Odd Tuesday

Usually my day off is Tuesday, however, yesterday being Labor Day, I took it off instead. I have been in the office all day, with a small exception of being out in the front lawn of the church for about 20 minutes working on a project. During that 20 minute span of time, a woman I have never met approached me and began telling me her story.

Her name is 'Abigail'. Her husband died four months ago. Two of her children have passed away. She is a lonely widow that occasionally attends another church in town. Last night she was driving on highway 152, when she passed a young woman walking, stumbling, and crying on the side of the road. Much like she felt she was to park her car and come speak with a sweaty, tattooed guy in a T-shirt working on a park bench in front of a church, she pulled over on the side of 152 highway to ask a young girl if she was okay.

Abigail picked this girl up. Her story now included a brand new character: 'Tina'. Tina is 19, homeless, hungry, sick with pneumonia, and desperately looking for a place to live, a place to work, and a place that will enable her life to improve. Abigail got Tina to a hospital and purchased food and medication for this hurting girl. However, now she didn’t know what to do.

Abigail introduced me to Tina. Now my story has two new characters in it: Abigail and Tina.

I spent a couple of hours on the phone with every local agency I could find, only to be extremely disappointed. As it turns out, to be homeless and get significant help is near impossible… but not totally. Unfortunately, Tina has been through the ringer. She’s dealt with alcoholism since she was eleven and endured the horrors of rape and severe abuse physically and emotionally.

She’s been hardened.

Religion and religious people are not anything that concerns her. She feels God is not ‘knowable’ and absolutely doesn't care about her or her situation. Life’s experiences have left Tina an agnostic to her bitter, hardened, hurting core. My words of ‘comfort’ were as useful as a screen-door on a submarine.

But today Tina’s story, Abigail’s story, and my story… all merged. Why?

I am reminded that I’m really just a tiny part in something much bigger than I often realize… God’s story. As I spoke with these lovely ladies, my heart broke for both of them. As a matter of fact, things got a little awkward when they each saw tears running down my face. After making numerous phone calls securing shelter for Tina, we simply sat down and talked. Each and every idea that I came up with would be shot down by this 19 year old, worldly-wise, un-knowingly desperate girl. She told me how she’d never go to any type of homeless shelter again, because the “people that work in those places treat people like me like we’re lower than dirt”. She said, “I may not have much, but I have my pride and my dignity and I won’t go to a place like that”. She was frustrated. Frustrated at her situation, at her helplessness, and at all those that said they wanted to help, but simply didn't. She then turned her frustration towards God and religion and began a line of questioning that would make a well-versed theologian with a few doctorates quake in their boots. My humble responses were, apparently, less than adequate and I, truly, felt more helpless than I've felt in quite some time. Physically, she would not let me help her. Spiritually, I was trying to be sincere, but came off ‘preachy’ and was absolutely not understood. Complete failure?

For all these reasons, my heart broke.

If these were my feelings, I imagined what God must feel when He sees His creation hurting like this. As things were unfolding, I also imagined how God’s heart must break each time He sees a child choose unwisely. We often talk about God’s power. I think that God would HAVE to be “all powerful” to endure the level of hurt and pain He must tolerate each day He has to look down upon our bad decisions and rebellion.

I'm also reminded that, like three out of the four 'soils' in Luke 8:4-15, sometimes people miss out on the 'good seed' of God's words because of their various negative responses to it. I guess I just never thought of how discouraging that might be for the 'Sower' of that seed. Truly, our God is all powerful and awesome to remain loving, when so many of us continue to not understand and willfully rebel.

Today has been odd. Not one of my favorite days, for sure. However, it has caused me to pause and view some things... and people... through the eyes of God.

I should do that more often.

The Nerve to Serve

I'm not sure who exactly reads this little blog. Only few comment, which is normal for blog-readers, I'm told. Actually, I read a few blogs myself, and rarely comment. So... there ya have it.

Anyways... if you read this blog, and do NOT attend Desperation Church in Liberty, Missouri - the following will seem as tho it's not for you, however, I'd REALLY appreciate your input as well. If you simply click 'COMMENT' below, and then sign in as 'ANONYMOUS' your comment will be much appreciated.

Here we go:

For almost three years our church has dedicated the fourth weekend's services to leaving the walls of our building and going out into our community to practically show the love of God. We call these weekends: DC-W.O.W. (Desperation Church With Out Walls). These weekends have included service projects that vary from giving away groceries to cleaning up our town's 'square' after the Fall Festival, from raking leaves to providing a relaxing meal for the parents of 'special needs' children, from giving baby clothes to young mothers to yard-work at local nursing homes. We've done all this and so much more.

I felt that God gave me a vision for this unique way of reaching out. It was almost as if I felt it as a 'mandate'... like something I 'had' to do. It hasn't been easy. Some, initially, hated this idea and didn't understand why we had to do this during regular church hours. Others never gave it a chance and immediately left our fellowship. Many did, however, grasp the vision and have been faithful to serve and do their best to make a "loud noise for Jesus" in our small community. Over the past three years, numbers have dwindled. Some times we have less than 100 people show up for a DC-W.O.W. weekend. Actually,... our numbers overall at Desperation Church have dwindled, but that might be due to a number of other reasons. I still feel that this was a vision that God gave me for our church. Something inside of me tells me to never judge the success of something based on 'numbers' or on if it makes 'men' happy.

Galations 1:10 - "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."

Some things are going to change at Desperation Church.

Jon Petersen has been the pastor on staff that oversees DC-W.O.W. He has done a marvelous job! However, it was never his vision. It was mine. Hiring someone else to oversee and orchestrate a vision that God has given me, may not have been something I was supposed to do. Again, Jon has done an outstanding job. He has been more than faithful to doing all that has been asked of him. However, when we find ourselves working on something that is not what God has called 'us' to do, it can often lead to burn-out and discouragement (especially when numbers of volunteers begin to dwindle). Jon's heart has always been for youth and young adults. He came to Desperation Church with over 15 years of experience ministering to young people. In a sense, this is what makes his heart beat fast, what he enjoys, what he is called to do. So... he'll be stepping into more of a youth minister's role. Along with his responsibilities of overseeing small groups and other ministries at DC, Jon will now lead the many wonderful volunteers we have in ministering to the numerous young people that attend our church. I am so excited about this, as a pastor and as a parent of teens!

This all means that my job description is going to change as well. I will now be the DC-W.O.W. Director. Along with planning and preparing weekly messages for the folks that attend our weekend services, I will be overseeing this monthly outreach ministry that has been birthed within my heart. I'm excited... and a bit nervous. "Can I adequately feed those that come to be spiritually fed on the weekends, AND organize and administrate a major monthly outreach?"

Please pray.

Besides your prayers, here's where I NEED you (If there is anyone still reading at this point). I need your ideas. I want our community to look at our church and see Jesus! I want them to see that we are not all a bunch of selfish, self-absorbed, money-grubbing know-it-alls, but rather, imperfect people endeavoring to love God whole-heartedly while loving those outside our walls radically! Even if you don't attend DC, I'd love to have you give some suggestions. It really is a difficult thing to pull off monthly, when we don't have much in the way of resources, but what if we could truly point our community to the living Jesus by showing them He's alive in us and loving them through us?

I'll be asking certain ones to help me with putting your ideas into action, but I must have your ideas. You live in this area. You know folks that need to see Jesus. What are some ways the 'church' could help this happen... in a practical way?

Here's 5 things to keep in mind when thinking about ideas for DC-W.O.W.:

1. Would this outreach meet a real need in our community?
2. Would this outreach promote unity within our church & without it?
3. Would this outreach involve all ages and abilities? If not, then what will we do with children and those who are unable to physically be involved?
4. How much would this outreach cost?
5. Would this outreach be something that hundreds of volunteers could be involved in?

Now, it's your turn... I can't wait to hear from you. Thank you so much!

EPIC FAIL

Ever fail?

I’m talking about falling flat on your face and really screwing things up? This happens to all of us at one time or another. The difference between an average person and one that achieves great things seems to be their perception of and response to failure. Most of us were never taught how to deal with blowing it big time, but if it’s something that we are all going to do at least once in our lives, then why don’t we talk more about “dealing with failure”?

I have failed… much more than once. Sometimes, after counseling or simply talking with someone about an incredibly important subject, once they’ve left… I feel that I failed; “I should have said…” or “I wish I hadn’t said…”. Sometimes after preaching a sermon I feel the same way; “Man, I don’t think I made any sense” or “Why would anyone listen to someone as boring as I was today?”

The truth is that failure is something that all of us must deal with… pretty regularly. J.M. Barrie said, “We are all failures – at least, all the best of us are.” Failure is far more common than success, much like poverty is more prevalent than wealth. However, the difference between those that seem to rise above the crowd and those that continue to meander amidst or below it, is often how an individual views a mistake.

I love movies. I also love comic books. Whenever the two merge, I am first in line. My sons and I have been to the 12:01am showing of almost every superhero movie since they have been old enough to wear their Spider-Man underoos! This past week a comic movie came out, that I have not seen: Conan The Barbarian. The reason I haven’t seen this movie is because the Conan comic was never one of my favorites, and I have heard that the movie was going to be extremely violent [I am not a fan of blood and guts movies].

Well… I guess I'm not alone. The movie is currently bombing at the Box Office. All that money invested in this movie is being flushed down the toilet by horrible critic reviews and audiences giving it a unified ‘thumbs down’. This makes me sorta sad for those involved with a movie like this. For this reason, I was greatly moved when I read a statement by screenwriter Sean Hood, via Quora, offering up a unique insight into something we don't often see with people involved with movies like Conan the Barbarian...his thoughts on what it was like to see the movie "flop". It showed me a man who is currently living smack-dab in the middle of failure and his mature response. I want to share a portion of his statement, in hopes that we’ll all learn something that I believe is really important:

“…For the next couple of days, you walk in a daze, and your friends and family offer kind words, but mostly avoid the subject. Since you had planned (ardently believed, despite it all) that success would propel you to new appointments and opportunities, you find yourself at a loss about what to do next. It can all seem very grim.

You make light of it, of course. You joke and shrug. But the blow to your ego and reputation can't be brushed off. Reviewers, even when they were positive, mocked Conan The Barbarian for its lack of story, lack of characterization, and lack of wit. This doesn't speak well of the screenwriting - and any filmmaker who tells you s/he "doesn't read reviews" just doesn't want to admit how much they sting.

Unfortunately, the work I do as a script doctor is hard to defend if the movie flops. I know that those who have read my Conan shooting script agree that much of the work I did on story and character never made it to screen. I myself know that given the difficulties of rewriting a script in the middle of production, I made vast improvements on the draft that came before me. But its still much like doing great work on a losing campaign. All anyone in the general public knows, all anyone in the industry remembers, is the flop. A loss is a loss.

But one thought this morning has lightened my mood:

My father is a retired trumpet player. I remember, when I was a boy, watching him spend months preparing for an audition with a famous philharmonic. Trumpet positions in major orchestras only become available once every few years. Hundreds of world class players will fly in to try out for these positions from all over the world. I remember my dad coming home from this competition, one that he desperately wanted to win, one that he desperately needed to win because work was so hard to come by. Out of hundreds of candidates and days of auditions and callbacks, my father came in....second.

It was devastating for him. He looked completely numb. To come that close and lose tore out his heart. But the next morning, at 6:00 AM, the same way he had done every morning since the age of 12, he did his mouthpiece drills. He did his warm ups. He practiced his usual routines, the same ones he tells his students they need to play every single day. He didn't take the morning off. He just went on. He was and is a trumpet player and that's what trumpet players do, come success or failure.

Less than a year later, he went on to win a position with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he played for three decades. Good thing he kept practicing.

So with my father's example in mind, here I sit, coffee cup steaming in its mug and dog asleep at my feet, starting my work for the day, revising yet another script, working out yet another pitch, thinking of the future (the next project, the next election) because I'm a screenwriter, and that's just what screenwriters do. In the words of Ed Wood, "My next one will be BETTER!"”

Wow.

One of the greatest problems people have with failure is that they are too quick to judge isolated situations in their lives and label them as failures. Instead, they need to keep the bigger picture in mind. When you and I fail, we are not ‘failures’. We may have failed at doing something, but we are not failures. There is a big difference.

I love how Scripture tells us that Jesus instructed His closest friends to shake the dust from their feet and simply go to the next house if they were to fail at bringing someone to an understanding of their Message (Mark 6:11). Why did Jesus tell them this? Could it be that He understood how hard we humans take it when we don't succeed at the things we're endeavoring to accomplish? Jesus knew the truth, which is: At times, we’ll fail... But how you and I respond when we do is what will determine any future success we will have.

May you and I be those that turn our failures into learning moments, and eventually stepping stones for the success that will lead to our God receiving the glory due Him through our lives!

Shaken Not Stirred

I'm a pastor.

One of the 'jobs' of a pastor is providing solid, Biblical, relevant teaching to various numbers of people. I've been doing that, on a regular basis, since 1989. You'd think after that amount of time it would be something that I'm comfortable with, and feel confident in. However, I find myself nervous each and every time I am required to stand before folks and talk... about God.

Over the years I've shared this nervousness with certain friends. I'm often told that I "don't seem nervous" or that I "have no reason to be nervous". But it doesn't help.

My knees are knocking each and every time I preach.

This morning a friend shared the following quote, by the incredible A.W. Tozer, with me via email:

"I've been preaching since I was nineteen years old and now I'm sixty-three. And yet, after all these years of preaching, I come into the pulpit shaking inside - not because I fear the people, but because I fear God. It's the fear and trembling of knowing that I stand to speak of God and if I don't speak rightly about God, what a terrible error it will be. If I speak evilly of God, what a frightful crime! It is only when I speak well of God that I dare sleep at night without asking forgiveness." [ "The Attributes of God" Vol. 2 ]

I am so thankful for this quote. It comforts me. It encourages me. It gives me hope. It rings wonderfully true in my heart.

As followers of God, you and I are going to be given multiple opportunities to speak into the lives of others. At times those opportunities will position us before large numbers of folks, and at other times we'll be one-on-one with them. There need not be a sense of fear in us, but perhaps there should be a sense of awe and trembling, as we recognize that we are ambassadors. We, literally, are representing the greatest, most powerful, most awesome and mysteriously loving Being ever to those that are desperate... whether they know it or not.

May the whispers of hope reach the ears of hope-hungry people through you and I, and may we never take lightly the remarkable calling we've been given.

I Wanna Rock

After an eight day sabbatical and a one week vacation, I'm finding it sorta difficult to prepare for the weekend's message. An older man at the gym this morning said to me, "After all that riding on your motorcycle, you must have a hundred sermons ready to preach!"

I wish.

I did indeed ride my Harley Davidson 4,384 miles, through 13 states, over eight days. And it was an awesome time to be alone, reflect, think, meditate, and enjoy the Master's creation as I've never done before. However, although I spent much time in prayer, listened to the entire New Testament on my iPod, and worshipped with some amazing music and scenery,...I wasn't exactly 'sermonizing'.

This morning I decided to just quiet myself... and hang out with the Lord. Pray. Sometimes when I do this, I find myself slightly rocking back and forth. This rhythmic rocking reminds me of some of the "intercessors" I'd see at the hyper-pentecostal prayer meetings I used to attend. I say, "used to attend", because I don't find myself at those types of prayer meetings anymore. I found them unauthentic and tedious, and, I believe, my conversations with the Father were never meant to be like that... so I simply stopped attending.

But the "rocking thing"... has sorta stuck. Weird?

I have found that the Jews have a practice, called davening. For them, the rocking motion during prayer is a way of expressing that one's whole self, body and soul, is caught up with God. The movement of the body mimics the flickering flame of a candle, calling to mind the saying that "the candlestick of God is the soul of a man."

I do like the idea of "one's whole self" being caught up with God. In a sense, raptured [1 Thessalonians 4:17-18]. I know, I know... that's not what that particular word is supposed to mean. Forgive me. But how I long for moments now... in this life... where I am literally 'caught up' with God. Moments when I forget the stresses I deal with daily. Moments when I lose all sense of time. Moments when I just sort of 'wait' on God... and He strengthens me, encourages me, and holds me tightly as He whispers the things that truly matter in life straight into my calloused ears and hardened heart [Isaiah 40:31].

So today, I have a lot to get done. But right now... all I wanna do is rock.

See ya!

Christian Nation?

In the week following the celebration of our nation’s birthday, I am hearing quite a few folks hating on America; its president, legal-system (the jurors who handed down a not-guilty murder verdict for Casey Anthony), and our country’s straying from its founding principles. I’m finding it a little discouraging. Just a couple of nights ago I was gazing at fireworks and listening to “God Bless America” being played over loud speakers at a football stadium and now I’m hearing television reporters declare that “the devil is dancing” as he celebrates all that America has become.

I have always found it interesting that people refer to this country as a ‘Christian nation’. To be honest, I wonder if it ever was. I appreciate those that have gone before us and been committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. However, has this nation ever really been “Christian”?

Please take a few moments to look at the following quotes from some of this nation’s founding fathers and others who’ve helped, or seem to be helping to, shape this country:

“Mystery [the divinity of Jesus Christ] is made a convenient Cover for absurdity.” – John Adams

“The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my profession.” – Abraham Lincoln

“If I should go out of church whenever I hear a false sentiment, I could never stay there five minutes.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“This story of the redemption will not stand examination. That man should redeem himself from the sin of eating an apple, by committing a murder on Jesus Christ, is the strangest system of religion ever set up.” – Thomas Paine

“The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.” – George Bernard Shaw

“But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” – Thomas Jefferson

“Every other sect supposes itself in possession of all truth, and that those who differ are so far in the wrong; like a man traveling in foggy weather, those at some distance before him on the road he sees wrapped up in the fog, as well as those behind him, and also the people in the fields on either side, but near him all appears clear, tho’ in truth he is as much in the fog as any of them.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Religious hatreds ought not to be propagated at all, but certainly not on a tax-exempt basis.” – James A. Michener

“The need for religion will end when man becomes sensible enough to govern himself.” – Francisco Ferrer Guardia

“The way to see by Faith is to shut the Eye of Reason.” – Benjamin Franklin

“The government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.” – John Adams

Why are we [Christians] so surprised when our nation, its government officials, or any of its inhabitants act in a way that is contrary to God’s Word? Is it because there are a few vague statements in our founding documents that refer to God? Is it because the very first inhabitants of this land came here from England seeking a place they could worship freely? [Wait a minute… they weren’t really the first inhabitants of the land, were they? Some would say that we sorta stole it from the ‘first inhabitants’, in our effort to ‘worship freely’,… but let’s not talk about that.]

I would suggest the thing we have been calling ‘Christianity’… isn’t really very ‘Christ-like’ at all. Former slave, Frederick Douglas, said it perfectly, “Between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference – so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked… I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land ‘Christianity’.” – Frederick Douglas, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, an American Slave, Written by Himself (1845; New York: Signet, 1968), 120.

Has anything changed? How authentically ‘Christ-like’ is America today? How genuinely ‘like Jesus’ are those who profess to follow Him?

According to their web-site, The 700 Club can be seen in 96 percent of the homes in the U.S. and is carried on ABC Family cable network, FamilyNet, Trinity Broadcasting Network, plus numerous local U.S. television stations, and is seen daily by approximately one million viewers. CBN WorldReach broadcasts, which include international editions of The 700 Club, have aired in more than 100 languages, can be seen in over 200 countries, and are accessible throughout the year to more than 1.5 billion people around the world. On August 22, 2005 Pat Robertson bluntly stated, “We have the ability to take [Hugo Chavez] out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability.” That is an interesting opinion, and one that I do not share. Why? Because it doesn’t exactly seem to be something Jesus would do.

Ann Coulter, a radio/television talking head who claims Christian beliefs and is praised by numerous conservative Christian personalities, states, “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren’t punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That’s war. And this is war.”

Jerry Falwell, an evangelical fundamentalist Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and a conservative commentator from the United States , stated, “You’ve got to kill the terrorists before the killing stops. And I’m for the President to chase them all over the world. If it takes ten years, blow them all away in the name of the Lord.” What ever happened to turning the other cheek, and much of Jesus’ message in Luke 6?

Why do Christ-followers concern themselves so deeply with the kingdoms of this world, but seemingly ignore the Kingdom of God? Listen, I’m not saying that we rise up and revolt against our American government, because they are not Christian. Absolutely not. I am saying that many of the voices that supposedly represent ‘Christianity’ are saying things that aren’t necessarily all that Christ-like. Are we not called to be “in the world, but not of this world”? We submit to Christ first, and as we live as aliens and strangers to the powers of this world, we submit to our governing authorities second.

Someone much wiser than me has said, “You can’t blame a sinner for sinning”. I believe that is true. I can’t go to Chic-Fil-A and complain that they don’t make good tacos. They don’t make tacos! That’s not their thing! In much the same way, I can’t complain about my government or country for acting like something they simply aren’t. All I can do is submit to my God-given authorities, always understanding that my life is woven into a larger tapestry of being a Christian who lives as an alien and stranger to the ways of this world.

I was listening to someone talk about how dreadful it would be if America ever elected a Mormon into the White House, or God-forbid, a Muslim. My response is, “Why?” What difference is there between them and any other person who isn’t sold out for the cause of Jesus Christ? None. What difference is there between them and someone who claims a belief in Christ, but finds no problems with lying, cheating or some other ‘sin’? None.

It’s a country… that’s it. Ever heard the saying, ‘a house is just a house, but, the family within that house is what makes it a home’? So too, this country is just a country. This planet of ours has lots of countries… and Jesus died for the people that reside in all of them. What truly matters is our God, and His eternal, unseen Kingdom. It would be nice if the supposedly ‘Christian-talking heads’ spoke about that Kingdom a little more often, and stopped dramatizing how awful America is.

Jesus isn’t American… Chic-Fil-A doesn’t make tacos… the United States isn’t a Christian nation… but I’m still darn lucky to live here and proud of those who've made that possible. However, what I'm most proud of is not my nationality, but the fact that I've been adopted into God's family and am called a child of God. My first desire will always be to see "His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven".