An Open Door

The job I was hired to do at Christ's Church doesn't exist anymore.

On November 5th the leadership team of Christ's church announced to the congregation that we were not going to proceed with our plans to launch a new alternative service on January 7th. The new service was going to be called, "The Well" and it was going to be real, relevant, relational, and refreshing. It was also the reason I was hired.

I had developed a strategy. Our plans and our team were coming together, but everything changed on Tuesday, October 31st when we experienced--what we all now consider a "God-thing."

We believe that God showed up in that leadership meeting and convinced all of us that a separate alternative service was not what he wanted us to pursue right now. Instead, we became convinced that God wanted us to pursue a united effort to reach our community and that The Well had the potential to inadvertently divide us at a time when we really needed to be united.

After a few more meetings with the Elders and the staff, a lot of prayer, and a couple more meetings (just to be safe :)), we decided to postpone our plans for The Well and focus on how we could unite our team and bring some of the positive elements of The Well to the church as a whole.

On the following Sunday we ended the service with a passionate time of commitment, prayer, and singing.

It was pretty amazing.

The leadership of Christ's Church senses that something special is happening.

We are convinced that we are at an open door.

Last Sunday, Tim Smith, a member of the preaching team, shared the results of a demographic study with the congregation. The leadership team conducted this study a few weeks ago and we were all stunned by the results.

Look at this picture of the 10-mile radius around Christ's Church:



The red section represents the households within a 10-mile radius of Christ's Church who claim to have "no faith involvement." This picture shows that 40%-45% of the households within a 10-mile radius of Christ's Church have no faith involvement at this time. This area is projected to grow explosively in the next 5 years.

Tim gave everyone a copy of this image and asked everyone to begin praying that God would use us to reach these people and that the blood of Christ would begin to cover every portion of red on that map.

We believe that when God led Christ's Church to an industrial park a few years ago--and it seemed that they were moving to the middle of nowhere--God was positioning Christ's Church to make an enormous impact for the Kingdom in one of the most unchurched areas in all of Florida.

We also believe that our efforts to move through this open door as one--with a united effort and purpose--is also a part of God's plan for his church here in southeastern Jacksonville and we can't wait to see what he does next.

Pause to Give Thanks

Last Thursday, as we sat down for our Thanksgiving feast, we took some extra time to let each person at the table share one thing they were thankful for.

The adults at the table thanked God for family, health, precious memories, good jobs, freedom, and that we were able to be together.

The children also participated.

My eldest daughter said she was thankful for her siblings . . . which came as a huge surprise to her mother and me!

My eldest son--in the midst of a growth spurt--was thankful for the food.

My youngest son and daughter were unanimously grateful for Christmas.

We all have been blessed with countless blessings, so it's appropriate to stop and thank God before our thanksgiving meal.

In fact, even Jesus, God in the flesh--who made everything, owns everything, and who is everything--paused to give thanks before the last supper in the upper room.

Matthew 26:26-29
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."

I'm in my office between services at church.

I'm about to go downstairs for our 10:30 worship service.

I can't wait until communion time. I've got so much to be thankful for.

Are we still of any use?

Within the leadership team at Christ's Church we've been talking a lot about being "real." I was asked to explain what I meant when I spoke about being "real," so I wrote this.

Of Christians and the Church, one of my heroes, Deitrich Bonhoeffer said:

We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds; we have been drenched by many storms; we have learnt the arts of equivocation and pretense; experience has made us suspicious of others and kept us from being truthful and open; intolerable conflicts have worn us down and even made us cynical. Are we still of any use? What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, straightforward men. Will our inward power of resistance be strong enough, and our honesty with ourselves remorseless enough, for us to find our way back to simplicity and straightforwardness?
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A Reckoning made at New Year 1943

An authentic life is a powerful life.

Too many people have bought into the lie, “If people really know you then they won’t really like you.” So they hide their pain, fear, doubts, and insecurities behind a façade and doom themselves to a shallow existence in which broken hearts are hidden, pain is ignored, and potential loved ones are kept at arm’s distance.

Alcoholics Anonymous has been unbelievably successful in healing people struggling with alcohol addiction by requiring authenticity. Each meeting starts with members confessing, “My name is Joe and I am an alcoholic.” “My name is Beth and I am an alcoholic.” “My name is . . . and I’m an alcoholic.” This is a difficult, but essential confession for anyone who truly wants to be healed.

For true healing to occur the mask must come off. The hypocrisy must end.

The problem cannot be healed until the problem is confessed.

As a minister I’ve dealt with hurting people on a weekly basis for many years. I anticipate our Sunday morning services for many reasons, not the least of which is the opportunity for people to get real with each other and with God. But it happens every week despite our best intentions.

Each Sunday in our Church and in Churches around the world Christians wake up to the same serious problems that non-Christians have. Determined to persevere, they get ready, drive to Church, park their car, and resume the game. The “I don’t have a care in the world” mask goes on before they get out of the car, and as they walk through the doors of the church the game begins.

If I could, I would start each Sunday morning worship service by requiring each member to stand and get real.
“My name is Mike and I’m afraid of losing my job.”
“My name is Mary and I can’t pay my bills.”
“My name is Jennifer and I don’t understand why my teenaged daughter won’t talk to me.”
“My name is Adam and I’m afraid I’m going to die.”
“My name is Teresa and I don’t like myself.”
“My name is Javier and I have no idea of how to be a good father, because my dad left us when I was five.”
“My name is Lori and my heart is broken.”
“My name is Peter and I’m depressed.”
“My name is Rebecca and my husband just left me for another woman.”
“My name is Robert and I’m addicted to pornography.”
“My name is Arron and I want you to like me.”

Since we are imperfect humans living in a fallen world, we all eventually encounter pain, problems, failures, doubt, and fear. We can choose to deny life’s problems and hide them behind a forced smile, a wink, and empty words:
“I’m doing great. How ‘bout you?”
“Couldn’t be better!”
“Can’t complain.”
Or, we can get real and admit that since we are not God we could use some help and, in getting real—we will unleash a revival that will transform this church and this community.

War Is Not The Answer

With the holiday shopping season fast approaching and in light of last week's Christian Standard on the issue of war I found this clip really appropriate . . . and funny.

Remember, war is not the answer. :)

Funny Parody of Mac Commercials

My friends at Community Christian Church in Naperville recently completed a series entitled, "Christian No More" where they challenged people to leave behind the empty title of "Christian" that 85% of the U.S. population wear and to become a geuine Christ Follower.

They produced this video for the series. Enjoy!

Good-bye Gatorland . . . giftstore

No!

I just found out one of my kids' favorite places, Gatorland, just suffered a massive fire. http://www.local6.com/news/10248992/detail.html

The famous open-mouthed Gator entrance is no more.



We like Gatorland so much that we are annual pass holders (I heard that!).

This is a sad reminder of a future truth: It's all gonna burn.

The Face of Sin

Yesterday Ted Haggard confessed--through a letter read to his congregation--that he was guilty of "sexual immorality." You can read Ted's letter and a letter from his wife, Gayle, on New Life's website: http://www.newlifechurch.org/

This is a sad event . . . and a reminder.

A picture from the front page of the newspaper in Colorado Springs spoke 1000's of words to me.

What do you see when you look at this picture?


Do you know what I see? I see the face of sin.

Not Ted's. His wife and kids.

Look at the faces of his wife and two sons.

We now know that Ted was lying when this picture was taken. He has a slight smile on his face, which stands out in stark contrast to the pain evident on the faces of his wife and children.

When we look at the faces of Ted Haggard's wife and children we see the face of sin. They are the forgotten, silent, and innocent victims of sin and I don't ever want to forget how it feels to look at the hurt, disappointment, and shocked expressions on their faces.

And, I don't want you to either.

Men, think about their expressions the next time you are tempted to visit a pornographic website.

Wives, think about their expressions the next time you are tempted to converse with another man in a chat room.

Preachers, we need to see their faces when we are tempted to pursue a relationship beyond the covenant barriers of our marriage.

Elders, you must see their faces when you are tempted to avoid a confrontation with a Christian leader over real, or perceived, improper behavior.

We can't hide our sin forever.

We must fight for our purity.

We must seek out Christian accountability relationships.

Christian leaders must not be exalted.

Christian leaders must not be allowed to be isolated.

We must be praying for each other.

We must pray for our leaders.

We have the courage to confront sin--yours, mine, and ours.

This is not a game, a show, or a popularity contest; this is a spiritual war.

We are not animals.

Christian men and women: We must stop looking at pornography on the internet. We must stop visiting chat rooms for inappropriate behavior. We must guard what we look at, listen to, touch, taste, and indulge in. We must protect the sanctity of our marriages. We must consistently do the right thing. We must make wise choices. We must "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness" (Mt. 6:33).

We must look into the eyes of Gayle Haggard and her children and never forget what sin looks like.

Going for the Bananas

Some exciting . . . amazing . . . big-faith type things are happening at Christ's Church.

Each moment of this ministry has confirmed that I'm in the center of the will of God for my life.

God is moving in this church and we are preparing to take a big step of faith.

As we've been praying and discussing this move, I've been reminded of a story I heard Bob Russell tell (and one I've told many, many times).

Several scientists were studying a group of monkeys.

In a large room the scientists had hung a climbing rope with a bunch of bananas at the top. When the monkeys were brought in, it was only a short time before one of them figured out that a short climb up the rope produced a great reward: a banana.

However, when any of the other monkeys tried to follow his lead, they were sprayed with water. The first monkey up the rope was always allowed to climb to the reward, but others were always hosed down each time they tried to do the same.

Eventually, when the rope-climbing monkey would make a move to go for another banana, the others in the group would physically prevent him from climbing. Eventually he learned not to climb the rope.

The scientists then removed that special monkey and put a new one in the room. The moment the new recruit made a move for the rope, the other monkeys would beat him up. After several attempts, and several beatings, he too learned not to climb the rope.

New monkeys were periodically introduced into the group and each time the other monkeys made certain no one climbed the rope and got a banana.

Fear is the enemy of faith.

Too many times we hesitate--or fail--to step out in faith because we are afraid that we are going to fail and too many times this fear is based on past realities.

Maybe you took a chance and tried something bold for God but it was a disaster.

Maybe you stepped out of the boat to walk on water only to find yourself swimming for your life.

Maybe you went for the bananas but only got soaked.

I heard that Ben Merold had a list of rules that he communicated to leaders of the churches with whom he served. One of the rules was, "Failure is not the unforgivable sin."

Failure is really an opportunity. It's an opportunity to learn, grow, and adjust the strategy.

Past failure can't be allowed to hinder present faith.

Just because something has failed 100 times in the past doesn't mean that it will fail the next time.

Yes, we must be wise.

Yes, we must be careful.

But, we ultimately must be faithful and if God is calling us to follow him. . . regardless of what has happened in the past, we must follow him in faith.

Remember: Faithful people get bananas; fearful people don't.

We must go for the bananas.

The bananas are real. They are delicious and they are worth it!