Yearly Archives: 2007

Quit Your Church Shopping and Commit

I came across this quote from the blog of a North Carolina pastor, who went on an excellent rant against church-shoppers:

The church is a battleship, not a cruise ship. Pastors and leaders are generals to equip you for battle in the trenches, not cruise directors to make your stay more enjoyable on the Lido deck.

I have little patience for church-shoppers, those shallow Christians who “try out” churches as they search for the illusive perfect one for them. Maybe they’ll settle into a church for a few months, maybe a year, but they keep the escape hatch open, ready to bolt if they get restless.

At some point, you just need to muster some maturity and commit to a church. Roll up your sleeves and declare, “This is my church. This is where I’m going to find nurture, and where I’m going to minister. And I’m not going to jump ship if the church falls on hard times, the pastor leaves, a new church with flashy promotion starts up nearby, or I just plain get upset about something. I’m committed to this church, whatever might come.”

Now, I’m not against changing churches. There are legitimate reasons. I’ve changed churches, and I’m not in favor of sticking with a church no matter what (too many wonderful saints are wasting away in dying churches, thinking they are doing something good for the Kingdom by keeping open the doors of a doomed church). But you know the type of person I’m talking about. People who won’t sink roots into a local body of believers, and as a result, their spiritual roots never go far beneath the surface. Because maturity in Christ demands, I’m convinced, the involvement and fellowship and opportunities for ministry that a healthy local church provides.

A lot of post-modern/emergent writing paints idealistic visions of the church, and I fear it makes our younger generations dissatisfied with just about any church they come across. No church fits the “biblical” model and ideals that they read about. Some, as a consequence, stop attending church altogether, while others go on a perpetual shopping spree. This is why I consider some post-modern writers, like Brian McClaren (as good-hearted as can be), just a bit dangerous. They make readers discontent with church in general, and dissatisfied with any church they come across.

Hey, it doesn’t take a great intellect to find fault with the “established” church (Anchor being one such church). Give me a few minutes, and I can write out a few dozen ways in which we fall short of what God wants us to be. I don’t need any special wisdom or insight or powers of perception to find fault. It’s easy pickins.

But the church is the vehicle God designed to carry on his work, and I don’t think he’s satisfied unless I’m fully engaged with and committed to a local congregation. I simply can’t live my Christian life any other way.

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Don Brown – My Successful Failure

My first post-college abode was a house divided into three apartments: I occupied the upper level, another guy about my age lived right below me, and Don Brown lived in an apartment jutting off the main porch.

Don was an angry, bitter, disagreeable fellow. I met him one night as I returned from a church meeting. He stood at his screen door grousing about something–either about me or the landlord, I don’t remember which–as I approached the door to the upstairs.

“What did you say?” I asked with good humor, walking to his screen door. He repeated it. Whatever it was. I joked back, and it disarmed him. He calmed down a bit–just a bit–and I asked him if I could come inside and chat. He hesitated about that, but relented with a gruff “Sure.” Or something like that. It was 27 years ago. He opened the door, and I found a place on the couch while he settled into a recliner. He wore white shorts, probably boxers, but nothing else. No shirt, no socks. I remember his skin being very white and pale.

We talked. Don asked what my Dad did. I told him he was a pastor. “That’s a great racket,” he said sarcastically, trying to tick me off. Throughout that visit, Don tried to tick me off. But I just joked with him, and eventually, he was smiling as part of our banter. It was some of the best relationship-building I’ve ever done.

I was intentionally trying to be a witness. At the time I was involved with Evangelism Explosion, so I knew what I was doing. Eventually, I hoped to lay out the gospel message for him and give him a chance to respond. But first, some cultivating was needed. So he became my “project.” Today’s postmodern and emergent writers mock the idea of making someone an evangelistic project. Well, jolly good for them.

I returned another time. Don welcomed me in, but our conversation went pretty much as before. Don was a retired railroad engineer, divorced, alone, very bitter, and not in good health. He was mad about everything. He was also very smart. Not senile. Just a grumpy old man who made a formidable sparring partner. And I think he came to like me. Appreciate me, even.

Then he moved. One day his apartment was empty, and it made me frantic. I hadn’t gotten very far, hadn’t presented the gospel to him. I had been nice, but hadn’t told him why I was nice; for all he knew, I could be a Mormon. But somehow–I don’t remember how–I learned where he had moved, the upstairs of a house about a mile away.

One night I went to visit him. He was surprised to see me, but invited me right in, and we talked for a while. I probably witnessed in some simple way, but was mostly still cultivating. I was just an immature jerk a couple of years removed from college, 23 years old, yet my interaction with Don was tempered and wise, far beyond my years. Don’t know what got into me.

Life zips along way too fast. I didn’t go back for a long time. I thought about doing so, but I didn’t. Soon. I told myself. And then one day, I saw Don’s obituary in the newspaper. I cut it out and placed it on the credenza in my office. It was a reminder of my failure. A reminder that I hadn’t done enough. That because I didn’t go back, because I never presented the gospel, Don was in hell. I genuinely felt this way.

I kept that newspaper clipping in my office for probably 15 years. It always made me feel guilty. We evangelicals are taught to feel guilty–that we’re unworthy, we never do quite enough, we fall short, there’s always more we can do. But at some point I tossed the clipping, having evidently concluded that the statute of eternal limitations had expired.

At the Church Media conference Pam and I attended last June, one speaker, Paul Clifford, told about doing man-on-the-street interviews with people in his city to craft a video to use in a message. One fellow they approached was a Wiccan. They struck up a conversation, and the guy gave some comments on film.

Paul said, “We didn’t do anything. All we did was be nice to him.” But the result of being nice was that this young man began giving Christianity a second look, and on his own, he accepted Christ into his life. Then he led his brother to the Lord. And then both of them were killed in a car crash. Two souls now in heaven, all because they were nice.

I was nice to Don Brown. I regrettably didn’t get any further than being nice. But maybe nice was enough. Maybe Don gave Christianity a second look. Maybe I made some huge influence that I never saw. I definitely felt led by God to visit Don. I was obedient. That’s a good thing.

I’ve always viewed that as a failure. But now I’m thinking that’s hogwash. I should view it as a success. The Holy Spirit prompted me to do something, and I did it. I tried to befriend a guy the rest of the world couldn’t stand to be around. God knew how the story would end. He valued my role, but wasn’t limited by it. And maybe, just maybe, Don’s waiting up there in heaven for me. Wouldn’t that be something.

Now I’d like to get that clipping back. But this time, I would hang it on the wall as a success story. As something I did right. Lord knows I need more of those.

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11 Questions for the Candidates

You need to read “Gordon MacDonald’s 2008 Questions,” a superb list of 11 questions he would ask of presidential candidates. He begins by referencing a secretive meeting some evangelical string-pullers held at a hotel in Florida, where Dobson and Falwell types (and probably Dobson and Falwell) were determing whom to annoint as the Christian candidate. MacDonald says, if he had been invited to that meeting, these are the questions he would want answered. It’s great stuff. I’m right there with him.

Sadly, the answers to these questions that would satisfy me most likely would not come from Republicans.

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Piling on About George Bush

Recently I told my brother Rick, a fellow blogger, that it had been a while since I had posted an anti-Bush rant. At this point, it almost seems like piling on. Most people now realize what a hideous failure the Bush administration has been and how it has severely damaged our place in the world and destroyed any claim to moral authority. The exceptions would be people who:

  • Watch Fox News 24/7 and/or worship Rush Limbaugh.
  • Have been kept in a medically induced coma.

I continually read stories which reference blunders by the Bush administration, but it’s done in almost a so-so way, as if Bush’s incompetence is old news and there’s no sense dwelling on it. We’re just killing time now until he leaves office and someone new can try to restore some sanity to what has been a self-indulgent, arrogant romp. Things which might have disturbed me in previous years now seem ho-hum, just more (as if we need more) evidence of how severely Bush has botched up my country.

Here are four items I’ve come across recently. Nothing spectacular about any of them, alone, but when put together, along with dozens of other stories…well, historians are going to have a hey-dey.

  • It’s well-known now that disbanding the Iraqi military was a huge error which contributed heavily to the insurgency and civil war. I read this week that we also shut down all state-run industries, thereby putting tens of thousands more people out of work. Since these included fertilizer factories, farmers were affected and food production declined. Such was the arrogance of ideologues intent on turning Iraq into a free-market economy.
  • Anti-American radicals throughout the Middle East were upset when Bin Laden attacked America. Their greatest asset was Afghanistan–a country which welcomed their presence and provided a base for training. But after 9/11, nobody–including the Death to America Islamists–could blame America for invading Afghanistan. We destroyed an almost irreplaceable asset, this terrorist haven, and Al Qaeda was practically obliterated. Until we invaded Iraq. The Death to America crowd thanks Bush for invading Iraq, because in so doing, we revived a terrorist movement which had almost been vanquished. Up from the ashes of Afghanistan was born a whole new generation of anti-American terrorists. Good job, George.
  • Meanwhile, in Russia, Vladimir Putin has killed nearly all of the press freedoms which emerged from the reforms of Gorbachev and Yeltsin, and now is actively assassinating opponents and critics (13 journalists have been assassinated). The Russian parliament even passed a law permitting the assassination of Russians living abroad who were speaking out against the Russian government. But the US has no moral authority here. Not when we abduct people from one country and spirit them away to another country to be tortured–not because there’s a ticking bomb and they know the location, but because we think they know something that might, possibly, be of some value to us. Not when we give the bird to the Geneva Conventions. Not when we flagrantly disregard basic legal and privacy rights. Not when we create prisons and torture centers in other countries to get around our own laws. No, thanks to George Bush, America has no claim to moral authority. We have no business lecturing Russia, or China, or anyone else. And that is a huge, huge tragedy.
  • Iran, it turns out, was actually helping us a lot in Afghanistan and in other ways in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Many moderates and reformers in Iran wanted to normalize relations with the US. Iran even agreed to pay $500 million to help rebuild Afghanistan. But one week after that agreement, George Bush included them in his “Axis of Evil” speech. Iran’s hard-liners pronounced, “See! We told you that Iran and the US can’t be friends!” The moderates and reformers shrunk into the background, and the hard-liners took control. And now, Iran is a formidable, resolute enemy of the United States. An enemy that George Bush created.

Stories like these emerge all the time, and in the years ahead, as respected historians tackle these eight years, much more will come to light. But I’ve heard so much that nothing will surprise me. I voted for this guy twice–I trusted him–and he trashed our country’s reputation and influence.

Okay, Rick, I got this out of my system for a while.

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The Church Service, Then and Now

Church services have changed greatly during my lifetime. I occasionally find myself harking back to services of my earlier, formative years. And yet, I like today’s services. I thought I’d draw comparisons between today’s church services and those of, say, the 1960s and 1970s, and see who wins.

Keep in mind that I’m speaking in generalities, and only from the tiny United Brethren corner of Christendom. So this is basically useless drivel with no statistical accuracy. As if that ever stops me.

Sermon content. Sermons have become (in general) shorter and more relevant to contemporary life. Less theology (not good), but more practical application. At the same time, sermons are more “sensitive” and less hard-hitting, less no-nonsense about what it means to be a Christian. Overall: it’s a draw.

Multimedia. Multimedia, to me, greatly enhances worship and the communication process. Hurray for technology, and God bless PowerPoint. Ministers, no longer mere talking heads, creatively augment their messages with movie clips, props, metaphors, Powerpoint slides, etc. Technology is expensive, and some ministers feel crippled without their techie tools. But overall: hugely positive change.

Pastoral prayer. How I dreaded, as a kid, standing for 15 minutes while the pastor droned on with his high-priestly prayer. But this practice seems to have bitten the dust. Overall: excellent change.

Music leadership. It was 1991 before I attended a church which used drums and guitars. I would have loved drums even in the 1960s, but alas, we couldn’t get beyond the organ-piano combo. I enjoy involving more laypersons in the music, and being able to do new songs rather than be chained to what’s in the hymnal. Overall: an absolutely wonderful change.

Congregational singing. Lots of deadbeats sit in today’s pews, not singing. Just standing there with stone faces. What’s the problem here? Plus, since nobody actually looks at music (as in a hymnal), nobody sings parts. I miss that. Overall: bad change.

Songs. A lot of great music is being written. Unfortunately, it all says the same thing: God is great, wonderful, awesome, merciful, faithful, loving, etc., etc., etc. And he’s all of these things to me me me me. Lots of touch-feely lyrics, all between the singer and God. Looking for new congregational songs about evangelism, conquering sin, the church, missions, the second coming, Christmas, prayer? Sorry, you’re out of luck unless you track down a hymnal. Overall: bad change.

Attire. In early days, I always dressed up for church. Now, people go casual. Lots of people deem that a bad thing, a lowering of standards, a lessening of respect for God. I see it as removing a barrier for unchurched folks. Clothes shouldn’t be a barrier. Overall: great change.

That pretty much covers it. Did I miss anything significant? Looks like I think things are better than in my youth. So, no more harking for me.

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Goodbye to “Lost”

Last week, as Pam and I set the VCR before heading off to Wednesday prayer meeting, we decided we’d had enough of “Lost.” So we skipped it. I noticed that in last night’s episode, according to TV Guide, Hurley found a car. Yeah, I’m a tad curious. But not curious enough to resume watching. We’re done with “Lost.”

I’ll keep a casual interest in what’s happening, and will want to know how the series ultimately ends. But I suspect that when we discover what this whole island was about, it’ll be intensely unsatisfying, and that the final explanation won’t account for all kinds of things that have happened during the course of the show. Just like X Files.

Besides, I grew real tired of the main characters being couped up in cages through the entire fall. I loved the show for a long time. But my interest in remaining a regular viewer is gone.

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JesusPets.com

I ran across the JesusPets website, and it gave me some laughs. The line at the top asks: “If Jesus returns tonight, who will feed your pets tomorrow?”

Well, that got my attention. I clicked on the “About” link to learn more.

Who is going to care for your pets after you are raptured into heaven?

If you have a non-Christian family member, they might take care of your pet, but if not, have you made any plans? Imagine being taken to streets of gold while your dog starves to death walking around in his own feces trapped in your small house or apartment, subject to fire and earthquakes or even being eaten by heathens searching for any remaining morsel of food. Do you want that to happen?

That’s what JesusPets is for. We are assembling a community of heathen pet-lovers to care for pets that are “left-behind.” We are coordinating with feed mills and kennels in preparation for your post-apocalyptic pet care needs.

I love that last line–my “post-apocalyptic pet care needs.” I browsed around other pages and got a number of laughs. The site has a lot of funny stuff on it. It’s most likely done by a non-believer with a great sense of wacky humor. Whoever it is–thanks for not taking us Christians too seriously.

And I’m wondering: who will take care of Jordi and Molly if we’re raptured?

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Getting Acquainted with Our Fellow Churches

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The crowd in our fellowship hall Sunday night.

Last night at church we did something intensely cool. We held a joint get-together with four other churches in our neighborhood: Grace Presbyterian, Trinity United Methodist, First Mennonite, and North Highlands Church of Christ. To make a difference in our neighborhood, it makes great sense, from a strategic standpoint, to join forces with other churches which want to make a difference. This is a baby step in that direction.

Actually, the first baby step came last spring, when Pastor Tim sent a letter to these pastors inquiring about working together. We held a joint Vacation Bible School last summer. And now, we’re going further during Lent.

For five Sunday nights, starting last night, we are holding a joint service at a different church. Anchor got things started last night. With the icy weather, the Oscars, and the big Chris Tomlin-Matt Redmon concert at Blackhawk Baptist Church, we didn’t have high hopes. We figured 50 would be a good number. But we ended up pretty much filling our basement fellowship hall with 75-80 people.

TimBarb_300.jpgGrace Presbyterian, led by the delightful Pastor Barb (that’s her on the right, taking photos, beside Pastor Tim), sent a big contingent. I spent a lot of time with them, and thoroughly enjoyed them. One young man, Steve, is a former atheist who became a Christian and, this summer, is headed for seminary. He hopes to eventually work in campus ministry, perhaps with Campus Crusade or InterVarsity.

Honestly, I don’t know much about Presbyterians. Haven’t had much contact with them during my 50 years, and have heard labels like “mainline” and “liberal” thrown their way (as if all Presbyterian groups are alike). We conservative evangelicals are adept at creating labels to separate us from other groups (though fundamentalists can be downright diabolical at it). We want to avoid contaminating our pure theology, I guess. I don’t think Jesus is too crazy about separatist attitudes.

The pastors agreed on a format for each evening. So last night, we started with a soup and dessert meal. Then we sang three songs which come out of our church’s tradition–in our case, “Take My Life and Let it Be” (though we Anchorized it with the Chris Tomlin version), “I’ll Fly Away,” and “This Little Light of Mine.” For the latter, when we got to the verse which says, “Shine all over Third Street” (where Anchor is located), we had each church insert their own church’s street. That was neat. Tim and Terry played guitars and sang, I played the piano, and Marsha sang.

After those three songs, Tim spoke informally and with lots of humor about Anchor and our denomination–theology, ministries, history, etc. It set a great tone.

Next week we’re at North Highlands Church of Christ. I can hardly wait. In reaching our neighborhood, the most strategic relationships we can develop are not with other United Brethren churches in Fort Wayne, but with other churches, regardless of affiliation, located in our neighborhood. We’ll discover which ones share our heart for really making an impact. This can only lead to good things.

The United Brethren church began when a Mennonite minister and a German Reformed minister, discovering that they shared the same spiritual passions, declared, “We are brethren.” I think they’d be pleased with what happened last night at Anchor.

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The Fluff Report: American Idol

Time for an American Idol fluff post. Yes, Pam and I watch the show. Started last year, got hooked, and now we’re back. I will be posting about American Idol, but as far as I can tell, the show in no way contributes to the ministry of my church or to world evangelization in general (though I’m sure numerous contestants will find reason to thank God for something). In short, the path to heaven does not pass in front of Randy, Paula, and certainly not Simon. And yet, I am compelled to obsess over the show.

I find this year’s contestants pretty boring, especially compared to last year. Most of the guys sound alike. Only Blake Lewis, Chris Sligh, and the too-young Sanjayah are interesting. But it’s early, and I can see Sundance and Phil breaking from the pack. I liked Rudy, who was dismissed from the show last night; a good performer.

The women are similarly boring, though a bit more diverse. Melinda Doolittle is my favorite, and I like Sabrina. Beyond that–I don’t really care. We desperately need a Kelly Pickler.

Last year’s crew was so much more interesting. Where is this year’s Taylor Hicks? There are no country reps this year, like Kelly and Bucky Covington. No Elliott Yamin. Chris Sligh can only pretend to be Chris Daughtrey’s succesor. Several women could perhaps take Kat McPhee’s place, potentially. Lakisha is certainly Mandisa, and Stephanie Edwards can stand in for Paris Bennett and Lisa Tucker. A couple guys can do a lesser version (complete with lesser falsetto) of Ace Young. And where, oh where, is this year’s Kevin Covais? Overall, the calibre definitely took a hit this year. At least, that’s my early diagnosis as a highly trained evaluator of vocal talent…not!

I find myself despising Antonella Barba, simply because of her friend who got dismissed in Hollywood. An early feature showed them as two pretty, stuck-on-themselves, aren’t-we-beautiful dilettantes, like so many Valley-Girlites I knew in high school. Now that Antonella is by herself, she actually comes across as likable, and she’s certainly pretty. But I still hate her because of baggage I still carry from my adolescent years. Interesting that I can muster up such strong emotions over this TV show. Such is the state of my shallowness.

Now I need to go see what’s happening with Anna Nicole.

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Celebrating No-Presidents Day

The third Monday in February is always Presidents Day. That means it must occur somewhere between February 15 and 21. We think of it as a combination of the birthdays of Washington and Lincoln.

But–this is interesting–their birthdays don’t fall in that span. Washington was born on either February 11 (according to the old-style Julian calendar, still being used) or February 22 (the newly-adopted Gregorian calendar). Lincoln’s birthday is February 12. Two other presidents were born in February: William Henry Harrison on February 6, and Ronald Reagan on February 9. So Presidents Day will never occur on an actual president’s birthday.

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