more tempting as a leader to get your hands in everyone else's business. After all - maybe they don't own the vision as well as you do. Maybe they won't do things the same way you would do them. Get the best people you can possibly find on a task, and let them do what they do. You wouldn't want them with their fingers all over your specific area of influence, would you?

So, as a leader, don't be the guy standing in everyone else's way. If you believe in a big God who has created little people to do big things - let them do what God has created them to do... even if means they won't do it as well as you. Even if it means they do it better than you.

One of the most important things we can do as leaders is learn that even though we have authority to act in an area, we may not have the expertise.

That's a smart thing Andy said...

Anniversaries

Four years ago yesterday I went on my first date with the woman who would become my wife. I figured it was safe to make our first date Valentines Day - it would keep me from having to buy multiple gifts, and would ensure that I never forgot the occasion. I was pretty sure I was going to marry Kari before our first date, so I needed to have my ducks in a row. The flowers, candy, dinner, and a movie that night turned into a pretty great investment.

I was pretty sure that Kari married me for my stunning good looks and charming personality until a year ago today. A year ago today, I was sitting in the ER of Baylor Medical Center Plano thinking I had suffered a stroke.

I'd been battling what I thought was an awful inner-ear infection that had completely immobilized me and confined me to life on the couch in constant excruciating pain. Needless to say, the charming personality went out the window. I wasn't a bad patient necessarily, but I'm sure I wasn't a lot of fun to be around. At least I still had the stunning good looks...

I laid on the couch for several days, only getting up to use the bathroom or to allow Kari to help me to the car for a doctors appointment. The doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with my ear, or why it wasn't responding to medication.

A year ago today, as I laid on the couch in excruciating pain, I felt a weird sensation go through the right side of my face. I struggled to the mirror to find that the entire right side of my face was paralyzed. The stunning good looks had dissolved into a person who appeared to have been made of candle wax that was placed too close to the furnace.

We rushed to the emergency room, a year ago today, fearing a stroke or brain tumor. Instead, after being referred to an ENT, I was diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome - shingles on the inside of my ear that had killed the nerve in my face that regulated all movement. I couldn't blink my eye, drink from a straw, or say the letter "P."

The doctor said if the nerve was damaged more than 90 percent, I would need brain surgery to regain any muscle movement. Tests came back at 88 percent. The good news was, no brain surgery. The bad news was, I was in pretty bad shape and the prognosis for ever smiling again wasn't good.

The wife who married me for my stunning good looks and charming personality stood by me when I had neither. She smiled for me when I couldn't, told me my melted face looked "cute" when I knew the truth, and never let on that she was as scared as I was.

I'm thankful for a faithful God and a faithful wife.

In the months since the diagnosis, God has amazed the doctor with my progress. We prayed that God would do something miraculous, and the doctor says He has. I've now got about 85 percent of my smile back - you would only notice the difference if you looked hard for it. My hearing is back to normal, my eye shuts on its own, and I can wink again at the wife who loved me through the whole ordeal.

This morning I visited with an older friend of mine who will be going in tomorrow for his first doctors visit following surgery for prostate cancer. He's experiencing many of the same anxieties and insecurities I felt following my own struggles. And here's what I told him:

If I could turn back the clock to February 14th, 2006, and do something that would prevent me from coming down with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, I wouldn't do it. Because today, February 15th, 2007, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we serve a faithful God who is with us even in our circumstances, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I married a faithful woman who didn't just marry me for my stunning good looks and charming personality (although, I might add, I've regained both).

Sometimes in our frailty and suffering, God reveals more of His goodness to us than we might have ever known otherwise.

Ways to Maintain A Healthy Level of Insanity...

In keeping with the theme of my post here about Turbo Driving, I saw this today on Mark Batterson's blog and thought it was worth posting.

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point A Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.

4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In."

5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks . Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.

6. Finish All Your sentences with "In Accordance With The Prophecy."

7. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.

8. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

9. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."

10. Sing Along At The Opera.

11. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In The Mood.

12. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.

13. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won!, I Won!"

Making Disciples - Good Sermon

My father-in-law sent me the link to this sermon by Patrick Payton, pastor of StoneGate Fellowship in Midland, TX. My father-in-law's email was the first time I had ever heard of this guy, but I doubt it will be the last.

He does a good job articulating what I've been struggling through in my mind recently, and what our church staff has been thinking about also: What does the process of "making disciples" involve? The church in America, if you put any stock in statistics at all, has not done a good job in the past several years. The Baptist church has been especially weak in disciple-making.

Listen to Patrick Payton's sermon and let me know what you think. The following link will take you to the catalogue of sermons. You'll want the sermon from February 1st, and you'll probably want to skip ahead to the actual sermon at around 30 minutes into the video cast.

http://www.swbts.edu/events/chapel_archive.cfm

What do you think? Is Payton on the right track? Do you see blind spots in what he's proposing?

The Circle of Life...

I'm not by nature an introspective guy. Deep thinking about life issues does not come natural to me, so I don't usually notice the profound things of life, or think "deep thoughts" about the human experience. But every once in a while I have one of those surreal moments when life experiences pop out of the ordinary realm for me and cause me to think about things in a different way. This week I had one of those surreal moments.

On Tuesday afternoon, Kari and I traveled with my brother and his fiancee to Frederick, Oklahoma to attend the funeral of my 87-year-old grandfather. Less than 24 hours later we sat in a hospital room in McKinney, TX and held our new quazi-nephew Ethan Blake Leaver (the son of our close friends here in Texas, Drew and Dawn).

That 24-hour experience was surreal to me. Within one day we experienced first-hand the bookends of life on this earth. Late in the afternoon of one day we looked at the body of one who finished the race. Early in the morning of the next day, we held one who is only just beginning. And, (hold your breath), I think I had a profound thought or two.

1. Life is fragile - I've never been one for an open-casket funeral. In fact, I told Kari I wanted to be buried totally nude just to ensure that nobody opens the casket at my funeral. But my Grandfather's casket was open as we filed out of the service, and I remembered how frail he has looked the majority of my life. Then, as I sat in the hospital bed and held Ethan Blake for the first time, I couldn't help but notice how fragile he is in a completely different way. You know, I don't think frailty is something we grow out of and back in to - it's just something we learn to mask in different ways. We're all frail, fragile people, and without the constant and consistent provision of an all-powerful God we would be but dust.

2. Life is short - 87 years is a long time to live, but it isn't that long at all when compared to eternity. God gives us a relatively short amount of time on this earth. Ethan is lucky - he's still got 87 or so to go. If I live to be 87, I've got a little more than 50 years left to invest in the things that will last forever. It's not worth simply investing my life in the things that will last beyond me - I'll have to leave those things to my kids, and they'll probably squander most of it like everyone else's kids. I've got roughly 50 years to make an eternal difference. I don't know about you, but that gets my blood pumping. Limited time, maximum influence.

3. God still does miracles - Sunday morning, my grandfather stood face-to-face with the all-powerful, holy, majestic God of the universe. He was completely whole, and had no lingering effects from the hip surgery and strokes that caused the end of his time on earth. He isn't dead - he's more alive than he ever was here. Saturday night he was unresponsive on a hospital bed, Sunday morning he was singing, dancing, and enjoying every moment of life. Tell me that's not a miracle. Similarly, on Monday evening a brand new life emerged into the world. A new person was born who was created in the image of God. Monday morning, I couldn't hold him (well, I could have, but Drew would have been mad). Tuesday morning, there he was.

Okay, maybe they're not the most profound thoughts in the world, but they sure stood out to me this week. God is still working in our world. He's still working in our lives. Sometimes we wonder, because the things He does in our lives don't always seem as obvious as they do in a funeral home, or a maternity ward at a hospital. But He's there, and He's working. And that means no matter on what side of life we find ourselves - at a wake or at a birthday - we can trust Him.

What a weird way to quit church...

Just read this on Fox News. Apparently this chick was fed up with her church, and decided to go to great lengths to fake her death so she could get away from them. The hoax went well until she showed up at her own funeral posing as her bereaved sister.

Note to self... When you get ready to quit church, don't be stupid like this lady.

Here's the Link


"Here's some good advice for anyone considering faking their death:

Skip the memorial service.

Alison Matera of New Port Richey, Fla., should have done just that last Friday, but instead her ruse was exposed when she sat among mourners, listening to friends and family celebrate her life.

It all started, the St. Petersburg Times reported Friday, when the 27-year-old told members of her church choir that she was dying of cancer, and that she soon would start receiving treatments.

Matera then started giving her friends regular updates during her "treatments."
Then, near the end of last year, she told them she was giving up her fight and entering a hospice so she could die, the newspaper reported.

She "left" the church, but choir members said they continued to receive calls from a "hospice nurse" with updates on Matera's health. The same "nurse" then called choir director Timothy Paquin on Jan. 18 to say Matera had died. Paquin said he then received a call from someone identifying themselves as Matera's sister, detailing the family's arrangements for the body.

The strange thing, according to a report filed with the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, is that all the choir members said the callers all sounded exactly like Matera.

Paquin said he called the hospice and local funeral homes, but none had ever heard of Matera.
Then, when the church family gathered to mourn Matera's death, a woman looking exactly like Matera showed up, claiming to be her sister, they said.

Choir members called the sheriff's office for help, and when deputies went to Matera's apartment she confessed the hoax, saying she needed to separate from the church community."

Turbo Driving

My wife's car is a Saab 9-3 Turbo. We were both attracted to the car for extremely different reasons: She loved it because it's a Saab. (Comfort, reliability, safety, gas mileage... all the things Saab is known for).

I was attracted to the car because it's a Saab 9-3 Turbo. Nothing says "big strong man" like a car with a turbo-meter next to the speedometer and odometer. I was hooked.

I love to drive that car, because I'm a Turbo kind of guy. It's a fun challenge to jump on the interstate and see how fast I can red-line the turbo-meter, and how long I can keep it at the red-line. It's a fun challenge, but it never lasts long. If I drove the car that way every day, one of two things would happen: I'd crash, or burn up the engine. The Turbo is supposed to be used for an extra kick when you need it, not for every day driving. Normal every-day driving needs to happen around 60-70 percent of the car's capacity, if not less. And that's a real drag.

I see a lot of myself in that little car. I love to push it. I love to red-line out, and challenge myself to do as much as I can as fast as I can for as long as I can. And ministry has a way of encouraging that kind of thing. Seminary has a way of encouraging that kind of thing. We don't do a very good job of teaching young pastors to live around 60-70 percent, if not less. And then all the sudden, when we're living at around 90 percent and something comes along that demands 20 percent, we don't have anything to give it.

But we feel guilty not being busy all the time. The folks that go to our churches already have the misunderstood notion that the pastor only works one day a week, and we are bound and determined to prove them wrong.

Many of us go to seminary because there we know we will get to spend 4 (or more) years learning the Word of God, and we want to give it all we've got. So we punch the gas and give it everything we've got. After all, we feel guilty taking less than the very best grade in a class because we feel as though it is a direct reflection of how serious we are about spiritual things.

It isn't. In fact, it's the opposite. I'm pretty convinced that our guilt-ridden attempt to red-line our ministries is a direct reflection of a small view of God. "

"I'd rather burn out than rust out," I heard someone say the other day. Where's the logic in that? Either way, you're out.

I don't want to be out. I want to be in. And that means, I'm going to be learning how to live at about 60 percent. I'm going to need that Turbo later and I want to be ready.

Quote Me...

Thanks to Mark Batterson for this quote by Len Sweet.

"Ask the grandparents in your church: how many of you would lay down your life for your grandchildren? Every grandparent will raise their hand. Then ask them: how many of you would lay down your musical preferences for your grandchildren?"

What would it look like...

Kari and I had a good weekend at Pine Cove as a part of a leadership retreat for a church in Palestine, TX. The primary speaker for the weekend was Gary Brandenburg, pastor of Fellowship Bible Church Dallas, whom I've mentioned before.

He spoke primarily from Acts 2 this weekend, about the activity of the early church, and did a tremendous job.

As you're probably aware, Acts 2:42 says the early church gathered in homes and "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." They shared everything in common with each other, and the passage records that "the Lord added to their number daily those who are being saved."

Many pastors I know point to these activities and say that they are the secret of church growth. If churches will study the Bible, fellowship together, and break bread together, they say, the church will grow.

The problem is, it doesn't work.

I know a lot of dying churches today that are committed to "teaching the Bible." I know a lot of churches today that could be characterized as "fellowshipping" churches - holy huddles of people who ought to just close their doors. And I know of a lot of churches that break bread together, but won't be able to pay the bills in five years.

Acts 2:42 isn't just a checklist of behaviors that cause churches to grow... even spiritually. There is more to this passage than a list of behaviors. Acts 2 records a general climate that the early church cultivated with the outside world. Verse 47 says the church "enjoyed the favor of all the people."

And yet they were different.

The church didn't become the culture. It didn't bow to the culture, but it attracted the culture. There was something about those people.

The church in America certainly doesn't "enjoy the favor of all the people." Why not? Perhaps because we've lost the identity of what makes us unique - and it isn't found in our list of rules. For too long the church has taken a negative view of what sets us apart: we don't drink, smoke, or chew, or run with girls who do.

But you can't define who you are by simply defining what you're against.

The Church has the greatest message in the world, but the world can't get past us to hear the message. That's a problem.

I'm not arguing for a loosey-goosey type of church, or a church that is soft on morality. But what would it look like to find a church that was agressive in showing the world what we are for before we gave them a the list of things we're against? What would it look like to find a church that lived out grace, as the church in Acts 2 did? What would it look like to find a church who modeled selfless sacrifice for others, as the church in Acts 2 did? What would it look like to be a church that had such a selfless passion for the good news that we proclaimed it as good news rather than something else?

What would that kind of church look like? If you find that church, let me know, because I want to be their pastor.

I Love These People...

Kari and I will be leaving tonight to be a part of a leadership retreat in Tyler, TX. We're excited about the opportunity to spend some time with the people of Grace Bible Church Palestine at that retreat. In addition, we're going live with a couple of big new programs at the church on Sunday. Add those together and you get my excuse for not blogging this week.

It's a sorry excuse for a post to post an excuse as a post, so maybe I can make things better. I saw this about a year ago, but Todd at MMI just reminded me of it. Check out my buddy John Daker singing an incredible medly of some of my favorite songs.

http://getupoutmy.biz/daker/video/daker.wmv

What's funny is, this kind of thing doesn't surprise me at all. Growing up in Columbia, Missouri there was a show that rivaled this one. Slim and Zella Mae singing southern gospel hits. Sweet people, I'm sure, but wow.

Total Truth

"Did you take a vacation from your blog?" "Did you quit blogging?" "Are you still alive?"

Yes, no, and yes.

I had every intention of writing up several blog entries over the Christmas break so that when my heavy class and work load started up this Spring I would have a queue of quality entries I could post. That intention got lost in a barrage of great football games, a couple of unexpected things at work, and a couple of trips I hadn't anticipated.

So here I am, embroiled in my hardest semester of school thus far, and I've got nothing ready to go. So bear with me.

Over the break I took an elective class at the seminary called "Contemporary Issues in Apologetics" that was taught by Probe Ministries . It was a one-week whipping I wasn't looking forward to, but turned out to be a very enjoyable and informative class.


One of the required books for the course was "Total Truth" by Nancy Pearcey. If you haven't read this book yet, it's worth picking up. Pearcey talks about the fact that the majority of Christians in the west live with a sort of undiagnosed schizophrenia; The worldview we believe we live (a Christian worldview) and the worldview we actually live (a secular/cultural worldview) are two different things. The vast majority of Christians today believe their faith has little or nothing to do with their occupation or lifestyle beyond defining certain moral codes. (We all know we shouldn't lie or cheat at work, but just those behaviors are not enough to call our worldview Christian).

One of the most helpful insights of Pearcey's book is that the majority of Christians begin their view of humanity too late. As we talk about theology, and even the Gospel, we begin with the Fall. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Romans 3:23) is the beginning of many of our gospel presentations. Pearcey argues that since the Bible begins with the Creation instead of the Fall, we should too. "Our value and dignity are rooted in the fact that we are created in the image of God, with the high calling of being His representatives on earth..."(page 87).

The message of redemption is one of restoration - we were created to have fellowship with God, and were created in the image of God to be His representatives on earth. The Creation account reminds us of God's power, character, and plan for His creation. Only when we realize those things are we able to better think about how we should live as believers today.

Interesting stuff.

About Me

I was born in Tulsa, OK but spent my "growing-up" years in Columbia, MO. For most of my high school days, I thought my life was headed toward a performing career on Broadway. I even took ballet lessons because someone told me it would help. Video evidence exists, but I'm sure you'll never see it. Then God got a hold of my life and everything changed.

I grew up Shi'ite Baptist. Not really, but I did grow up thinking that Christianity meant trusting Christ as Savior and Forgiver (which I did as a young child) and then keeping the rules for the rest of your life to make God happy. But I got fairly disillusioned during my teenage years because I started noticing that the people who made the rules didn't usually keep the rules.

When I went to college at Oklahoma State University (looking for my golden educational parachute in case Broadway didn't pan out), I kept going to church. I was, after all, a rule-keeper who didn't want to make God mad. On the first Sunday, I went to a church where the pastor was teaching from Colossians 2:6. When I realized I could serve God out of faith and gratitude rather than out of fear, my whole paradigm shifted. When grace "clicked," everything changed.

Over the course of my college years God completely changed my desires and transformed my life. The kid who once told someone "I will never be a pastor" all of the sudden couldn't think of doing anything else.

After graduation from Oklahoma State with a music education degree I headed to Dallas Theological Seminary where I received a Master of Theology but more importantly, where I met my wife.

Today, I'm the Lead Pastor at McKinney Church in Fort Worth, TX. I live in Fort Worth with my wife, our sons Casen and Cale, and our beagle named Sutton.

This is hard...

Proverbs 24:17 - Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice.

Canadians...

My friend (and boss) Drew likes to give me a hard time for being a Cowboy. You see, he's Canadian, and has something of an inferiority complex about us Americans.

Well, apparently someone let him into the eggnog too early. I found the following video of him online:

Crazy Canadian

Great Video

I know it's a sorry excuse for a blogpost to just sling a video up, but it's a pretty busy time of year. Plus, this video is worth it. Why didn't I think of this when I was a kid?

Irony

Several days ago I posted on the job search process Kari and I are currently involved in and the "good bad and ugly" within that process.

A month or so ago I was checking the various job boards online and came across a listing that I knew my wife would love.

"Kari, where is the last place on earth you would ever want to live?" I asked her.

Her first answer was Alaska. I guess you have to know my cold-blooded and highly-connected wife to understand that answer. She's not interested in being too far away from Mama, and he's not interested in being cold.

So I pressed farther. "Besides Alaska, where is the last place you'd ever want to live?"

She didn't miss a beat, and said exactly what I expected she would say.

"El Reno, Oklahoma."

That's where she grew up. She's not interested in going back except to visit. I guess they're right - you can't go back home.

So she turned the question on me. "Where's the last place you would ever want to live?"

Mine was easy: Norman, Oklahoma, and for less noble reasons than hers. I'm just not a big fan of a particular college sports team that calls Norman its home. They're our arch rivals. I was taught as a child never to say the word "Sooner," and spent my formative years honestly thinking "Sooner" was the "S-word."

So I laughed today when I sent a resume to a church with an opening in... you guessed it... Norman, Oklahoma.

It was a novelty send, really. I'm not very qualified for the job they're seeking to hire, and probably won't get past the first cycle of passing around the resume. But it's a church where some exciting things seem to be happening.

Immediately after I sent the resume, I received a reply from their executive pastor. It read (in part):

"We are really excited to hear from you...I plan to send you and several others anapplication by e-mail tomorrow morning. We also plan to pray specificallyfor you and God's direction in this matter. Have a great day!"

Now as much as it pains me to admit that anything good could come from Norman (:)), I have to applaud this church for its professionalism.

They may never read my resume again. They may be secretly laughing that anyone from Stillwater would dare apply for a position there. But their response was quick, encouraging, and let me know what the next step in our "relationship" was.

Not too shabby... for a church near the home of Zero-U.

Grass Hippies

Dallas Seminary is the weirdest conglomeration of people I've ever seen in my life. Check that - you get a pretty ecclectic mix at the Oklahoma State Fair, but next to that has to be Dallas Seminary. And wherever you have lots of weird people, you end up with some pretty bizzarre cliques.

Dallas Seminary has a few of the groups of people you would expect to see on the campus of a theologically conservative evangelical seminary. The "Hebrew Junkies," and "Greek Junkies" can be spotted pretty easily. They usually have a fist full of vocabulary flash cards, a pocket protector with various colored pens to help them color code their translations, and are loaded down with two or three dictionaries that they never seem to put down.

The "Missions Freaks" are a little harder to spot. Your best bet to spot them is in the parking lot, as they get out of their car that is emblazoned with "Every Tribe, Tongue, and Nation or BUST" bumper stickers. On occasion, you get the random white guy walking around campus in a native African robe... that's a dead giveaway.

My favorite group of people on campus are the "Grass Hippies." (I named them myself) These are the seminary flower children of the twenty-first century. They congregate in the grass in front of the library on almost every occasion.

The seminary has a dress code that seems to fly in the face of the Grass Hippie mojo. You won't find these guys wearing their business-casual attire on campus - not if it interferes with flip-flops and jeans. They seem to buck all the authority of the school, insisting it's legalistic.

The other day, I heard one of them griping about the school's "no-alcohol" policy. It's designed to preserve the reputation of the seminary. This guy was bragging that he drinks a beer every week just in spite.

Today, the temperature has dropped in Dallas. When I drove home from campus, it was 29 degrees. The freezing rain is pelting the campus. But when I walked out of the library to go home, there were two Grass Hippies sitting on the grass, a blanket spread on the ground, and an umbrella protecting them from rain. Flip flops, blue jeans, and a winter parka that must have been imported from Siberia.

The statement they make is pretty obvious. "We're going to do what we want to do when we want to do it because we can."

Never mind that these are the people who will be leading churches in the near future. These are the people who are the product of the church of the past twenty years - the product of a church who consistently put rules ahead of relationship. Don't smoke - you'll go to hell. God won't love you if you have sex before marriage. Show up to church on Sunday nights, Wednesday nights, Sunday mornings, and for Monday night visitation. If you don't, God won't love you as much as those who do.

We've prescribed right behaviors using the wrong motivation. As a result we've taught our kids to distrust any rules or guidelines we present because we've abused them so poorly in the past.

I spent my first couple of years despising the Grass Hippies because they are so overt in their challenge to the guidelines the seminary has put in place. Now, I just feel sorry for them. They feel as though the only way to challenge rules they don't agree with is to obey them just to the point that they won't get kicked out. Where will that attitude land them in five or ten years? Furthermore, how will it change the landscape of the church when these guys start leading their own congregations?

I guess we'll see. But I'm not liking the looks of it.

Katrina Fallout

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- A church that wanted to do something special for Hurricane Katrina victims gave a $75,000 house, free and clear, to a couple who said they were left homeless by the storm. But the couple turned around and sold the place without ever moving in, and went back to New Orleans."Take it up with God," an unrepentant Joshua Thompson told a TV reporter after it was learned that he and the woman he identified as his wife had flipped the home for $88,000.

Church members said they feel their generosity was abused by scam artists. They are no longer even sure that the couple were left homeless by Katrina or that they were a couple at all."They came in humble like they really needed a new start, and our hearts went out to them," said Jean Phillips, a real estate agent and member of the Temple of Deliverance Church of God in Christ. "They actually begged for the home."

The church was also shocked by an ungrateful interview the couple gave with WHBQ-TV in Memphis."I really don't like this area," said Delores Thompson. "I really didn't, and I didn't know anybody, so that's why I didn't move in and I sold it."Thompson, reached at a New Orleans phone number by The Associated Press on Tuesday, thanked the church for its generosity but said she saw nothing wrong in selling the three-bedroom, two-bath house."Do I have any legal problems? What do you mean? The house was given to me," she said. "I have the paperwork and everything."She refused further comment and hung up.

The church had decided that it would do something special for one Katrina-displaced family, in addition to its other efforts to help evacuees. The church set up a committee to find the right family and conducted several dozen interviews.Delores Thompson, who did most of the talking for her family, told the committee that she had lost her job as a nurse and that her husband had lost an import-export business in New Orleans, committee member Joy Covington said.The committee also heard how the family had lost its home and most of its possessions and how the children, a 14-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy, were eager to get back in school.

The family said it wanted to resettle in Memphis.After the church settled on Thompson, real estate agent Phillips helped her pick out the house she wanted, and it was bought in Thompson's name. She took possession in February and sold it in September. Property transfer records for the resale list her as unmarried; the papers from the original sale list her as married."I feel like it was a sham or a ripoff," Covington said.

The church hasn't discussed legal action, but the members are upset because the house could have gone to a more needy family, Covington said.

Thompson claimed she and her family were living in an apartment supplied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but did not invite Phillips over during the house search."She didn't want me coming over there," Phillips said. "She'd say, `I'll meet you.'"Covington's husband, Edward, said the family had been listed by FEMA as displaced. But he said the church took Thompson's word for it that their house was destroyed.

Thanksgiving

This past weekend I got the privilege of preaching in Houston at Creekside Bible Church. We looked at Psalm 136, and talked thanksgiving as worship.

I love Psalm 136 because it is one of the Old Testament Psalms that was sung by the Israelites to remind themselves of God's work in their lives. This song imparticular reminded them of who God is, what God has made, what God has done, and what God has given.

I'm particularly fascinated by the middle of the Psalm that describes the salvation history of Israel. The Psalmist reminds the Israelites of God's salvation from the hands of the Egyptians following the Passover. Then he reminds them of their salvation across the Red Sea. Following that, he reminds them of their salvation during their time in the desert. All those times were magnificent times of God's salvation in Israel's life for which the Psalmist reminds them that they should "Give thanks" (v. 1).

The Israelites were thankful to escape from the hands of the Egyptians... for about thirty minutes. Then, if you remember, they began to gripe to Moses, asking "weren't there enough graves in Egypt? Have you brought us out here so we will die in the desert?" Then the Lord provided a way across the Red Sea by parting the water, and the Israelites were thankful... for a few hours. Then they began to get hungry and began to complain. So God gave them Wonder Bread from heaven to eat along with quail that He provided, and they were thankful... for a few weeks until they got tired of quail and manna casserole and wanted some water to go with it.

Israel had a history of seeing God show up in their lives and soon forgetting all about it. And the Psalmist points out that their griping was a poor reflection on God's character. What God has done is a reflection of who He is. But sometimes we need a reminder.

This Thanksgiving, as you go around the table and share all the things you're thankful for, remember that Thanksgiving is about more than just what God has done in our lives - it's about who He is.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.

Water Baptism - What's the picture?

You may remember some months ago when I posted about the controversy over baptism among Oklahoma Southern Baptists. The situation surrounding that post was a nasty fight about whether or not baptism should be required for membership within a local church.

Perhaps the only good that came out of that spat for me was that it caused me to hone in on exactly what I believe should be essential for membership within a local church, and exactly what the Scriptures say about the purpose for baptism.

As a part of that thinking, I've been looking through the Scriptures at the various references to baptism, and have come up with a question: What exactly is baptism supposed to picture?

The answer I gave for many years was that baptism pictures the death and resurrection of Christ. This is the traditional stance of the Baptist church and of most of the Bible churches with whom I'm familiar. This view is based first on the fact that it makes sense to us. Water baptism (by immersion) is a good picture of someone dying, being placed in the ground, and rising out of the grave. Secondly, the view that water baptism is a picture of Christ's death and resurrection is based on the fact that Romans 6 describes baptism along with the death and resurrection of Christ.

However, I'm not sure this was what the first church would have had in mind when they were dunked. The picture of death and resurrection might be clear to us today, but would it have been as clear to a person in the first century? Jesus was buried in a cave, not in a hole in the ground. The burial practices for most people in ancient Israel was not anything like what we picture today. As a result, I'm not sure that the image would have been quite as potent to a first century Christian as it is to us today.

With regard to Romans 6, I think we ought to reexamine the passage. Romans 6:3-4 says

"Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (6:3-4).

If Romans 6 is talking about water baptism, we need to reexamine our theology of salvation. Because if Romans 6 is talking about water baptism, the only way to "live a new life" is to be water baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. This passage isn't talking about water baptism at all. In fact, as my father-in-law has said, "Romans 6 doesn't hold any water. There's no water in Romans 6."

Furthermore, people were water baptized long before the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What did that baptism picture? Add to that that Jesus was baptized. Was Jesus identifying Himself with His own death and resurrection? That seems like a little bit of a stretch.

I've thought of a couple of possibilities for what baptism might picture other than the death and resurrection of Christ. First, it could be a picture of cleansing. This would have been clear to the first century Christians - most of Jewish origin - who might have seen it as a reference to the priest's ceremonial bathing to demonstrate his cleanliness before God.

It might also be possible that baptism was just supposed to demonstrate a person's identification with Christ. You might know that the Greek word "baptizo" literally meant "to dip." A person who worked with cloth might "baptize" her cloth in die so that a white piece of cloth would be identified as blue. Maybe baptism was simply intended to demonstrate identification in the sense that we're identifying ourselves with Christ Himself and nothing more.

I'm not sure I know the answer. What I do know is that baptism is commanded of Christ-followers. I do know that it seems to be important to Jesus (Matthew 28:18) and to the apostles who began the early church.

So I'm opening up the table for you. What do you think? What's the picture intended by baptism?

Whoops

Okay, I did a dumb thing. In my last post (an article I pasted from a newspaper because I was too busy to post a real entry, but wanted to keep some amount of consistency in the blog) I promised "my own thoughts" in a few days. That was before I actually stopped to consider that any thoughts on the issue of homosexuality are explosive - much less "my own thoughts." But, when you make a promise, you have to keep it.

It seems you can't go very far in today's Christian circles before you're asked your opinion on the topic of homosexuality. Homosexuality has become the "abortion of the 90s." But it's a much different issue than abortion, and than almost any other moral issue the Church has had to answer in the past several centuries. It's certainly not my intent to give a complete solution to the discussion, but I do have some random thoughts about the issue that I don't hear a lot.

1. Before we can address the question of homosexuality in the church, we have to first understand that from a gay person's perspective, the issue is of identity, not behavior. Before we can talk about behavior, we have to address identity.

2. No one has ever gone to hell for being gay.

3. Attraction is completely different than action. It is one thing to be attracted to something and something completely different to act on that attraction.

4. Simple attraction is a moral neutral. People are attracted to people and things all the time, both for good and for bad.

5. Most gay people I know tell me they would not choose same-sex attraction if they got their choice.

6. Genetic predisposition does not condone a behavior in God's eyes. We're all predisposed to do things God doesn't condone.

7. You cannot hope to have an intelligent discussion without a discussion that assumes both sides' unintelligence about the other side.

8. "God Hates Fags" is not a Christian apologetic.

9. Sex outside of a God-ordained marriage will always be sex outside of a God-ordained marriage.

10. I'm a hypocrite if I enter a discussion about someone else's sin issue without making a regular honest attempt to deal with my own.

Interesting Article

From the Denver Post. I'll post some of my thoughts in the next couple of days:

Prominent evangelical Ted Haggard's murky admissions of sin following allegations of an affair with a male prostitute have reignited a volatile argument over the roots of homosexuality - a debate where religion, politics and science collide.

Haggard, who has said he isn't gay, was fired this month from New Life Church in Colorado Springs and now faces what church officials call a "restoration process" that will include a clinical exploration of his sexuality.

Details of that process remain vague. But evangelical leaders who will shepherd Haggard through his ordeal do so amid questions about how evangelicals balance emerging research and their religious beliefs.

Although the nature versus nurture debate - biology versus psycho-social factors - has simmered for years, most recent research has pointed toward sexual orientation being hard-wired into humans, at least to some degree, said Anthony Bogaert, a psychology professor at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, who studies sexual orientation development.
That finding holds for men more than women, who may be more "flexible" in developing sexual orientation, he added.

"The pendulum is probably pushed at least a little toward the biological end of things," Bogaert said. "Certainly some argue that psycho-social processes play a role. But for guys, it looks as if it's determined very early in life, and that determination is probably influenced strongly by biology."

Americans have gradually changed their thinking on the origins of sexual orientation over the past 30 years.

Steve Smith, 43, of Denver once enrolled in Exodus International to try to overcome his attraction to men. Initially consumed by guilt because of his fundamentalist Christian background, Smith said he eventually rejected the idea that he could change and accepted who he really is. (Post / RJ Sangosti)a 1977 Gallup poll, only 13 percent thought people were "born with" homosexuality, while 56 percent attributed it to "upbringing or environment."

Those numbers shifted in opposite directions until this year, for the first time, the "born with" responses surpassed "upbringing" 42 percent to 37 percent.

Eleven percent think it's a little of both - a figure that hasn't changed much over the decades.
Alan Chambers, president of Orlando-based Exodus International, which advocates "freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ," describes more accepting attitudes in his movement toward the role genetics may play.

Exodus' stance is that homosexuality is "multicausal," Chambers said. One side of the debate is guilty of saying it's only genetics, and the other side is guilty of saying homosexuality can "go away" with prayer and reading the Bible, he said. Chambers said biological and developmental factors play a role.

"Whatever the root cause, people make a choice," Chambers said. "Not about their feelings, but about what they do with those feelings based on convictions and not on science."

Debating change
Steve Smith, a 43-year-old Denver massage therapist, said he first experienced same-sex attractions shortly after puberty, acted on them in college and - owing to his fundamentalist Christian background - felt overwhelmed by guilt.

Soon afterward, Smith enrolled in an Exodus International program with other young adult men who lived in a nondescript house near San Antonio.

People who feel same-sex attractions lacked healthy relationships as children, Smith said he was told, so living together like a family for a year would create nonsexual bonds and "delete" their homosexual thoughts.

Although the program "offered a lot of camaraderie and connection," he said he came to reject its premise.

Ultimately, Smith said he found clarity about his identity lying alone in bed at night.
"You know who you really are in those quiet moments," Smith said. "I knew then that nothing had changed in me fundamentally except my behavior."

Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family also has championed the belief that gays can change. The ministry has staged one-day "Love Won Out" conferences nationwide, often accompanied by protest and publicity. Ministry officials declined interview requests for this story.

Joseph Nicolosi, president of the National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), coined the phrase "reparative therapy," a controversial treatment that claims to help people change their sexual orientation.

NARTH holds that biological, psychological and social factors shape sexual identity at an early age for most people - but it places greater emphasis on family, peer and social influences. The group doesn't see homosexuality as "normal and a part of human design" or unchangeable.
Robert Spitzer, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, conducted a study often cited by NARTH as evidence that gays and lesbians can change. But he bristles at how reparative therapy proponents gloss over his further determination that in the general population, such change is rare.

"The Christian right never mentions that conclusion," he said. "I find their whole agenda obnoxious. They want to humiliate gays and deprive them of civil rights."

"Therapy" draws fire
Major professional groups decades ago rejected the concept of homosexuality as a "mental disorder" - that change dates back to 1973 - and have more recently published their opposition to reparative therapy.

The American Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics all have issued statements recognizing concern for the harm such treatment can cause patients.

Jack Drescher, a New York psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who holds "counter-conferences" to the "Love Won Out" gatherings, disagrees with the notion that there's no harm in trying to change sexual orientation.

He echoes many researchers who say there are no solid, peer-reviewed studies showing reparative therapy works and no accepted standards of practice.

"They're not invited to give lectures in medical schools, they're just marketing these ideas to the public," Drescher said. "They like to create in the public's mind the false impression that there's a controversy you need to know about."

Not that there isn't lively discussion exploring the origins of sexual orientation.

For example, Cornell University psychology professor Daryl Bem's "Exotic Becomes Erotic" hypothesis melds nature and nurture. He embraces research showing a genetic element at work but submits that genes simply code for "temperament" that can lead a child to be either gender- conforming - as in boys acting like boys - or nonconforming.

For the nonconforming boy who identifies more closely with girls, other boys become the "exotic." And as that boy moves into adolescence, the exotic becomes erotic - and the object of sexual desire.

Reparative therapy proponents have cited Bem's work to support their own - something Bem challenges as a politically driven agenda.

"I don't think my theory, even though there's room for experiences, gives any strategy for changing a gay child to a straight child," he said.

At the same time, he notes that politics tinges all sides of the scientific debate. "People start with attitudes," he said, "and then figure which theory they like."

Open to change
Warren Throckmorton, psychology professor at Grove City College in western Pennsylvania, disagrees with some of the tenets of reparative therapy. But while he firmly asserts that he's not a reparative therapist, he doesn't discount those who claim to have been transformed.

"For people of the evangelical persuasion, they believe that the core of their being is about their relationship with God," Throckmorton said. "If they're truly being who they are, for them that means bringing their sexual feelings into alignment with their religious beliefs."
And that, he added, could be the next step for Haggard.

"It appears he's struggled with his feelings secretively," Throckmorton said. "And now he has the opportunity, if he can be completely candid with some counselor or adviser, to sort out how he wants to live and what boundaries to place in his life."

But some in the gay community worry about repercussions of the Haggard scandal.
"I am concerned he will go through this restoration process and come out the other end a confirmed heterosexual and become a poster child for the illegitimate process of reparative therapy," said Michael Brewer, public policy director for the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Community Center of Colorado.

From its Denver offices, the Christian ministry Where Grace Abounds offers support groups, counseling and other resources for people struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction.
Director Mary Heathman, poring over Haggard's two-page apology read at New Life Church last week, was struck by one thing in particular. Haggard wrote about seeking assistance "in a variety of ways" to his struggles, with none working. Then he admitted that when he stopped communicating about it, the "darkness" increased.

"That's the key point right there," she said. "Transparency for any problem is the beginning of the solution. As (Alcoholics Anonymous) says, we are only as sick as our secrets."

Why We Serve

One of the neat things about the staff dynamic at Fellowship is the desire for the staff to continue to grow together. As a result, once a month our staff engages in a discussion around a book that the staff is reading together. This quarter, the book we've been reading is "He Has Made Me Glad" by Ben Patterson. It's a book about the importance of choosing to be joyful - something commanded by Scripture.

Early in the book, Patterson writes of his own experience, "One year I didn't want to go back to work after my vacation. I was burdened with the problems of the church and depressed over struggles in my family. But I gritted my teeth, pointed the car toward home and went back grimly determined to be obedient to God and do my job. This attitude continued for two weeks. Then one night in a prayer meeting the Lord spoke to me. The words were harsh, but the tone was tender. He said, "I don't need this from you, Ben. If you can't serve me joyfully, don't call it service. You dishonor me with your ingratitude. Change your attitude or get another job."

Right now, I'm overseeing a new opportunity at Fellowship in which each person at the church will be encouraged to read through the New Testament in a year. In addition to reading one chapter from the New Testament, we've invited almost 300 of our leaders to write a short devotional over one of those chapters. So, five days a week, each member will be encouraged to read a chapter from the New Testament as well as a devotional written by someone else in the church body. It's an exciting time.

As I began receiving responses from the leaders we invited to write, the contrast between responses was amazing. For some, the opportunity to serve was met with joy. They were excited about the opportunity to be used, and ecstatic about how God might use this opportunity to bring the church together for something incredible.

Others responded positively, but with the excitement of someone who had just been asked to scrub the public toilets before summer camp. "Yeah, I'll serve... if you can't find someone else."

I wonder how many of us cop that same "if you're going to twist my arm" mentality with God on a regular basis. How many of us enter our own ministries every day because we feel like we have to?

What would happen if we all realized that God could find someone else to do what He has called us to do? He could find someone else and equip them to do the job "better" than we could do it. But He didn't. He chose us. We get to serve the Creator of the universe. We should serve with gratitude and joy, or as Patterson said, get a different gig altogether.

Divorce Parties?

http://www.examiner.com/blogs/scoop/2006/11/5/Shanna-Moakler-throws-a-divorce-party

Bachlorette parties and bridal showers are so lame. Shanna Moakler threw herself a big, fat divorce party in the über-chic nightclub, Light, at the Bellagio in Las Vegas this weekend.

“I’ve been to past friends’ divorce parties so I’m not the first person [to have one],” Moakler told People magazine. “I’m not groundbreaking or anything. I’m really doing it for myself to have closure and celebrate being single again and start a new chapter in my life.”

In celebrating the split from her “Meet the Barkers” co-star/husband Travis Barker (who hooked up with Paris Hilton, who then got clocked in the face by Moakler), Moakler did shots with her girlfriends and had a specially made divorce cake featuring a knife-wielding bride figurine on top, with a trail of blood leading to a groom sprawled at the bottom. Yummy!

“I don’t have any regrets about doing it. I am who I am and I make my own decisions. I totally respect people’s opinions. I never thought I would be getting a divorce. I never thought I’d be here,” the “Dancing with the Stars” reject said. “At the end of the day, this isn’t the worst thing in my life. People go through it every day. I respect people’s opinions, but this is my opinion. This is how I’m showing the world that divorce is OK. It doesn’t have to be the end of your life.”

Hey, a divorce party beats a pity party any day

Seeking and Hiring - the good, bad and ugly

This May, (barring any unforseen snafus) I'll be walking across the stage of a large church, accepting a diploma from Dallas Theological Seminary, and saying "goodbye" to more than 20 years of formal education. It's an exciting time in the Freeland household - full of praying, planning, studying, and sending out resumes.

I've been on both sides of the hiring process. Twice I've been the person preparing and mailing out resumes to prospective ministries. Twice I've been the person reviewing resumes in hopes of hiring a person to fill a ministry vacancy. Both sides are tough, and both sides demand a realization that no matter which side of the hiring process you're on, Christian decency demands a ministry-oriented and sensitive heart.

You see, candidating for churches is a lot like dating. You want to find a place where you're compatible or a candidate that will be compatible with your ministry - and doing so means an element of vulnerability. That vulnerability starts with the resume. Sending a resume is like asking a girl out. The chances are, you've looked over the profile, like what you see, and think there's at least a chance that the two of you could be compatible.

You would be amazed at the cover letters and resumes I've received from well-educated men who look like they put together their resume in five minutes, and spilled their breakfast on it on the way to the post office. The resume is your first and only opportunity to make a good impression with a church. God created spell-check for a reason.

From the other perspective, you'd be amazed at how many times I've sent carefully prepared cover letters and resumes to churches to be completely blown off. In fact, the majority of guys I talk to who have applied for ministry positions report similar results to mine - for every ten resumes you send out, you can expect that you will hear precisely nothing from eight of those churches. That's pretty sad. At least when I was in college and was turned down for a date, most girls had the decency to tell me so.

In contrast, I received the nicest note from a search committee the other day. It was hand written on church stationary and said, "Thanks for taking the time to apply to be our next senior pastor. We will be accepting resumes until November 5th, after which you can expect communication from us either way. Please continue to pray for us as we seek God's man for this church." I sincerely hope something works out there, because that's the kind of ministry I want to be a part of.

They say that breaking up is hard to do. They're right. When you have to face the music that a church doesn't think you're a good fit for the opportunity you've built up in your mind, it's hard. It's particularly hard when that news comes as a form letter that doesn't even have your name spelled correctly. Or, when the letter only says "Dear Mr. Freeland, We have decided to seek other candidates in our search for a senior pastor. Sincerely, Pastor Search committee." When I was in high school, I had a girl break up with me on my answering machine. She had more tact than some of the letters churches send out to candidates who are not good fits for their ministry.
I received a "break up letter" a few years ago from a church that read, "Dear Mr. Freeland, We have reviewed your resume and prayerfully decided that your level of experience is not a good fit for the position we are seeking to fill. Please know that our search committee prayed for you by name tonight and asked that God would provide you with a position that will be an excellent mutual fit. Thank you for your interest in ______ Church." They let me down easily, told me the grounds for their decision, and did it in an extremely edifying way. Much better than "I think we should see other people."

Search Committees are filled with busy people - people who give up hours out of their week to filter through resumes, contact candidates, and discuss the future of the church, all while trying to stay above water at their "real jobs," and spending time with their families. It's hard to take the time to do the little things, like ensuring that every applicant receives some sort of communication from the church. But the small touches can make the difference between encouraging a candidate in his ministry - even if you don't want to hire him - and discouraging him more than you can imagine.

Similarly, applicants are busy people. Most of them are involved in trying to finish strong where they're currently serving, and are helping families through times of transition. But that's no excuse to demonstrate anything less than excellence and professionalism from your side. If you can't handle stress with professionalism and grace now, why would anyone think you'll be able to when you arrive at a new ministry?

Like I said earlier, finding the right fit for a ministry is a lot like dating. And in both cases, if both sides did a better job at it, perhaps the divorce rate would be much different.


PS - Happy Birthday to my wife. When the dating process works, it works, and I got a good one.

John MacArthur Gettin' Jiggy Wit It

I know many of you who read this blog found it through team pyromaniacs. So, I thought you would appreciate this.

It turns out John MacArthur isn't quite as prim and proper as most of us would like to think. In an attempt to show that he's hip with today's generation, he's recorded a rap.

You can hear it here.

I could be wrong, but I think the scratching and bebopping comes from none other than Mr. Pyromaniac himself. He's probably doing all the percussion with his mouth.

(HT: Monday Morning Insight)

That's not relevant...

Not too long ago I got the opportunity to visit the church where one of my friends is a member. It's always interesting to go to a new church and remember what it's like to be a guest.

As I got out of my car, he met me in the parking lot. I had my ultra-thin NIV in hand (I try not to bring out my fat NASB around people who don't know me very well... it freaks them out), and he told me, "Oh, you won't need that."

Uh oh.

"If (emphasis mine) we talk about the Bible they'll put it on the screen."

This particular Sunday, the subject of the pastor's sermon was "Would Jesus Use MySpace?"

I should have guessed from our encounter in the parking lot.

Now, there's not a very good way to bring this kind of thing up with your friend - particularly when your friend is a newer believer who lives in a different city, and who is really excited about the new church he's going to because it "meets my needs."

So at lunch, I casually mentioned something about how different his church was from mine, and how fun it was for me to get to see where he was attending. "Different?" he said, "How?"

Bingo.

"Well, the church I go to talks about the Bible a lot. In fact, we believe that if this God is as great as we say He is, we probably ought to tell people what He says."

"Oh yeah," he replied. "Well, our church just really focuses on being culturally relevant."

That just kills me. "Would Jesus Use Myspace" is not cultural relevance. In fact, it's about as far away from being truly relevant as possible.

Somewhere along the way we've decided that "cultural relevance" means talking about "cultural things." It doesn't. Cultural relevance means taking the things that are timeless, and talking about them in a way that today's culture can understand, relate to, and apply.

The church needs to take a message that is relevant, and show a fallen culture how it applies to them. Instead, a lot of churches are using the platform of the church as a rant on cultural issues in the name of cultural relevance. As a result, they're prostituting the platform and using it to say things that aren't timeless, don't meet the real needs of the culture, and thus aren't important or relevant at all.

Vision

I'm a dreamer. I love to sit around and think about the future. I get excited thinking about what things will be like five years from now, ten years from now, or thirty years from now. As the light at the end of the seminary tunnel begins to get bigger, I get a lot more chances to dream. Each resume I send out provides more fodder for bigger dreams. Each church that responds, weighing out the implications of taking a chance on a young whipper-snapper, provides me with more and more opportunities to think about my future - and the future of the church.

I've always been fascinated by people who dreamed big dreams. Some of my favorite books are the biographies of men and women from various points in history who moved forward with dreams that nobody else thought were possible. Those are my kind of people - the ones who dreamed big, and who had the courage to put feet on their dreams. I want to be like those people...

One of the buzz words today is the word "vision." People who dream big dreams and put feet on those dreams are called "visionaries."

But I think that "vision" is something of a misnomer for what these people do. "Vision" implies someone who can see into the future. We get the idea that "visionary" people have an ability to forecast everything that would happen in the world, and to create ideas that would be on the cutting edge of those events - modern-day prophets, who can see the unforseeable and act accordingly.

As I study the great "visionaries" of today and of history, I find that these people are most often not people who have a clear picture of the future in their mind. Instead, I find that the majority of the people we call "visionaries" are more astute in history and current-events than the future. Rather than attempting to guess what a culture will look like in fifty years, they concentrate on the things that never change and plan to adapt.

I'm not even going to try to tell you what the culture will look like when I've been a pastor for fifty years. But what I can tell you is that in fifty years, the gospel will be the only hope of the world. In fifty years, people will still be hurting, and will still have a desperate need for meaningful community. In fifty years there will still be a struggle between sin and grace, and believers will still need to be challenged to live in accordance with their identity in Christ.

Some things never change. And my forecast of the future is this: the ones who will hold the keys to the future are the ones who understand the timeless truths of the past and plan to adapt their language and methods accordingly.

First Baptist Dallas - Biased?

Check out this article from the Dallas Morning News about the latest controversy at First Baptist Church Dallas.

Apparently a young lady, Ms. Freda Brown, was employed as a preschool teacher at First Baptist Dallas. Employed, that is, until she got pregnant outside of marriage.

At that point, the human resource director at First Baptist met with her and told her that premarital sex was not in keeping with the standards expected of employees at First Baptist, and that she would need to commit to remaining abstinent if she wanted to keep her job. Some time later she was approached by a group of employees at First Baptist who reiterated the character requirement and asked Ms. Brown several questions that she deemed "inappropriate." Finally, Ms. Brown was relieved of her position with pay and insurance until the baby is born.

Now she's claiming to have been discriminated against because of her gender and pregnancy and is taking the church to court, suing for wages and damages.

Pardon me while I stand back and applaud the administration at First Baptist Church Dallas.

Not only does this discipline seem to have been executed thoroughly biblically (first one-on-one, then with a group, finally publicly), the church bent over backward to treat this woman with consideration and grace.

I can't get over how the church went the extra mile to minister to this lady. She could have been fired as soon as the pregnancy test turned to a plus - not because of the pregnancy, but because of the conduct that led to the pregnancy. But even after she was fired, the church made sure the baby who had nothing to do with this would be provided for, and even gave Ms. Brown the time and resources to find a new position. This church balanced the demand for integrity with grace and love in a very difficult situation.

What's On?

I've been pedal to the metal trying to finish up a huge Hebrew paper on the book of Ruth. I just hit "print," and realized that someone bet me lunch I wouldn't post three times to my blog this week after I promised I was back. Never one to back down from a challenge, here you go:

One of Kari and my favorite things to do together is to relax on the couch and watch TV. Since we don't get to do a lot of relaxing, and certainly don't get to relax on a routine schedule, the invention of the DVR has saved our marriage. Okay, not really, but it's a great invention that everyone needs in their home. We set it to record all the events we want to be sure not to miss, and it records them for us - even when they change nights without warning. Then, we fast-forward through the commercials and watch an hour-long show in about 45 minutes. (We don't like to waste time when we're relaxing!)

We're die-hard 24 fans. During the season, our schedules revolve around making sure we have time to watch 24 on the night it's on. In fact, it's the only show we feel like we have to watch on the night a new episode comes out because everyone and their dog is talking about it the next day. We've been known to stay up much later than normal so that we can be sure to catch a new episode of 24.

But 24 isn't on until January, so we have to have other shows to fill our time. Here's what's on in the Freeland house right now:

1. Six Degrees - This one's new this year. So far, it's a pretty good drama about six people who have random connections to each other. The story line keeps bringing them closer together, so I assume at some point they're all going to meet. It doesn't hurt that Erika Christensen is a very "likeable" character, and Kari says the same for Jay Hernandez.

2. The Nine - The jury is still out on this show. A group of nine people get stuck in a bank during a bank robbery. The relationship that they form sticks with them even after they're let out of a hostage situation. I think I would like this show better if it took place during the hostage situation. I could use a little less of the romance and a little more of the action. As it is, from episode to episode the show reveals more about what happened inside the bank to help forge the relationships these nine people now share.

3. Grey's Anatomy - I watch this show because I'm a good husband, and for no other reason. Grey's Anatomy is like a hybrid between ER and Days of Our Lives. Kari loves it, and I tolerate it. That's about the best I can say. I do question the believability of an entire hospital staff sleeping with one another, and none of them ever contracts a STD. You'd think doctors would be a little more careful about their promiscuity. But I guess that adds to the drama of the show. I'm not a big fan.

4. The Office - Kari watches this show because she's a good wife, and for no other reason. Actually, I think she secretly likes it because she always protests when I watch it without her. This is the only show on television, past or present with the exception of Seinfeld of which I can watch reruns alone in my house and still laugh hysterically. If you've ever worked in an office environment of any kind, you'll see the people you used to work with in these characters. (Is it a coincidence that Drew and Dwight start with the same letter? I think not.)

5. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - This show strikes a perfect balance for Kari and I. She loves it because of the ooey gooey story lines and the cool home accessories that Ty Pennington and crew picks out for needy families. I love it because it gets me excited about ministry. Why should secular TV networks be doing a better job of identifying needs and serving the community than the church? We can do that.

And a note for Tim Stevens who looooves NBC's Studio 60. Man, I've tried and tried to find something to like about this show, even trying it again after your recommendations, but I just can't do it. I'm a huge Matthew Perry fan, but even he isn't enough to carry the show. Maybe those of you who love this show are seeing something I'm missing. If so, I'd love to hear your perspective.

Public Debate

"Years ago when it came time for public debate, we said 'I'm right, and your position is not as good.' We don't know how to debate that way anymore. Today when we debate, we insinuate 'I'm right, and you're stupid and evil.'" - Mark Davis

Blogs are amazing things. When I first started blogging almost two years ago, it was because I thought it would be a great place for me to hone my writing skills, test-drive some ideas in the public marketplace, network with some people who were doing things on the cutting-edge of ministry, and respond to some of the things that are important to me. I made two mistakes when I started:

The first mistake I made was to include my real name. chrisfreeland.blogspot.com isn't very incognito. I'm not one to go around googling my name, but if I were, I would notice that my blog is one of the first things to show up on a google search for "Chris Freeland." So, any perspective ministry that might consider me as their future pastor will likely stumble across this blog as they search the web to make sure my name hasn't shown up in any news articles (particularly on the arrest pages).

The second mistake I made was to reference Pyromaniac (my infamous uncle) in one of my original posts. He blogrolled me, blogspotted me, and all the sudden instead of seeing 10 or 15 visitors on my blog every day, I started seeing 90 or 100 on some days.

That's intimidating. Particularly when you read some of the people who comment on Pyromaniacs on a regular basis. Some of these guys (and their homeschooling wives) have nothing better to do than nitpick words and throw rocks at each other. I've searched high and low for a job that would allow me the free-time to spend hours perusing blogs of people I don't like just for the sheer joy of catching them on a point I disagree with and using my stellar debate skills to run them into the ground... but I don't have that kind of time.

And I'm not sure that's a very God-honoring use of the blogosphere.

Now, this is by no means a defense of the Pyromaniac - he can defend himself, and he's certainly not innocent of this kind of thing (by his own admission). Lord knows I don't agree with everything Phil has ever posted. But there's a right way and wrong way to enter discussions with people in a public arena even such as the blogosphere, and that's where the quote above comes in.

There are issues that must be discussed by Christians. There are ideas that must be vigorously debated among Christians. But in those discussions, motive is everything. It is one thing to say "I am right, and your thought is not as good as mine." It's something completely different to say "I am right, and you're stupid and evil."

Ideas are not identity, but we don't separate the two very well.

When we mistake ideas for identity, we show our ignorance of the issues. (How's that for alliteration?) Instead of stopping long enough to understand the person presenting an issue contrary to ours, it's too easy to cast dispersion on their character as if to say "you can't trust this person's character - why should you listen to their ideas?" That's not fair fighting.

The Lordship debate is a great example that I've been on both sides of at various points in my life. But the issue isn't ever going to be resolved because neither side can stop calling the other side names long enough to understand the other person's actual perspective. News Flash: Everyone on the lordship side isn’t a rabid “fruit inspector” who spends his life looking for reasons why the sinners around him must not “really” be saved. And everyone on the no-lordship/free grace side isn’t an antinomian or a Bob Wilkin/Zane Hodges groupie.

Another example of this is the current controversy at Bellevue Baptist Church - the former church of the pastoral giant Adrian Rogers. They're enmeshed in a church controversy that seems destined for a church split. One of the members of a faction who opposes the elders has chosen to start a blog in order to chronicle his point of view. In poor taste, he chose to publish an email correspondence between himself and one of the church staff members. Check it out and see how long it takes for the debate to turn from ideas to identity - by my count, one paragraph by each party involved.

I fail to see how either example in any way reflects the biblical mandate to speak the truth in love, or to lovingly show another his faults in hopes that you might restore your brother. Frankly, we as Christians so busy proving someone else wrong that we fail to demonstrate one iota of good Christian conduct in our dealings. We don't care about the discussion of ideas - if we assassinate individuals, we won't have to worry about their ideas anyway.

Shame on us.

For the weekend...

It should be a busy weekend to top off a busy week. Kari and I spent the last couple of days at the home of some friends who traveled to Israel with us in June. They've got 4 kids ranging in age from 17 to 6, and Kari and I got to house/kid sit while the parents were in Chicago. It was fun to be a soccer dad for a couple of nights, but I'm not sure it could be sustained for a long period of time. The days began at 5am and ended at 11:30pm. Fortunately, these were great kids, or Kari and I might be questioning the Proverb that says "children are a blessing from the Lord."

Tonight, Drew Leaver (my boss) will be preaching at Fellowship North. Drew always does a great job, which is surprising because he always gets tossed the topics that the senior pastor doesn't want to handle. We're in the middle of a series on 1 Corinthians, and Drew "just happened" to draw Chapter 5 - the passage on church discipline. He'll do a great job though, but if not, at least people will be informed enough not to talk bad about him behind his back.

On Sunday, I'll be preaching at Fellowship Bible Church Arapaho. FBCA is the original Fellowship Bible Church where Gene Getz began his ministry as a pastor in the seventies. The church is a lot different now from when Gene was there, but it will still be fun to preach in front of live people who aren't seminary students and professors. If you're in the area, it would be fun to meet you. For service times and directions, check out Fellowship Arapaho's website.

Next week, I'll be back with a post that was provoked by my favorite radio talk show host in the world, Mark Davis. He does a local radio show in Dallas, but does a two-hour national show that you can hear on the Sirius ABC talk channel among other places. Here's the paraphrased quote - I'll relate it back to my life next week, "Years ago when it came time for public debate, we said 'I'm right, and your position is not as good.' We don't know how to debate that way anymore. Today when we debate, we insinuate 'I'm right, and you're stupid and evil.'"

Have a great weekend.

Quote Me

We are ministers but for a short time. At any moment the Master may summon us into silence or call us to the temple above. Make all of your messages count for eternity. Speak now only what you can look back on with comfort when you speak no more. Speak as a dying man to dying men."

- Robert Murray McShane

Where am I?

No, I haven't given up on the blog altogether. I have given up on ever thinking I'm going to be a super blogger who records new, engaging, thoughtful material every day - or even every other day for that matter.

You know those classes in college or graduate school where the professor thinks his or her class is the only important class you'll ever take at that institution and proves it by piling a load of work on you? I've got two of those this semester, and they're eating my lunch. On top of that, things are pretty busy at the church (I just finished putting a major project to rest, and have picked up another project to take its place), and I'm beginning to start thinking about what I'm going to do when I graduate in May of next year. With all of those things combined, I was lucky to have time for a shower this morning, much less a blog entry.

I promise to be better (but not a lot better). I think I'm about over the hump, and have a lot of things to blog about, but am just now getting to the point that I can come up for air. Look for some more from me in the next few days and weeks.