Two deaths...

I am writing this on July 7, 2009. The day the earth stopped (or so it seemed) to watch Michael Jackson's funeral. A sad, untimely death for one so talented and still young.

As I watched a little bit of the coverage (a little bit is honestly all I could stand) I couldn't help but think of another death just as tragic and just as untimely and sad as Jackson's. But in the case of the latter, there is no round-the-clock coverage. There is no one that even knows really except for a very small amount of people.

In the case of the latter, this one's demise did not come because of shady medical practices or a longing to stay addicted to medications. The death of this other unknown person came about very intentionally when a young woman entered a clinic labeled "Planned Parenthood" on the outside and she willingly, knowingly ended the life of her own child.

There are no tributes. In fact, this child isn't even named (by the mother, at least, but the child has been named by Father God). This child is not given a funeral. The "body" (it isn't even allowed to be called that) is simply discarded as garbage.

No one speaks about the life lost. No one even dares mention it.

But here's the thing this unknown baby and Michael Jackson have in common. They both went to Jesus. The king of pop met the King of Kings. And this unnamed infant found itself in a very sure and certain future in heaven with Jesus. And Michael Jackson found himself standing before the Righteous Judge having to give an account for his life.

On this day, where so many are so focused on the death of one. I can't help but think about the death of so many and no one seems to care.

Rescue!

Yesterday an amazing rescue took place on the river downtown here in Des Moines. You can read about it HERE. This amazing image was taken during that rescue when an ordinary citizen (in fact he was a construction worker) used his buddies who operated a crane to do what the trained rescue professionals could not...he rescued her from certain death.

That is what evangelism is all about folks! Rescuing those we know are dying. You don't need to be a professional (a pastor)...you just need to be an ordinary citizen who uses whatever resources available to get to that lost person! In Colossians 4:2-6 Paul tells us to make the most of every opportunity. Always be ready for rescue!

What kind of person would you be if your neighbor's house was on fire and you didn't want to interfere because you might upset them? That is precisely why we Christians can come across so obnoxious sometimes. We look at people who don't know Jesus like they are in a burning house! So we are a little pushy...even desperate at times to get people safely rescued from their own impending doom. Jesus is the only answer for that kind of rescue!

Wow! What transpired on the river in downtown Des Moines yesterday afternoon should be a wake up call for all of us! God bless that brave construction worker for doing what he did.

I'm Back!

I have been on a self-imposed hiatus from blogging. I want to get back into the swing of things with the blog again. I have just had a hard time slotting out a time to sit down and write on the blog.

While I was away I had something interesting occur to me. I had received some criticism about my preaching (not all that uncommon a thing to be honest). The criticism wasn't focused on my ability to preach or even my handling of Scripture per se (although there was some disagreement about a particular verse) but the focus was on my TONE.

Now the problem I had was that I didn't get to talk to the individual. The individual chose to not come directly to me (even though that is the clear directive of Scripture: Matthew 18:15-20). I would still urge the individual to come to me personally (I don't bite!)

But this person's view of the local church's pastor is that he is the "hired hand" (their words) and the eldership are the ones who "run the church" (again, their words). I would have you read John 10:11-13 to get a good perspective on how a "hired hand" operates.

I still wish I could have a discussion with the person that got upset about the tone of my preaching, but I think that will probably never happen. That bums me out. But from this experience, my elders affirmed me big time and stood behind me (that really means more than you know).

I wish with all my heart that people would just simply do what Scripture says. Talk to the person you have something against...not about the person!

I know I have been called by my Master to preach the truth. I am not called to make people happy. I must preach God's Word with conviction and passion and clarity. Everything else is up to God.

Something else I have been struggling with lately is attendance slumps at The Fort. We are definitely in the summer slump. But last week God's Word really spoke to me on this. In 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Paul says "we do not lose heart." That has been difficult when you focus on dwindling numbers during the summer months. It is discouraging, to be honest. But he continues and says that we need to focus "not on what is seen" (like attendance patterns) "but on what is unseen" (like how God's Word is changing the hearts of those who are hearing it!)

Man, did I need that encouragement! And it came straight from God's Word. So don't lose heart! Even if you are criticized, even if the amount of people you were hoping for doesn't come...don't lose heart. Focus on the unseen work of your heavenly Father! That's what I need to do!

10 Principles for Church Growth (Pt. 2)

Principle #2: WORSHIP

For starters, it really needs to be something that the church truly understands and that is that worship is not something that only occurs on Sunday mornings. Sunday morning is only a culmination of a week long, 24/7 experience of worship.

Worship is our life. It is all that we are offered to our heavenly Father every day we are alive. What happens on Sunday morning is different in that it is a celebration experience. It is the time that we all gather together to celebrate who God is and what He has done in our lives and to remember the sacrifice of His Son and His death on a cross. Worship on Sunday differs only in that it is no longer an individual experience but a corporate one.

And a growing church understands this basic principle of worship in a corporate environment: That we gather to celebrate and NOT to fellowship. Smaller, unhealthy churches try to replace worship celebrations with fellowship. The corporate worship experience is Not a fellowship experience. It isn't about US...it is about HIM, our heavenly Father.

When a church tries to accomplish fellowship when we are supposed to be focused on God, we lose out and a church that does this will NOT grow. Some of the most intense battles I have faced have not been about different musical styles, they have been about taking away a fellowship focus on Sunday morning and replacing with a celebration experience.

When we moved to two services, some of the arguments I heard were: I don't see anyone I know anymore. Well, as long as you see Jesus...does it really matter. Besides, if you want to see those people, then give them a flipping phone call and don't wait till Sunday morning to do what you probably should have done beforehand.

Fellowship is supposed to take place in small groups or in Sunday School or on your own in individual relationships throughout the church. But if you think the only place it should be done is on Sunday morning (and a lot of people do) then you have missed the point of the corporate worship experience.

Another note about worship being a reason that a church will grow is this...when we gather and celebrate Jesus as One Body, we better worship God with our very best efforts together. And if we offer lousy singing, lousy services, lousy preaching then we will never grow. God deserves our VERY BEST. Anything less means we do not take our faith very seriously. God is worth the best that we can offer in singing, preaching, and even ambiance when it comes to our corporate experience.

Choices 2

A little Photoshop Americana Tribute:

I did this in Photoshop yesterday as I am thinking ahead about Memorial Day and also will do a two-part series in July on "God and Country."

10 Principles for Growing a Church (Pt. 1)

Years ago I read Bob Russell's book When God Builds A Church. I remember being really motivated by this book to implement all that I learned. In the book he shares 10 principles that I want to outline over the next few weeks that I believe are critical to the process of building a church as well. I am only sharing his principles but I will share how I see it working out in a real world scenario.

Principle #1: TRUTH

It may seem like a funny place to start but I know more and more that you can't do anything with God unless this is the first step in the process. We live in a day and age when people in the culture no longer fear God. That is solely because churches and pastors have stopped proclaiming the truth of God's Word.

Bob Russell wrote: Truth without love is dogmatism. Love with truth is sentimentality. Speaking the truth in love is Christianity. How true!

We need to balance our approach. We need to speak clearly on issues that our culture would rather us not even speak on at all but we need to do it in a way that earns our hearing. So we need to do it in love. That is hard.

What the church needs now more than ever are not the latest three point steps in living a fulfilled life. We need more than veiled pop-psychology, we need God's sometimes offensive, even abrasive but always relevant truth spoken from our pulpits. We need to use a lot of Scripture when we teach and help people to crave God's Word. We need to instill a desire amongst our people to want more from God's Word.

We need to clearly proclaim that man's ultimate problem is sin. And without Jesus Christ's transformational grace applied to his life then man will spend eternity in a very real place called Hell. We need to have the same mindset as Paul did about preaching in 1 Corinthians 9:16.

What we need right now in the church, now more than ever, is churches that have preachers who will believe the truth, teach the truth and apply the truth. There is no possible way for a church to grow without this element. It is the foundational step to growing.

And it is something that I see as the MOST important step in the process of growing a church.