Hillsboro Family Camp

I had the privilege of speaking on Monday and Tuesday at the 35th annual Hillsboro Family Camp in Hillsboro, Ohio.

http://www.p2pm.org/family_camp1.htm

This is a camp that attracts thousands of people from all around the country to a campground in Southern Ohio for a week of preaching, singing, camping, Bible Study, devotions, and a whole lot of fun.

This is a huge event. I was told that there were about 600 teens at the evening teen sessions, hundreds of children in the kids' program, and over 1000 at the evening adult session. Thousands of people camp out all over the valley, shower in bathhouses (or in their really nice RV's), cook over camp fires, and listen to a lot of good preaching throughout each day.

I was blessed by the singing, the preaching, and the opportunity to meet a lot of nice Christian brothers and sisters.

Some of the people at Hillsboro are fond of saying that Hillsboro Family camp offers some of the sweetest fellowship this side of heaven.

From what I experienced this week, I'd have to agree.

If you and your family like camping out and are looking for an opportunity to be spiritually refreshed, you might want to go ahead and mark your calendar for the week of the last Tuesday in July and reserve your space in that beautiful valley in southern Ohio.

Trapped Boy Rescued By Loving Father

Last Thursday, in Orlando, a 14-year-old boy was trapped underwater by the suction of the drain at the bottom of a hotel hot tub. When Aljuwon Pipkin's father noticed that he was stuck at the bottom of the pool he frantically began to try to pull him up, but he couldn't, so he cried for help.

http://www.local6.com/news/9554448/detail.html

Help came, but they couldn't pull him up either, so Pipkin's father began to breathe air into his son's mouth until the pumps could be turned off and his son freed.

Sharif Pipkin kept his son alive for over 7 minutes by breathing for him.

Yesterday Pipkin was released from the hospital and is expected to make a complete recovery. There is no permanent damage from the event.

Aljuwon's existence is a miracle. He should be dead, but he isn't because of a father's love, commitment, and sacrifice.

As I reflect on this story I can't help but think about my salvation. I, too, was once a trapped boy rescued by a loving father.

I am eternally grateful that a loving God breathed life into my dying soul when I was trapped by the powerful suction of sin. I was dying, hopeless, and there was nothing I--or anyone else--could do about it, but God came down, when all looked hopeless, and saved me through his son, Jesus.

I've been released from death and I'm expected to make a complete recovery. And, thanks to a loving Father, there is no permanent damage from the event.

Good book . . . so far.

I'm about 1/3 of the way through a book by Mark Driscoll entitled, "Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons From An Emerging Missional Church." I've heard of Mark, but have never read anything by him until this week.

Here's a quick bio on Mark: Mark Driscoll is one of the 50 most influential pastors in America, and the founder of Mars Hill Church in Seattle (www.marshillchurch.org), the Paradox Theater, and the Acts 29 Network which has planted scores of churches. In eight years Mars Hill has grown from a few people to thousands.

I'm really enjoying this book, so far. It's really resonating with me because of the situation we are in at Southside. I like his writing style. It is very straight-forward and easy to understand. He is a little "coarse" at times--which had not endeared him to some in the Christian world--but I find him really refreshing.

The book is really a history of the growth of the Mars Hill Church. The chapter titles are based on the size of the church at that time.

In chapter one, "0-45 People", Mark reflects on four strategic errors he made that nearly killed the progress of his church. Here's what he wrote:

"First, I had a very informal leadership structure, which permitted heretics, nutjobs, and pushy types to wield a lot of power . . .

Second, the Church was based on relationships that were all connected to me, and we did not have formal small groups to connect people to each other. This kept me from working on growing the church, and I got stuck being friends with the handful of people we already had . . .

Third, I had not clearly articulated in written form what we would and would not fight over theologically . . .

Fourth, I greatly underestimated Solomon's statement that 'money is the answer for everything' (Eccl. 10:19). Somehow I got the idea that money was a dirty thing and that to talk about it, receive it, or spend it was also dirty" (Confessions, p. 46).

If you--like me--have made (or are making) some of these same mistakes, you might want to pick up this book.

Running To Win!

How's your summer going? Mine has been busy. Good, but busy.

For the past few years I've done a lot of speaking at youth conferences during the summer, so I am on the road--actually, on a plane--about once a week during the summer. This year we went to the NACC, too, and a week of vacation, so it feels like we have been running all summer long.

Running is good for our physical heath, but can be bad for our spiritual health if we are not careful.

The Christian life is often compared to running. About 2000 years ago the Apostle Paul wrote this to a group of people who were in a race similar to ours: "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize" (I Corinthians 9:24-27).

In this passage, Paul encourages us to run to win. That's what Tom Johnson did.

I don't know Tom Johnson, but I like Tom Johnson.

In February 2002, Tom Johnson, a long distance runner from the United States, raced one of the world's leading endurance race horses. The 50 mile (80 km) race across the desert in the United Arab Emirates was a photo finish. Tom Johnson beat the horse by just 10 seconds in a race that took five hours and 45 minutes to complete. Tom did have one big advantage in that he was able to eat and drink while he ran. The horse had to stop for 60 minutes during the race to eat, drink and have a short rest.

This morning, I was reflecting on I Corinthians 9:24-27--and Tom Johnson--and I had a couple of thoughts:

1. Running to Win requires that we must believe that winning is possible.

I like Tom Johnson not just because out ran a horse, but because he believed he could outrun a horse! That's unbelievable . . . . to us . . ., but obviously not to Tom. It was his idea. He woke up one morning and said, "I think I'd like to race a horse across the desert." Good idea. He trained hard, prepared himself, went to the desert, lined up next to the world's leading endurance race horses, ran the race, and won.

We all run against competitors which are much tougher than a horse. We run against heartbreak, fear, discouragement, illness, pain, sin and death. And, even though--in light of your current situation--winning may seem unbelievable, you must believe that you can win and that--through Christ--we all will win.

2. Running to Win requires that we find nourishment while we run.

Tom beat the horse because he ate and drank while he ran. He kept himself nourished, while he also kept himself moving.

We must find ways to keep ourselves spiritually nourished while we run, which means we must make time to read the Bible, pray, go to church, and build up our relationship with the Lord. If not, we risk losing a guaranteed victory.

But, we must also find ways to keep moving, avoiding the temptation to gather at the "watering hole," which can be easier said than done. Watering holes are great places to find nourishment in the desert, because there is both water and the potential for growing, or trapping, food, so they are great places to stop and live.

We are in a race, so we must fight the temptation to use our need for spiritual nourishment as an excuse to stop running. It seems to me that too many of our churches are like over-developed watering holes along a desert path at which we've gathered for nourishment convincing ourselves that one day we'll start running again once we've had enough spiritual food and living water to make it to the finish line, when in reality we've chosen nourishment--and comfort--over obedience.

Running this spiritual race is not optional. If we are Christian, then we are runners in a spiritual race and we aren't permitted the luxury of lingering at the watering hole, standing in the shade, sipping water, singing songs about running, talking about running, reading stories about great runners who finished the race years ago, purchasing running equipment, while all the while refusing to actually get in the race and run.

We must find nourishment, but we must also run. If we want to run to win, we must do both.

Running without nourishment is death.
Nourishment without running is disobedience.

One More NACC Story . . .

I just heard about a really cool thing that happened at the NACC.

Eli Reyes, the worship minister at the church at which I serve--Southside Christian Church of Orlando--was the co-leader of the worship services at the NACC last week. Ryan Christian, from the Richland Hills Church of Christ in Texas, was the other worship leader.

After the Bible exchange ceremony on Thursday night Eli and Ryan decided they would participate as well. Ryan gave Eli his pitch pipe and Eli gave Ryan his guitar saying, "I wanted to give you this because it represents what has divided us for too long."

Wow!

Eli and Ryan worked for months on the worship services for the NACC. I am so proud of the work they did on stage to help to make the worship so memorable, but I think I'm more proud of the work they did back-stage on Thursday night.

Eli has taught me that, when we worship, we are performing--not for people--but for an audience of one: God.

How appropriate then, that last week Eli and Ryan's best worship performance wasn't on stage before an audience of 8,000+, but it was private . . . off-stage . . . before the only audience that really matters to them: the audience of One.

Waiting for the Big Show

I'm sitting in a Panera Bread in Johnson City, Tennessee.

I'm in Tennessee trying to finish writing a book that is due in about a month. I'm here because this location--Tri-Cities area--is where my in-laws live, so my wife and kids can enjoy being with family while I'm buried in my hole at Emmanuel School of Religion with my laptop, ideas, and a looming deadline.

I'm hungry, but I also need to keep writing, so I'm eating at the only restaurant in the Tri Cities' area that has free wireless internet.

(BTW--from what I found on the internet, all Panera Bread restaurants are equipped with free wifi. I'm here to serve.)

Anyways . . . it's 8:30 p.m. on July 3rd, so, apparently in Johnson City, Tennessee that means, fireworks. As I made my way to Panera Bread I made my way past hundreds of people sitting in chairs along the side of the road waiting for the big fireworks show over the city.

There they sit. Looking to the sky. Waiting for the show. They all want to be ready.

As I looked at all of the people sitting by the road, sitting in their chairs, and looking to the sky in anticipation I couldn't help but think about the Christians in Thessalonica and the second coming.

Historians tell us that the Christians in Thessalonica had such a sense of expectancy regarding the 2nd coming of Christ that they were quitting their jobs and gathering on the hilltops, so they'd be ready--and waiting--when he came back again.

This is why Paul encourages them to "lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands" (I Thess. 4:11, NIV).

My, my . . . how things have changed.

We've come a long way from the hilltops, haven't we?

We're not only not sitting on the local hilltops expecting his eminent return, we don't even seem to be expecting his return as we're sitting in our local church buildings.

Jesus is coming again.

One day He will rip open the sky and come down from heaven like lightning--when we least expect it--and He's going to take all Christians to be with Him forever.

I'm not asking you to get your lawn chair and sit next to me along the Bristol Highway looking to the eastern sky in anticipation, but I am encouraging you to sit next to me in the Church and remember with me that--as the Mennonites say--"We are living in the days of God's patience" and one day Jesus is going to come again.

Well, Panera is closing in 4 minutes, so I better go.

I think I'll pull off down the road, watch some fireworks, and think about Jesus.