Category: Austin Grad (Page 4 of 4)

Back To School

May 19, 2008 / Allan / 1 Comment

I’m well aware that David was of the tribe of Judah, not Benjamin as I said during both of yesterday morning’s sermons. I’m aware. Jonathan was of Benjamin, not David. I know.

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I’ve been chosen, somehow, to play the role of Moses in the upcoming VBS production of “Bound for Holy Ground” here at Legacy. Kipi is obviously desperate. Scraping the bottom of the barrel. I’m not sure how comfortable I am, as Legacy’s preacher, playing the character who led God’s people in circles around the wilderness for 40 years. And didn’t they all die and not make it into the Promised Land? Yeah, that’s weird. At least now, after watching this the first week of July, our church family will turn out in droves to audition for next year’s musical. I can’t imagine too many people out there who won’t say, after watching me, “I know I could do better than that!”

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I’m heading to Austin this afternoon for the 27th annual Austin Graduate School of Theology Sermon Seminar. Every year they bring in four or five of the best preachers and teachers of preachers in the country and we talk preaching for four days. These men take us through the Scriptures, chapter by chapter, and show us themes and words and give us insights and ideas. They outline sermons with us and explore other areas of study and related texts. And then they give us all their sermon manuscripts and notes.

This year Mark Hamilton will work with us on Amos, Rick Mars on Genesis 12-50, Dwight Robarts on Hebrews, and Jeff Peterson on Galatians. Eddie Sharp will also lead a couple of sessions on “The Flock and the Shepherds: They Smell Like Trouble.”

I go to the Tulsa Workshop and the ACU lectures to be inspired, to be revived and rejuvenated. I go to Austin to work. It’s pretty intense.

At last year’s Sermon Seminar, I was two weeks away from moving to North Richland Hills and beginning our full-time preaching ministry here at Legacy. Now, I’m two weeks away from celebrating my one-year anniversary. So Stan Reid has asked me to speak at one of the Tuesday afternoon sessions on “Some Things I’ve Learned About Preaching Since I Knew It All.” Stan wants me to speak for 20 minutes on things I’ve learned in my first year of preaching. And then take questions.

The first thing I learned is that I can’t do anything in 20 minutes.

My great friend, Jason Reeves, who preaches at the Grayston Church of Christ in East Texas, is going with me. It’s always good to share time with one of the Four Horsemen. I’ll get to see all my old Austin Grad buddies and professors. And then we’ll worship with the Marble Falls Church Wednesday evening. I’m really looking forward to a jam-packed and fruitful week.

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But what do I do if our hotel doesn’t carry the Versus channel in our rooms? I haven’t called the hotel yet. I plan to do that later this morning. I can’t imagine anything keeping me from watching Game Six tonight. So there’s probably a 50-50 chance at least one of the preachers at the Sermon Seminar might be forced to visit one of the establishments on Austin’s Sixth Street tonight.

Peace,

Allan

Salvation + Creation = Incarnation

December 18, 2007 / Allan / 0 Comments

I think as children of God we’re usually more concerned with the destination than with the journey. “Heaven holds all to me.” So much so I’m afraid that a lot of the time we separate salvation from creation. Being saved, to a lot of us, means being rescued out of this world. To many Christians, the world and whatever is of the world or in the world is worthless and useless. We don’t care about the world. We’re being delivered from the world.

But the Incarnation drastically alters that viewpoint.

The birth of Jesus, instead of separating salvation and creation, connects salvation and creation. It joins the realities of heaven with the ordinariness of life on earth. It brings together the human and the divine. By becoming one of us, God reaffirms the original goodness and purpose of creation. Our human condition, even with all its flaws and shortcomings, even with all our weaknesses, this world and everything in it is not so sad and worthless that God himself is above becoming flesh. In fact, it’s Jesus taking on our everyday human condition that is the means for our salvation! God reclaims us as his own by becoming one of us.

God created the world and all the people in it. And that world and that people—all of creation—have been groaning, Paul says in Romans 8, as in the pains of childbirth to become what we were truly created to be. We were created to be truly divine children of God, just like Jesus. We look at Jesus, God in flesh, and we see what the Father created when he created us. Or at least we see his intent. We see our potential, our calling.

John writes in the opening lines of his Gospel that when we receive Jesus, when we believe in the name of the Christ, God gives us the right, he gives us the power, he gives the authority to become children of God, “children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” Just like Jesus.

Yes, Jesus preached about the Kingdom of Heaven. But all his teachings had to do with how to live here on this earth. How to get along as a child of God here in this world. Here in the middle of God’s creation.

Seeing Jesus as a human helps us understand why God made us. And it empowers us to reclaim that purpose for our own lives. It enables us to live our lives fully here on earth, with each other, in all of our mundane ordinariness, as children of God. Just as he intended from Day One. To live like him.

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Whitney experienced her first ever live Mavericks game at the AAC last night, compliments of our good friend and Small Groups Co-Leader, David Glover. (The Mavericks were able to pull out a nail-biter over Orlando, despite the fact that David’s been to two Cowboys games this year: Patriots and Eagles.)

I love experiencing things through my girls. I’ve attended a couple of hundred Mavericks games through the years—pre-season, regular season, and playoffs. But I saw things from an entirely different perspective last night. Whitney was genuinely thrilled by the things I’ve always taken for granted. The player introductions, the drum line, the T-shirt cannons, Mavs Man, Champ (that thing still looks like a Dragon Tales character, not a horse), chanting “De-Fense” and “Let’s Go, Mavs!” (didn’t they rip that off from the Spurs?), souvenir cups, thundering dunks, a three-on-one break, player interaction on the bench, the guys who continually distribute and clean up all the towels and water bottles, even P. A. announcer Billy Hayes and sideline shill Chris Arnold. Everything that is the spectacle of a Mavericks game. She was completely involved from before the opening tip to well after the final buzzer. She was trying to distract Orlando free throw shooters from our seats, which were not anywhere close to behind the backboard. She yelled throughout the fourth quarter for the Mavericks to “get it to Dirk!” She never sat still. She never stopped screaming. She never stopped laughing. I’m sure right now, even as she’s probably in the middle of some math or social studies class at school, she hasn’t stopped smiling.

And usually I would just sit there.

I saw it differently last night. It was a different game for me last night because I was sitting by Whitney.

And our Savior says unless we become like little children we can’t enter the Kingdom.

May our God grant us the vision, the humility, and the grace to be wowed by his creation and by his goodness and by his blessings. May we pay attention to all that is around us and recognize every bit of it as a wonderful blessing from our Father. And may others experience their daily lives differently as a result of watching us experience ours.

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In 2004, Cowboys safety Roy Williams tackled Titans receiver Tyrone Calico from behind by grabbing the back of his shoulder pads and yanking him to the ground. As a result, Calico suffered torn cartilage in his left knee and a sprained ACL in his right knee. That same season Williams took out two Baltimore running backs with the same style of tackle. Jamal Lewis suffered a sprained ankle and Musa Smith a compound fracture of his right tibia. That same season Williams broke the right fibula of then-Eagles receiver Terrell Owens with the same horsecollar tackle. In May 2005, the NFL made that kind of tackle illegal. It was called the Roy Williams Rule.

Going into this past Sunday’s game against the Eagles, Williams had been fined $27,500 by the NFL this year for making two illegal horsecollar tackles. The NFL sent Williams a letter two weeks ago telling him he would be suspended if he did it again. And he did. His tackle on Donovan McNabb is the very reason that style of takedown was outlawed. He was flagged at the time. And last night the league suspended him for one game. Williams can’t practice with the team and he can’t play in what is now a critical game Saturday night in Charlotte. It’ll cost him at least $35,000 in salary. It’ll cost the Cowboys one of their best run-stoppers against a Panthers attack that is running all over opponents.

I saw a quote from Wade Phillips this morning claiming that in Sunday’s situation with McNabb, and in all the others this season, grabbing the back of the shoulder pads is the only way Williams can make the tackle.

Isn’t it because Williams is always running behind the ball carrier? None of this would be an issue if he could just get in the proper position.

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Are Eagles Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson and Austin Grad Professor Michael Weed the same person?

Peace,

Allan

Blue Jean Sunday!

September 28, 2007 / Allan / 1 Comment

This coming Sunday at Legacy we continue a tradition associated with our 21 year old Give Away Day. It’s been called Blue Jean Sunday, but it’s really just a work day to set everything up for Give Away Day. Everyone’s encouraged to wear their work clothes to the assembly Sunday morning, stay for a congregational meal together, and then work together all afternoon setting up the tables and racks and shelves, sorting clothes and shoes and appliances, and stacking chairs. Usually we’ll be done right around 3:00 or so. But there are plenty of folks who stick around until our 5:30 afternoon assembly.

Calling it Blue Jean Sunday doesn’t really have the impact it once had. Just about everybody wears their blue jeans to church now anyway. But I will be preaching in my blue jeans Sunday (not blue jean shorts, Chris!!). And I’m afraid I’ll experience a constant dread of being struck by lightning. Or, worse than that, I’m afraid my dad will find out.

At 5:30 we’re going to explore this whole Give Away Day thing that’s such a big part of the Gospel story of the Pipeline / Legacy Church of Christ. We’ll look at old pictures and slides. And we’ll hear from three or four of our members about their Give Away Day experiences and stories, including Charley Potter’s recollections of that very first Give Away Day 21 years ago. The focus of our time together will be on our church family acting as the hands and feet of Jesus in this community. And going after the folks in our neighborhoods with love and peace just as hard as our God does.

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By the time Paul sat down to pen his great letter to the church in Thessalonica, the term “Day of the Lord” carried great weight and baggage. The earliest account we have of that term is the prophet Amos, 700 years before Paul and the establishment of that church at Jason’s house.

The Hebrew Scriptures’ use of the term explicitly reference the day when God actively intervenes in history, usually with terrible wrath and judgment. It was a day marked by gloom and darkness. Mountains melt on the “Day of the Lord.” The moon turns to blood. Stars fall out of the sky. It was a day to be dreaded. The term and the images that accompanied the term struck fear in the hearts of God’s people. Nobody looked forward to the “Day of the Lord.” They were actually instructed to dread it because, when it came, it would be awful. It was the day all the world, including God’s chosen nation, would be judged and punished for its sins.

But every New Testament reference to the “Day of the Lord” is positive. God’s people are told to anticipate the “Day of the Lord” with great enthusiasm and to greet it with rejoicing. Paul writes to the Corinthians and the Philippians to tell them that they will be pure and blameless on that Day. Spirits will be saved on that Day. Paul will boast on that Day, for others and for himself.

What changed?

1 Thessalonians is the very first, very earliest, book in the New Testament, written in 50-52 AD. And Paul provides for us there the very first written connection between the death of Jesus and our salvation (5:10).

Jesus died. That’s what changed. It changed everything. And disciples of Jesus look forward now to the “Day of the Lord” with tremendous anticipation knowing that he died for us “that we may live together with him.”

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***Legacy Church of Christ Construction Update***

The concrete trucks have been out here all week, pouring the foundation trenches (is that what you call those?) and all the new parking areas. I’m told we won’t be able to park in the new spaces this weekend. But next Sunday, the 7th, it’s wide open. Right now, in between our two morning services during Bible class time, our parking lot resembles a shopping mall in December. No spaces and lots of cars in long lines driving up and down the packed aisles.

Notice Kent right in the smack dab middle of all of it. Insert your own comment or smart aleck remark here: ________.

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No time this week to break down the Cowboys, how impressed I finally am with Tony Romo, Patrick Crayton’s Jackie Smith moment, Mark Cuban’s moves, or Nolan Ryan’s falling a half-notch from the lofty pedestal on which I’ve placed him. No time. Go Rams.

My truck turned over 100,000 miles on the way in Tuesday morning. Remember when that used to be a big deal? Was it because the numbers all flipped back to zeroes? I don’t think cars used to be built to drive that long. It’s not as uncommon as it once was. I think Doug Deere’s truck has over 260,000 miles on it right now. I still thought it was pretty cool. Dad, the picture’s for you.

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Carrie-Anne and I are leaving at noon today for Austin where I’m one of the speakers at Austin Grad’s big fundraising dinner tonight at the Austin Country Club. They’re in the middle of a huge fundraising and building project. And I’m honored they think anything I say might make a difference for them. I’m hoping it does. I love that school. I love everything about every minute I spent with the people there. And I highly recommend it to anyone who’s wanting to upgrade their understanding of God’s Word and Christian Ministry.

Earlier this week, I was going through the notes of a speech I made to some Austin Grad donors (is that what you call them?) back in April 2006. And towards the end of my speech I said this:

“I have no idea where I’m going to be 13-months from now. But we’re giddy with anticipation. In May 2007 I hope and pray to find a community that desperately needs God and a church family willing to roll up its sleeves to take our God to that community. I want God to use me and that church to turn that town upside down for him. I want our Father to completely use us up in service to him. I want him to work through me and that church to fulfill his mission. I want to be the catalyst in that community for revival among his children and for the saving of many souls. I want to bring God’s people closer to him and closer to each other.”

My prayers have been answered far beyond my expectations. Legacy and North Richland Hills. A situation like this never one time crossed my mind. Our God is always dreaming bigger than we are. We can’t ever out-vision him.

But let’s try. Let’s join our Father in reclaiming creation and reconciling all of it back to him.

Have a great weekend.

Peace,

Allan

That Thing God Does & Old Friends At ACU

September 18, 2007 / Allan / 0 Comments

In response to Gary’s comment from yesterday: What is “God, do that thing you always do?”

It’s our loving and compassionate Father whose eternal nature is to save us and redeem us and reconcile us back to him moving among his people to be present with them and in them. And that presence is then powerfully manifested in an outpouring of confession and prayer and connection and change.

It’s God overcoming my weakness and my sin and my lack of vision and understanding to blow our doors off with his message of forgiveness and hope. It’s when he causes something incredible to happen in an assembly of his people — something that nobody can plan or predict. He puts his message directly into people’s hearts. He pours his love straight into people’s souls. And then amazing things happen.

It happens at retreats. It happens at workshops and seminars. It happens in living rooms and around kitchen tables. It happens on Sunday mornings Friday nights. And I can’t explain it.

It’s revival, maybe. It’s a reawakening to the Holy Spirit of God and the power he gives us. It works through intentional prayer and sacred songs and confession of sin. It works when God’s people truly humble themselves before him, recognizing their sin, and whole heartedly submitting to his Lordship.

I don’t know exactly what or how it is.

But I do know it’s our God who does it. He just jumps right into the big middle of everything we’re doing and almost disrupts things with his presence. And his people respond to that presence with tears of joy and sorrow, with prayers of confession and thanksgiving, and with an outpouring of love for each other.

And I know our God is present with us everytime we come together. But sometimes it’s more powerful than at other times. The feeling, not the presence or the power itself. Are we more in tune with our God and his presence and power at those times than at other times? Are our hearts more open and our minds more clear and our souls more ready? Or is God revealing himself in different ways at those times? Is he moving in us and through us differently during those times? I don’t have an answer. It’s a combination of all of it, I suppose.

All I know is that it happened Sunday morning and again Sunday night at Legacy. He’s getting us ready. He’s transforming us. And I’m convinced anew and more than ever that our God is going to do some powerful things in us and through us for the Kingdom.

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I don’t have time or space to tell you all the wonderful things about Day One at the ACU Lectureships. Randy Harris’ session on humility sparked much conversation and debate and reflection for the rest of the day and night. Billy Wilson’s presentation on the blessings of God found in the great Psalm 23, I think, is going to show up in at least a couple of sermons at Legacy. A panel discussion between us old guys and a bunch of college students was eye-opening as to why a lot of them are jaded by our Church of Christ fellowship. It’s nothing we don’t already know. But it really pushes some of our shortcomings to the front. And then Landon Saunders nailed it at last night’s keynote with a call from Micah to reach out to the people in our communities who make churches uncomfortable. The people in our town who are dying for forgiveness, longing for connection, yearning for love and acceptance. And he puts church leaders — you and me — squarely in the cross hairs of Micah’s message.

Day Two is upon us. I’m refreshed and ready to go.

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I hadn’t been on campus five minutes when I ran into Kirk Eason from Austin Grad. Stan Reid is also here and we visited a bit after last night’s session. I’ve also spoken with Dan and Reba Bonner, two wonderful people who went with us on our trip to Israel in January. Jim Martin, a godly man and gospel preacher in Waco and a longtime friend of the family sat two seats down from me during the morning keynote. Grady King from South MacArthur and Danny Sims from Alta Mesa are running the roundtable with the college students. Sid and Janetta Allen sat down right in front of me at last night’s keynote, dear friends from North Davis who were honored by ACU last night for their decades of Kingdom service in North and South Korea. Shannon Jackson’s here. Kyle Smith, one of our kids from Marble Falls hollered out “Larry!” out in the campus yesterday and I turned around. Of course. Later on, his brother Ryan and David Griffen showed up at Moody for the keynote. And I’ve seen Mackenzie Lewis, but I haven’t been able to visit with her yet.

May God bless us with a fantastic week in his service.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Austin Grad (Page 4 of 4)

Back To School

Salvation + Creation = Incarnation

Blue Jean Sunday!

That Thing God Does & Old Friends At ACU

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