The power of the gospel

As with Monday, last night God really manifested Himself on 2 occasions. During our prayer meeting, we discussed what the Bible has to say about what it means to be saved. We talked about things like grace, belief in who Jesus was and what he did, the presence of the Holy Spirit, persevering, abiding in Christ, adoption, confessing Christ, and a couple more. The folks really dug deep in their Bibles, and that was cool to see. Then we talked about what the Bible doesn't say about salvation - praying a prayer, joining a church, walking down an aisle, being baptized (you Church of Christ folks can stop reading now), etc.

One of the folks present candidily admitted she had trouble with a public profession of Christ. Because of her somewhat sordid past, she was a bit apprehensive about a public confession, as she feared the number of people who would be disappointed if she "fell". At this point, I asked our church to respond to her. They poured out love, acceptance, and biblical counsel. It was really a display of what "church" is supposed to be. Then we gathered around her, laughed with her, and prayed for her. That, folks, is a church being transformed.

Then I quickly left for a meeting with a couple who have recently repented and recommitted themselves to God's ways. She was a meth addict for 25 years; he an alcoholic for maybe longer than that. They were open about their fears, their faith, and their family. I offered a little counsel, but mostly I just listened and praised God for His power to transform people who follow Him. These people, according to those who have known them in their "past life", are not the same people today that they were before. That, folks, is a family being transformed.

Weeks like this one make me love what I do. It makes me want to invest in people more, and in "stuff" less. I love people with purple and pink hair who have been transformed by Jesus. I love drug addicts and alcoholics who have been transformed by Jesus. May God send more of them my way.

Will my generation get it?

I talked to my great friend Monday. He's on staff at a large church in the metroplex. The conversation turned to reaching children for Jesus, which is always on my heart. He told me of a large church pastor who was talking with a room full of boomers (my age group) and builders about what their greatest desire was. With unanimous accord, they said, "that our children and grandchildren would follow Christ." Hear my applause. Praise God. Couldn't be happier. Then he asked one more question, "If you would be willing to change your music to reach your kids and grandkids, raise your hand." Not one hand went up. Not one hand in the entire room.

So you tell me...is their greatest desire to reach their grandkids for Christ? Nope, it's not. Their greatest desire is to be catered to. Their greatest desire is to have their "likes" handed to them on a plate each week and their "dislikes" to be summarily dismantled. Edwards' translation, they said, "To hell with my family."

Don't get me wrong. Music won't save kids. Only Jesus does that. But music can draw kids and keep kids.

The biggest hurdle for the builder generation is music. Many, if not most, have not cleared that hurdle. Some in my church have. Praise God. But until the generation that built most of our churches makes the main thing the main thing (as opposed to music the main thing), we cannot expect to reach this generation.

So as I'm having an internal rant and rave about this, the thought struck me...What hurdle will my generation have to cross? Will it be the format of how we "do church"? Will it be the demise of denominationalism? Will it be the way we do world missions? Honestly, it really doesn't matter what our hurdle is. The real question is, "Will my generation have a greater heart for the lost than we do our personal preferences?"

I hope I do. I hope we do. Christendom in the USA may depend on our answer.

They get it!

Two meetings I had yesterday were enlightening and encouraging...

I met with a couple - a couple I've known for several years. They used to be in our church, but joined another one a few years ago. They wanted to meet because the husband feels called to the ministry. So the Associate Pastor and I met with them for over an hour, talking about how God has touched them and asked the husband to be involved in some type of ministry full time. He quit his job at God's leading and is now listening and pursuing the next steps. He gets it! He understands that life is not about career and money, but it's about God - God and our relationship with Him that transforms us and makes us useful to Him in His work in the world.

In the midst of our conversation, the wife told us about the business she felt led to begin a year ago. She, too, felt God asking her to quit her old job, and she did. Because of that, she was able to spend 9 months with her mother who was dying. In the middle of that, God put in her path this business proposition. After her mother died, she opened the business.

But here's the part where she REALLY "gets it". She told us that God was providing for her family through the business, but in reality, the business was just a way for her to minister to people! God sends her people every week who are hurting and struggling and searching. She ministers to them, prays for them in her shop, and follows up with them in their lives. She truly understands that a job is not for our gratification, but for God's glory and so God can use us. She gets it!

I pray we would all do so.

I met with another man. He told me that as he entered the worship service Sunday, he earnestly prayed, "God, I need to hear from you. I don't want to leave here the way I walked in." God indeed met Him, touched Him deeply, and the man left transformed! This man gets it! A worship service is not about us putting in our time - or even being blessed. A worship service is to adore God publicly, with others, and being transformed!

I pray we would all do so.

Mulligan

Well, I tried my hand at this blogging business, but I didn't do so well. I guess a blog every 8 months isn't exactly blogging. The way I've got it figured, I made 3 mistakes.

1. I thought I had to have something mind-blowing to say
2. I limited the scope of my blog to narrowly
3. I failed to schedule time to blog

So...I'm going to give this blogging thing another shot. I'll post on things that interest me, with the major emphasis still being the church and how she lives out her mission. But, my posting will not be limited to that. To check my resolve to restart this, I'm going to wait until tomorrow to submit a real post.