The Kingdom, The Kids, & the Cowboys

I’ve only heard Charles Siburt speak a couple of times. I’ve shaken his hand once. Just once. But I’m profoundly and eternally impacted by this great man. Chances are, so are you.

Charles Siburt is the “go-to guy” when it comes to healing churches, fixing church leaders, maturing disciples along the Way. He has worked with countless Church of Christ congregations, scores of elders and shepherds, and more preachers than any of us could count. He’s written books and articles, preached and taught sermons and lessons, and in some way counseled and advised almost every church leader I know.

I was blessed to spend three hours with Charles in two separate phone conversations in June last year. I wanted to find out what he knew about this Central Church of Christ in Amarillo. Turns out, he knew everything. And everybody. He gave me some things to consider. He cautioned me about a couple of potential problems. He probed into my own issues and problems like we had known each other for years. He dug deep to find out where I was spiritually, emotionally, mentally. But mostly he just went on and on about how great this church was. How healthy the leadership is here. How unified and focused and committed the elders and ministers are here to lead the church family in living and growing in Christ-likeness.

I remember a preacher friend of mine telling me after my first conversation with Charles, “If Charles says that’s a healthy church, you can know without a doubt it’s a healthy church. Charles knows a healthy church.”

At the end of my second and last phone conversation with Charles — I was sitting in my truck in my driveway in North Richland Hills, Charles was in some airport somewhere — he told me, “I think you and Central would be a perfect fit; you’re made for each other.”

That night I told another preaching colleague what Charles had said. He replied, “If Charles says it’s a good fit, then you know it’s a good fit. Charles knows how to match preachers and churches.”

They were all correct. Charles was correct. I couldn’t be happier. The match couldn’t be better. The fit here couldn’t be more perfect. And I know I went into this next phase of my Christian ministry in Amarillo in a better frame of mind more appropriately equipped because of Charles’ counsel. I read the books he recommended. I answered the questions he told me to ask myself. And I spoke to the people he said I should.

And I’m grateful. Eternally grateful.

We’re all expecting Charles to pass from this life to the next in just a few days. Our brother Charles is close, very close, to being in the intense face-to-face glory and presence of our God. How great for him. People who know Charles much better than I do are setting aside this Friday, February 3, day after tomorrow, as a day of prayer and fasting. I plan to join them. I plan to spend a great part of that day thanking our gracious God for blessing so many of us and our congregations with Charles’ expertise and passion; asking God to bless Charles’ wife, Judy, as she experiences the loss of her dearest companion; begging God to raise up others to pick up the encouraging and mentoring and healing where Charles is leaving off.

To read much more about Charles and this day of prayer and fasting please click on these links to people who really, really, really know him. My great friend Jim Martin’s thoughts can be found here. Dan Bouchelle has penned his own thoughts here. And Jordan Hubbard’s reflections are here.

During my two conversations with Charles seven months ago, he never told me that he was a big part of the reason Central is such a healthy church. Charles has been working very closely with this family of believers in downtown Amarillo for many, many years. He has encouraged our shepherds, he’s helped heal some very painful hurts, and he’s counseled our ministers here for a long, long time. It shows. The Kingdom of God is greater for it. The city of Amarillo is blessed because of it. And the new preacher here is grateful. Eternally grateful.

God bless Charles Siburt with his merciful comfort and peace.

Allan

During Eddie Wynn’s funeral yesterday, I must have heard at least a dozen phones go off at 3:18. “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord!” I was informed later by three or four others that there were dozens of phones beeping and buzzing all over the worship center at Comanche Trail. In the middle of a funeral. Hey, what better time or place?

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“The Church exists to set up in the world a new sign which is radically dissimilar to the world’s own manner and which contradicts it in a way which is full of promise.” ~Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, 4.3.2

Oh, my word, we get so caught up in the politics of this world. The time we spend listening to talk radio and watching our own cable network’s spin on the news of the day, the energy we use extolling the virtues of our party or candidate and bashing the policies and platforms of the opposition, the ways we engage so passionately in debate betray a troubling preoccupation with the methods and means of an Empire to which we are not citizens. Yes, as children of God, we are rightly concerned with social injustice, disease, violence, war, crime, death, poverty, abuse, and all the effects of sin on his creation. But, as citizens of heaven who declare Jesus as Lord, not Caesar, we are called to join him in redeeming his creation in his name and by his manner.

Someone — I can’t remember who — once either told me or wrote in something I read that we are not to conform to the world, we are to convert the world.

Yeah. We don’t use the world’s ways; we use God’s way. And God’s way is by his Church.

“The most interesting, creative, political solutions we Christians have to offer our troubled society are not new laws, advice to Congress, or increased funding for social programs. The most creative social strategy we have to offer is the Church. Here we show the world a manner of life the world can never achieve through social coercion or governmental action. We serve the world by showing it something that it is not, namely, a place where God is forming a family out of strangers.

The Christian faith recognizes that we are violent, fearful, frightened creatures who cannot reason or will our way out of our mortality. So the Gospel begins, not with the assertion that we are violent, fearful, frightened creatures, but with the pledge that, if we offer ourselves to a truthful story and the community formed by listening to and enacting that story in the Church, we will be transformed into people more significant than we could ever have been on our own.” ~ Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon, Resident Aliens, p. 82-83

Last month, when the movers were re-locating our furniture from the apartment to our new house, the driver of the huge truck asked me, “Do you think it’s OK for preachers to preach about politics in the pulpit?”

I answered, “I preach politics every single Sunday!”

We are citizens of the Kingdom of God. Our King is the risen Christ. Our allegiances are to him and his sovereign rule over every aspect of our lives. Thank goodness I’m not dependent on the sinful ways and means of this world’s governments for my well being. Thank goodness I’m not counting on this world’s leaders for my safety or security or sanity. Hallelujah, our God reigns! And he is redeeming the world in ways that make no sense to those who are driven by power and control, compelled by money and status, motivated by force and threat.

We belong to a polis. And, as our King says, it is not of this world.

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Huge rivalry basketball game tonight: Amarillo High at Tascosa. Whitney and I are going to take in the JV boys at 5:30 (let’s see what Braden’s got), the varsity girls at 6:30, and then the headliner varsity boy’s contest at 7:30. If the Sandies (20-3, 4-0) win it tonight, they’ll clinch a playoff berth in District 2-5A. This AHS team seems to be pretty good. They’ve got nine lettermen back from last year district champs, eight seniors on the team, and lots of big game experience.

I’m also interested to watch my friend Bret McCaslan tonight. The man puts himself in a position to act like Christ every Tuesday and Friday night. He intentionally places himself in harm’s way, he subjects himself to ridicule and humiliation, he makes himself vulnerable to the violence and hatred of the masses. He’s a high school referee. He’ll be in the middle of a crazy scene tonight, and in position to occasionally become the focus.

Go, Sandies!

Allan

“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord!” ~Habakkuk 3:18

It’s a long drive between Amarillo and Henrietta. A looooong drive. What kept me occupied for the first hour or so of my trip yesterday were the 151 text messages I had received during and after our sermon here at Central. Kasey Love’s was the very first text I received with the inspirational words from Habakkuk, followed in order by Arlene, Stephanie, Andrew, Keegan, and then 145 more. Not everybody signed their names to the texts; those made me wonder. Some of the messages were horribly misspelled as the senders were obviously in a race to get their text to me first; those made me laugh.  All of the messages were from the holy Word of God, sent to me by my brothers and sisters in Christ, in an exercise I hoped would get us all thinking about the same thing.

We all sent the message to different people, none of whom were in the building at the time. I’m assuming there were close to a thousand people who, at about 11:15 yesterday morning, received these encouraging words from Habakkuk on their phones. I’m praying those texts prompted dozens dozens of conversations last night and today among co-workers, classmates, relatives, and neighbors. “Why did you send me that text?” “What did that text mean?” “Why were y’all doing that at church?” I’m hoping our people are telling their friends today that no matter what happens, we can find great joy in knowing our God who saves us.

“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord!”

I’m hoping that at 3:18 this afternoon, more of those texts will be flying around. I’m hoping we’re all going to be reminded every day this week at 3:18 that we serve a God who has always delivered us in the past and, therefore, will always deliver us in the present and in the future. I’m hoping we’ll encourage each other with these texts. I’m hoping we’ll remind our friends that we’re praying for them. I’m hoping people will be reminded to pray for one another. And for me.

I’m looking at these names on my phone yesterday as I’m traveling south on 287: Trey. Olen. Michaela. Michelle. Scott. Amber. Tiffani. Hannah. Jake. Matt. Larry. Adam. Glen. Mike. Erin. Chris. Cameron. John. Bethany. Bradley. Jared. Tanner. Tammy. Kelly. Tim. Kim. Teri. Melissa. Lori. Monica. Lonnie. Spencer. Gary. Ashlynn. Billy. Royse Anne. Karen. Ashley. Joe. Lowery. Judy. Erica. Lisa. Laura. Robin. Greg. Francis. Lachelle. Leslie. Rodney. Michael. Tommy. Connie. Robert. Wayne. I’m praying over every one of these. 151 of them. All of them dealing with something pretty heavy, I’m sure. Each of them carrying a weight, bearing a burden, yet declaring that they will rejoice in the Lord.

“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord!”

Then at 3:18, about ten miles north of Vernon, another round of texts: Marli. Wayne. Becky. Winslow. Jeff. Lanny. Steve. Miles. Scott. Lots of others.

I’ve been told today that at 3:18 yesterday, phones were going off everywhere, flashing and beeping what I believe is the strongest statement of faith in our Scriptures.

“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord!”

I don’t know what our God is doing this week with our little text exercise. I’m not sure how he’s going to use this to his glory and praise. I’m hoping these texts and prayers will strengthen us. I’m hoping we’ll be encouraged and our faith will be renewed. I’m hoping we’ll be united as one family, together in our meditation and application of this rich passage. I’m praying we’ll be comforted in our trials, we’ll be steeled in our resolve, and we’ll be given great hope in our Savior.

“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord!”

Peace,

Allan

I’m driving down to Henrietta, Texas this Sunday afternoon for an area youth rally thing — they call it “Sunday Night Live! — at the Henrietta Church of Christ. I don’t know anybody at the Henrietta Church of Christ other than two really good, really old friends.

Brad Yurcho and I played football together at Dallas Christian High School. And we both wanted Brad Sham’s job calling Cowboys games on KRLD. Yurcho and I would sometimes sit on the very top row of the bleachers at DC during Junior High and, later, JV football games and do the play-by-play. Out loud. To each other. With each other. Seems strange now. But we both thought we were pretty good and, someday, would make a pretty good broadcast team.

Scott Williams and I were Delta brothers at Oklahoma Christian. We made road trips together. We cruised the streets of Edmond together. We went shopping for pumpkins together during the holidays. We went on disciplinary probation together at OC. Ah, yes; great times.

Scott and Brad and their families are in Henrietta now, good friends themselves, working with the young people there, teaching and mentoring and passing on the faith to those coming up after us. It’s really quite special. I hadn’t seen Scott in years when he walked up to me a couple of months ago here at Central, just minutes before our Sunday morning assembly was to begin. I remember thinking, “Man, if he’s come to confess sin, we’re going to be here a while.” What a terrific surprise! Brad called me the very next morning and made the invitation to speak at their church official. And I’m really looking forward to Sunday.

I love speaking to young people. I love being with teenagers. When you’re in a room full of teens, you’re surrounded by unlimited potential. The possibilities are countless. It’s unimaginable all the wonderful things these young men and women are going to do in God’s Kingdom. They’re all so talented and passionate, so full of life and energy, so emotional and “all-in” to whatever they’re doing.

And they all love to learn brand new things. They want to be taught. They want to be shown something they’ve never seen before. They want to know something new. They all want to experiment. They want to push the envelope. They’re bold. They want to do something for Christ that’s never been done before. They want to be a real part of something bigger than themselves. They don’t have a whole lot of patience for doing church; they want to be church. And I love that.

And most of us say, yeah, that’s just the way young people are. They’re teenagers. They won’t always be that way. They’ll grow out of it.

Most of us say that because most of us have grown out of it.

And that’s a shame.

Scripture says, inwardly, we are being renewed day by day. We’re being refreshed by God’s Holy Spirit. We’re being revived every day, re-energized, re-booted, re-newed day by day. That means we’re all in the youth group! Yes, you! You’re in the youth group at your church. Everybody’s in the youth group!

Isn’t that fantastic news? All of us are being made younger and fresher and newer every day. All of us should be acting like our teenagers. I should be more bold and imaginative. You should be more passionate and hungry for new truths about our Lord and his plans for your life. We all should be pushing the envelope when it comes to sacrificial service in the name and manner of Jesus. We all should be so brakes-off, no-looking-back, full-steam-ahead in our discipleship to our Christ. We should sing louder, laugh harder, dance wilder, love more, try different; we should stop hesitating, stop flinching, stop negotiating, stop settling. Our young people are on to something!

Jesus says you’ve got to be a little kid to inherit his Kingdom.

You’re being renewed every day. By God’s grace and the transforming power of his Spirit, you’re getting younger, not older! You’re in the youth group.

So go get a two-liter of Mountain Dew and a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. I’ll see you at the lock-in!

Peace,

Allan