Oct
25
There’s A Whole Lotta’ Shakin’ Goin’ On
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This post may not mean much to those who are not familiar with Bill Hybels or Willow Creek Church but to those who are familiar this is major. I mean major. This church has influenced how thousands of churches have been “doing church” for the last 20 years. I have to say I respect Bill Hybels even more for taking a critical look at what they have been doing for the last thirty years, coming up with some conclusions about the way they have done ministry and rather than sweeping it under the rug and going on with business as usual basically said “we missed it”. Enough of my commentary, read this post from Out of Ur, a blog from the editors of Leadership Magazine.
Oct
24
What Is the Church? Part 2
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This is part two of what will probably be a never-ending string of posts. Remember to read my disclaimer before reading any of my posts. It’s just to the right under “Disclaimer”. The things I say in this post may step on some toes, mine included, but here we go anyway.
I saw a quote today from a guy named Dan Edelen that really solidified some thoughts I have had about church in the good ole US of A.
Busyness is crippling the effectiveness of the American Church, but no one wants to fix the root causes because doing so would call into question the very nature of our modern society.
A church in any culture naturally takes on elements of that culture. Different cultures do things differently. All this is fine as except when something in that culture is in direct violation of Scripture. Obviously the Word takes precedence. That being said I think many things we do in church that we consider to be “God’s way” of doing things is in reality a product of our culture. Again, nothing wrong with that if we realize that these things are just that, cultural things, or we could say personal choices.
Let’s look at an example. Actually let’s grab a big bull by the horns and use the example of music. How many fights have you heard about in churches over the music, particularly the style of music. The arguments usually end at this point - One side says God “can” use this music, the other side says God “can’t” use this music. What do we have? A fight over personal taste in music. Period, over, out. Nothing more than that.
Ok, back to the quote. A huge part of our culture in the USA is busyness. Think about it, if you aren’t busy you aren’t being productive. This has been ingrained in all of us. But, activity and productivity don’t always go hand in hand. Am I advocating lazyness, No, definitely not. What I am saying is this. As churches we can keep ourselves so busy with christian activities that we forget the one we are trying to serve in the first place. This is a place that God has really been dealing with me lately. We all have to find out in each of our lives what is vital and necessary and what needs to be pruned. Pruning hurts but a tree that has been pruned bears more fruit. I’m not finished on this subject. I have some other thoughts on this that are still running around in my head that I’ll post in the future as they become more solidified.
Oct
23
What Is the Church?
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I’ve been thinking alot lately about what the church is. Really I should say what did God intend the church to be. When I speak of the church obviously there is the universal church that consists of those who have made Jesus their Lord and Saviour, those who are born again, but what about the local church. Specifically how is the local church to function. There is very little specific direction given in the Word concerning this. To be honest this is something I have thought about since I was born again in 1978. It’s coming up on 30 years now and I still have more questions than answers. All that to say that anything I say about this subject is just my opinion.
One thought I have had lately is how the Word talks about the church as a family. I was remembering how when we first came to our current church I did the “pastor” thing of standing by the front door and greeting everyone as they left. I hated it. I felt like a flight attendant or a pilot standing by the door saying “Bye, bye” over and over and over. So, I quit doing it and started just wandering around after the service talking to people. It just seemed more natural. What does this have to do with the church as family. When family comes to visit do you stand at the door, shake their hand and say “Thanks for coming” when they leave. Probably not. Family acts like family. They laugh, joke, hang around too long, and generally just enjoy being together.
A few years ago I noticed people hanging around after church. This was something we hadn’t seen before. When I say hanging around I mean hanging around. We finally resorted to flipping the lights off to move people out. I realized something, we had crossed the line from just people coming to church to a family. A group of people that truly enjoy being together. And I still don’t stand at the front door!
Sep
22
A few years ago the WWJD bracelets were very popular. They were used as a reminder that when you faced a situation in your life you would look at your WWJD bracelet and think, “What would Jesus do?”. You would then do, or maybe not do, what Jesus would do. Lately
, we have expanded on this in our lives. There are certain people I look up to that are gifted in certain areas. When I’m faced with certain specific situations in my life I just substitute that persons initial in place of the “J”. For example:
1. I am faced with a situation of strife or discord in the church - WWMD
2. We have friends/relatives coming to stay in our home - WWJD (Not Jesus, another J)
3. I see that new piece of geek hardware that I want - WWDD
Ok, do you get it now. Simple huh. Still that little thing called choice though. I guess it’s just a good way to look at all the options before I make a decision. Don’t want to get to heavy here since it’s 11:30PM. Good nite!
Aug
3
Latest Read
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Rather than put a list of what I am currently reading in the sidebar I have decided to post what I am reading along with some thoughts about the book, maybe even a short review. Currently I am reading “Truman” by David McCullough. After reading and enjoying “1776″ by the same author and being a fan of historical and biographical novels, I decided to pick this one up at “Books-A-Million” the other day. At over 
1000 pages it is quite a long book. I am about half way through it and I have yet to feel bogged down in it. What has stood out to me so far is the personal character of Harry Truman. He made decisions not based on polls or popularity, but on what He felt was right. He will probably be the last “common man” president. A farmer with no college education but a whole lot of common sense and a keen sense of right and wrong. I give it two thumbs up!